Hi!  I'm trying to find more information on the minors policy at GenCon.  My 14 year old brother is interested in coming to Gen Con this year.  Does he need to be accompanied throughout the Con?  Or is there a cutoff for minors who need to be accompanied, like 13 and under?  Thanks!

Usually it is up to the adult in charge of him. I plan on letting my 16 and 13 yearold daughters have freedom of move ment but packing a cell phone. If he is mature enough to be on his own, hook him up with a means to keep in contact. I'm sure a Gen Con official will say about the same.

Your thoughts Marimacc... 

Well.....I'm not a Gen Con official, but, as far as I can tell, there's no strict limit by Gen Con as to age to leave your kids unattended.  Here's all the information from the Gen Con FAQ about children:

Children Information

Q: Are kids welcome at the show?

Yes, Gen Con is a family friendly show and welcomes attendees of any age.

Q: How much is a child’s badge?

Children 8 and under are free when accompanied by an attending adult. Children over the age of 8 are subject to the standard badge costs. In order to prevent issues with security, it is recommended that you pick up any free badges at the Customer Service booth onsite. Free badges are only required for those children participating in events.

Q: I want to pre-register my child that is 8 and under, what do I do?

Since we cannot accurately validate the age of children over the internet we do not allow pre-registration of the free child badge. If you require a free child’s badge you will need to pick up the badge onsite at the Customer Service or Badge Registration booths.

Q: If I purchase a badge for a minor, may I accompany them for free?

No. If you wish to gain entrance into the convention center beyond any common areas you will be required to show a badge.

Q: Do you have a day care onsite?

We do not have a daycare onsite. Should you need assistance in finding care for your children while at Gen Con, we encourage you to contact the hotel where you will be staying to see what services they may offer.

Q: Do you have an area dedicated strictly to children?

Yes! Gen Con Training Grounds is an interactive program dedicated to children, ages 4-12, where they can play games, participate in art projects, etc. Children in this room MUST be accompanied by an adult.

Q: What if my child is lost?

If your child is missing please report to the Customer Service booth or any Gen Con staff member.

Soo...............it sort of depends on the kid and the event I guess.  For me personally, would I have a problem leaving, say, a 9 year old in the card hall unattended at Gen Con for two hours while he played a Pokemon tournament during the day?  Probably not, esp. if he had a cell phone or a family walkie talkie.  Would I roll in Thursday and basically tell him he was free to run wild until Sunday afternoon?  No.  Would I let a 13 year old hang out in the dealer's room or the anime area for a few hours unattended?  Probably, but it would depend on the kid.  I think it's more a common sense rule.  I find Gen Con to be pretty safe, but of course no area is completely 100% safe.  I sort of think of it as a mall.  If you were at a mall with your child and you'd allow your child to go to, for instance, the music store for an hour unattended, I don't see the difference between that and allowing them to go to the anime area or dealer's room for an hour unattended.

Just remember that there's no Con wide paging system, so if your child is lost, there's essentially an APB that can be put out on the radios you see some Seniors have, but there's no way to have your child paged if lost.  If you are going to leave them unattended, leave them with a family walkie talkie or a cell phone, and have a clear plan of where and WHEN you are meeting; just meeting in the dealer's room is impossible; meeting at the info booth is a good idea, and Randy can entertain your child while you wait. :)

My kids are 13 and 14 and we've started the 'separate and meet' policy. All three of us have cell phones, and before we separate, I take them to the meeting place, and point out helpful sights nearby. Worst case, we have a secondary backup place. Cell phones do die, sometimes there are two information booths(we use those, too), and worst case, go to the car.

I emphasize again and again, I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU BEHIND. So going to the car if you panic is fine. It will be there.

Since I am paranoid still, I usually write the row of the car on the kids hand.

How I am going to live through driver's training when I get panic attacks if they are late getting to the end of the soda aisle in Walmart, I do not know. I only just started letting them walk to the local Burger King, and that's only 5 blocks away. I was going to take them to Gencon this year, but I can't quite bring myself to do that. They have been asking if this summer they can go to the beach with friends, alone, and I'm still debating.

I did think I saw Aleta saying somewhere that ALL minors have to be accompanied by an adult, but is a minor 16 and under? 17 and under?

Thanks for the info so far.  As for all the "common sense / up to the parent" type information, all of that has already been talked about with my mother.  Other peoples policies are good to know as well.  She's very relaxed with my brothers.  Nate (the 14 year old) is the youngest of 4, and very mature for his age.  He has already gone on several trips with friends and their family unaccompanied by family, and he does travel soccer alot.  The "seperate and meet" policy is something my mother regularly uses when they are out and the two of them want to do something different.  He also has a cellphone, and if coming would be rooming with me in the Marriot.

I did read through all of the information that Merrimac posted, and also do remember seeing the message from Aleta about all minors needing to be accompanied.  It was in the VIG forum concerning companion passes.  The question for me is the same as Braewe.  What constitutes a minor?  He would probably only be interested in tagging around with me anyways, but it would be nice to know if there is an official policy on minors at gencon.  I am going to email Aleta to see what she has to say about it.

 Again, thanks for all the info so far!

In general a minority is defined as a person under the age of 18.  There is no Indiana law that states your child under age (insert here) must be accompanied by an adult, however should an instance occur where authorities may be involved it is usually dealt with in Family Services.  We recommend that no children under the age of 13 be left unaccompanied by an adult.  The convention is big, can be quite crowded, and this year much more spreadout due to construction.  As a rule we leave the decision up to the parent, ultimately you know if your child is ready to be on their own.  Bear in mind, as marimacc pointed out, we do not have a universal paging system and communication to some of the outlying hotels can be a challenge.  We do recommend all children under 13 receive a wrist band so we can take down contact information should a child and parent be separated.  I hope this helps clarify our feelings on leaving children unattended.

 It does, very much.  Thanks Aleta!

Not knowing what your age is, I think there is a limit of 18 or 21 on renting the hotel rooms, just to keep in mind. I don't know if this is your first con or not, so I don't have much to go with on that front. I do remember someone last year (I think they were 16 or 17) and they said something about getting a room, till they found out the hotel would not do so unless there was an adult on the register.

Thanks for the heads up, but that won't be an issue on my part.  I'm 23 any my bf who is also coming is 26.  This will also be our 2nd time at GenCon.  My brother is 14, and I was just trying to get a grasp on if the con had any official policies on if he needed to be constantly supervised by an adult or not.  He'd probably just tag with us anyways as that's the type of person he is, but its always good to know  the rules!

 I do appreciate the concern though!

Anyone bringing a minor with them that they are not the legal guardian of should get a "Permission to Treat" form signed by the minor's parents. Basically it's so if the child gets sick or injured, you have authority to have him treated at a hospital. If you google "permission to treat minor", you'll find lots of form samples you can use to type something up. I strongly recommend having it notorized.

 hotel renting age in indiana is 18. I rent hotels from time to time for concerts and for gencon and i have had no problem. I've rented once at age 17 too. If you look old enough and it is late enough at night, no one cares. They only tend to check if it is a couple who look young.