Ok, I know we had another thread about this, but I got some breaking news I wanted to share with you all.  The family fun day badge is back; it's good only Sunday, however, unlike last year when it couldn't be sold until noon, it will be sold ALL DAY SUNDAY.  $25 gets a family of up to four full admission to the Con.  So if you've got local friends that you want to convince to come, please let them know about this deal so they can try out Gen Con for themselves.

(And don't forget to tell them about open crafting open that day from 10-3; even non gamers can enjoy that!)

what exactly is the open crafting? I imagine I have some non-gamer friends who would be interested, but wanted some clarification.

Allow me to direct you to the SPA forums, where your friends can find all sort of information about various "non-gaming" events.

http://community.gencon.com/forums/133.aspx

I think this is such a great idea! 

marimacc:

$25 gets a family of up to four free admission to the Con.

Sounds cool. Although technically it's not free if you're paying $25. 

LOL..WFS....true, but it is a great deal. My wife's family came into town to babysit/dogsit for us last year at our house. On Sunday they all came down to the con and we got them this pass. They all had a great time wandering the Exibit Hall and TCG area. It was well worth the price and a great way to get new comers to see the con.

raphael76:

what exactly is the open crafting? I imagine I have some non-gamer friends who would be interested, but wanted some clarification.

Brandy directed you to the right place, but just to let you know, open crafting is a room stocked with free crafting supplies, where anyone can go to hang out with fellow crafters.  It's on the second floor of the Westin, Senate I, and is open 10-8pm Thur-Sat, and 10-3 Sunday.  Completely free for Gen Con attendees to use!

Hawkwinter:

LOL..WFS....true, but it is a great deal.

Oh, I agree that it's a great deal. I just like being a PITA. It also has the added benefit of boosting convention attendance on Sunday which is normally very quiet because the con is winding down and a lot of out-of-towners are on their way to the airport or getting on the road. I'm a big fan of win-win situations.

hexgrid:

A question about this... I'll be attending Gen Con Saturday and Sunday, but don't have a badge yet. Does "up to four" mean I could buy my Sunday badge on Sunday morning as a family of one person, and pay $25 instead of $45?

I do believe for Sunday only, you alone could buy the family daily badge, but you would still need a Saturday only badge.

I went to badge registration Friday and the person in charge (managing all the counter people) said that the family badge will not be sold until noon Sunday, no changes from last year. 

I want to take my family also... but I also don't want to waste all of their time getting them there early.  I would be wonderful if this "announcement" had a link to an official Gencon release document that I could print and take to the person managing the counter.

 Unless this is not official and pure speculation... then shame on you.

I have a coworker that came down with his family on Sunday at around 2pm. He was told by the folks at registration that he couldn't buy a Family pass because it was too close to 4pm and wouldn't be "a good value". Now, maybe these folks don't have families, but things rarely run according to schedule. If they didn't get down there until 2 and he still wanted to buy a pass, why shouldn't they let him? Especially if you couldn't buy the pass until noon?? That's an awfully tight window.

 What did he do? He took his family into the dealer hall anyway. Apparantly, nobody was looking for badges at that point, and they made a couple of small purchases. Does GenCon think the vendors don't want some extra foot traffic?

I guess he and I are both confused by the mixed messages that are being sent.

Just as an FYI, I did specifically ask Aleta and she told me absolutely that Family Day passes were available starting at 12:01am.

Certainly they SHOULD have sold him a pass then; I suppose they just didn't want the person to feel bad that they would only have two hours in the dealer's room.  Nevertheless they should have sold him a pass, and I'll point this out to Aleta.

Another bit of info: My friend noted that he was not the only one being turned away, either. Probably just someone in the booth was misinformed.