Genre Gaming Organized by Luke Gygax | Venue Grand Geneva Resort Country United States | |
Gary Con is a gaming convention held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin every year to celebrate the contributions of Gary Gygax to the gaming industry and to the local community, where Gygax was raised, and where the company he founded, TSR, Inc. created and produced the Dungeons & Dragons game for 25 years. The event held March 3-6, 2016 was the eighth Gary Con.
Contents
History
When Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax died in 2008, role playing gamers from around the world joined to honor Gygax's life with a virtual convention, held at locations around the world. Gygax's friends and family held an impromptu game event at Lake Geneva's American Legion Hall following his funeral on March 8, 2008, now known as "Gary Con 0". By 2009, son Luke Gygax had established the first official Gary Con, still at the Legion Hall. "Gary Con I", held March 7, 2009, was attended by a number of gaming industry icons: Frank Mentzer, Tom Wham, Steve Chenault, and Jim Ward. Daughter M. Elise Gygax-Cousino helped establish the initial event.
By 2010, the Legion Hall no longer had the capacity to host the growing event and its participants. As a result, the event was moved to a local lodge west of the town where it has been held ever since. Convention organizer Luke Gygax told a local paper Gary Con was "...meant to be a more intimate event, reminiscent of the formative years of the gaming industry".
In 2015 word of the convention had spread far enough to earn multiple mentions in an episode of the television program, The Big Bang Theory.
Events
The focus of Gary Con is "Old School Renaissance", with games written during Gygax's ownership of TSR getting the most attention. Often the games are run by designers who originally created the game: Metamorphosis Alpha run by Jim Ward, Fight in the Skies run by Mike Carr, and Tom Wham's boardgames. Other TSR titles are in abundance, Kevin Cabai, and a host of loyal gamers running the classic games, such as Chainmail.