What I didn't realize from previous Gen Cons was that the gaming really starts on the Wednesday before the official opening. The convention hall is open and people start playing pickup games of "Settlers of Catan", "Are you a Werewolf?", "Game of Thrones the CCG," and everything in between.

Wednesday is Trade Day for Gen Con as well, where anyone in the industry can pay an extra $100 to gain access to seminars catered to the business of creating, publishing, marketing and selling games. It is also a chance to play game demos for almost all the new games at Gen Con before the crazy busy event schedule begins.

For out-of-towners, coming Wednesday means that you can get settled, pick up your swag-bag, and register for events if you need to. This will end up costing an extra $200 in hotel and parking though, so coming early Thursday is a viable play for many. A trip to Gen Con costs a lot of money. If you're going to flop down that expense, you may as well squeeze as many games and other experiences out of it as you possibly can. So that's what I did.