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1. When is it?
GenCon is typically the 2nd weekend in August each year. For the full info, your best source is
http://www.gencon.comQuote:
2. Where is it?
RCA Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN. Right in the heart of downtown.
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3. What kind of $ are we looking at? Do you have pay an entry fee and then pay for each game you play? Not including food and lodging, about how much could we expect to pay in total?
Kind of depends on how much you plan to do. There is a general admission badge for the convention, and I think the price on it is either $60 or $70 for the whole weekend. You can of course buy a day-badge if you're only going to be there one day. There are also fees for each individual tournament you play in. Last year, the fees were $5-$7.50 for the regular tournaments, $15 for the SWM Championships, and the $30 for either League or the Sealed Booster events (both of which you get 2 boosters for anyways, so you're mostly just buying the boosters). Also remember that you probably won't want to leave the convention halls very much, as the games and tournies often run one right after another. So food will cost you upwards of $7 a meal or so. If you intend to play in as many events as you can all weekend, I would figure between about $150 and $200 not including food and lodging, though you can pay for the con badge and most of the individual tournaments in advance, so you don't typically need to have cash like that with you unless it's for food or buying things in the vendor areas.
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4. How do the championships run? I heard something about top rated DCI players (not sure how high you have to be rated though) get a bye for the first round. What can you tell me about that? I'm ranked #7 in VA so far.
The Championship runs just like a normal DCI event, but with a LOT of people. So far, there has been nothing at all about top-ranked DCI players getting byes or anything of that sort. Honestly, a high DCI ranking just means you have played a LOT of games, not necessarily that you are an amazingly skilled player. Yes, many of the top-ranked players in the world are also very skillful players, but it is not always the case.