Gary Con XVIII – January Newsletter

We have less than 275 Silver Badges available for Gary Con XVIII in March! 

Get your badge today so you’re ready to add events to your schedule when Event Ticketing opens for your badge level:

• Jan. 31, 2026 at 12:00pm* (noon): Diamond Badges (OPEN NOW!)
• Feb. 7, 2026 at 12:00pm* (noon): Platinum Badges

• Feb. 14, 2026 at 12:00pm* (noon): Hero of the Realm + Gold Badges

• Feb. 21, 2026 at 12:00pm* (noon): Silver + TCG Badges

*All times are listed in Central time; be mindful of time zone differences when making your Event Ticketing plan. 

Be sure to fully check out games from your cart to ensure they are added to your event schedule. After a couple hours, any events that are not fully checked out will time out and be removed from your cart. It’s always a good idea to check “My Schedule” on TTE to confirm you’re fully signed up!

Our Gary Con Teams are working diligently to collect all the important details we’ll need to share with info and updates about our shuttles and parking. The Ops Team is working to sort out details for us to include a few Express Shuttles, too. Stay tuned to our e-mails and socials for more about shuttles and parking or look at our current shuttling plan by clicking the button below.

Remember to visit our Hotel page to book a room with one of our Partner Hotels! 

Our site shows which of our partner hotels will have access to the shuttles and/or trolley. We also added whether or not hotels had openings on our last check! 

We’d also like to welcome to our newest Hotel Partner, Geneva Wells Inn! You can book by phone or online, but remember to use the code on our Hotel page for the Gary Con rate!

The Cosplay Contest is sponsored by Wizards of the Coast!

The Cosplay Contest is back!! This year it has moved to Friday for Gary Con XVIII on March 20, 2026. The entirety from pre-judging to the main event will span a few hours to allow for adequate judging and show set-up. 

The theme for our 4th annual Gary Con Cosplay Contest is a classic choice for fantasy RPG lovers: 

Dungeons & Dragons

Our panel of judges for this year includes some of our absolutely fantastic Special Guests: 

Alicia Marie, Dan Ayoub, Anjali Bhimani, Monica Paprocki, Todd Stashwick

The schedule for this year has been reworked to improve the show: 

• 1:00-2:00pm – Novice Cosplay Participant Event – Pre-judging.
• 2:00-3:00pm – Master Cosplay Participant Event – Pre-judging.
• ~3:45pm – Reconvene in the Grand Lobby for the main event! 
• 4:00-5:00pm – Cosplay Show Event – The show for spectators to see all of the cosplay participants as they show off their craft in the Grand Geneva lobby.

We hope to see you ready to dazzle others with your cosplaying skills, or in the crowd being wowed by the amazing, skillfully crafted outfits! 

To see a list of prizes and rules, visit our Cosplay page. If you have additional questions, please send them to [email protected]!

Gary Con is about celebrating the legends who built this hobby and the creators who keep its flame burning. This year we’re excited to help launch The Lichseed Trilogy on BackerKit!  

Join designer Yoav Niv, who will be running an epic 36 hours of games, during Gary Con in the events listed below from the first two books of The Lichseed Trilogy…

This series is dark, dangerous, and absolutely worth your support. Jump in early, back the project, and come play the adventure with us at Gary Con!

Luke Gygax’s next adventure is nearly here!! Rogues’ Gambit drops you into Okkorim at the Opal Obelisk, where a simple job unravels into a deadly challenge! 

Be among the first to see this fast hook adventure for any 5E group by following the Kickstarter pre-launch page!