AdeptiCon 2016 Registration, the First 24 Hours

Every year around Thanksgiving, registration for the world’s largest Table Top War-games Convention begins.  This particular year, AdeptiCon’s registration was on Monday, November 21st at 8pm Central Time. 

Last year was the first year that CVENT handled the Registration Cart and personally, I felt it went smoother than any other year that I had taken part in it.  This year would see me registering for my 10th AdeptiCon attendance.

So how did it go?  Is AdeptiCon still growing?  Did I get everything I wanted?


Let me start by fully acknowledging the fact that yes, the 21st of November was well over a week ago.  Life’s been beating me up lately, as I’m sure you can tell by the inconsistency of my posts, and just keeping me crazy busy.  However, that doesn’t change the relevance of this article at all.

So after talking with Hank Edley with AdeptiCon, here are some pretty significant stats from within the first 24 hours of registration opening:

• Over 1350 people registered in the first 24 hours
• Total number of registrations were up by over 100 people from last year
• ViG badges sold out within 15 minutes (200 of them)
• FULL Swag Bags were gone sometime that night
• There were 100 Team Tournament registrations
• 151 40K Championships registrations
• 95 40K Friendly registrations
• The Horus Heresy events have sold out
• The Titanicus events have sold out
• Kings of War sold out and they added more slots
• Guild Ball sold out
• Firestorm Armada and Planetfall nearly sold out
• The Warmachine Team event nearly sold out, and the rest of the Warmachine events were halfway or better filled.
• The Infinity tournaments all shot immediately over half capacity each, and there is a max of 48 players in each.
• Malifaux, Saga, Bolt Action all at strong numbers as well.
• MANY of the Hobby Seminars sold out as well

One major thing I’d like to look at is the Team and Championship 40K Tournaments.  2 years ago, the 40K Team sold out in 30 minutes.  The Championships barely lasted an hour.  These two huge GW tournaments, especially the Team, were the largest draws for AdeptiCon since it’s inception over 13 years ago.  This year?  Well, over a week later there are still 13 spaces left in the Team Tournament, and 77 left in the Championships.  That said, the 30K events, the Titanicus, the 40K Friendly?  All gone.  sold out before either of the other two have.  And that’s with AdeptiCon expanding them from last year.

The next thing I’ll point out is the huge influx and popularity of the Skirmish and Non-GW games as well.  Infinity, Malifaux, Firestorm Armada, Kings of War…All are experiencing a huge influx of registrants playing their games.  Now sure, you could say that they are merely filling the void where Warhammer Fantasy used to be, and to some extent you’d be right.  At the same time though, these games are growing by leaps and bounds all on their own and they need to be given the props they deserve for that as well.

Were there any hiccups?
For some, yes.  A couple of the Facebook groups I’m a part of had a few folks say that there was the occasional database error, or loading error that would cause them to lose their cart.  Also that if something sold out, you didn’t know until you tried to checkout, and then you had to go back from the beginning to drop it, then try and check out again rather than just drop it from your cart. 

That said, I remember the old days of the servers bogging down, loading at a snail’s pace and praying to the dice gods that you could get what you wanted before everything was gone.  CVENT handling the cart is a huge improvement.

Quite frankly, it was an insanely better experience than GenCon registration for sure…

Is AdeptiCon still growing?
Yes.  Absolutely and unequivocally yes.  The numbers don’t lie, and I thank Hank and Matt for sharing them wit me so I could write this article.  AdeptiCon is a healthy Con that has no end in sight to it’s growth and potential, especially considering their current venue.

Did I get everything I wanted?
Actually, yes, yes I did!  Registration for me was a smooth 7 minutes in total.  I am playing in the Friday Infinity Team Tournament, and taking two classes with Angel Giraldez, and one with Caleb WIssenback.  I also got my ViG Badge!  I didn’t overbook myself this year as I really need to network, catch up with friends and pace myself.  You know, beyond running the Thursday Infinity Tournament with Kevin from Chronowraith’s Corner.

OH!  One thing that I can pass along here?  X-Wing fans…you may want to sign up for the large Thursday or Friday Main Tournament now.  There are still  ton of spots, yes…but a little birdie told me that some time after the first of the year, a BIG announcement will be coming, something that ANY Star Wars Fan would fight for.  Literally the largest prize ever given out at an AdeptiCon!

All in all, I think that for 1350+ people driving themselves through an online registration all at the same time, AdeptiCon did right by it’s attendees and is shaping up to be another door-busting, braun-burner of a Con.

So Who’s Going??

- Tim