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So for you continent crawlers and globe trotters what do you expect to shell out for a weekend of your favorite hobby?

Whats the expected operating budget for a major event you have to travel for?

Thanks in advance.

It would have to be something truly special for me to consider paying the cost of an airline ticket and several nights in a hotel. I limit myself to a couple states worth of travel by car and normally one or two nights in a reasonable hotel ($100-120 a night), even better if I can crash with a friend or split the bill.

The con itself? I won't pay more than say $30-40 for entrance for the weekend. I've no interest in spending $100+ to get into a con, etc. Things like GenCon which can easily become $1000+ weekend? Pass. I'll stick to the local ones. As much as I love gaming, I found that the few larger conventions I attended didn't give me anything more than the local ones (which are small, perhaps 300-400 attendees) I normally frequent.

In short? Not a lot. Maybe $250 for the weekend max.

Been to Gencon several times with friends. Every year I spend about $1k altogether. That's a 6 hour trip by car, 4 nights in hotel, gas, food, 4-day badge, and con expenses. It's doable for $500 if you've got friends to room with.

I haven't attended a Con that was outside of the city I was living in at the time anyways, but usually it's essentially just the cost of entry (in that case).

Living here in Northern VA makes attending NOVA a breeze.

$0, I went to Gen Con in 2015, it was fund, but it was not worth the money I spent to go. I've toying with the idea of attending some local conventions, and when I say local, I mean local enough that I can drive back and forth. My budget is too strict to allow for the seemingly massive amounts of money that some people spent on traveling to these conventions, let alone the money they spend on their models.

GenCon is definitely expensive especially if you aren't nearby. I feel lucky that Pax Unplugged is coming to Philly, probably the only con I'll be attending as long as they keep coming back.

One thing to consider though is what the con is for.. like, GenCon may the ultimate gaming con but if you're really only into playing 40k and other similar games, you're probably better off spending your money to go to Adepticon, from what I've heard. If I am able to make it to a far away con again anytime soon, it'll be that one. I like board and card games, but not nearly as much as my army men.

Salute; return train or plane travel to London - £100.
Two night's accommodation - £100 - 200
Other expenses (food, entertainment, etc) - another £100 or so, I think.
Spending at Salute itself - varies, but £200 this year.

Warhammer World weekend:
fuel costs - £60
accommodation - £20 (three nights in a campsite)
Food: £50 - £100 ish
plus spending money at WW; nothing this year.

Tournaments? Single day events, in my home town. I never enjoyed them enough to spend actual money getting any further afield.

I have the Infinity interplanetary in the same city where I live so... 0€. You can enter for free and I can walk to the building, like 20 minutes

If the mrs is fine with me going alone, I can probably get away with doing a convention weekend for about $150. Double that if I want to BUY anything gaming related while I'm there.

This involves couch surfing, con entry fee and a share of fuel money and food/drink for the time away (if there's a bunch of us going from the local area, carpooling makes sense).

If she wants to come with me, it often means paying for accommodation and doubling the food/drink cost and entertainment costs for her while I'm busy playing with mandollies. Easily tops $600 and can hit $1000.

I haven't attended a con in 5 years as a player. I just don't enjoy them. Trying to fit 5-8 games in over a time period where I usually get 2-3 isn't fun.
I drop in on a yearly major games con in Sydney to catch up with friends and see what bargains can be found at the dealers, but I'm there for maybe 6 hours.

As expected local events don't end up costing a fortune and cost sharing seems to be key.

Times I have went to vegas its like 1000$ or much when it comes to gas/hotel/con entrance/hookers/spending money


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 Byte wrote:
As expected local events don't end up costing a fortune and cost sharing seems to be key.

It very much is. let me put it this way. while haing more people in a hotel means it cost more, its split up more too.
for me and 3 friends, it cost us 180$ a night at vegas, thats 40$ a person. if your the guy on the bed your expected to pay the resort fee.
so, for a 4 night stay its 180$ all together. gas was 200$ each way, so 50$ each. we budgeted 15$ a meal, except dinner which is bigger so 30$. We said "No more than 4 big things bought, unlimited small things"

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Times I have went to vegas its like 1000$ or much when it comes to gas/hotel/con entrance/hookers/spending money


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Byte wrote:
As expected local events don't end up costing a fortune and cost sharing seems to be key.

It very much is. let me put it this way. while haing more people in a hotel means it cost more, its split up more too.
for me and 3 friends, it cost us 180$ a night at vegas, thats 40$ a person. if your the guy on the bed your expected to pay the resort fee.
so, for a 4 night stay its 180$ all together. gas was 200$ each way, so 50$ each. we budgeted 15$ a meal, except dinner which is bigger so 30$. We said "No more than 4 big things bought, unlimited small things"

you said hookers. Is that a big thing or a small thing?

Do "clubs/teams" have a "members fee" or "buy in" or a treasurer that plans and collects? 1k for LVO seems like a good time. I've been to Vegas for less of a good reason.

Its a friend thing kinda

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Its a friend thing kinda

Aye, I was wondering in general what the "national clubs" might have in place. General question I guess.

A few things about travel to conventions. Applies here in the US. You have entrance fees, travel, meals, lodging and transporting your army to worry about.

1) It's usually cheaper to fly than to drive to a tournament. Thinking about the costs of gas, wear and tear on the car, and other factors, an airline ticket purchased several months in advance will probably work out to be only slightly more than the cost of driving. In many cases, it will be cheaper and you will get frequent flyer miles that will add up. I regularly have over 100k frequent flyer miles on American and Southwest because of my job / points on regular purchases and would not think about paying for a flight to an event.

2) Certain cities are more friendly to visitors with regards to lodging. In Las Vegas, hotels are cheap. The Station Casinos still have rooms for under $50 a night, and they are not bad. No frills, but you're not there for the amenities. Compare that to NOVA, where rooms are mostly over $100 a night. If you want to be near the event, you are paying at least $150. The BAO is very pricy, I have spent over $400 a night for a room in SF.

3) Meals are cheaper in Las Vegas as well. Go into any cafe in Las Vegas and ask for the gambler's special. It's usually not on the menu, but it's priced at $7.77. The type of meal varies based on the cafe, but it's usually good. In DC, we normally pay at least $15 for a meal. Beer can cost a lot too, compared to Vegas where you can sometimes get free beer for playing video poker. Then there's In And Out - we don't have that on the East Coast, the fast food choices out west tend to be slightly healthier and less expensive.

4) Entrance fees are what they are. No deals to be had.

5) The cost of transporting your army can be high. If you are willing to wait for it to arrive and pack it well, you can ship a sizeable amount of models via FedEx for under $60 with ground shipping. Something to remember - FedEx charges more if you drop your stuff off at a store. Have them come pick it up and enjoy a discount. If you get a shipping account with them, which you can get for free by calling, the discount runs between 25% and 33% if they pick it up.

6) I noticed a lot of people share rooms at events. Totally fine to do with a friend, but realize sometimes people have horror stories coming out of these situations with people they don't know. It can range from simple stuff like people snoring to someone going through your models when you aren't looking. Consider AirBnB if you are going to room with strangers and make sure everyone has their own room.

No limits, just so long as the Mrs doesn't find out!

It really depends on a number of things.

For a GT, you can get by pretty cheap if it is close to home, just badge, gas and food so maybe $100-$120. If it is further away and you are staying over night, maybe $200-300, double that if it requires a plane flight.

A multiple day convention again depends on distance, but assuming travel and hotel $1000, unless you are splitting costs, at which point maybe half that. The multiple day thing really ups the cost. Say you go to NOVA for the whole event you are looking at coming in on Wednesday, probably eating at least 1 meal out, and hotel that night, and heading home at best Sunday (I have left Monday when I went because I did not want to have to drive home after a day at the convention) So you have 4 nights in the hotel so that's ~$400 + say $50 a day for food and drinks, so another $200. Plus spending at vendors, badge another $200 + travel. Puts you at around $1000. If you split a room it knocks that down quite a bit. Especially if you split it more than 2 ways.

Most of the below is excluding food and game/model/vendor purchases except where otherwise noted.

2013 I fronted the money for our entire four man team to go to Adepticon, and they later paid me back in full. Total trip (entry fee and hotel, excluding travel money as that was done in cash ad-hoc) was only about $400 or so. I drove, everyone else chipped in probably a total $100 for cash/fare not accounted for there. My ledger says $822, but as I look at the items on the list, that's because people bummed money off me for forgeworld stuff. Looks like they shelled out for their own badges too though, probably because they had to be bought before hand. My actual cost was about $150 or so, but this was also at the Red Roof inn or some other budget hotel.

2013 Gencon we did on the cheap. It looks like it was about $209 for me, and I chipped in for my roommate (paid back again later) for the hotel. I think he drove for that one as I was having some issues with my cruise control at the time, and I did the chipping in for gas part, though I don't have that recorded. I recall we got a budget place some 10 miles out and drove in every day. Cheap, but a PITA when you're hungover from partying.

2014 We stayed in the Easy Stay America or whatever it was called. Nicer place, closer, about the same price. About 152 per person, travel not included. I got everyone's badges that time to make sure they got bought (there was last minute strees last time), but everyone got their own FW and other stuff when we were at the vendors.

2014 Gencon is conspicuously lacking records. Not sure what to make of that. I was pretty good about tracking that stuff for the duration as other people owed me money throughout it.

2015 Gencon I crashed in a hotel adjacent to the convention center (it's the way to go if you can afford it). Drove with one of the other guys in exchange for half gas, parking fee, and putting up with him the entire trip there. Badge/hotel/tickets ran me $378.

2016 Gencon I took my girlfriend with me and we did basically the same thing I did the year before but with her as well. Total cost for tickets/hotel/badge was about $600. The hotel was split between more people, so we overall got less that double price on it.

That being said, it gets pricey when you eat out all the time and buy a bunch of stuff and everything. That last year between the two of us, we probably spend $1500 total that Gencon. It was also our big vacation for the year. I guess it depends on your priorities and what you're willing to spend. Come 2018, I might load up on my backpacking gear and roleplay as a homeless guy and see how far that gets me.


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Seriously though, someone should probably write an article from the point of view of a space hobo about how to do Gencon the cheapest and laziest possible way one can. Looking back on the numbers, none of it was ever really that expensive at face value. It's only when you consider the $60 for a game here, $40 for a model there, and $30 for a meal and a beer there that it gets pricey. I think I could do it astonishingly cheap nowadays if I brought backpacking style meals, went to the hotel to make them, brought my own booze, and in general maybe went out for a night out on town once for the duration.

Maybe that's what I'll do come 2018.

One year I did Gen Con Milwaukee on $80 for the whole weekend, I had a free badge and then slept in the open gaming hall hobo style and a night in my car. I saw other people trying to do the same or trying to sleep on the street on in the parks which I wouldn't suggest. Only money I spent was on gas, food and parking. I "lost" my ticket for the parking lot so I was only charged for a single full day of parking instead of four. I really can't advise trying to recreate that, but if you are tight with spending you can do Gen Con fairly cheaply. With a hotel room split with friends, badge, transportation and a normal expectation of comfort you can probably get by on $400-$500, if you can manage $1,000 you will have some money to drop on some gaming items and a couple of nice meals and a better room. The only thing you want to do is book that room way in advance as most places are booked full within minutes of the tickets going on sale which is many months in advance (8-ish?) What you do there also impacts what you need to set aside, if you plan on drinking all weekend then your budget goes way up as most of the nearby bars are expensive. (unless it's small town event)

Adepticon is pretty much in the same vein, I think it tends to be a bit cheaper since it's not situated right in downtown Indy so there's more options for good food that isn't quite as expensive as downtown proper. I prefer Adepticon over Gen Con since it's almost exclusively focused on miniatures. If you prefer a broader mix of gaming then Gen Con or Origins are probably a bit more preferable.

It all depends on how you want to approach the trip and how you regulate your spending, there's very little reason to buy product at the conventions as there's not any major discounts on stuff and the only reward is getting new releases a couple weeks ahead of time but that allure has faded a lot for me and I'd rather save money and get stuff online later. If you're driving you can also bring some of your own food which helps cut costs but then go out for a couple nice meals for balance. Be tactful with your spending and you can have a great time without a huge budget so go in armed with a spending plan in advance and stick to it.

These responses are epic.

I'll try and keep each trip under 1000 and budget drinks accordingly for a three day event with flight

One trip a year or I'll do 2-3 road trips with friends like Gencon and it's on the cheap!


Gencon and Historicon was around $200~
Grand Tournaments Chicago/Baltimore back 5+ years ago - around $500 each
Da Boyz/Nova $700~ each
Throne of Skulls Vegas $1000+ are i p

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Times I have went to vegas its like 1000$ or much when it comes to gas/hotel/con entrance/hookers/spending money

Flight + Hotel not on the strip ran me 500 coming from the east cost. Vegas for a three or four day is cheap until you add in the extras. Tickets? 100 or so generally. The issue is when food, drinks, going out were $150-200 each day. No blow hookers or anything like that, just mixed drinks and a eating out a few times a day.

I think the cheapest I managed was Salute in a day; train leaves Glasgow at 4 am, return train gets back in at 11 pm. About £120 in travel costs.