Pics from Gen Con 2026

I spent a few hours in and around the Indiana Convention Center (ICC) the day before Gen Con 2026 opens, and I thought I'd share a few pics, keeping my commentary short so that I won't look like a red-eyed demon for my appointments on Thursday.

I wrote about the Whisperstone RPG after getting a glimpse of it at Gen Con 2025, and now publisher Flatout Games is showing a more robust version of this puzzle-based RPG at Gen Con 2026 during a media event.

Nicholas Trahan originated this design and has been working on it since 2022, with the design team also including Molly Johnson, Lucile Leca, Sen-Foong Lim, Dylan Mangini, Robert Melvin, Andromeda Pendragon, Aaron Russin, Shawn Stankewich, Emily Vincent, and Rhi Wynter.

Whisperstone is designed to be an RPG for those who are RPG-curious but don't have experienced game masters to introduce them to game systems. As you explore a point-and-click-style map, the adventure master will read sections of the story and present you with challenges that are part of an overall story. You might pick up items, coins, and more, placing those items in the cardboard frame that represents your backpack. If an item doesn't fit, you can't carry it!

You also have a basic character at the beginning of play, and you can jigsaw clothing, weapons, and more onto your character. If it fits, it sits...so to speak. As you adjust your character, you can gain dice to help your attempts to use magic and other skills.

The mock-up box above is likely to be larger than the finished product, but it will fit hundreds of cardboard components and jigsaw pieces in it that flesh out the adventure. Additional adventures will be available for the system, with Flatout currently expecting to crowdfund Whisperstone in early 2027 ahead of a late 2027 release.

Another future Flatout Games release is Emily Vincent's Perennial, which is a puzzle-style game you'd expect to see from this design studio.

In a round, you're going to draft one of the four tools from the shared board, then remove five tiles from the market in the shape of that tool, with at least one of those tiles being on the grid edge adjacent to the tool. Refill the grid and put out a new tool, with each player taking two tools and ten tiles.

You'll then assemble those ten tiles in the shape of those two tools, then fit them into your garden. Sometimes you want large groups of flowers, sometimes a variety of flowers adjacent to a greenhouse. Animal tiles score for flowers in rows, columns, and surrounding tiles of the appropriate type. By covering seeds, you can then spend them for bonuses, such as extra tiles or the removal of rocks to make room for future planting.

Flatout plans to crowdfund Perennial in September 2026 for an anticipated Gen Con 2027 debut.

In a display case outside the exhibit hall, Restoration Games showed mock-up components for The Lord of the Rings: The King's Gambit, which it plans to crowdfund in 2026 for release in 2027. [Disclosure: Restoration Games advertises on Board Game Beat.]

That is a massive spread across two shelves that are more than two feet long, a foot deep, and a foot tall. Ideally the publisher has a more representative layout in its booth. We'll see...

In another display case, Incredible Dream Studios showed off elements of its new edition of Mechs vs. Minions, as well as its Bandle City Edition of the game that features the same gameplay, but "reimagined for a new generation of players", in the words of Incredible Dream's Jane Hoffacker. [Disclosure: Incredible Dream has also advertised on Board Game Beat.]

Sick of the new games being shown at Gen Con 2026? On Friday, July 31, allplay, Bitewing Games, Cardboard Alchemy, Druid City Games, and other alphabetically organized publishers will participate in a "Mega Announcement Showcase" event in which they'll reveal upcoming games.

Builders were already at work in Cardhalla on Wednesday night, laying the groundwork for four more days of construction.

The food court on the east side of the ICC featured a vending machine filled with two dozen decks of Bicycle-brand cards, along with a few card games. I don't recall seeing one of these at a previous Gen Con, but an even more appropriate place for such a machine might be, say, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport so that delayed passengers can find something to do with their time...not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything.

My hotel has food, water, and cat toys outside the front door. Alas, I spotted no cats while walking around the building.