Did anyone play in any games in Lucas Oil last year?  It seems like it would be a tremendous hike over there.  What was it like?  What was in there?

True Dungeon and anime were in the Lucas Oil Stadium last year. (I'm not sure if anything else.)

It's not at all far from the southeast corner of the exhibit hall, but it is a hike from the JW Marriott. Gen Con covers a lot of ground!

This year there will be games played on the field, which will be interesting.

Games on the field?!  Where did you hear that?  

The hike isn't bad - you just go down the hall from the dealer's room and you're there. I did not like it much for True Dungeon, but I'm sure it will be better set up this year now that they've done it once. 

I totally called it!  Nice.  

It seems like two of people's favorite things are the game library and the BGG hot games room.  I think GenCon should do more to encourage this.  

Ultimate dream:  use the Lucas Oil field as a gigantic game library space, and have ticketed times or a convention-long ribbon which allows open access to play games.  I think Origins has something like a game library ribbon.  Having a huge space like this dedicated just to a game library would be amazing.  

Or maybe have half of a large space as a game library, and the other half as open gaming (but still with a "looking for players" flag type system)?  That'd be so awesome. 

Nicely done, roanders.

I see that Mayfair Games also confirmed on the Gen Con Indy Facebook group that Mayfair and other exhibitors will also be holding events in Lucas Oil.

This seems like big news.  It sounds awesome to have the opportunity to play board games on the field.  I wonder if we'll be seeing it in a newsletter anytime soon?

I'm just trying to determine if having a game placed over there is a good thing, or death by isolation.  It seems like a long walk, unless there's a lot going on over there already.  Playing on the field sounds good, from a noise standpoint, although NFL stadiums are really designed to be noisy, aren't they?

As a boardgame player, it sounds like I'll spending a good amount of time at Lucas Oil.

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Reiterating - the walk to Lucas Oil is no biggie just down a hall post the dealer hall through an underground tunnel.

It's probably closer to the south east corner of the dealer hall than rooms located in the Hyatt or Marriott.
 

NASCRAG will be on the field too, this year. I think it will be great from a noise standpoint. We tend to be loud and boisterous. 

I am pretty excited for games on the field. Surprised the Colts agreed to that! lol Woo!

Well... at risk of being pedantic, the Colts don't determine who uses Lucas Oil Stadium (although quite obviously they'd be the 800lb gorilla as far as scheduling during the football season). The Capital Improvement Board of Managers of Marion County Indiana is listed as the stadium's management. I don't know if it's them or the "ICCLOS" group that actually does the day to day task of booking events. But the point is that it's not the Colts who manage it. 

Granted, without some sort of tacit approval from the Colts, Gen Con on the field of LOS would likely not happen. But back in 2009 the Colts pretty much gave general approval in an open letter to the community:

"It is also important to note that, from the very beginning, Lucas Oil Stadium was designed to be a multi-use facility to accommodate many users, not just the Colts...

... While we are immensely proud to be able to call Lucas Oil Stadium our home field, the fact of the matter is the Colts only use the stadium a maximum of nineteen days a year; and the facility is available for use by virtually anyone else the remaining 346 days."

So as long as it doesn't conflict with a home game, the Colts say 'no problem'. And to be frank, the ICCLOS would be insane to try and preempt a football game. But since this year's date won't conflict, the field is open and available. We'll have to wait and see about future dates, but 2017 is quite obviously already decided. 

Are we sure this is on the field and not just in the stadium? 

Last year there were things at Lucas Oil Stadium but they were not on the field. Does anyone have info that states on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium?

Interesting.  I hadn't considered pre-season football conflicts.  Although now that I pause to consider, I do remember it happening at least once.  The sight of all those oddly dressed folks in their blue and white costumes (not a lot of originality amongst them though.  Disappointing) was very strange.