The best deals to be found at Gen Con are not necessarily in the vendor hall. The best deals are often found at the Gen Con auction. Every year, there seem to be games that sell in the auction for as low as $1. While bidding wars can increase the price, people are generally able to score a good deal. The auction is like a game, there are winners and there are losers, and winning a round at the auction can be just as fun as winning your favorite board game.
The Gen Con auction is exactly what its name implies – it’s an auction where people bid against each other and the person bidding the highest amount wins*. Anyone with a Gen Con badge can enter the auction room and participate within the action. If you decide you want to bid, you’ll need to purchase a Bidder card for $1. Once you have the card, when an item is presented to be sold, you simply hold up your card and you are bidding! You only need one card, and you keep it for the entire conference.
Gen Con Newbie Tip: Bidder cards are $1.00 and you only need one. Once you win an item, you are expected to go pay for it at that time. If you plan to spend a lot at the auction, you can place a “tab deposit” of $50 and get a card that will let you wait to pay for your items until you are ready to leave. The $50 is non-refundable but counts as credit for items purchased. If you are planning to spend $50 in the auction, then it is nice to be able to pay all at once instead of after each won item.
The auction is running at the following times:
- Thursday – 10:00am to 11:00pm
- Friday – 10 am to 11:00pm
- Saturday – Regular auction: 10am to 7:00pm
- Saturday – Charity auction: 7:00pm to 11:00pm or until it is over
The auction, like the consignment store, is not open on Sunday.
What’s Being Sold
Specific items are sold at various times. A few sessions are posted now as listed below, but most won’t be finalized until near the start of Gen Con when the auction knows what items they have to sell. For example, most days start with the first hour being board games, often family games. Additionally, Saturday from 4 to 7 (the last regular session before the charity auction) is the TOVA session – Toys, oddities, video games, and art (This session can be a lot of fun).
The items being sold range from ventage used to new. There are classic items as well as hard-to-find items. Many things will range from brand new to quite old. There are always interesting things to be seen though.
The auction is organized so that similar items are sold during the same time period. There will be numerous sessions selling board games. There will also be sessions selling miniatures, war games, D&D books, crowdfunded games, collectable cards, and much more. The tentative schedule at the time this was written included the following sessions:
Thursday (10 am – 11pm)
| 10:00 am | Board Games: General |
| 12:00 pm | TBD |
| 1:00 pm | TBD |
| 2:00 pm | TBD |
| 4:00 pm | TBD |
| 5:00 pm | TBD |
| 6:00 pm | TBD |
| 7:00 pm | TBD |
| 8:00 pm | Sailing the Seas of Crowdfunding (Large box/lot items) |
Friday (10 am – 11 pm)
| 10:00 am | Board Games: General |
| 11:00 am | TBD |
| 12:00 pm | TBD |
| 1:00 pm | TBD |
| 2:00 pm | Miniatures: Pre-painted |
| 3:00 pm | Miniatures: Unpainted |
| 5:00 pm | Games Workshop |
| 6:00 pm | Miniatures: Painted |
| 7:00 pm | TBD |
| 8:00 pm | Collector Section |
Saturday (10 am – 11 pm)
| 10:00 am | Board Games: General |
| 11:00 am | Board Games: Train Games and General |
| 12:00 pm | Collectible Card and Dice Games |
| 1:00 pm | TBD |
| 2:00 pm | TBD |
| 3:00 pm | Any Game that Still Remains (before TOVA) |
| 4:00 pm | TOVA (Toys, Oddities, Videogames, Art) |
| 7:00 pm | Charity Section (including Ace of Aces) |
These same session lists will be posted outside of the auction during Gen Con so that you can see the latest updates and any timing changes.
The Location of the Auction
The Gen Con auction is located by the consignment store on the second floor of the Marriott – the regular Marriott, not the JW Marriott. You can get there by crossing the walkway near the food court on the north side of the convention center. Once entering the Marriott, proceed forward, take a left, then take a right. This will put you at the entrance to the Marriott Ballrooms 5-6, which will be on your right. The first entrance is the consignment store, which might have a line. The second is for the auction where you can walk right in.
The Gen Con Charity Auction
The last session of the Gen Con auction is the Charity Auction that happens starting at about 7:00pm on Saturday until it is over (target of 11:00, but that doesn’t always happen). This auction is when you are less likely to get the best deal, but that is because all proceeds from this part of the auction go directly to the Gen Con sponsored charities. As such, it is hoped that bidders will pay a little more since it is for a good cause. Even so, you can still get fantastic deals during the charity auction.
The charity auction has a large variety of items ranging form hand painted figurines to many of the new games being sold in the vendor hall. In fact, many of the vendors donate copies of their games to the charity auction. There are also novelty and other items.
This year’s Gen Con charities are Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) and Super Heroines, Etc., so all proceeds of the auction will be split between them. Last year’s charities were Women4Change and Brown Toy Box Foundation. They each received $12,600 as a result of the Gen Con auction alone.
Gen Con Newbie Tip: The charity auction is popular as is TOVA. For the charity auction, you often need to get there early if you hope to get a seat. Of course, standing is permitted as long as you aren’t blocking bidders.
Entertainment: TOVA and the Charity
While this is a standard auction, it is not standard in that the auctioneers really try to make the auction fun and entertaining. The more interesting times to be entertained by the auction is Saturday from 4:00 to 7:00pm and even more so during the charity auction. These are the times you can find the most interesting items to buy. Plus, these are the times when it can get a bit silly – especially during the charity auction. It is all done with a fun push toward supporting the charities.
Putting Items in the Auction
The auction is open for anyone to submit items for sale. Items need to fit within one of the categories and items must be approved in advance. This includes various types of games, gaming accessories, spare parts, rulebooks, adventures, figures, paints, collectible cards, video games, computer games, and more. Related items such as Star Trek and Star Wars memorabilia, toys, artworks, and of course comic books can be a part of a game auction also.
Per the auction, “As a general rule they do not accept food or living beings of any sort, Humanoid or otherwise.” There are a few restrictions ant Gen Con, which are no real Weapons (boffers are okay), no porn, and (stating the obvious) no mildewed items.
Items to be auctioned are registered online at https://livegameauctions.com/overview before the auction. For this year’s auction (2026), items need to be registered by July 19th (this isa week earlier than the consignment store deadline).
If you have items accepted to be placed in the auction, you will have to drop them off on (generally Wednesday or Thursday). At that time you will pay a tag fee of $3.00 per item of which you will get back $1 if the item sells. In addition to the tag fee, you’ll also pay a 15% auction commission.
For example, if your item sells for $10, then you will owe an auction commission of 15% which is $1.50. Your total cost would end up being the $2 tag fee, plus the commission for a total of $3.50. Your net take would be $6.50. Sell a $20 item, your net would be $15 ($2 tag + 15% – $3.00, total fee of $5.00). Sell an item for $50, your net would be $40.50 ($2 tag + 15% – $7.50, for total fee of $9.50).
If you are selling an item, you can add a reserve price, which is the minimum price you’ll allow it to sell for. If the reserve isn’t met, you can opt to get the item back on Sunday or you can have it moved to the consignment store to be offered at the reserve price.
Gen Con Newbie Tip: If you are going to sell something with a high reserve price that has a good chance of not being met, then you are better to just put the item into the consignment store for the lower tag fee ($1) and lower commission (10%).
If you have an that you want to sell for more than $100, you cannot use the consignment store, so your only option is the auction.
Parting Thoughts
This post skims over the details of the auction. To learn more, you can go to the Big Mallet Auction site. It contains details not only on timing and schedules, but also on registering items. It is where you register items. You can find their FAQ page at FAQ – Gen Con – Big Mallet Auctions (https://livegameauctions.com/faq/)
Like the vendor hall and the consignment store, for any Gen Con newbies, the Gen Con auction is an event worth taking a few minutes to stop by and see what is happening. Beyond having a Gen Con badge, there is no cost to enter and if it isn’t crowded there are chairs so you can sit. For the most entertainment value, TOVA and the charity auction on Saturday can be a lot of fun to be a part of.
Gen Con Newbie Tip: If you have a bidder card, you can actually bid while shopping in the consignment store. You simply have to be watching the auction as you shop and you might have to make some noise as you wave your bidder card.
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