Con of the Rings Attendance Info

Time and Location

Con of the Rings 2024 will take place October 4-October 6. As usual, it will take place at a reserved event space at Gamezenter in Roseville, Minnesota. Gamezenter is the premier place to game in the upper Midwest. It features craft beer on tap, a game library, and most importantly, a spacious event area that has been reserved for us Lord of the Rings players. The convention hours are as follows:

Friday, October 4th: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Saturday, October 5th: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
- An off-site party will follow Saturday evening at 7 p.m.
Sunday, October 6th: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

NOTE: All times listed are subject to change due to the Gamezenter hours of availability.

Gamezenter
1975 County Road B2 West
Roseville, MN 55113

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Quest Extravaganza

Every year we focus on a few cycles worth of LotR content in order to highlight a rotating variety of quests. For the 2024 event we are focusing on the LotR Saga once again! If you own this content, please bring your copies of the saga quests, including the POD’s (The Old Forest, Fog on the Barrow-downs) and ALeP’s Scouring of the Shire.

Travel and the Surrounding Area

The convention takes place in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area, 9.5 miles from the state capitol and 8 miles from downtown Minneapolis. The nearest airport is the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airpot (MSP), located approximately 20 miles away from the convention. MSP is a major hub for Delta and Sun Country airlines.

There is no direct mass transit link between the airport and the convention location. Travel by rental car, taxi, or ride service is simple and efficient.

For those who want to visit downtown Minneapolis or Saint Paul there are electric train lines (Blue Line / Green Line) that run directly from the airport into the cities. For further mass transit information, visit MetroTransit.

If you’re looking for some great thing to do in the area, please check out our community’s “Guide to the Twin Cities“.

Lodging

The convention is adjacent to several reasonable motels and hotels. Con of the Rings recommends the DoubleTree Hotel Minneapolis/St. Paul North, which we have set up a hotel block with. The DoubleTree is within walking distance to the event, about .5 miles / .8 km, and includes breakfast vouchers. Here is the 2024 hotel block: https://www.hilton.com/en/book/reservation/deeplink/?ctyhocn=MSPACDT&groupCode=CDTCOR&arrivaldate=2024-10-03&departuredate=2024-10-06&cid=OM,WW,HILTONLINK,EN,DirectLink&fromId=HILTONLINKDIRECT

Signature Event: Group Extravaganza

Have you ever wanted to battle the forces of Mordor by land and by sea? Join the fellowship and we shall wage war together!

Over the course of Con of the Rings, all attendees are encouraged to work together to complete two entire game cycles plus several print-on-demand quests. Teams will strive to complete quests that the larger fellowship has not yet defeated in order to chip away at this monumental task. Do not fret, you can come and go from the fellowship as you please throughout the weekend.

Teams will not be working in isolation! A central board will track the defeat of each quest. All attendees may gaze into the Palantír and know how the greater campaign is faring. There will be specific times where any interested will work together to overcome the most perilous quests in the extravaganza. These “climactic quests” will have a set start time to increase camaraderie among the fellowship.

The ultimate goal is to defeat all 20 quests as a collective. However, our children will tell campfire tales that fondly remember those whose cunning, bravery, and foolhardiness shone the brightest. Groups that succeed in fighting back the forces of Sauron throughout the quests while accomplishing specific achievements shall be rewarded! Those rewards include a bard song and, more importantly, entries into regular drawings for amazing prizes.

The Extravaganza chart tracks the attendees’ progress throughout the weekend.

Swag, Prizes, and Merchandise

Each attendee who purchases a ticket will receive a gift for attending, designed and manufactured specifically for the event. This “swag” cannot be purchased anywhere else and you will not want to miss out. If there are extra copies of swag at the convention’s conclusion, Con of the Rings staff will sell these to attendees Sunday afternoon.

In addition to the swag, each attendee who purchases a ticket will be eligible for the regular prize drawings. Additional entries to the drawings may be earned by accomplishing achievements, which will be revealed during the convention. Achievements are usually (though not always) related to defeating Group Extravaganza quests in an interesting/unique fashion.

Regarding prize drawings, every few hours Con of the Rings staff will randomly select a number of winners. The winners will be able to pick a prize from the expansive prize pool. Prizes may include gift cards to Gamezenter, nightmare packs, playmats, alternate-art heroes, and much, much more. Attendees must be present at the time of the drawing to win.

Other Events

Con of the Rings also features other incredible events: (More information to come for this year!)

Draft Play: A unique draft format will be available all weekend, in which 2-4 players can easily create draft decks via mobile device and then try out their new decks on any quest that’s available. If you want to help the community build out the card pool for this draft, head over to our draft page for more information.
Off-Site Party: There will be space reserved at a local establishment on Saturday evening for everyone to enjoy a night out with food, drink, and party games late into the night.
Gamezenter Library: If a break from Lord of the Rings is needed, feel free to peruse the Gamezenter’s vast collection of 400+ games and choose one to play with other attendees.
Attendee-run events: Attendees will be running their own events in this space, some directly related to LOTR:LCG, some not. If you would like permission and space to run an event, please email the team.

Community Visitor’s Guide

One of our very own Con members, @nbonnem, has created an amazing visitor’s guide to the Twin Cities which you can check out here.

Guidelines for Attendees

All attendees are customers of the Gamezenter and all customer guidelines apply. This includes NO outside food or drink or third-party transactions.
The convention planning team reserves the right to remove an attendee for 1) violating any local laws or facility rules, 2) failing to comply with the instructions of convention or Gamezenter staff, 3) endangering the physical or emotional safety of oneself or others, 4) threatening, stealing, cheating, or harassing others, or 5) failing to follow common-sense guidelines for mature conduct. When in doubt, conduct yourself as Samwise Gamgee would.
On Friday, the Gamezenter lot is very full to accommodate Asmodee North America employees, so please park across the street in the Salvation Army overflow lot as needed. On Saturday and Sunday, please park in the Gamezenter lot, paying very close attention to the signs. The parking lot can be confusing, and we owe is to the Gamezenter and its neighbors to be good patrons. Please double-check your parking spot.