With Indianapolis' 1.9 million-sq.-ft. facility and six attaching hotels, a return to Milwaukee seems unlikely. "(It would take) another 100,000 square feet and two hotels like the Hilton," says Adkison. It's hard not to see Adkison's point: By Friday afternoon the escalators, packed with attendees, were routinely breaking down. Games and demonstrations were filled up often and early, while a large crowd was turned away from Saturday's high-profile costume contest at the Hyatt due to fire codes.

With a return to Milwaukee seemingly out of the question, there is an issue of sentimentality. Founded by the Lake Geneva-based creators of the Dungeons & Dragons game, Gen Con was summarily sold to TSR, which was acquired by Seattle-based Wizards of the Coast in 1997.

Though thoroughly saturated with southeastern Wisconsin history, reaction to the convention's leaving is mixed. Says Klingon Ben Moore, a convention circuit veteran attending his first Gen Con, "I have no reaction... absolutely none. It's my first time here, and I have no emotional ties to the city."

Even chatty Klingon warriors have few attachments.

Others are less ambivalent about the move. Brian Chase, roaming the con dressed as a mad scientist, is part of a role-playing group that travels from convention to convention throughout the year.

"I've been coming here for fifteen years, and I'll miss seeing it every year. It's a nice, clean city and it was always fun to walk around downtown."

Mason Booker, an aspiring filmmaker putting together a documentary about Gen Con's last days, was one of several film crews on the premises.

"It really disturbs me," says Booker, a Washington, D.C.-based Marquette graduate. "I went to school here specifically to go to Gen Con. With it leaving, it's like it lessens the gaming culture. I'm trying to capture that moment, because I have a vague fear that the move will turn it into a different kind of convention."

Adkison has no such fears. "No regrets. This is what the situation is and we're just going to go ahead and have fun in Indianapolis."

Sunday afternoon, when 4 o'clock rolled around, the exhibit hall closed and the usual announcement that "This concludes the 35th Annual Gen Con Game Fair..." came on to large cheers from the floor; the announcement of next year's dates in Indianapolis was met with considerably less and scattershot applause.

With its final day behind it, Gen Con quietly left Milwaukee.