QuakeCon 2025 Part 3: LineCon®

Every year the beast that is LineCon® changes a little bit, and usually for the better based on my experiences. When you’ve got nearly four thousand people checking in not only themselves but expensive gear ranging from a handheld to a $10,000+ water cooled mega tower there’s always room for some kind of logistical improvement. But before I get into that, I’ll preface this with my thanks to the staff and volunteers that always seem to increase in number every year and make these positive changes possible.

The first big change was the check-in line was now completely contained within the Gaylord atrium. That’s a massive relief for those that in the past have had to wait outside the front door to the hotel (not the convention center) in the blistering Texas heat. I’ve never once joined the line so late that this happened to me, but it’s been close a few times. My working theories are that enough attendees complained about the heat but I also equally believe the Gaylord itself asked QuakeCon to fix the line so that it doesn’t clog up the lobby for hotel check-in. We may be many, but we’re hardly the only ones staying at the Gaylord Texan, so I imagine the less of us with a mountain of computer gear that hotel guests and staff have to navigate around the better. I know I’m speculating, but these are my educated guesses. But here’s a visual aid of the old vs new lines:

Going by the timestamps of my photos we got in line just before 7PM and finally entered the BYOC about 3.5 hours later. Last year held the record for how fast we got into the BYOC, but honestly I’m not upset about this year not matching that. When running the math joining the line much earlier in the day might result in us getting into the BYOC earlier, but we’d be spending that much more time waiting for the line to start moving in the first place. LineCon® has never started early in the day, so it’s not like an expo convention where the doors open first thing in the morning and everyone floods in. LineCon®, logistically speaking, is about getting your gear into the event space before the actual start of the event, that way the first day isn’t completely used up in just getting in, which was the case with a number of the QuakeCons before my time where they were entirely a first-come first-serve basis and no reservations. But I digress a little bit, the overall point I’m trying to make with my engineer brain is that the sweet spot for us is spending a little more time in a moving line rather than more time in a line that won’t start moving for several hours. I tip my invisible hat to those that spend the whole day in LineCon® because that is something for which I simply don’t have the patience, even if I were socializing the whole time. There really is no rush for me to get in there, so I don’t, which is great because then it’s a chill day and we can basically do whatever, including getting a good dinner, before heading over to get in line.

Unlike last year though, we didn’t make it as close to the atrium exit. Right about where the last green arrow I drew in the map above is where we started, which was right outside the Texan Station in the atrium.

If memory serves, I think we waited all of maybe ten minutes before the line started moving and about thirty seconds after that a waifu showed up. :P

I stopped taking photos for a bit to socialize with the people near me in line. Always love meeting and talking with my fellow gamers. :)

Eventually we came across a dry ager built into the wall that was loaded with prime rib tomahawks (I’m just guessing based on a Google search). I think this was near the Old Hickory steakhouse restaurant that resides on the line’s path as it goes through the outer hall of the atrium. I do enjoy steak but I’ve never head a tomahawk before. That said I can only imagine how much these cost. Actually scratch that, I don’t. Maybe once I have income again I’ll look it up. :P

JayneLane was definitely interested, and so was I if I’m honest

Where the outer atrium hallway connected to the entrance hall to the convention center was the fountain that at least pre-COVID had the dual “Q” symbol spotlights shining on the floor. I haven’t seen them since the 2019 event and every year I’m always saddened by their absence. The same is true with the trains set up near the main lobby in the atrium. Well next year is the 30th anniversary, maybe they’ll pull out a few stops and make things a little more like old times? I’d certainly endorse that. Anyway, enough negativity!

It took us a little over an hour to reach the convention center entrance hall and then about another 45 minutes to reach the security checkpoint. We saw the Portal gun and Companion Cube rolling through, and those were very nicely done. The cube was definitely a LAN rig, but I couldn’t tell with the Portal Gun. I also didn’t think to find out once the BYOC was in full swing, so I’ll have to try to remember that for next year if I see it. I was also pleased to see the correct banners displayed for us this year. Sorry Chili’s but your managers’ convention ranks MUCH lower than the Woodstock of video gaming!

Once past the metal detectors at security I was presented with a nice big sign that listed the sponsors for QuakeCon this year.

The final stretch is what always seems to take the longest since the finish line is so close and teases you. But sadly there’s no way around it: checking in a person and multiple pieces of gear takes time no matter how many people are staffing the lines. But that said if you talk to some of the veterans that have been going for much longer than I, they will tell you stories of the early gear registration days. It took us a little over another hour to get through the final leg but there weren’t any snags or problems. The process was the same as previous years: register yourself using your ticket confirmation QR code, ID to verify, and then you get a badge and lanyard. For gear check-in they stuck barcodes on your primary gear pieces like computer tower and monitor, laptop, handheld (they apparently once or twice tagged everything including keyboards and mice before my time), scanned those in and tied them to your ID in the system, and then there were a bunch of tables set up at the back wall for t-shirt pickup. And with that, LineCon® 2025 was over, but the night wasn’t over yet. This year QuakeCon added a group buy option for BYOC tickets that included Stay and Play where we paid a little extra (like $20 if memory serves) to be allowed to stay after dropping our gear off at our seats. We didn’t stay the whole night though, after all we had Pelican cases and monitor boxes with us. We stayed maybe an hour and opted to call it there. Plenty of people did spend the whole night though, but between the stuff we needed to get back to the hotel and that we were already tired from LineCon®, it didn’t make any sense to push through the night. I am getting older though, so I’m sure that’s a factor…

But the important thing is we made it, had no problems, and we couldn’t wait for the next morning.

Next post on QuakeCon Day 1 coming very soon. See you next time.