In other words any thoughts to what the cutoff point is for a hotel lottery time to be considered "bad"? Around what time did they start vanishing last year?


Depends on the year. Usually 3 hours within the start time is a good chance.
But I've seen years where they were gone within the first hour, and some odd years they have lasted up to 5 hours. But if you get something within the first 3 hours, you should stand a good shot at one.

I would concur with gib on this with one caveat. If you're looking for a room with one bed (i.e. a king) those tend to last a bit longer. If you need two beds in a room...you're always taking a chance with the Gen Con housing lottery.

But I've seen years where they were gone within the first hour, and some odd years they have lasted up to 5 hours. But if you get something within the first 3 hours, you should stand a good shot at one.
IIRC, the one hour (more like 90 minutes) one was when the slots were packed into something like 1-minute intervals (i.e. some people got noon slots, some got 12:01, some got 12:02, and so on). Now, they are more spread out, which is why it takes longer for them to fill.
Note that this forum and the Fans of GenCon page on Faebook usually keep an up-to-date list on what downtown hotels still have 2-queen and 1-king rooms available as the day progresses.

Last year, downtown rooms sold out at 3:55pm. Access times were much more spread out last year compared to prior years though. I'm not sure if they'll again change the spread this year.
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Alec Usticke, Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group

Also, as other threads like this say elsewhere on this forum - and every year - Gen Con is a fantastic experience whether your hotel is downtown or not. If you don't get a downtown hotel, don't let that sour you on Gen Con.
Demand *far* outstrips supply for downtown hotels.

If I could play devil's advocate for a minute...
You shouldn't even bother if you don't get a DT room. I mean do you REALLY want to put up with all that extra effort to get back and forth from the outskirts of town? And then if you are in a group its even worse! I mean everyone who doesn't get a DT room should just stay home. You only go to Gen Con to be in DT Indy anyway.
(waits to see if reverse psychology works)

I got 1:13pm, that's a decent time isn't it?

yes 1:13 is a solid time, if the times are spread out like they were last year, as downtown rooms did not sell out till around 4:00pm if however the times are closer together they have sold out as quickly as 1:00pm in the past. but even then I believe generally 1:30pm is when they would sell out.

I got 6:55pm :[

I need to find someone to let my wife and I tag along! :D