My National Recap- Day 2

messier2 · 07-31-2025, 08:47 PM

Day 1 was the appetizer

Day 2 was the start of main course!

My plan was to get some breakfast at Starbucks before they opened VIP access, so I headed there and arrived at around 7:30. Starbucks opened at 8 so I had to wait around in the lobby. Love seeing everyone up early (yes, this is early for most people!) and ready with their Zion cases to get the day started!

8 am came and got my breakfast order in and was done with that. I headed in straight to BGS to drop off my GCR (unsuccessful result, as expected), then headed to walk the floor.

Here are my tidbits from day 2:

* I feel like it was just slightly more people than day 1. A little more crowded in high traffic areas, but not too bad.

* The upstairs was an absolute nightmare! Belly to belly, butt to butt, elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder, etc. You guys get the picture, absolute madness up there! I'm hoping someone with maybe half a brain can figure out how they can expand the area where there is so much space on both sides! This is an absolute disservice to the dealers where many attendees have already proclaimed that they will NOT go up there again because of the tight space (me included)! Something has to be done...

* I picked out my favorite areas where they had most of the types of cards I am looking for. I'm a basketball prospector, so happy to look for my guys for this upcoming season. The two areas are the ones by the BGS booth and by the back of the room...by the Blowout booth in the small square area. So, I will be hanging out there often.

* Trade night set up was also very rough. Wrist bands and lots of waiting outside! I'm not a trade-night guy, so I had already planned to skip it. The lines were insane!

One tip for you guys: A few booths have constantly updating inventory. Make sure to hang out there a lot. New cards were being added every few minutes...makes for great opportunities to snag a card at a great price!

Those booth are CardsHQ and Dave & Adam's!

Anyway, resting my tired feet now! Hope everyone had a great second day! Let's do it again tomorrow!

NickyCards · 07-31-2025, 10:09 PM

Not sure why they made the upstairs so tight when you can easily fit hundreds of more tables

hammerva · 07-31-2025, 10:15 PM

Especially when there is nothing else up there. even if you include the middle part dealing with tickets and other stuff, you still have 50 to 60% free space

07-31-2025, 08:47 PM	#1
messier2 Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 15,295	My National Recap- Day 2 Day 1 was the appetizer Day 2 was the start of main course! My plan was to get some breakfast at Starbucks before they opened VIP access, so I headed there and arrived at around 7:30. Starbucks opened at 8 so I had to wait around in the lobby. Love seeing everyone up early (yes, this is early for most people!) and ready with their Zion cases to get the day started! 8 am came and got my breakfast order in and was done with that. I headed in straight to BGS to drop off my GCR (unsuccessful result, as expected), then headed to walk the floor. Here are my tidbits from day 2: * I feel like it was just slightly more people than day 1. A little more crowded in high traffic areas, but not too bad. * The upstairs was an absolute nightmare! Belly to belly, butt to butt, elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder, etc. You guys get the picture, absolute madness up there! I'm hoping someone with maybe half a brain can figure out how they can expand the area where there is so much space on both sides! This is an absolute disservice to the dealers where many attendees have already proclaimed that they will NOT go up there again because of the tight space (me included)! Something has to be done... * I picked out my favorite areas where they had most of the types of cards I am looking for. I'm a basketball prospector, so happy to look for my guys for this upcoming season. The two areas are the ones by the BGS booth and by the back of the room...by the Blowout booth in the small square area. So, I will be hanging out there often. * Trade night set up was also very rough. Wrist bands and lots of waiting outside! I'm not a trade-night guy, so I had already planned to skip it. The lines were insane! One tip for you guys: A few booths have constantly updating inventory. Make sure to hang out there a lot. New cards were being added every few minutes...makes for great opportunities to snag a card at a great price! Those booth are CardsHQ and Dave & Adam's! Anyway, resting my tired feet now! Hope everyone had a great second day! Let's do it again tomorrow!

07-31-2025, 10:09 PM	#2
NickyCards Member Join Date: Sep 2020 Posts: 766	Not sure why they made the upstairs so tight when you can easily fit hundreds of more tables

07-31-2025, 10:15 PM	#3
hammerva Member Join Date: Aug 2021 Posts: 595	Especially when there is nothing else up there. even if you include the middle part dealing with tickets and other stuff, you still have 50 to 60% free space