Up late talking games & writing? You're...: Portland Retro gaming Expo

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Portland Retro gaming Expo - 2014

The Portland @RetroGamingExpo took place this weekend in the city's convention center. I’ve attended with the fam for the past few years, and it's been a great experience every time. I’m happy to report that his one was no different.

Since it’s smaller and in a different city, the PRGE is a great counterpoint to PAX Prime because the crowd is less dense and more laid-back. In general, everyone seems more easy-going, and there’s a stronger hang-out vibe. It's also pretty easy to bring kids… Not only will they have enough room to walk around without getting trampled by the crowd, it's not tough to snag them some time on the various free-play arcade machines and pinball tables.

Also, of particular note this year was how many vendors there were. Although I don't have hard numbers, it definitely felt like the arts and crafts/used games area was much bigger than last time, and there were some pretty phenomenal things to buy. I didn't spend a lot of time combing through the older titles (my backlog is plenty big enough, thanks) but I did buy several pieces of really awesome artwork, and I'm just so impressed by the talent there every year.

All in all, it's a great show and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who’s in the Pacific Northwest and has even a passing interest in old-school video games. It's one of the high points of the year as far as I'm concerned, and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Caution: Pictorial approaching!!

This costume was fantastic. The kid inside said it was hot as hell, though.

A view of the arts/crafts/used games area. It actually extended pretty far back.

Want to make your own drink-table arcade machine? You can find the materials here.

Just a *tiny* fraction of the vast array of old-school stuff for sale.

Read it closely. This booth had a ton of flasks, all disguised as semi-familiar NES carts.

R2-D2 makes an appearance every year.

This time, R2 brought a friend.

The second some of this perler bead artwork goes on sale, I''m buying it so hard.

This lineup of arcade machines was just a part of what was set for freeplay.

And here's just a portion of the pinball tables. Also freeplay!

My son's still too short to reach the gas in SF Rush, So I lent him a hand. Er, a foot.

An awesome poster I snagged from Artist's Alley. From what I was told,
it's a quasi-reproduction of a movie poster, and the artist didn't have a card on hand. = (