I’m sure you’ve all heard of the various video game conventions. There is just about a different gaming expo for about every gamer out there. The biggest convention pertaining to us retro gamers has to be the Portland Retro Gaming Expo.
The History of PRGE
Back in 2006, a Retro Gaming Expo started in Vancouver, Washington. A year later, the convention, organized by Northwest Classic Games Enthusiasts (NWCGE), moved to Portland, Oregon. They changed the name in year 4 to Portland Retro Gaming Expo (or PRGE). Ten years later, it’s still going strong.
Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2016
The Portland Retro Gaming runs October 21 through October 23 at the Oregon Convention Center. Day 1 features a Retrocade, the main expo starts on Day 2. The second day of the Retro Gaming Expo includes speakers and panels, a long list of exhibitors and vendors, gaming tournaments, and a collectibles auction. The night closes with live music featuring Jason Heine, Sergio Elisondo, and Kirby Krackle (you can click on their names to find out more about each artist). Day 3 of the gaming expo has more speakers and panels and the tournaments continue. The whole thing closes with Micropalooza XIII: an over 21 after party with Greightbit, Tonight We Launch, Graz, Plain Flavored, Blood Code, Glooms, and Mechlo.
This is going to be a great opportunity to those of you who collect autographs, and they’re all free!
Here’s the list of everyone signing at the event:
- Pat “The NES Punk” Contri
- Matt “Matt3756” Magnon
- Peanut Butter Gamer, BrutalMoose, SpaceHamster, and ProJared
- Dan and Terry Diebold (owners of the Nintendo-Playstion prototype that I told you about in a previous post)
- Metal Jesus Rocks and Friends
- Tim Lapetino and Steve Hendricks
- James Rolfe – The Angry Video Game Nerd
You can read about the aforementioned participants listed above plus all of the other Portland Retro Gaming Expo speakers and special guests.
If you’re not headed there this year (or if you live on the east coast), it’s a good one to remember next year. Consider adding it to a list of places to visit in the future.
I found a couple of eBay items relevant to PRGE 2016:
- Pat the NES Punk Volume 4 DVD – DVD special from one of the prominent speakers/panelists.
- SDCC2016-The Art of Atari Promotional Brochure for Book, Comic-Con, FREE US SHIP – The book is by Tim Lapetino, another special guest at PRGE. These promotional brochure make excellent collector’s items.
Here are some collector’s items and swag from some other cons (past and present):
- Rare! GEARS OF WAR Comic Con 2009 Skeleton T-Shirt BLACK XLarge XL GOW Heart – Barely worn; seller claims the shirt is in mint condition. 19 Ebay users are watching it.
- E3 Nintendo Water Bottle Very Rare Exclusive Crew Gear 2016 Limited Quantity – Bidding starts at $20 but you can Buy It Now for $40. This is a rare water bottle from this year’s E3. Only given to Nintendo employees.
- The Crew Eagle Large T-Shirt NYCC Comic Con Ubisoft – An exclusive from New York Comic Con 2016 – and free shipping in the U.S.
- Nintendo Amiibo So Cal Retro Gaming Expo Exc Cosmic Pikachu Blue Evilos Custom – Custom made, one-of-a-kind Pikachu by Evilos
- Awesome Fallout 4 Comic-con Box Exclusive Nuka Dew Mouse Pad New COMIC CON RARE! – Brand new, and only $5.85 OBO and free shipping.
- ZELDA TWILIGHT PRINCESS SDCC COMIC CON COIN NEW SEALED – This is another one people are watching. A bit pricey, but this is a definite collector’s item. Brand new and still sealed
- Blizz Con 2009 Noobz Raynor – This guy is from Starcraft 2; he’s in great shape, but the box is a little banged up. Never-the-less, this is a one of a kind figure from Jim Raynor at a very affordable price.
