I spent a weekend checking out the sights and sounds provided by the So Cal Gaming Expo. It's been a good while since I've been to a video game convention, and it felt good to be back. I showed up about half an hour past opening, but the line still led out the door. The early morning sun made the wait feel a bit longer than it actually was. Held over the weekend of May 6, 7 at the Ontario Convention Center in Southern California.

The event had a large focus on vendors with several large rows to peruse, including the requisite video games, from the NES era, up to the latest Switch games. There were also a healthy amount of artists selling a variety of wares, from stuffed animals to buttons and keychains. A few booths were even selling brand new retro video games.

There were a few other things to do with your time. Several video game tournaments were running throughout the day. A Cosplay contest was held as well, and many of those cosplayers were walking their way through the convention for much of the day.

Along one row were the various presenters that would be speaking on panels throughout both days of the show. I sat in on the Pat the NES Punk panel and learned about his upcoming N64 review book.

There were also several VA artists from well known video games and anime, including Maggie Robertson, voice of Lady Dimitrescu of Resident Evil fame. She was taller than me, which fits the character, but I am a short man so that was not a tough barrier to cross.

A large section of CRT televisions sat in the middle of the floor, with a huge variety of games of previous console generations. Tony Hawk to Halo, Mario Kart, to an older version of Mario Kart. Classic stuff.

The star of this event as with many game collector conventions was the wide variety of vendors. I spent the most time checking out the wares of various vendors soaking in the variety of products, both new and old, that were selling from the many booths.

I ended up grabbing a few trinkets from several of the vendors. I'm not exactly in the market for any major collectibles at the moment, but have a hard time saying no to some of the cool and cute little items that adorn many of the artists' booths.

I mentioned tournaments, and there were many of them, from classic arcade games, to the most popular of the weekend, the Smash Bros Ultimate tournament. There was a variety of trophies on display before being awarded to the winners.

Overall I enjoyed my time at the event, which had a fair bit of variety for game fans of many types, as well as fans of the personalities surrounding the retro gaming and collecting community. I hope to see this event continue to grow in the future, and hopefully they might add some video game music acts at SCGE2024.