VGXPO in Philadelphia (everyone’s invited)

By Dan Zuccarelli . April 25, 2007 . 12:45am

A few years back Philadelphia was home to one of the best retro gaming conventions in North America, the . Sadly, it’s no more… but a new one has risen in it’s place that looks to keep what the retro stuff intact but to add all sorts of new gaming goodness. It’s called the and this year will be taking place right in the heart of Philadelphia.

I attended last year, and while I wasn’t blown away by any stretch but there’s enough here to warrant the trip if you live anywhere nearby. Think of it as half convention and half exhibition. There’s a bunch of vendors selling all sorts of old and new games and hardware (I dropped a ton of money on homebrew Atari 2600 titles), cosplayers, a few celebrities (Ralph Baer and Tommy Tallarico among others were there in ’06), a 48-hour LAN party and more.

But by far the best thing going is the re-created arcade they set up on the show floor. Last year they had between 60-70 games set for free-play, all classics. To the popular ones like Gauntlet, Centipede and Battlezone to the rarer titles like Quantum and Lunar Lander. It was, in a word, incredible. It’s hard to imagine where else you’ll get the chance to see so many great games collected together. It truly was just like an arcade that I remember from my younger days. But I digress.

The VGXPO is going down in November and the tickets are very cheap ($25.00 for the 3 day pass). I’ll be attending… will you?