The Price of Admission:Retro Gaming Expo 2019

The first of its kind in the Philippines, the Retro Gaming Expo was recently held at the Fisher Mall Expo Hall in Quezon City last February 22-23. The convention promised the nostalgia of sending visitors back in time to relive the early days of gaming. According to the event site,”RGX is the ultimate gaming and collectors’ convention that will bring you back to the good ol’ days.” Doors open at 10 am on both days. A day pass is worth 150 pesos, while a two day pass is worth 270. Let’s see if it was worth the investment, shall we?

I visited on a Saturday and got in early at 10 am. Upon entering one of the first displays you will notice is the life-size statue displays of Jerry Santos. You know they’d have the aesthetics going well with his statues on display.

These statues were all around the convention grounds. Very nice. Running into these statues provide a lot of pictorial opportunities for visitors. Mario was even at the entrance to greet you.

Of course I didn’t waste my time, I proceeded to where the meat of the event was: the console gaming area. I had to see what visitors could play for free.

And there they were. Different gaming consoles with different games that fans can play and proceeded my personal favorite Tekken 3. All you had to do was sit down and enjoy playing the games you wanted. I took my turn on Tekken 3, won a few games but got booted out by an OP player. After that I browsed the games available. There was Mario, Double Dragon (I think) and that weird shooting game with the ducks (I forget the name). The benefits of going in early was that I could have stayed there all day just playing. The call of the Dark Side of the Force was strong, but having sated myself with my video game fix, I toured the grounds to see what else this place had to offer.

I proceeded to the center of the expo grounds and saw this cool console gaming display.

That mini-museum was very tasteful AND very informative at the same time. There were ATARIs on display. Let that sink in: A-T-A-R-I. The granddaddy of the console games was in the house. Not just one, but multiple versions were on display. I took my time going around just to see these relics from the paste. Nicely done.

As I left the display of console games, I noticed there were some people with sign up tickets that I didn’t get so I went to the entrance to figure out what was going on. I asked and someone explained to me that they forgot to give me one and that I should be going around having this raffle ticket signed at several booths. So I obliged. It’s free and I wanted to see what these booths had to offer. The highlights were a Jenga nutrition game, a horrid experience with Dance Dance Revolution(DDR, I now remember why I avoided that game), and an introduction to a new board game by this guy.

The game is called Onitama, a modified version of chess. Movements are based on cards which describe a combat move you can use. Needless to say, I had fun with this. The guy was a good teacher, and so I beat him at his own game. Yey! Sorry, guy, my Kung fu was better than your Kung fu. Moving on…

On the side opposite the play grounds, there were thousands of retro-gaming merchandise for sale. Cartridges, consoles, portables…you name it, they were there for you to call your own for reasonable prices. I could appreciate the variety and history in these games, and had enough willpower not to indulge myself (for the most part anyway). You will find something here for yourself if you are searching. These are the games you are looking for. I had to make several rounds to take in everything. It was a truly visual feast.

From there, I took my rounds of the hall. Saw some more games being set up. Went back to the gaming area, and the place was getting filled now. I watched people play more video, board and card games, then decided to to leave the expo. I didn’t stay for anything else as I had gotten what I came to enjoy.

Now, before I tell you if it was worth it, I’d like highlight what the event did well. So here goes…

Let’s start with the play area. This is the heart of the event. You want to showcase video games, then there’s no better way of sharing the experience by letting your audience play for free. That’s right FREE. That alone is worth the price of admission. You can just skulk here the ENTIRE day in this area. Alternate from video games to board games to card games. Feel your brain numb with happiness.

There are a few minor kinks with a lack of organizer presence to handle the visitors being the first. Some guests were virtually squatting on games not allowing for others to partake the enjoyment(what the hell, dudes!). And where are the Atari consoles? Too precious to be set up? At least come up with a free version of them to be set up somewhere. Now THAT would be REALLY retro-gaming. Lastly, I know the focus is on video games, but since you have board and card games here, I wondered—where is the table-top gaming section? Considering that this is a multi-day event, that would’ve gotten OTHER people coming back for more. However, it is more of a video gaming expo, so moving on once again…

Aside from the play area, we have the console museum.

Could you imagine seeing all these game consoles in one place? With background information? If you can’t, well they were right on display at the gaming expo. I’m surprised they gathered this much material. The only thing missing are arcade-style game booths. Maybe for next year? Not much to say here…this was truly a beautiful display.

And lastly, did I mention the gaming merchandise is outrageously expansive?

You can find most ANYTHING you’d want to sate your retro-gaming needs. I’ve browsed, and seen versions of games that I didn’t know even existed. The merchants know their wares, and this was the perfect place to find your addic—passion for gaming rekindled.

With all the praise, there are a few minor details that the organizers can work on such as the lack of a working schedule for everyone to see. I mean, they have those events on-screen around the venue without any time intervals.

That’ll help for visitors who come in and out of the expo hall…and you’d want them to come back. Gives them an idea when to partake of the days activities aside from indulging in their gaming addic—passion(what’s wrong with me?!).

Also, there was a lack of a consistent host present to promote the event as the expo went along. You’d like to have a face of the event show up on stage consistently to prompt people to go here or there and do this or that. That adds a very interactive vibe to the event. Fortunately, the background music was all gaming audio and that added great ambiance to the event.

So, was the Retro Gaming Expo worth the price of admission? Most definitely. For 150 pesos you get to experience old school gaming at its finest. The Retro Gaming Expo immerses you in a world of old school gaming that highlights multiple facets of the history of video games from those who know it well. It’s a nostalgia trip worth trying, and one worth repeating.