Cowlitz Gamers for Kids Expo - Pics

[RickR]

http://www.cowlitzgamers.moonfruit.com/

Hey all:  Today was the day for the Cowlitz Gamers for Kids show in Longview, WA.  That's about 50 miles away for me, so I decided to go.  And here are some pics to share. 

 

It's a great cause, but the show is pretty small.  They're in a new space this year, and it seems much smaller than when I went a few years ago.  No arcade games to play was kind of a bummer.  But they had some really nice sellers, which was fun. 

 

This was the free-play area.  No real exotic systems, and it was pretty small this year. 

 

An overview of the booths.  Lots of cool stuff here.  There was one Jaguar for sale ($150!  A little too rich for me), a Vectrex, and bunch of the more modern Nintendo stuff.  Good deals on systems.  A boxed Odyssey 2 for $40.  Atari 2600's for $50.  Sega Genesis seems like the low point of collecting these days...$10-$20 will get you a nice Genesis at a show like this.  Find a show like this if you want a particular system!

 

Trophies for the Super Smash Bros Brawl (Gamecube) tournament.

 

WOAH!  Look what I found.  Yes, I did come home with it.

 

Atari carts can still be found.  Which is good. 

 

More overview

 

Atari Pinball!  That knob is exactly the same as the VCS paddle knob.  Nope, I didn't buy it.

 

Someone decked out a VCS in pirates' booty for the silent auction.  Very cool.  Reminded me of the Swordquest prizes. 

 

More Atari stuff.  Good.  Can't let Nintendo have all the fun.

 

Action figures too.

 

 

It was a good show.  I didn't stay long thanks to a sudden migraine.  Plenty of fun. 

[Yo-Yo]

Hey thanks for posting all the pictures. That 2600 pirates booty looks pretty cool.

[Arenafoot]

I saw a youtube video on the making of that Treasure Chest VCS.......that was cool! Alot of Atari stuff I see.....wish the Houston ArcadeExpo had selections like that! 

Edited March 29, 2015 by arenafoot

[Fire_In_The_Valley]

Thoughts: Where would the collector world be without clear plastic tubs?

[RickR]

Just got back from the 2018 show.  It was great, as always.

 

Some pics:

 

Free play area:

 

 

They had a TurboGrafx 16, so I played some Victory Run for Justin.

 

 

 

The show in general:

 

 

 

And the RickR loot.  Mostly Lynx and SMS games.

 

 

And I won a box of Mario cereal in a raffle!  Oh my. 

 

 

And finally, a few of the silent auction items I was interested in.  Sadly, I didn't want to wait the few hours for the auction to end.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2018 by RickR

[RickR]

More notes from the show.  I think I've posted this before for other shows, but it's become more obvious and clear now -- the focus of retrogaming has shifted forward to some of the newer systems.  The first generation consoles that I love the most are no longer really represented very well at the modern retro gaming expo.  Atari, Intellivision, Odyssey2, etc are just no longer offered or featured any more.  Most vendors that have Atari carts have them listed for $1 or less, and they don't move.  Everyone is either not interested or already has them. 

 

The focus now is on newer systems.  Lots of Nintendo 64, Wii, Xbox 360, etc. 

 

And those of us that are aged 50 or more are way outnumbered by a younger set of people.  I think it's a good thing.  The hobby lives on for new generations. 

[CrossBow]

This is along with a few other reasons is why I put the OVGE event on hiatus here in the Tulsa area. And you are correct. It became clear by about the 2010 event that the shift from the classic stuff just wasn't as cool anymore. Because of this, a few of my dependable exhibitors stopped exhibiting because the crowds coming to OVGE were more interested in current and last 2 generations but not much further than that. Odd thing is that the arcade section for the OVGE seemed to grow each year and the cabs were always popular, but with only three of us providing them and none of us getting any younger, it was getting harder and more expensive to move them to and from each year. 

 

Another event that ran for 4 years in OKC, was mainly the generation after us, so it had a very strong Nintendo presence. Unfortunately, they suffered a Tornado during their event in 2017 that prevented their Saturday opening and only allowed their half day Sunday portion of their event to take place. Needless to say, the money lost from not being able to host Saturday was too much and they decided to stop hosing a larger event shortly after on an annual basis as well.

 

But Cowlitz looks to be about the same size as my OVGE event was. usually about 5000sf of space with tables along the outer edges with Island table setups in the centers. Basically enough space for about 400 - 500 attendees at once. I kinda miss it now... thanks for the pics Rick!