Midwest Gaming Classic 2024 April 5-7

[+thanatos]

Another year, another post!

 

https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com

 

I'll be there again with stuff.  I know @stupus will bring tons of cool things as usual, I think @Tempest also said he may be going, as well as @BassGuitari.  Dunno if I forgot anyone.  Except maybe @Albert 

 

 

[Albert]

It is nigh impossible for me to get there this year, but I'm very eager in doing so next year when things should be MUCH calmer for me at this point in 2025.    Definitely harass me then!

 

 ..Al

[+thanatos]

Dang, sorry @Dauber I missed that you already started a thread before I had Al sticky this one.

[+stupus]

Very much looking forward to it! This has been a total crap year for me so I am really looking forward to having a blast at mgc!! 

@ianoid and hopefully @lazzeri will be there this year too!

[Tempest]

Yes I should be there this year.

[+swlovinist]

I am there and cant wait.  

[Gamemoose]

One week away! Got tickets for my "birthday kids" (been taking my daughter since she was 2 or 3 and now my son, who turned 8, for his second year) and we are excited! 

[8th lutz]

Had a great time at the Midwest Gaming Classic and I hopefully I will be there next year.

[+thanatos]

Guess we should arrange an AtariAge meeting place next time!

 

Saw a lot of @Tempest and @BassGuitari all weekend since we have things in the museum area.  Sadly I missed watching their traditional Atari Football matchup on the 2600 store demo kiosk unit.

Met with @Dauber for a few minutes in the Guys Games and Beer room. 

I finally had the thought to ask @swlovinist where his username came from and got the story.

 

Sunday after the show @Tempest I ended up next to John Riggs and an American Gladiator (Tower) at the hotel bar.

 

What a great weekend all around!

 

Final note, maybe @Albert will come back someday.  I've probably only mentioned this every year for the last 10 or so. 🙂  Interestingly the way I found this site is because he was there in 2007 with a booth - so it's all his fault that I'm here.   

[MGG]

Damn, never even thought to check if there was a thread on this.  I was there and had a great time!

[Tempest]

9 hours ago, thanatos said:

Guess we should arrange an AtariAge meeting place next time!

 

Saw a lot of @Tempest and @BassGuitari all weekend since we have things in the museum area.  Sadly I missed watching their traditional Atari Football matchup on the 2600 store demo kiosk unit.

@BassGuitari won 2 games to 1.  We each had a lopsided victory and then one really close game. I think I'm still up in the overall series, but we really don't keep track.

[BassGuitari]

33 minutes ago, Tempest said:

@BassGuitari won 2 games to 1.  We each had a lopsided victory and then one really close game. I think I'm still up in the overall series, but we really don't keep track.

Speak for yourself! 😜

 

All-time, yeah, you're probably still up. It's gonna take me a lot of games to come back from all those back-breaking pick-sixes! 😆

[Dauber]

I had a great time, despite my usual social awkwardness! I started AND ended Saturday by learning new games: first thing I did at MGC was learn to play chess (I'm gonna be 50 this year and most people I know learned at an early age so I figured I'd better hurry up!), and last thing on Saturday I was indoctrinated into Werewolf courtesy of Guys, Games & Beer - whose room this year was INSANELY huge! (Seriously, I think when I first went to MGC in 2006 you could have fit the whole show in a room the size that GGB had!)

[+Cafeman]

Is there much of an Atari console / games presence? Any homebrews for any systems displayed?

[Tempest]

42 minutes ago, Dauber said:

I had a great time, despite my usual social awkwardness!

I think everyone is kind of socially awkward there.  Goes with the territory.

[Tempest]

36 minutes ago, Cafeman said:

Is there much of an Atari console / games presence? Any homebrews for any systems displayed?

In the museum?  Yes, tons.  In the vendor hall?  Not so much.

[BassGuitari]

1 hour ago, Cafeman said:

Is there much of an Atari console / games presence? Any homebrews for any systems displayed?

33 minutes ago, Tempest said:

In the museum?  Yes, tons.  In the vendor hall?  Not so much.

In the museum, there were at least two or three 2600s set up, and a couple of 7800s as well (one 7800 was running Ricki & Vicki for most of the weekend). IIRC the only 5200, 400, 800, and ST on display in the Museum were Mike Lee's. (Guys Games & Beer had 2600s, a 5200, and 7800 in their room, as well.) @thanatos brought his XEGS. Mike and I teamed up on the dedicated console lineup, which featured several Atari games; Pong, Super Pong, Super Pong IV (Sears), Ultra Pong, Speedway IV (Sears), Video Pinball, and Motocross (Sears). @stupus had his groove-tastic '70s Atari Pong display, too! I'm probably forgetting others.

 

The new Asteroids arcade was there; I was initially skeptical (there's just something off-putting to me about the new wave of angular, minimalist, wide-bodied, flat-screen arcade cabs), but it's pretty great! Definitely worth checking out if you get a chance.

 

In the vendor hall, most game vendors (versus the arts/crafts/knick-knacks/toys people) had at least one bin of common 2600 and 7800 carts, and there were a few woodies, juniors, and 7800s scattered around. And there were some nice boxed common/ish titles here and there, including a couple of [overpriced] uncommon Sears ones. Only one or two vendors had a notable selection of 2600 games/items in the R6+ range. I think the only homebrew I saw was a Zippy The Porcupine. Didn't see much for the Atari 5200 (I think I saw one boxed console, some loose commons, and a smattering of boxed titles), and only about as much for the 400/800. I didn't even notice much Jaguar stuff, which was surprising.

 

(Weirdly, boxed Intellivision games had a good showing. It seemed like there were a lot of those.)

 

I'd say Atari is still fairly well-represented, but it's not like it was 20 years ago, when Atari was retrogaming.

[+thanatos]

5 hours ago, BassGuitari said:

The new Asteroids arcade was there; I was initially skeptical (there's just something off-putting to me about the new wave of angular, minimalist, wide-bodied, flat-screen arcade cabs), but it's pretty great! Definitely worth checking out if you get a chance.

 

I thought it was fun too.  However when at the cabinet chatting with folks, I made the comment of "So $6500 for a $10 Steam game I can use with my X-Arcade setup".  A guy nearby came up and gave me his card and said "Thanks for the input!", turns out it was his project.  Whoops, I felt kind of bad!   He was cool about it, I said I was not judging the gameplay at all, just the comparison of cost.

 

 

[+thanatos]

8 hours ago, Dauber said:

I had a great time, despite my usual social awkwardness! I started AND ended Saturday by learning new games: first thing I did at MGC was learn to play chess (I'm gonna be 50 this year and most people I know learned at an early age so I figured I'd better hurry up!), and last thing on Saturday I was indoctrinated into Werewolf courtesy of Guys, Games & Beer - whose room this year was INSANELY huge! (Seriously, I think when I first went to MGC in 2006 you could have fit the whole show in a room the size that GGB had!)

 

Dang, I join the 50 club next month as well!

I've passed by the Werewolf games many times back at the Sheraton when it was always in one of the downstairs hallways.  Seemed weird, and not really my thing, but maybe I'll try it someday.  And yes, I remember when the GG&B room at the Sheraton was an actual hotel room with the furniture removed.  They had the bathtub full of ice and PBR.  The one this year was probably bigger than our museum room was back then!

 

 

[Tempest]

12 hours ago, thanatos said:

 

I thought it was fun too.  However when at the cabinet chatting with folks, I made the comment of "So $6500 for a $10 Steam game I can use with my X-Arcade setup".  A guy nearby came up and gave me his card and said "Thanks for the input!", turns out it was his project.  Whoops, I felt kind of bad!   He was cool about it, I said I was not judging the gameplay at all, just the comparison of cost.

They wanted $6,500 for that?  Yikes!  Like you said, it was neat but it looked like a Steam or indie game on a console that you'd pay $10 for.    Personally I thought the 4 player Food Fight was more fun, but I'm a big Food Fight fan.  

 

No mention of that VR Godzilla game?  That thing was freaking awesome!  I wonder how much it costs to play that thing in a real arcade?

[Dauber]

Something occurred to me on Monday -- it's a GAMING convention in the MIDWEST....yet there's never a euchre tournament?! I'm seriously considering looking into putting something together. I'm no euchre expert, but I love the game.

[BassGuitari]

14 hours ago, thanatos said:

 

Dang, I join the 50 club next month as well!

I've passed by the Werewolf games many times back at the Sheraton when it was always in one of the downstairs hallways.  Seemed weird, and not really my thing, but maybe I'll try it someday.  And yes, I remember when the GG&B room at the Sheraton was an actual hotel room with the furniture removed.  They had the bathtub full of ice and PBR.  The one this year was probably bigger than our museum room was back then!

Werewolf is a fascinating social experiment disguised as a party game. 🙃 

 

2 hours ago, Tempest said:

They wanted $6,500 for that?  Yikes!  Like you said, it was neat but it looked like a Steam or indie game on a console that you'd pay $10 for.    Personally I thought the 4 player Food Fight was more fun, but I'm a big Food Fight fan.  

 

No mention of that VR Godzilla game?  That thing was freaking awesome!  I wonder how much it costs to play that thing in a real arcade?

I like Asteroids Recharged, but I don't $6,500 like it. 😅 I'm kind of lukewarm on the original Food Fight (and Atari 7800 and XEGS ports) but the 4-player version was pretty cool.

 

Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR was amazing. It had to have been running a demo, though--I'd love to play the whole thing! 

1 minute ago, Dauber said:

Something occurred to me on Monday -- it's a GAMING convention in the MIDWEST....yet there's never a euchre tournament?! I'm seriously considering looking into putting something together. I'm no euchre expert, but I love the game.

Traditionally, "gaming" means gambling.* So what it really needs is........eh, I'll leave the Bender reference to y'all. 😜

 

*Funnily (although not at the time), MCG was once paid a visit by the Brookfield Police Department several years back, IIRC because somebody complained that the pinball tournaments were a form of gambling.

[+thanatos]

10 hours ago, BassGuitari said:

 

*Funnily (although not at the time), MCG was once paid a visit by the Brookfield Police Department several years back, IIRC because somebody complained that the pinball tournaments were a form of gambling.

 

Didn't they have a court case to legalize pinball tournaments in WI because of some ancient dumb laws?  I remember your wife talking about it years ago, having witnesses lined up to play pinball and what not, and it got cancelled or something like that.  

 

 

[BassGuitari]

9 hours ago, thanatos said:

Didn't they have a court case to legalize pinball tournaments in WI because of some ancient dumb laws?  I remember your wife talking about it years ago, having witnesses lined up to play pinball and what not, and it got cancelled or something like that.  

You might be thinking of the Manhattan City Council hearing in the '70s where Roger Sharpe (who was from Wisconsin, or at least went to college at UW) gave a demo to prove that pinball is a skill game, and not subject to gambling regulations and prohibitions. There's even a biopic about him, which is pretty good if you haven't seen it. 🙂

 

Roger has actually been to MCG several times. He was practically royalty among the pinball crowd! 

[Tempest]

I thought they were going to repel the law but for some reason it didn't happen?  I seem to recall hearing something about that one of the last years it was at the Sheraton.