CinciClassic 2006 post-show comments

Zwackery · April 10, 2006

I had been to CinciClassic back in 2002, so I was looking forward to this show, primarily hoping to score a few goodies, yet I also like to marvel at the odd things from video gaming past. I thought the venue was in an accessible location from the interstate (and being so close to Jungle Jim's gave me the chance to drop $60 on imported beers after the show) with plenty of parking, although the room did get a little cramped (especially the interior tables) but really that is the result of too much of a good thing, namely tons of people showing up after noon on Saturday. In particular I was amazed to see so many families with little kids and how savvy they already are when it comes to video games. They appear as accepting of Atari as they are of their Nintendo DS units.

Plenty of rare carts were available for the collector, but most of these were of the bare variety, and I like the boxes & instructions, but I did find enough stuff to make it an interesting trip for me, and not just games but books, patches, and other game-related paraphenalia. I did hear too many people say something like, "Oh, if I knew you were interested in {insert game-related item here} I would have brought that" or "I had a stack of ___________ ready to go and forgot to bring them." Well, I suppose that did save me money that I was willing to spend.

Another observation: I saw a lot of entry-level items (common carts and systems) and a lot of very high-end items (boxed Video Jogger, ahem :ponder: ) but not much in the middle range. Maybe this is due to dealers not bringing everything they could have or maybe it is due to the rise of eBay over the years. Nevertheless, I dropped about $200 and have no regrets. :cool:

Finally, I'd like to commend the majority of the dealers I talked to for being super friendly and informative people (a couple seemed rather rigid on their prices). Unfortunately my plans for the weekend were disrupted by the illness of a friend's relative, otherwise I would have had more time to hang out and chat, but for the most part I had more fun here in '06 than I did back in '02. Let's hope 2007 is even bigger and better.

MattG/Snyper2099 · May 7, 2006

Thanks for all the positive comments. I think I sold you a game... Either way, we are always trying to improve the show each time we have it. Everyone semmed to have a blast this year. I would like to thank everyone from Atariage forums that made the trip:

StanJr, Big Player, Zwackery, and many others I can't remember off hand. Thanks to you, the show was a success!