Classic Game Fest 2017 Recap

Last weekend was a huge weekend in Austin gaming wise with the Brick Fest Live Lego Fan Experience, Bullock Museum’s opening of the Classic Game Expo and lastly the Classic Game Fest 2017. Crazy enough I attended all 3 over the weekend!

The Classic Game Fest 2017 was my last gaming event of the weekend. The Classic Game Fest 2017 is the biggest RETRO video game convention in Texas and one of the top 10 in Unites States. This year will mark their 10th anniversary and included more than 119 Vendors and covered over 70,000sf of exhibit and vendor space.

I covered the Classic Game Fest last year so I knew what I was walking into before entering the Palmer Events Center. The Palmer Event’s center is huge and as I entered the convention center I saw a myriad of gaming tournaments on huge screens, classic games on display, pinball machines, playable arcade games and playable classic games.

The largest amount of games at the Classic Game Fest 2017 were the arcade games. As you can see how many people were lined up to play old school arcade games like Donkey Kong and Pacman.

The tournaments were insane and popular as well. Talk about taking gaming serious! The screens were massive and played classic games like Super Mario Bros.

The display of classic gaming consoles was awesome ranging from Atari to Nintendo to Sega. I believe it was the largest amount of classic games in mint condition I have seen.

There were ton of kids and parents alike playing on classic gaming consoles throughout the Classic Game Fest 2017 event. Of course I am always going to play Super Mario Bros at these type of conventions, it’s my favorite!

The pinball machines were oddly not as packed as the arcade games. Attendees could just walk up and play them with no wait. They did have a nice collection of pinball machines but I’ve seen better.

What’s a convention without a little music? Classic Game Fest 2017 had 20 live bands throughout the event. My favorite performance was my very good friend TekForce who is a Gaming Hip Hop Emcee based in Dallas. He performed some awesome raps that included: Devastator SDF-1, Spirit Bomb, New Game + Remix, Stuck in a Bit World, Optimal and Ichiban.

He also had two guest performers, Mega Ran and 1-up, that were equally as awesome! In all it was a great performance from TekForce and his guest performers Mega Ran and 1-up.

To learn more about TekForce and his music click here. If you would like to follow TekForce on twitter click here!

Altogether I had fun covering Classic Game Fest 2017 for Hi-Tech Chic. I’m a big classic game fan so all the nostalgic games brought back so many fun childhood memories with my brothers.

If you attended Classic Game Fest 2017 click HERE to take the Classic Game Fest 2017 Attendee Survey. For more information about Classic Game Fest 2017 click here.

See you all next year!

###

Source: Classic Game Fest 2017