Retro Game Con

RetroGameCon for me is always my birthday and home con. Everyone I know and love attends, the staff always puts on a great show, they genuinely care about the people and the guests, and Patrick, once again pulled a fantastic show while his wife had a child the eve of the con!

Many attendees here were first-timers. Either to Syracuse or to conventions in general. I was very happy that RGC was able to make a great impression for them. I loved the sheer mix of people here, from otaku, to cosplayers, to furries, they were all here, celebrating an amazing event.

RetroGamecon has always been, for the past 4 years I've been there, an organized, tightly run show. Patrick is always a message or email away, he dealt with my specific request to be next to another table this year, and kept me in the loop with the newest edition of the Mushroom Kingdom Gallery Art show.

I was exhausted by the end of Saturday, but I ended up attending the after party's Artist Drink n' Draw and I had such a great time.

My only complaint was the music.

Both Super Thrash Bros and Rebel Gaming Club were way too loud and the latter was absolutely terrible. Twice this weekend they gave me a headache, and I was vending on the opposite side of venue.

Please please please, next time, be a bit more considerate to vendors and artists right next to the stage with drums being pounded on. Please choose better musical groups.

Otherwise than that, I'm already planning for next year. It's a good show, a great community, and people that care.

That's all I could ask for.

2017 was my first year, and I was able to drive in each day. It's a great community of artists and, as someone new to the area, it was awesome getting to meet more upstate artists! Like another reviewer said though, everything is just in one big room, and sound was a huge issue. Lots of artists got stuck right by the speakers for a band and were understandably not happy about it. Lots of families and, because it's right before the holidays, I sold a lot of kid-friendly stocking stuffers but not too many commissions and crafters were struggling. The con was also completely dead just three hours into Sunday- it felt like it was just staff and artists daring each other to be the first to pack up. Not a huge profit (would cover a cheap hotel if needed), but great for locals and super friendly!

I had a very mixed response to this con. The layout was nice and the traffic was good for a local con. Most of the artists around me did well EXCEPT for crafters like myself (specifically sewing and crochet, perler bead artists did fine). However they chose to advertise the con was strange because in the middle of a massive college town I saw barely any college students - it was mostly local families. For me it was not worth traveling in from out of town, but it's decent for anyone who is local.

Thee arent enough video game specific events in the marketplace right now, so this addition is welcome for me. RetroGameCon is growing, which is great. I had a drop in sales a bit this year after a move to a new venue and a switch from a one day event to a two day event (it is now in a convention center rather than the fairgrounds). I expect that will even out once they grow into the new space. Programming was great this year, with proper staging to present musical performances. I hope they continue to expand their programming so it feels less like a trade show floor.