Irish arcade/retro expo??

Gradius · 06-04-2021 3:16pm #1

Just a wild thought, would it be possible to pull off something like that here? Would the numbers be there?

Even with the users on here I think something decent could be pulled together, especially if one or two of the actual arcades got involved.

Perhaps join it onto the back of something much larger like that comic con event that's in Dublin? Add in a market section?

Obviously it's not anything that could happen until probably next year but it's worth a thought I suppose.

A fairly random video below just to give an idea, skip around a bit in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIvY4881TY4

Possible?

Jack burton · 06-04-2021 4:20pm

Something that I've often thought about myself aswell.

I've done a few cons for my tshirt business and they are fun. Always wanted to setup a few cabs for them too. I think something like this would be possible in Ireland definitely

Few hurdles though, mainly would collector's be ok with their machines being on for a weekend and be abused by the public?

And with money and stuff everyone who's involved would have to pretty transparent with funds etc. I've seen a good few things like this create big problems because there was a good deal of money involved.

Could be something to look into because in a post covid world I'm sure people will flock to any event and not take anything for granted.

Id say you would have to piggy back on a bigger event too. Like Ireland is very small and the arcade community is niche. But get the right people talking about it and promote/market it in a professional way and could be brilliant.

dav09 · 06-04-2021 4:28pm

Great idea, if someone was to lead this idea I'd be happy to pitch in machines or help with set up if time allows. I could probably give a decent amount of machines towards it and could even ask some of the other guys from Level Up to pitch in any spare machines towards it for the event if needed. A stand alone event might work too as a one off but not sure about numbers.

With the amount of collectors in Ireland I reckon it should be more than possible especially with pins too as there are a lot of them here. Sounds like a good idea, events in the UK are quite common but one would be nice here. Could look at the idea of running competitions or something along with it during the event. I reckon there'd be quite a bit of setup needed depending on the scale as old games don't like being moved.

Gradius · 06-04-2021 5:48pm

Yeah there's a lot to consider like constant play/eejits falling into machines/transport etc. I'd imagine the comic con thing would be the easier way to go. Reckon it would be CRAZY popular too! I'd be willing to chip in some stuff anyway.

Set up each cabinet with a little poster stand detailing its history/how to play etc. Big printers would come in handy

The competition idea would fit like a glove, the main one would have to be street fighter I'm sure. Wasn't someone here saying they could hook up a projector? That would be perfect.

It's probably far too finicky but I'm sure Super streetfighter 2 (cps2) has a built in feature that allows tournament play on like 8 machines at once. Ideal, but finicky.

I suppose the first serious step would be getting in contact with the organisers and seeing what's what. And like jack Burton says it's bound to be gang buster's for all events after this pandemic is nuked.

dav09 · 06-04-2021 6:32pm

Definitely a lot to consider for it yeah. From what I've seen the public are generally fairly good with machines but transport is a big one, I reckon avg €100 per machine should cover transport to and from if done right, maybe even cheaper in bulk or if someone who has a friend who's willing to do it (or if there's a few around Dublin might make it eaiser/cheaper again)

I think approaching them is a good idea when we have numbers who are willing to commit. Make a breif proposal and say the group of us has X,Y,Z games we're willing to offer and have some ideas and would like to talk. Maybe start small 30, 40 machines year one and scale it once the organizers see how popular it is. A Facebook group or something similar could be ideal everyone to discuss and put forward what machines they want/have, might make it easier to co-ordinate than on a forum although I suppose it's whatever suits everyone. I definitely think sooner rather than later for planning is the way too even though it's a bit off.

Having a lot dedicated cabinets with the candys for tournaments would be cool I reckon. They're great for fighting games.

If Dublin Comic Con isn't interested I know the guys behind https://insomniagamingdublin.ie/ which could also be a good shout.

Money-wise yeah things would have to be fairly transparent, either have an exhibit fully paid by the convention, or have sponsors, stalls, parts suppliers, competition fee, etc partially funding it. There's probably a few ways to go about it but probably requires outside-the-box thinking. Costs would be probably be mostly around shipping machines and I'm sure there'd be other various expenses too.

Jack burton · 06-04-2021 7:36pm

I was at the retro gaming one a few years back and it was grand but didn't draw big numbers. I don't think having a line of tvs with consoles hooked up is a big enough draw

Id guess if there was a ton of cabs though and some big hitters like Street fighter, Mortal Kombat, simpsons etc people would go mad for it.

I know a girl who had John Romero do a convention in wexford and she said he was super nice and great to deal with. Not suggesting him but there's some definite people that could be contacted for some kind of endorsement too

Gradius · 06-04-2021 8:07pm

Had a look at that insomnia gaming expo, they say they had over 5000 people, over two days, in 2019. Sizeable enough.

Money wise, well, I wasn't thinking of that at all. I was just thinking to bring these things to a place and let people play them. Naive I suppose! Can be worked out just like anything.

With feck all research, it would probably be an idea to bring stuff to the insomnia expo then use that as a platform to pitch comic con??

And that's a neat idea about the likes of John Romero too, didn't realise he lived here. Probably another few too. Perhaps some of the big gaming companies like Nintendo/Sony/Sega, they might have reps here of some sort?

dav09 · 06-04-2021 9:01pm

Yeah money wise it mightn't be too difficult to work out, I suppose it could be done on a small scale relatively cheap, but if any of us were sending 5, 10 or machines it would add up shipping wise unless someone in the community was to help on that side. As you said the focus is to make a great event but I suppose as Jack Burton said things can get tricky with money so as long as it's transparent to everyone.

I'm pretty sure insomniac had a couple of pins at their last one from one of the chats with the guy who runs it, and we lent machines to their Limerick event last year so they'd probably be open to it. That might be a good idea.

Yeah John Romero lives in Ireland the past few years I believe, he has a studio in Galway Romero Games.

CiDeRmAn · 06-04-2021 9:38pm

I was involved in a gaming convention a couple of years ago.
They had a retro gaming section and hired a heap of common consoles, SNES', MDs and a few others.
I contributed most of my consoles, people got a kick from the Sega's and Ataris in particular.
The rarer stuff were in display cabinets.
For my trouble I got paid... nought!
And I got a broken Virtua Gun also

But it was fun, for sure.
There was a great concert attached, Eimear Noone playing two nights, one a Zelda concert and the other a medley of gaming music.

Again, I don't think anyone made money from the affair.
It was run in the long shadow of the previous effort, which with massive queues and poor crowd management in the venue, was a disaster.
After that few people turned up.

John Romero was there, as an invitee, he was playing Doom against all comers, my son had an enjoyable match against him!

o1s1n · 06-04-2021 9:59pm

Reckon we could get The Romero around to your house for the next beers, Cidey?

dav09 · 06-04-2021 10:26pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Again, I don't think anyone made money from the affair.
It was run in the long shadow of the previous effort, which with massive queues and poor crowd management in the venue, was a disaster.
After that few people turned up.

John Romero was there, as an invitee, he was playing Doom against all comers, my son had an enjoyable match against him!

Pity about that event, I was due to travel up for day 2 or 3 with a buddy but yeah due to the madness we left it. It sounded ambitious so it's a pity it was managed so poorly, never happened again unfortunately, but there's definitely room for an event like it, probably what insomniac took over from.

Would be fantastic if we did get an arcade event going, it'd be something different in this country and could help get more into the hobby.

CiDeRmAn · 06-04-2021 11:30pm

o1s1n wrote: »

Reckon we could get The Romero around to your house for the next beers, Cidey?

Coming from Galway, Ollie would have to give him a lift in the van!

dav09 · 10-08-2021 1:26am

Did anyone ever do anything/ come up with anything around this? Have had it on my mind for a while, I don't want to be taking anyone else's idea and even organizing something that scale would be out of scope for me but would be happy to be involved somehow if someone did, it would definitely be very cool if it happened.

If not would be happy to maybe do something smaller in Level Up, do a set fee in and close the place for a weekend and do discounts on food & drink, all games on free play, retro consoles, pay anyone who brings a few extra arcade games probably game transport money or maybe even hotel money too to cover costs, we've a big area down the back for extra games and can even borrow a few games from friends and might even be able to get some really special games for the occasion. Along with trade stalls, some game competitions throughout, pinball comp, other ideas, I wonder would there be enough interest.

DaveyDave · 11-08-2021 9:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117731319#Comment_117731319

This sounds like a great idea. I think a proper event center might be tricky for attendance and logistics? Be good if somewhere like Level Up was closed off for a retro gamer event alright. I've always been jealous of seeing retro cons in the US with stalls to buy and trade, lots of cool stuff on display etc. Reminds me of Cars and Coffee for any petrol heads out there.

Anywhere I can play a few games, have a browse of stuff for sale and meet likeminded people I'm down.

dav09 · 16-08-2021 12:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117740023#Comment_117740023

Yeah it would be cool to do something, would require a lot of people to buy into it to even break even and run a successful event which I'm not sure they would, would be a bit of a gamble, but would love to see something either a yearly expo or a smaller event like I mentioned. I've been to some of the Cars & Coffee events in Limerick and other meets and are great fun, seeing people bring their pride and joy and no one really making any profit on it is cool, all for the love of it. Would be great to have something in Ireland regular every few months or even yearly for arcade and retro.

Dr Bob · 31-08-2021 10:07pm

The Amiga lads have their yearly Amiga fest in Athlone once a year , possibly attaching to that would be an idea?

Jack burton · 01-09-2021 1:04pm

Definitely would be a great idea. Only problem with Ireland is the size, were small and its niche scene.

I've been to a good few car meets and they are great because its the car thats the piece to showcase. I'd love to be involved in something like that for arcade and retro but lugging pins and cabs around is a utter pain in the bollox

Shapey Fiend · 07-09-2021 9:16am

I don't think you'd have any trouble getting people to turn up. I went to some more kid focused gaming expo in Thomond Park in Limerick a few years ago and it was packed out despite there being very little there to really make it interesting.

Main hurdle is the organisation. Likes of Play Expo in the UK was built up over a decade from smaller events and I'd imagine they've got one or two people working full time and a rake of volunteers to make things run really effectively.

Irish arcade/retro expo??

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