Monroeville Convention Center hosts fifth annual Pittsburgh Gaming Expo this weekend

Organizers have pressed the beginning button on the fifth annual Pittsburgh Gaming Expo.

Festivities kicked off Friday afternoon on the Monroeville Convention Center, 209 Mall Plaza Blvd.

The occasion continues Saturday and Sunday with pinball tournaments and cosplay contests set for each days.

Brian Wissner, expo co-founder and co-owner, expects at the least 7,000 folks will go to all through the weekend. About 6,400 folks attended final 12 months.

“It’s hard to tell early on, but our presale numbers crushed previous years,” Wissner stated. “Really robust help from the group. What we hear time and again from individuals who inform us in regards to the present is the vibe — the ambiance is de facto like a gamer’s occasion. Come and play video games. Hang out with your pals. Shop the distributors. The weekend vibes is de facto the most effective worth.

“We have 500 hours of content, at least, scheduled over the whole weekend from live music, the panels, the tournaments, table-top (workshops). A lot of stuff really packed into a tight window of time.”

There’s one thing for everybody to play whether or not it’s on console and computer systems or casting spells with the flip of a card or roll of the cube.

Nostalgia flows all through the gaming space with arcade basic shooters like Area 51, Time Crisis II and Lethal Enforcers, to the side-scrolling beat-em ups like X-Men, The Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Brief historical past

Wissner and fellow showrunners Colt Dalmaso and Alex Kinnamon used no cheat codes in constructing what’s referred to as PGX.

Hard work and networking had been the driving drive. It has been in Monroeville because the starting.

The first 12 months had about 2,000 attendees, 30 distributors and was open a few day and a half simply within the heart’s south corridor.

The expo has steadily grown in attendance, choices and time. Last 12 months, it was expanded from two days to 3.

About 100 distributors have signed up this 12 months.

“We always kind of had optimistic goals, but we never thought that it would hit this growth, this scale, this quick,” Wissner stated.

Wissner believes the venue, itself, has had an affect on the expo’s success in addition to its signature popular culture conventions, Steel City Con, which takes place thrice a 12 months.

“We have some similarities, but there are a lot of differences,” Wissner stated. “People who go to Steel City Con like music. A lot of them like games, probably. There’s a lot of crossover between movies and cinema with video games.”

The heart presents free parking and separated areas for various actions — in comparison with one giant room at a Downtown Pittsburgh venue.

“It has some great amenities here,” Wissner stated in regards to the heart. “It’s well-located. You don’t need to cope with a number of the problems you need to cope with downtown. Parking is ample and it’s free. This area is sufficient for what we’d like.

“The walls are actually a great feature. It allows us to have live music on one side of the building, but then have small quiet conversation-level gaming going on at the other end of the hall. The two don’t interfere with each other.”

Away from screens

The Feisty Goblin of New Kensington is the unique sponsor of the table-top gaming space the place volunteers are keen train folks tips on how to play titles like Cookie Run, Warhammer, Gundam, Rift Bound, Pokemon Magic, Flesh and Blood and Pagag Fate of Rowanoke.

Goblin proprietor Christine Radeshak stated there was a resurgence in card video games because the pandemic ended.

“I think covid had a lot to do with this,” she stated. “When we had been in lockdown, and we had been remoted from folks we weren’t in a position to have that social interplay.

”Table-top video games demand it. You have to take a seat at one other desk with one other individual or extra. You need to be there conversing with folks. Making the attention contact.

“People want to be social. People want to have connection with other people. That’s vital to us. There’s also a lot of research that have gone into the benefits of game play and mental health and mental stability and things like that.”

Radeshak is without doubt one of the unique expo distributors. Her retailer opened in April 2023.

“We were proud to be first year participants here with Alex and the crew,” Radeshak stated. “We had so much fun and came back again. … We’ve made incredible friends through running events at the store and meeting people there. We love the spirit of PGX and what it does for the gaming community at large in Pittsburgh. We’re happy to be a part of that.”

Express your self

Dakota Tigney of Millvale got here to the expo Friday dressed as Princess Daisy of the Super Mario Bros. universe.

She stated this was her first time on the expo and located it a welcoming place to precise her pleasure of gaming.

“I like going to conventions and cosplaying,” Tigney stated. “It feels like it’s a part of the experience. This is a gaming convention. I’ve got to be a character from a video game.”

She stated she loved seeing the number of distributors and would come again subsequent 12 months.

Tigney was certainly one of a number of attendees who painted a few of the free miniatures that had been on show close to the table-top video games.

Bill Volk of Sheraden was amongst these customizing the small characters.

“There’s lots of different things you can use painted minis for,” he stated. “There’s warfare video games. There’s role-playing video games. Some folks may do it for mannequin railroads. I believe this workshop is nearly constructing the talents to color minis for something you need. It’s very nice.

“I was here last year and it was nice. They’ve got a nice array of activities. The free-play arcade is very nice. I’m not one of these competitive pinball tournament players, but I like pinball. I got a weekend pass.”

Cole Orlandini, 26, of Scranton and his fiance, Courtney Crouch, 27, of North Strabane dressed as Reptile and Mileena from Mortal Kombat . They plan on getting into the costume contests.

The couple gained Judge’s Choice eventually 12 months’s cosplay contest and earned free tickets.

They stated gaming and competing have made their bond stronger and had been joyful to be again.

Upcoming occasions

Some of the Saturday highlights embrace reside performances by Premium Vintage, Shadow Realm and Mega Ran.

There will probably be a preventing sport event in addition to panel discussions with sport creators, artists and voice actors.

The solid of the sport Mass Effect will probably be there Saturday and fewer of them on Sunday.

A breakdown of occasions and at what areas is out there at pittsburghgamingexpo.com.

Millvale drink makers Burgers Brewing Co. crafted a particular Czech amber lager for the expo referred to as Wyrmslayer Reserve.

There are at the least 300 totally different board video games to play as nicely.