One of the only times I actually get out of the house, conventions are something I enjoy.
You'll see me running tables at a few shows here and there. My current "limit" is stuff within three or so hours of Erie, PA (because I can reasonably sleep then get up, drive, and set up if it's a one-day thing) but maybe some day I'll try going farther.
I'm considering VCF East '24, I'm considering CORGSCON '24 if they ever talk about it happening, I'm consdiering going to three days of Colossalcon '24 (but ditching one to go to Dayton), I'll be showing up to Cleveland Gaming Classic '24.
For CORGS and CGC, expect to see some sort of table selling common Japanese goodies at actually reasonable prices alongside a few systems set up running demos and homebrew. I'm still trying to figure out how to not sell directly to resellers, something that's been really bothering me for a while, so expect something about that at some point.
For VCF, I really don't know what I want to do because I don't know much of anyone or anything. I'd like to show stuff but it seems that random Japanese computers have much more capable people to display them, maybe I'll just go with a friend and a lot of money to see about finding something neat?
For Colossalcon, well I don't really do anime but I'd like to try some panels and maybe buy a plushie. Maybe someone else will be into obscure wholesome '80s stuff? I kinda doubt it but it's worth trying.
People wanting to go out (alongside Colantia asking me to buy her an eight-bit machine) got me to go to a VCF Swap Meet. It was a good time! I brought out a ton of stuff I didn't need anymore and rehomed it to people who should enjoy it, I bought an OSI Challenger 2 in the dual 8" drive configuration, I got Coal a TI-99 to fix up/enjoy, Noelle fixed up a Macintosh SE alongside a very previously dead (was 41 keys not working, now only 10 keys not working) Japanese Standard Keyboard, I figured out some stuff with my DEC H333, we saw a lot of really cool people, and we got a lot of really nice food! Shoutout to EvieSigma from the Discord server who I finally got to meet with.
| Swap Meet | Repair - Noelle's SE |
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This show was notable enough that I feel like it's worth having a whole little section.
September 22nd to 24th, 2023 was Cleveland Gaming Classic '23, a decently large con held at the IX Center right next to Cleveland Hopkins Airport. I ran Table# 500 alongside my friend Noelle aka Amelie Doree. Friday was setup, we took four trips to load all of our stuff in to the show, and Saturday/Sunday were the show itself. Things went really well, we sold all but two items on the table (alongside something that I wasn't even originally intending to sell at this show!) and both of us had an amazing time. A huge thank you to everyone that came by, talked, played with the computers, and a special shoutout to the person who came all the way from Iowa to see Noelle and buy a PC98! If you're wondering about cash, I took home $450 (just enough to make back the hotel and con cost) and Noelle got all the rest.
As-detailed above, I will be at CGC '24. The plan is running two tables, one entirely dedicated to displaying stuff for people to play on and the other dedicated to selling extras out of my collection/neat obscure stuff from overseas that I grab but maybe don't care for between now and then. I hope to see you there!
| Start of the Show | End of the Show | Demo Game - PC-8001 "Skiing" |
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Want to see what my table looked like at past shows? Click the preview for a larger copy!
| CCAG '22 | CGC '22 | CCAG '23 |
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