Classic Gaming Expo was a

gaming convention A gaming convention is a gathering centered on role-playing games, collectible card games, miniatures wargames, board games, video games, or other types of games. These conventions are typically two or three business days long, and often held at ...

dedicated to the people, systems and games of the past, with an emphasis on old

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

. The Expo was founded in 1999 by John Hardie, Sean Kelly and Keita Iida, In 2000, Joe Santulli replaced Iida as the show's co-organizer. The conventions have typically been held in the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan St ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, but have sometimes been held in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

. One of the focus areas were visits and panels by industry alumni such as

Ralph H. Baer Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-born American inventor, game developer, and engineer. Baer's Jewish family fled Germany just before World War II and Baer served the American war ...

and

Nolan Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consu ...

. In addition to the expo, Kelly, Hardie and Santulli founded the Videogame History Museum, a traveling museum of classic video games and equipment that is on display at events like

E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo) was an annual trade event for the video game industry organized and presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It was held principally in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2019, with its final ...

and GDC (Game Developers Conference). In April 2016, the traveling museum celebrated the building of a permanent facility known as the National Videogame Museum in

Frisco, Texas Frisco is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Collin County, Texas, Collin and Denton County, Texas, Denton counties. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex (DFW) and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth In ...

. Currently, as of May 2020, Hardie is the resident curator.

History

In October 1995, videogame collectors Hardie, Iida and Mike Etler, founded North Atlantic Videogame Aficionados (NAVA) at Video Game Connections, Etler's videogame store in

Howell, New Jersey Howell Township is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is the largest municipality in the county by total area, comprising about . It is located in the New York metropolitan area and has been a steadily ...

. The purpose of the quarterly event was to provide a meeting place where videogamers could meet and discuss videogame collecting as well as a place to buy, sell and trade games. The group was a hit and attracted collectors from all around the north east from Canada to South Carolina. In 1998, Hardie and Iida decided to make NAVA national. They teamed up with Richard Tsukiji to include classic gaming memorabilia at Tsukiji's annual World of Atari show. The show was held in Las Vegas at the Holiday Inn Boardwalk Hotel and Casino on August 21–23, 1998. The event was such a success that Hardie and Iida decided to break away from World of Atari and, along with Sean Kelly, created their own show, Classic Gaming Expo. Classic Gaming Expo has been held at the following dates and places: * 1999 – August 14–15 – Las Vegas – Plaza Hotel * 2000 – July 29–30 – Las Vegas – Plaza Hotel * 2001 – August 11–12 – Las Vegas – Plaza Hotel * 2002 – August 10–11 – Las Vegas – Plaza Hotel * 2003 – August 9–10 – Las Vegas – Plaza Hotel * 2004 – August 21–22 – San Jose – McEnery Convention Center * 2005 – August 20–21 – Burlingame, California – San Francisco Airport Hilton * 2007 – July 28–29 - Las Vegas - Riviera Hotel * 2010 – July 31-August 1 – Las Vegas – Tropicana * 2012 – August 11–12 – Las Vegas – Plaza Hotel * 2014 – September 12–14 - Las Vegas - Riviera Hotel

References

External links

* Las Vegas Valley conventions and trade shows Defunct gaming conventions 1999 establishments in Nevada {{videogame-culture-stub