Since it began in 2006, the Portland Retro Gaming Expo has grown from a small gathering of enthusiasts in an old hotel conference room to a gigantic, multi-day affair that takes over much of the Oregon Convention Center. Thankfully, the focus on old-school video games remains the same—you’ll find an insane amount of hard-to-find games for sale, whether they're from the era of the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision or relatively newer titles—and there’ll also be slew of special guests, from cosplaying YouTubers to the creators of classics like Pitfall! and Paperboy. There’s more, including tournaments, a video game museum, and really very incredibly specific panels (“Making Alien vs. Predator for the Atari Jaguar: A 25th Anniversary Retrospective”), but the biggest draw might be the “Retrocade”: 30,000 square feet of classic arcade cabinets and pinball machines, all free to play.

by Erik Henriksen