Last weekend I was able to attend the Portland Retro Gaming Expo (PRGE) in Portland Oregon.  For those of you who are not aware of this show, it has grown to be one of the largest shows in the country.  As they normally do, they had a large Retrocade area set up where you could play any number of arcade games or games on home consoles.  This year, the Retrocade area opened on Friday at noon and was extremely popular.

The largest area of the show is reserved for exhibitors.  These varied from vendors selling all kinds of retro game items to vendors selling new games for retro systems to vendors with announcements for new retro game systems.

I had a change to support AtariAge with show preparations and I worked the booth for a few hours on Saturday.

One of best things at the PRGE is the panels and speakers that they are able to attract.  I was able to attend a session with Atari and Activision developers.

A couple of new retro game systems were announced.  CollectorVision announced a Kickstarter Campaign for their new FPGA based ColecoVision compatible system.

Also, Intellivision Entertainment announced plans to release a new console that will have ‘Re-imagined’ Intellivision games built in.

One of the best things about PRGE for me is the release of new games for retro systems.  AtariAge had several new 2600, 5200, 7800 and Jaguar games released at PRGE this year.

AtariAge had a number of Atari systems set up to demonstrate existing, new, and work in progress games.

The absolute highlight of PRGE for me was the chance to meet and talk with legacy programmers like David Crane and Dan and Gary Kitchen as wells as folks that make new Atari games possible like Al Yaruso of AtariAge and Fred Quimby who designed the Melody board.  It was also a blast to talk with John Champeau and his brother Paul about the development of Mappy and Champ Games upcoming game Wizard of War Arcade for the Atari 2600.

If you ever get the chance to be in Portland in late October, make sure that you carve out some time to attend the PRGE!

@Atarigameguy