The Classic Gaming Expo was a gaming convention focused on people, systems, and games from the past, with a focus on old video games. The Expo was started in 1999 by John Hardie, Sean Kelly, and Keita Iida. In 2000, Joe Santulli took over as a co-organizer of the event.
The conventions were usually held in the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, but occasionally took place in Silicon Valley. One of the main activities included visits and panels with people who worked in the video game industry before, such as Ralph H. Baer and Nolan Bushnell.
In addition to the Expo, Kelly, Hardie, and Santulli created the Videogame History Museum, a traveling museum that displays classic video games and equipment at events like E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) and GDC (Game Developers Conference). In April 2016, the traveling museum marked the opening of a permanent location called the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas. As of May 2020, Hardie is the current curator of the museum.
History
In October 1995, video game collectors Hardie, Iida, and Mike Etler started North Atlantic Videogame Aficionados (NAVA) at Video Game Connections, Etler’s video game store in Howell, New Jersey. The group’s goal was to create a place where video gamers could meet, talk about collecting games, and buy, sell, or trade games. The event became very popular and brought collectors from across the northeastern United States, including Canada and South Carolina.
In 1998, Hardie and Iida decided to make NAVA a national group. They worked with Richard Tsukiji to include classic gaming collectibles at Tsukiji’s annual World of Atari show. The show took place in Las Vegas at the Holiday Inn Boardwalk Hotel and Casino from August 21–23, 1998. Because the event was so successful, Hardie and Iida chose to leave World of Atari and, with Sean Kelly, created their own event called Classic Gaming Expo.
Classic Gaming Expo has been held at these 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