First Con of 2020: Sixty Six Games Bloomington-Normal Game Convention Coverage

In this video, we travel to the 2020 Bloomington-Normal Video Game Convention hosted by Sixty Six Games.Show more

The last two years, there has been a video game convention and swap meets within an hour of me in Bloomington, Illinois. I didn't go the first year, but we went last year and, well, we were a bit underwhelmed. Having gone to events like MoGameCon and Portland Retro Gaming expo, I've seen some really well-executed conventions. This felt like a bunch of vendors thrown into a banquet hall in a hotel because, frankly, that's what it was. For 2020, however, the organizers had an all-new venue, the Grossinger Motors Arena, a new eSports component, and a lot more area for vendors.

Taking place on January 18th and 19th, going into the event vendors had to deal with a wonderful Illinois winter ice storm on the 17th. There were to be some events on the 17th, however the organizers canceled them in the interest of public safety. I got to the arena Saturday morning a little bit after they opened, and one thing I have to say is they did not have the entrance marked very well at all. And it was not just me who had an issue, I ran into a number of people and we all asked each other "where the hell do we get into this thing?". It's one of those things that if you can't get people into your venue, how well is the rest of the event going to be run?

I started off the day hanging out with Adrian and Kristen from Live Action Games, my local retro reseller here in Champaign. After about an hour, I decided to get a lay of the land. The Grossinger Motors Arena is a multi-purpose arena that can host concerts, hockey games, they may even host basketball games here too. The ring where we were on was the only level that had any vendors whatsoever. The bowl of the stadium is where the eSports League of Legends tournaments were happening.

While it seemed that they had more surface area to put vendors, I don't know that it felt like they were many more vendors than what were here last year at the hotel. I know what they charged for boot space, it wasn't astronomical but I wonder if holding a convention so close to right after Christmas isn't a bad thing. People spent their money during the holidays, now they are busy paying off those bills

I came to the show looking for two particular titles, Gremlins 2 & Rush N Attack for the NES. Gremlins 2 because I just really want to play that game, and Rush N Attack because Ryan from Castlemania Games wants me to stream it for some sick and twisted reason. I was able to find a copy of Rush 'N Attack for five bucks, but nobody seemed to have Gremlins 2. It reminds me of when I was trying to find Captain America and the Avengers last year, every vendor was like it's not an expensive rare game, we just don't happen to have any!

My favorite booths of the weekend was probably Chris', because I love me some imports and he had some great imports. He even had Famicom Disk System Games, fortunately for me most of what he had I already owned, and what I didn't own I didn't really want. I did however pick up a copy of Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley for the Famicom, along with the Japanese version of Panzer Dragoon for the Saturn.

I will say my pickup of the weekend had to be the NES storage I found in one of the booths. It was hidden underneath a number of figures, and I don't think the average person would have realized what it even was, but I did. For only $20 this was an amazing steal, I've only seen one so far pop up on eBay since I bought this, and that's going for two and a half times the price.

Say what you will about him, Billy Mitchell is still one of the best arcade video game players of all time. He has a checkered past, no one will deny that. The fact that he has as much skill as he does and yet still did some of the things that he did makes his story that much more disappointing. The convention organizers actually had him at the event, playing Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, commiserating with and taking pictures with fans. It is amazing to see a player of his caliber work these classic arcade machines like a maestro. It's truly awe-inspiring.

I think the 20/20 Bloomington-Normal Game Convention was a step in the right direction for the organizers, but I do think there's more growth to be had. Better signage for the entrance is a must. I don't know that the League of Legends tournament really brought in that many people, so perhaps moving vendors to the floor space instead would make it feel, I don't know, more convention-y if that makes sense? They also need to pipe in music or something, the energy was just flat. I wish the organizers nothing but the best of luck, having something like this within a 45-minute drive of my home is pretty exciting. I would like to see them take it to the next level, and I will be there to support them.

The footage used in this review are used under the Fair Use laws, referenced below:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107