Utah Retro GameXpo celebrates nostalgia and community

LAYTON, Utah ( ABC4 ) — Game on! The Utah Retro GameXpo is coming to the Davis Conference Center this August.

The expo will include plenty of exciting opportunities for Utah’s gaming community, including over 180 vendor tables featuring retro games, collectibles and vintage toys, panel discussions, special guests, tournaments, a free play arcade, cosplay contest, and more.

The Utah Retro GameXpo will take place on Aug. 9 -10, in celebration of retro gaming culture and history.

Special guests for this year include Paul Niemeyer, Ho-Sung Pak, Master Daniel Pesina, Carlos Pesina, and Elizabeth Malecki, who all worked on Mortal Kombat, as well as voice actors Bill Rogers (Pokemon, Zelda, Street Fighter), Sean Chiplock (Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild), and John Moschitta Jr., known as “America’s Favorite Fast Talker.”

The annual event was started three years ago by Tracy Charlton, the owner of Minus World Video Games , a local store in Layton. He said he put on a swap meet in the store’s parking lot, and despite rain and hail on that day, around 1,000 people showed up.

“From there, we went over to the Davis Conference Center and we got about double that,” he said. “We went to about 2,200 people who showed up….It kept growing from there. Our last one, we had a little over 3,000 people come to the event.”

This year, Charlton said he’s expecting more growth with the event now being two days and seeing how popular it has become. He said it’s a project of passion, as he’s an avid fan of retro games himself.

Charlton said he grew up on the original Nintendo system, and in figuring out how to buy his own games at a young age, became a bit of an entrepreneur, selling toys and Garbage Pail Kids cards.

“My favorite game is ‘The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past’ on the Super Nintendo. I can still go back to that one and play it over and over,” he said.

He said that he owned another gaming store before Minus World Video Games, but unfortunately, the first one didn’t work out. However, Charlton shared, he learned a lot to take into his next venture, which he’s now been running for a little over five years.

“A lot of people that come into my store, it sparks memories of their childhood. You know, they’re like, ‘Oh, I remember that, or I remember when my when my dad gave me that, or he would play this with me’….That’s the joy I see in doing this, is bringing those memories back to people,” he said.

After countless hours of hard work and planning, Charlton said it’s worth it to see how the Utah Retro Gaming Xpo brings those who love gaming and collecting a place to come together.

“The community is great. People love this stuff and everybody kind of looks out for everyone else and there’s a lot of passion, you know, a lot of camaraderie. You can go to anybody and talk to them about your favorite games. That’s what I see, a lot of that, a lot of smiling faces.”

You can purchase tickets online ahead of time , and use the code URGX2024A for a discount.

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