THE RETURN OF PLAY EXPO
Graeme Mason reports on this year’s Blackpool event
It’s been a tremendously challenging few months for the majority of the entertainment and events industry, and for the retro show organisers Replay Events it’s been no different. Forced to cancel most of its plans during the pandemic, the company finally returned last month to what it does best – putting on a professional gaming show for eager retro punters. Housed once more within the cavernous Norcalympia Conference Centre at the Norbreck Hotel, Blackpool, this was an event that added little new compared to its previous incarnations – but on this occasion, that didn’t matter. With the wealth of arcade cabinets, games consoles and pinball machines on show, there was plenty for the eventstarved guests to play and enjoy.
“Last year was pretty awful,” Replay’s Andy Brown tells us. “Thankfully we have managed to run a few of the markets this year as well as support some festivals and EGX, so things are improving.” The Norbreck, a relatively smaller venue and longtime partner of Replay, was the ideal location to kick-start Play Expo as we finally start to learn to adapt and now live with the dreaded COVID-19. Needless to say, safeguards have been put in place. “We wanted attendees to feel that they could socially distance if they chose to, so we purposely restricted numbers,” explains Andy. “Had we run the show at normal capacity, I think people would have felt uncomfortable, and after talking to attendees at the event, I’m really pleased we made this decision.”
With safeguards in place, visitors could enjoy the games, and there were plenty to enjoy. First greeting guests was the eternally-popular selection of Play Expo’s arcade machines, now ferried up from Replay’s permanent arcade in Milton Keynes, The Pixel Bunker. A huge range of Eighties classics were on offer, from stalwarts such as Pac-man and Frogger to marvellous sitdown experiences like Star Wars and Out Run.
“We purposely brought a large number of games that had never been at any events before,” says Andy. “And lots of regulars commented on the variety of machines this year.” Beyond the arcade cabinets lay a huge range of retro consoles from renowned favourites such as the Playstation and Super Nintendo to an aisle filled with obscure curious like the Apple Pippin and Nintendo Virtual Boy.
Indie gaming was also well represented with Leda Entertainment’s
new multiplayer brawler Bullion and the thoroughly odd The Cone Game from Darkroom Games both on display. And it wasn’t just PC gaming that got the indie treatment: the Game Boy game D*fuzed, from Asobi.tech looked a pleasing little puzzler and should be available to Nintendo fans in early 2022. “It was great to be back at a retro gaming event after so long and it did not disappoint,” says Asobi.tech’s Asobi Quangdx. “There was a really enthusiastic response to D*fuzed, cementing [the fact] there is a hunger for new games on old systems.”
Another entertaining facet of Play Expo is its talks and panels, and these were also back, albeit slightly lower key than usual. Hosting the majority of these was Youtuber and presenter Trista Bytes. “It was lovely to see so many familiar faces again as well as meet so many of the people who’ve kept me company during the last year for the first time,” says Trista. “The range of guests and panellists was brilliant and we nearly had packed-out rooms for most of them.” From the panel of Antstream Arcade luminaries (including CEO Steve Cottam) to an entertaining Q&A with several retro Youtubers and a fun retro quiz, there was always something on for those wanting to take a break away from the glow of the screens. With the talks shifted to a larger room within the Norbreck to aid social distancing, back in the main hall, staff were regularly on hand with an antiviral wipe when a console or cabinet was not in use. “We also made the decision to drop some features we felt were high risk – VR and anything that caused crowding such as stage activity,” notes Andy. “We felt we struck the right balance of keeping within the current government guidelines, meeting our own safety criteria yet still delivering a show that didn’t feel cut down or overly restricted.”
It’s undoubtedly a difficult balance to achieve, and while anyone with ongoing concerns or worries about the pandemic is unlikely to find such an event relaxing, it’s clear that the Replay team did its best to make sure attendees were as safe as they could possibly be while also offering up another fantastic assortment of games to play. Says Andy, “Feedback has been incredibly positive. Overall, I think people are just glad to have been given the opportunity to see old friends, hang out and play games and just feel normal again for a day or two.”
Negotiations for further Play Expos are ongoing, and Andy is hopeful that the events will move towards normal service in 2022. While it’s clear that things are never quite going to be the same again, it’s most definitely great to see the popular retro show back.