Southeast Game Exchange Video Game Convention Floor Coverage 2021

In this episode, we recap our experiences at the 2021 Southeast Game Exchange in Greenville, South Carolina.

Back in 2019, we had planned to attend the Southeast Game Exchange. Due to unfortunate life events, we were not able to partake as we would have liked. We had planned on attending the event in 2020, however, we all know that COVID pretty much sidelined everybody's plans. With much excitement we packed our bags and got ready to head to Greenville for the 2021 edition, where we had our own booth along with hosting a panel.

The event itself took place from July 9th-11th, 2021. I drove down on Friday, and after about an 11-hour drive arrived at the hotel. From here I met up with the guys from Gaming off the Grid, Gabbo from the Pixel Game Squad, JLuv81, and other friends at the hotel. While I had seen GotG back in April at the Bloomington-Normal GameCon, this is the first time in almost 2 years I had the opportunity to see many of these other great friends. After a good amount of laughs, jokes, and fun, it was time to get ready for the show on Saturday.

I had helped others with their booths at different shows over the years, from Live Action Games to Castlemania Games, but this was the first time I was taking my own items to sell. I was taking a lot of things that were either duplicates, things I got in lots that I simply didn't want, or things that I bought for the channel for review and no longer wanted or needed. In addition to the items that I was looking to sell, there were two specific items I was looking to buy. The first, John Riggs was going to be at the show and in the past he had sold a ROM hack of RC Pro-Am that had OJ Simpson's white bronco in it. It was something hilarious and I have wanted it for some time. Additionally, I wanted to get my hands on a copy of Kabuki Quantum Fighter, something I had looked for in Bloomington but did not find.

It was awesome that Riggs had his booth right next to mine, so we were able to talk throughout the weekend, and was also super easy to pick up the copy of OJ Pro-Am I was looking for. I walked the hall a bit Saturday morning, but nothing really struck my eye. I'm not saying there weren't great things here because they're absolutely were, just nothing I was really looking for. I was thrilled to see the husband and wife from Gamers4Gamers, an excellent booth that I have bought at when attending other shows. Their quality is great, they have fair prices, and they are good people that you like to see at events. I actually wound up trading them several games for two Super Famicom complete in-box games, Mickey's Magical Quest 2 and Super Gaijin 2. With these three purchases out of the way, it was time to get to selling.

I was absolutely floored by how many people came up to the booth, fans of the channel, and expressed their well wishes and appreciation for what we do. It was incredibly humbling and gratifying to hear that this channel had had such an impact on people. I was also thrilled that I was able to go ahead and move quite a bit of my items I was trying to sell, while generally having a great time with the people in attendance. My goal, having taken two totes of stuff with me, was to return home with just one tote. And for the most part, I was successful.

Noon on Saturday, I was scheduled to host my panel where I RGB modded JLuv81's childhood Nintendo 64. The installation process went fairly smoothly, however we could not get any video to come out of the system. I took it back to the hotel room, but I forgot to grab a game to take with me. Sunday evening I took a game that I knew worked back to the room, hooked it up, and everything worked wonderfully. It was a bit of a bummer that the game that we tested did not work live, but I was thrilled that I was able to get Jen's system working for her.

The most exciting part of the weekend for me, aside from meeting all the amazing people at the event, was being able to find a copy of Kabuki Quantum Fighter for the NES. I had been walking the floor of the show and asked a booth if they had it, and unfortunately they did not. Thankfully, someone attending the event spoke up and mentioned that they had seen one for sale in box at a booth. He walked me over there, and sure enough there it was. This is an exciting find for me, in one of those times when I was able to fill in details to my collection, versus having to look for quantities of games. I can't wait to get this home to play it, having opened up the cartridge the game itself looks amazing.

Once again, I have to take my hat off to Austin and the entire team that puts on SEGE. The fans were excited, the other vendors were great, and it was amazing to see some of the best people anywhere. I'm already making plans to attend in 2022, and if you are looking for an amazing convention that is family-friendly to attend, this is definitely one you should consider

#SEGE #SoutheastGameExchange #VideoGameConvention