Today, myself and Steve went to the London Gaming Market’s first opening day. The London Gaming Market was held in the Royal National Hotel in Russell Square. We found it easy to get to from London Bridge, with there being both the Russell Square Underground station and several bus routes which stop nearby in Tavistock Square. We both think the location was fairly easy to find walking from Tavistock Square. There was a charge to get into the market, being £5 for entry from 11am, and £2 for entry after 12pm. We didn’t have an issue with this, considering what you’re paying for really is to get access to the best deals and rare games before they’re all sold, early on.
The market itself was far more geared towards the retro side of gaming, with lots of older consoles in working condition and massive collections of retro games, both brand new and used. It was honestly, a collector’s dream come true. There were also stalls set up to allow people to play on classic games, such as Goldeneye on the N64, Super Smash Bros, Micro Machines, Mario Kart 64 and many more, and Steve whiled away a good hour playing multiplayer with attendees on Goldeneye 64.
There was also other merchandise on sale, ranging from plush toys to shirts and artwork, and a lot of this was fairly interesting to peruse. Adjacent to the room holding all the video gaming goodness was another room, holding various board games and collectable card games – I will admit to digging through the Pokémon cards!
A lot of this was fairly interesting, with a few indie board game developers being exhibited as well. There were also tables set up for people to have a go at the different games on offer, with staff from the different companies available to teach people how to play the various games.
Overall, we found it quite interesting to visit, but felt that the venue could have been larger, especially when the main exhibition room became packed after 12pm, and that maybe a bit of a showcase on PC gaming wouldn’t have gone amiss. Website: http://www.londongamingmarket.com/ Next dates: April 3rd 2016, July 3rd 2016 and November 6th 2016 Written by Karen