Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the Game Core Con gaming convention, now in it’s 5^th year – presented by Too Many Games at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA. I have to say I have been to quite a few gaming conventions in my day and had never attended Game Core Con before, but was looking forward to it. Me, my wife and my step-kid all being big gamers decided to make a family trip of the event, making a day of it.

We arrived at the con promptly at 10:00 am and the parking was ample and free to boot, definitely a plus in my book. The registration process was swift and the staff was very courteous and helpful. Entrance to the con was a mere $10 for adult $5 for children. For those that took full advantage of all the con had to offer, it was quite a bargain. The convention space was wide open and well lit, and the guide given to each attendee had all the areas clearly labeled and a schedule of the events posted.

First thing I noticed was that this was a true gaming convention catering to all definitions of the word tabletop, board, video and card based were all represented and vendors of all were in attendance. This also seemed to be a very family friendly con, there were a lot of families in attendance and there was a good mixture of the old and new school of games for all generations.

Since this is a gaming convention I really should talk about the games. There was a lot of great deals to be found on the convention floor. I found out the hard way, when you walked by a good deal – and didn’t pick it up, when you returned it was probably gone. I have noticed that at some gaming conventions prices are usually marked up, but since this was a smaller convention I found the exact opposite. I found quite a few really good deals on used games and guides, since I am terribly cheap when it comes to games I pay attention to these things.

If you weren’t just there to shop for games there was also plenty to do as well with tournaments both video and card going on for most of the day. There was also random trivia questions throughout the day as well with a chance to win some free swag. If competitive tournaments weren’t your thing there were plenty of gaming stations all around the con, with a variety of consoles and arcade machines set up for free play throughout the day – which for parents is a huge plus. You could just pick up a game of the old X-Men or Simpsons beat ‘em up arcade and just play to your hearts content.

I have to say my favorite part of the con by far was The Sound Bytes Live Sets. I am a huge Nerdcore fan and they managed to get together some of my favorite acts from all over the US.  Honestly, I would have paid more than $10 bucks alone to see YTCracker, MC Lars and Devo Spice to tell you the truth. I honestly thought they should have played this aspect of the con up a bit on the website. I mean watching MC Lars and YTCracker doing a set together was pretty epic as far as I was concerned. There was also a small panel track and a video screening of Nerdcore Rising(a film I had been meaning to see)as well going on throughout the day.

Overall, I had to say I enjoyed the con immensely, and so did the wife and kid. We will definitely be attending the con next year as well. For a gaming convention, probably for the size it’s my favorite I have been to in a while to tell you the truth. There just seemed like there was always something going on and plenty to do, and for $10 you honestly can’t beat it. If you do plan on attending next year, I should mention that since the convention space is rather new, this being a challenge for some people who used map quest or older GPS devices to find directions to the Philadelphia Expo Center. There are detailed directions on the site here to find the Expo Center. If have more pics posted on my flickr which you can check out here and here.  I leave you with a picture of Geekadelphia editor @ericsmithrocks with KITT from Knight Rider!