Monroeville Convention Center hosts 5th annual Pittsburgh Gaming Expo this weekend

Organizers have pressed the start button on the fifth annual Pittsburgh Gaming Expo.

Festivities kicked off Friday afternoon at the Monroeville Convention Center, 209 Mall Plaza Blvd.

The event continues Saturday and Sunday with pinball tournaments and cosplay contests set for both days.

Brian Wissner, expo co-founder and co-owner, expects at least 7,000 people will visit throughout the weekend. About 6,400 people attended last year.

“It’s hard to tell early on, but our presale numbers crushed previous years,” Wissner said. “Really strong support from the community. What we hear over and over again from people who tell us about the show is the vibe — the atmosphere is really like a gamer’s event. Come and play games. Hang out with your friends. Shop the vendors. The weekend vibes is really the best value.

“We have 500 hours of content, at least, scheduled over the whole weekend from live music, the panels, the tournaments, table-top (workshops). A lot of stuff really packed into a tight window of time.”

There’s something for everyone to play whether it is on console and computers or casting spells with the turn of a card or roll of the dice.

Nostalgia flows throughout the gaming area with arcade classic shooters like Area 51, Time Crisis II and Lethal Enforcers, to the side-scrolling beat-em ups like X-Men, The Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Brief history

Wissner and fellow showrunners Colt Dalmaso and Alex Kinnamon used no cheat codes in building what’s called PGX.

Hard work and networking were the driving force. It has been in Monroeville since the beginning.

The first year had about 2,000 attendees, 30 vendors and was open about a day and a half just in the center’s south hall.

The expo has steadily grown in attendance, offerings and time. Last year, it was expanded from two days to three.

About 100 vendors have signed up this year.

“We always kind of had optimistic goals, but we never thought that it would hit this growth, this scale, this quick,” Wissner said.

Wissner believes the venue, itself, has had an impact on the expo’s success as well as its signature pop culture conventions, Steel City Con, which takes place three times a year.

“We have some similarities, but there are a lot of differences,” Wissner said. “People who go to Steel City Con like music. A lot of them like games, probably. There’s a lot of crossover between movies and cinema with video games.”

The center offers free parking and separated areas for different activities — compared to one large room at a Downtown Pittsburgh venue.

“It has some great amenities here,” Wissner said about the center. “It’s well-located. You don’t have to deal with a lot of the issues you have to deal with downtown. Parking is ample and it’s free. This space is adequate for what we need.

“The walls are actually a great feature. It allows us to have live music on one side of the building, but then have small quiet conversation-level gaming going on at the other end of the hall. The two don’t interfere with each other.”

Away from screens

The Feisty Goblin of New Kensington is the exclusive sponsor of the table-top gaming area where volunteers are eager teach people how to play titles like Cookie Run, Warhammer, Gundam, Rift Bound, Pokemon Magic, Flesh and Blood and Pagag Fate of Rowanoke.

Goblin owner Christine Radeshak said there has been a resurgence in card games since the pandemic ended.

“I think covid had a lot to do with this,” she said. “When we were in lockdown, and we were isolated from people we weren’t able to have that social interaction.

”Table-top games demand it. You have to sit at another table with another person or more. You have to be there conversing with people. Making the eye contact.

“People want to be social. People want to have connection with other people. That’s vital to us. There’s also a lot of research that have gone into the benefits of game play and mental health and mental stability and things like that.”

Radeshak is one of the original expo vendors. Her store opened in April 2023.

“We were proud to be first year participants here with Alex and the crew,” Radeshak said. “We had so much fun and came back again. … We’ve made incredible friends through running events at the store and meeting people there. We love the spirit of PGX and what it does for the gaming community at large in Pittsburgh. We’re happy to be a part of that.”

Express yourself

Dakota Tigney of Millvale came to the expo Friday dressed as Princess Daisy of the Super Mario Bros. universe.

She said this was her first time at the expo and found it a welcoming place to express her joy of gaming.

“I like going to conventions and cosplaying,” Tigney said. “It feels like it’s a part of the experience. This is a gaming convention. I’ve got to be a character from a video game.”

She said she enjoyed seeing the variety of vendors and would come back next year.

Tigney was one of several attendees who painted some of the free miniatures that were on display near the table-top games.

Bill Volk of Sheraden was among those customizing the small characters.

“There’s lots of different things you can use painted minis for,” he said. “There’s war games. There’s role-playing games. Some people might do it for model railroads. I think this workshop is just about building the skills to paint minis for anything you want. It’s very pleasant.

“I was here last year and it was nice. They’ve got a nice array of activities. The free-play arcade is very nice. I’m not one of these competitive pinball tournament players, but I like pinball. I got a weekend pass.”

Cole Orlandini, 26, of Scranton and his fiance, Courtney Crouch, 27, of North Strabane dressed as Reptile and Mileena from Mortal Kombat . They plan on entering the costume contests.

The couple won Judge’s Choice at last year’s cosplay contest and earned free tickets.

They said gaming and competing have made their bond stronger and were happy to be back.

Upcoming events

Some of the Saturday highlights include live performances by Premium Vintage, Shadow Realm and Mega Ran.

There will be a fighting game tournament as well as panel discussions with game creators, artists and voice actors.

The cast of the game Mass Effect will be there Saturday and fewer of them on Sunday.

A breakdown of events and at what areas is available at pittsburghgamingexpo.com.

Millvale drink makers Burgers Brewing Co. crafted a special Czech amber lager for the expo called Wyrmslayer Reserve.

There are at least 300 different board games to play as well.