Review of Salt Lake Gaming Con 2015

Salt Lake Gaming Con 2015

Salt Lake City, Utah

Thursday August 6^th – Saturday August 8^th, 2015

Review By: John Fragglepuss Evans

It is the inaugural year for Salt Lake Gaming Con (SLGC), Utah’s newest gaming convention, and there is something for every type of gamer at the convention. Vendors and exhibitors generally come to mind when talking about geek conventions, and SLGC has a variety of exhibitors, including: Microsoft, Gazillion Entertainment (Marvel), and Sony Entertainment. Special guests include celebrity cosplayers, voice actors, and critically acclaimed Konami composer Rika Muranaka. Some of the guests in attendance include: Steven Ogg, Amber Goldfarb, Elias Toufexis, Nicki Rapp, Destiny Nickelsen, Kristen Hughey, Nathan DeLuca, Geek Comedy Tour, and Nerds of ‘Play. The kids are taken care of at SLGC as there is a large area dedicated to kid-related activities.

If you were going to SLGC to play games, as I am sure most attendees were, the gaming section was large and impressive. If console gaming tickles your fancy, there is all sorts of console games available, with various tournaments throughout the convention. If tabletop games are more your speed, SaltCON has a sizeable game library available for you to check out a game and get to playing. PC gaming was also going on throughout the weekend.

The Cosplay contest was on day two of the convention. There were all sorts of cosplay, from video game related characters to anime to other geek related cosplay. There was an impressive Samus, Zero Suit included. There were several categories in the contest, with the standard beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Game tournaments throughout the weekend included: Halo, Hearthstone, Dicemasters, Super Smash Bros., Pokemon, Doom, Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, League of Legends, Dota 2, Magic the Gathering, Mortal Kombat X, and some others. Salt Lake Gaming Con 2015 was an enjoyable convention to attend. Of course there were pros and “cons” (sorry, I couldn’t resist), but I think the pros outweighed the cons. The variety of game play options were a positive aspect of the convention. I was able to play some tabletop games, such as The Elevated of Prim, which is due to come out on Kickstarter soon. It was a fun game that was easy to learn, I recommend checking it out.

The game tournaments were entertaining to watch, such as the Super Smash Bros. tournament that showcased some impressive gameplay and battles.

The vendors and exhibitors in attendance provided entertainment and an assortment of shopping opportunities. Optic Rush Photography was a fun booth that took your photo and added you to a scene of anything geeky, from a Tardis to Tatooine. More vendors and exhibitors in attendance would have been beneficial, but I assume that comes with SLGC being an inaugural convention this year. The attendance was not as high as some of the other conventions out there, but I assume that comes with it being its first-year and also it being a strictly game-focused convention. Even with the lower numbers, there were always fellow attendees to play any sort of game with. You could always find someone for a tabletop game or for a match in Mortal Kombat. Overall it was an enjoyable convention that I am glad I was able to attend. I look forward to next year’s Salt Lake Gaming Con!