Playthrough Gaming Convention 2024
Table of Contents
The Playthrough Gaming Convention 2024 event at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, NC on March 16 & 17. This convention focuses on many flavors of gaming including video games, board games, tabletop RPG games, card games, and more. There are many types of activities to partake in. Any gamer can find something to get into here.
THE PLAYTHROUGH GAMING CONVENTION 2024 ADVENTURE
I’ve gone to Playthrough several times over the past few years. I believe this is my fourth year but the first year I’ve gone on a Sunday. I usually go on a Saturday but I wanted to take my son with me. He is young and I figured Sunday would not be as busy as Saturday. Compared to my previous Saturday attendance, I was right about Sunday. With that said, I got into plenty and had a great time.
LAYOUT
Playthrough Gaming Convention 2024 is not the largest convention I have been to but also not the smallest. When you enter the convention, you start from a balcony that overlooks the entire convention. It’s quite a site.
VENDORS
The first thing I like to do every year is visit the vendors. I recognized a few of the vendors at Playthrough Gaming Convention 2024 from previous years. However, there were some new vendors as well. Most of the new vendors are developers who want to get the word out about their games. There were video game, mobile game, board game, and card game vendors. My wife tried out a mobile game called Solquence and a family was checking out a video game called Squirrely Roo Rabbit.
There are various other types of vendors as well. I came across vendors that sell art, crafts, retro gaming, games, cards, services, and more. There have to of been over 100 vendors. It took me about 90 minutes to get through all of them but I like to look, tinker, play, and talk so I may be slower than most other player characters.
A few of the vendors can be a bit pushy or talk too much. I wind up a little frustrated with those encounters once they don’t get the hint that I’m not interested. However, that happened maybe 3 times out of all the vendors so the experience was quite pleasant. There wasn’t a large crowd either so I was able to spend plenty of time looking at what vendors offered.
FOOD AND DRINK
After getting through the vendors, I was hungry and thirsty. There is a concession stand in the convention hall. The lines were short so it didn’t take long to get food and drink. However, the food is not that great. The nachos and cheese don’t taste like anything. The chicken tenders were okay. The fries were fine. It all just tasted a bit bland. Regardless, the food did its job and I got back to walking around in no time.
FREE-TO-PLAY GAMES
Perhaps my favorite part of Playthrough Gaming Convention 2024 is free-to-play games. There are so many games, and so many types of games, to play for free. There is enough of a selection that you are bound to find something that you want to try.
BOARD GAMES
The first type of games that I played were board games and I played them with my wife. There were options to find additional players but my son wouldn’t last long so I needed a couple of small games to play.
I played Smash Up and Trash Pandas. I did not like Smash Up. I didn’t even get through an entire game because neither one of us was feeling it. However, I did enjoy Trash Pandas. These two games were enough to hang up and move on to other free-to-play games.
VIDEO GAMES
There are so many video games to play. There are retro consoles, arcade cabinets, interactive, tournaments, and so much more. As much as I love video games, I simply walked around and watched people play. Some of the players noticed my presence and we’d start talking about something gaming-related. I enjoyed the interactions with fellow gamers.
There was one section of retro consoles that made me slow down and appreciate them. Each console has a sign on top of the display that gives information about the console such as when it was released, how many versions were released, and any history catered to the specific console. My father had an Intellivision when I was nearly a baby but I got to play it again later in life. I’m not sure where it is now but I was happy to see one once again at the convention.
AS I SEE IT
Playthrough Gaming Convention 2024 is a gamer’s paradise. If you are a gamer, you will be able to find something to get into. I was happy to see the selection increase of free-to-play board games. Plenty of people were playing board games yet there was still plenty to choose from. The crowd was small which I enjoy but I hope to see more gamers give Playthrough a try.
I spent five hours at the convention. There was more that I wanted to get into but my son was done and we had a busy weekend so it was time to go home and rest. Regardless, I had a great time and I look forward to attending once again next year. In the meantime, I’ll be on the lookout for more gaming conventions to attend.
PHOTO GALLERY
