Play

Play the classic arcade game of Air Hockey at the Midwest Gaming Classic! Can you master the puck as it glides magically on a carpet of air, pinging its way across the playfield and (hopefully for you) into the goal your opponent is desperately trying to defend? Whether you come for fun or to see some of the best in the world face off, don’t miss Air Hockey at the MGC!

There is nothing quite like playing a game that you just walked up to in an arcade, and now you can leave your quarters at home and play more than 100 games thanks to great local arcades and individual collectors! Looking to buy or sell or just share your own game? You can do that too!

Beyblade is a battling spinning top toy line and franchise developed by Takara Tomy. In Beyblade, participants compete in battles between two or more spinning tops called Beyblades, or Beys. A Beyblade typically consists of multiple parts or layers, and players can combine layers to create their own combination of layers. The parts from each iteration of Beyblade are incompatible with other iterations. Beyblade X is invading Midwest Gaming Classic! There will be hands-on demos all weekend for the general public spreading the good word of the spinning top. Saturday is for proving your skills in battle through the FREE tournament with epic prizes from our friends at Evolution Gaming to those who come out on top! Pre-register here: https://challonge.com/midwestbeybladeclassic

We’re bringing Chess back to the Midwest Gaming Classic! Join some of the best players in the state as they take on visitors in unique challenges, give people tips on play, and demonstrate how one of the oldest games remains one of the best!

Come to the show dressed as your favorite gaming character! Come Saturday for a chance to win prizes for the best costumes when we host our Cosplay tournament! On Sunday, we invite kids to come in costume and show it off!

In the Palm Garden on the first level, check out the Cosplay Stage, vendors (My Favorite Quilt Shop and Chaos Costumes), and register in our cosplay contest at Cosplay HQ!

Think that you can win a prize by dropping a claw on it and nabbing it out of the machine? Try your hand – or claw – at our various claw games to see what you can get! Crane games are one of the only games with an extra associated cost due to their prizes.

Thanks to KingPin Games, the kids (and those young at heart…) can check out some awesome Kiddie Rides! Enjoy them for free, and even purchase them to take home with you or put on location when the show is done! Want to reserve one for delivery at the show? Contact Chris at KingPin at (608) 393-2299 for current inventory and pricing!

What’s better than playing against a friend? Playing against a bunch of friends! Sit down at one of the multiple LAN games that happen at our show! Face off against a whole bunch of others others in classics like Quake and Steel Battalion, or have a totally different type of experience with games like Cursed Halo!

A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting represented by real-world environments while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules or determined by consensus among players. Get ready to live out your fantasy of being a medieval knight, or perhaps a high fantasy elf!

Whether it’s Warhammer, Star Wars, Sails of Glory, Marvel, or just classic old school world war games, the thrilling hobby of miniature tabletop wargaming has something for you! Find an opponent, play with friends, watch or learn. It’s time to prepare yourself for battle!

Looking to check out the latest game systems like the Playstation 5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch? Then grab a controller and start playing as we have multiple copies of each console playable!

The classic silverball game is a Midwestern tradition, and with tons of pinball machines on hand including many brand new machines from the hottest manufacturers, you can play all day… no quarters required!

Pogs are back at the MGC and they’re still all that *and* a bag of chips! That’s right, blow the dust off your pogs, grab a slammer, and get to the Wisconsin Center where we’re going to have open play on Friday night (which, if you missed the fad in the 90s, we’ll teach you how to play!), and maybe even some big tournaments! Or just find someone throughout the halls of MGC with some cardboard discs who is ready to rumble and start throwing down!

MGC doesn’t just host any basketball game, we host the original arcade basketball game, Pop-A-Shot! How many hoops can you shoot before time runs out?

Remember what it was like when you got your first Commodore? Or maybe it was a Tandy? Early Apple computers? Rediscover your past, or learn about what gaming was like in the early days of computers. Explore dozens of different retro computers in the Museum and challenge each other to a networked game of Quake on an iMac in the Guys, Games and Beer room!

Play games on the consoles of the past! If you can name a console, chances are it is on the floor and playable! Rediscover popular consoles of the past like the NES, Sega Genesis, Playstation 1 and N64, experience great consoles you may have missed like the Turbografx-16, Sega Saturn and Wii U, and even discover consoles you may have never heard of like the FM Towns Marty, Vectrex, Arcadia 2001 and even the Super A’Can… and while you’re at it, challenge a friend to a game!

Do you think you can solve the traditional 3×3 cube (like a Rubik’s Cube, for instance) super fast? Or do you know that you can’t? No matter what your skill level is, you can stop by and check it out, and even try your hand at some of the different types of cubing challenges including 2×2 cubes!

Play a multitude of the organized tournament and non-tournament board games such as Settlers of Catan, 7 Wonders, Exploding Kittens, and many more! Meet the makers of many popular tabletop games, learn a brand new game with our demo team or grab some friends and borrow an old favorite from a library of thousands of games thanks to MilCog!

Come and play many of the most popular RPG games in the industry! We’re shaking up how we’ve done tabletop RPGs this year, with adventures for all players of all skill levels from beginner to long-time wizard! Games on offer include Dungeons & Dragons (various editions), Star Wars, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and more!

Click the button (and schedule times on the next page) for further details about what’s going on!

Grab your deck and bring it along to challenge people to a game of Magic: the Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and other popular trading card games! The Mana Vault and Warpstorm Games will be hosting some great tournaments! Just play for fun or feel the heat of competition in one of our free-to-play tournaments offering great prizes!