Join 2D Con, Minnesota’s Celebration of All Things Gaming as they host a variety of tabletop tournaments. 2DCon hosts the largest gaming and esports event in Minnesota and a year-round active community dedicated to gaming of every type, from tabletop to esports. With a dedicated gaming event venue in Minneapolis and two large conventions each year. 2D Con has something for every gamer.

Party like it’s 2010 and gather ’round the jukebox at 3pm Saturday to make your 3DS’ little orange light BLOW UP! 3DS Streetpass enthusiasts from around the world will be gathering at the Midwest Gaming Classic to keep that little led torch lit and the Streetpass spirit alive.

The stars of ACW Wrestling take to the ring to Beat ‘Em Up at the Midwest Gaming Classic on Saturday! Check out matches from one of the coolest indie wrestling groups in the country, ACW! 

Step into a live fantasy adventure at Midwest Gaming Classic!

Isekai Fantasy: Crypt of the Warlock Fiend is a fully physical, interactive quest where small groups choose character classes, explore a mysterious crypt, and work together to break a powerful curse.

Players interact with real props and environments, while different character abilities reveal different clues—making teamwork essential.

If you’re cosplaying, you can even build your character class to match your character’s skills, magic, or style.

Watch the trailer and reserve your session: https://ti.to/experimental-gamer/crypt-mgc-2026

Presented by Adventure Room Creations.

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!

See all the latest and greatest coin-op and home arcade games from the biggest manufacturers including Stern Pinball, Raw Thrills, Spooky Pinball, and many others! Then, find out how to bring your favorite game to your home or arcade from the manufacturers and distributors on site!

Check out the work of established and up-and-coming artists in our Artist Alley section! If you are an artist interested in displaying and selling your work here, please visit our Artist Alley Registration page.

Presented by Evolution Gaming!

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!

Curious how far modding original video game hardware can go? The BitBuilt Experience is a collaboration between the BitBuilt and Ben Heck Experience communities to show, tell, and teach about console modifications. Such mods include adding video out to older systems, miniaturized consoles such as the world’s smallest GameCube that can fit in your palm, handheld consoles made from home consoles ranging from Atari 2600 to Wii, and everything in between — all with original hardware. Stop by the experience to see these mods and chat with some of the great minds behind them.

Did a game break down in the Game Center? Somebody had better call… YOU?!?!?

Midwest Gaming Classic is teaming up with Build-a-Blinkie to bring soldering lessons to MGC! What is a “blinkie,” you ask? I’m so glad you asked! A blinkie is a fun kit that comes with a badge and led lights to solder on so that they can, well, blink. Instructors will be working closely with you to make sure you’re learning the proper techniques and taking the necessary safety precautions.

And best of all? We have a limited amount of special MGC 25 blinkies available, but when they’re gone, they’re gone forever! You only turn 25 once, after all. These will be strictly limited to just 250 pieces, but we’ll have all sorts of other designs to choose from, there’s something for everybody!

Purchase of kit required. Soldering irons will be provided.

Can you out-build a Minecraft Pro? Throughout MGC, you can challenge one of three professional Minecrafters* in a 15-minute build challenge! If your creation is deemed the winner according to our judges, you’ll take home a prize!!! (Signups open at the start of each day, reserve a time early because they fill up!)

*Erik, Kestin, James, and Corinne are not Minecraft experts. They just act like them on the internet.

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!

The Computing and Gaming Museum is one of the centerpieces of the Midwest Gaming Classic! Check out hundreds of different consoles from Pong to the PS5 and everything in between! Discover the joys of early computers, share the fun of hit games from the past, and check out the present of video games in the home! Best of all? Unlike a museum where you can just look, in the Computing and Gaming Museum, it’s almost all playable too!

Have you ever been curious about what it would be like to try and sneak around as a stealthy rogue and steal valuable treasures, or conquer the playing field as a strong and brave warrior? Maybe combat isn’t your thing, and you would like to dress up in your favorite garb and simply roleplay in person as a dashing bard or cunning merchant! Give it all a try in Deeplight LARP’s Adventure Room! We are looking for brave adventurers like yourself to run through a variety of Live Action Role-Play scenarios or embark on an adventure with capture the flag. Deeplight LARP will also be discussing how to get into Live Action Role-Playing, what to expect at events, how to repair your gear, and how to interact safely while immersing yourself in the Deeplight LARP world. If you’ve ever been curious to play some of your favorite characters in person with other players, this is where you can finally have that experience!

Hosted by Deeplight Larp

Facebook facebook.com/deeplightlarp

Like being locked into a small room with all your best friends?  For a nominal fee, we have a room where you can do just that! We’ll even throw in a generously large red escape button in case the excitement is just too much to bear…

New for 2026, try the fantasy-themed Crypt of the Warlock Fiend with friends!

Come and meet Slackanater – Farmer, hiker, brewer, and master of retro gaming strategies. A dedicated member of the speed-running community, he has discovered and refined techniques that have shaped the records of top runners. He is famously known as the first player to conquer the original NES Ninja Gaiden without taking a single hit. He will be at the MGC again this year showcasing FlawlessNES, where he pushes the limits of skill and precision as he beats games without ever taking damage.  To date, he has flawlessly defeated over 40 games, including some of the most notoriously difficult titles in the NES library. Come see Slackanater in the Game Center and find out more about FlawlessNES live on Twitch and YouTube!  While you’re there, try one of his many flawless challenges for guests!

Try out the classics of the future from various developers of all sizes! From VR to console, Steam to mobile, you might be the first to check out tomorrow’s hot new game!

Learn More

When the show opens, so does the largest arcade in Wisconsin! Featuring hundreds of arcade video and pinball machines, this is a room that you don’t want to miss!

Interested in bringing a machine to share and getting awesome rewards? Click THIS!

Game Together MKE isn’t just an incredible hang out for gamers, it is also a place to buy, sell and trade your favorite games, and they’re bringing their entire store experience to the Midwest Gaming Classic! Stop in to buy, sell and trade, as well as play in tournaments, take part in free play games, or just hang out!

The incredible Menomonee Falls-based arcade the Garcade joins us and is throwing an EPIC bash! Featuring games and lots of fun activities, come celebrate the Garcade with them! Can’t wait? Visit the Garcade in Menomonee Falls today to play over 175 games for one price!

The fun-loving Guys, Games and Beer podcast is an amazing group of guys (and gals!) that get together to discuss games and beer! They love sharing their favorite games with people, whether it is classics you may know, or extremely unique and one-of-a-kind things you may never seen! Walk into the room and become part of the G2B family and see what all the fun is about!

The Guys Games and Beer room is also host to a fully networked version of Steel Battalion: Line of Contact for the original Xbox!! Open to beginners and veterans alike, learn how to pilot VTs (Vertical Tanks) from our pro coaches with up to nine of your friends and prove you’re the best pilot out there!

The Guys Games and beer room is also host to some other fan-favorite LANs, such as the OG Quake running on original iMacs, showing that gaming wasn’t just for the Windows realm, Pac-Man vs. Linked with a GBA adapter or a one of a kind Vectrex system, and Cursed Halo: a comically stupid and epically entertaining spin on the FPS you know and love!

Do you have a homebrew pinball or arcade game you would like to show off at the 2024 Midwest Gaming Classic? If so, please email your name, the game’s name, and if you will bring more than one game. Space is limited so please contact us as soon as possible, the deadline to enter will be March 25, 2024.

What do you get when you mix the music of Bach with motion controllers? This game!

Players will face the music if they fail to be the last competitor standing.

When the music — J.S. Bach’s ‌Brandenburg Concertos — plays in slow-motion, the controllers are very sensitive to movement. When the music speeds up, the threshold becomes less strict, giving the players a small window to dash at their opponents. If your controller is ever moved beyond the allowable threshold, you’re out! Try to jostle your opponents’ controllers while protecting your own. Learn more at jsjoust.com

Want to put your kids into a vehicle from a popular 80s cartoon, the back of an animal, or onto a space ship? These are just some of the options that KingPin Games will have in their KingPin Kiddie Ride Menagerie at the show! Hop on (as long as you are the correct size and / or weight) and take a ride down memory lane in this fun area! If you love one of these, you can bring one home with you or get it to put at a location to share after the show is over! Want to reserve one for delivery at the show? Contact Chris at KingPin at (608) 393-2299 for current inventory and pricing!

Listen to music from your favorite video games at our specially built jukebox!

Click Here for a Full Track List

Old School Gamer Auctions returns with several coin-operated games in tow! They will also host an online auction inventory at https://www.oldschoolgamerauctions.com starting just prior to the MGC!  To add your own games to the auction, feel free to email [email protected] or text 515-778-3030 with your games. The auction will close Sunday on the Video Game Stage in the Game Center.

This April 24-26 at the Baird Center, we’re excited to be joined by PokéCon Minnesota! This non-profit community group is dedicated to supporting the local Pokémon community! They’ll be hosting a collection of Pokémon games from old to new, talking about all things Pokémon, and catching all the action at the show.  You can also find out more about their PokéCon: ADVANCED show happening August 29 & 30, 2026, and PokéCon: DAY happening February 27, 2027 at the Eagan Community Center in Eagan Minnesota. Both feature vendors, artists, games, tournaments, a library, special guests… and all Pokémon!

We are the local chapter of the R2 Builders Club, a non-profit, international community of people who build full-size replicas of robots from Star Wars. Stop by to learn how you can build your own and come drive a Baby Droid!

John Brown has a copy of Dungeon of Doom for the Apple 2, which is one of a handful of games that are known to be officially released but with only ONE surviving copy in the world. John will have it on hand at the show, and encourages you to “COME SEE THE RAREST VIDEO GAME IN THE WORLD!”

Stop by Redemption Row for a selection of crane, claw, cut the string, and coin pushers chocked full of fun prizes for all ages! These machines are Show owned and help support the show directly. Whether you’re looking for plush, keychains, rubber ducks or Pokeballs, it’s all in there!

Check out all the replica movie cars made by enthusiasts at the Midwest Gaming Classic! Whether you’re looking to travel through Gotham, bust some heads (metaphorically speaking), discover if something has survived, party on, or if you want to see a talking car, we might have just the thing!

Looking for Magic the Gathering Rules and Interactions? Want to learn Magic the Gathering? Then you need to check out RipPullRepeat! TikTok’s Best Magic the Gathering Rules and Interactions channel! Take time to stop by and say Hi and learn from one the best online! Rip will be in Tabletop Village at table R22 in the RPG Play area (near the TCG play area)

The world’s largest LED saber combat organization is coming to MGC! A global community of LED saber combat sport enthusiasts. You might think the sport itself is our secret sauce, but to us, it’s a way to bring all sorts of people together from all around the world to make friends, have fun, play with amazing laser swords, and safely challenge ourselves to learn and grow. Witness the power of the light saber in action!

Find them in the back of the Game Center this year!

Come play the games we’ve had show exclusive versions of in the Merchandise Shop! The Show Exclusive Game Experience will be parked at the official MGC show merchandise booth during the show, and you’ll be able to check out the games that we’ve made from 2023-2025 and purchase them while supplies last! This includes games on the Jaguar, Genesis, NES, SNES, and Switch.

Then, if you like, you can buy them from the Merchandise booth during normal show hours. Want to get them before the show? Head over to JJGames, which we own, and get the games sent to you!

Love the show and want to get something from it? Stop at the Show Merchandise booth to find t-shirts like this one designed by Rare designer Kevin Bayliss, hoodies, posters, and many other souvenirs from your day! MGC has hot new designs by Brian Allen and Cassie Moreno as well as our tried and true logo t-shirts and hoodies in a variety of colors and sizes. Did you know, we once designed socks?

Plus, all the MGC exclusive show games that we have stock on will be playable and purchasable in the Merchandise Shop.

Presented by Snap Plastics! Learn the skills and techniques to paint your very own tabletop miniature or build your very own scale model. You’ll be able to choose from a wide selection of miniatures and will be given a wet palette, detail brush, dry brush, and mini holder to keep. Paints will be provided along with detailed instructions on how to create effects like shading, edge highlighting, skin tones, glow effects, and many more!

You will also learn the skills and techniques to build your very own scale model. You’ll be able to choose from a wide selection of Gundam figures and will be given a tool kit to keep! The kit comes with nippers, tweezers, panel lining pen, decal applicator, and sanding sponge! We’ll go over assembly, applying decals, and several other useful techniques to help make you a model master!

The Sound Stone Network, founded by Darren Hupke, Gooey Fame, and Sean Douglass, is a collective of independent, professionally produced podcasts exploring video game history.

Their shows include Flashback 64, Pixels and Polygons, Kirby Conversations, Millennium Edition, and Instruction Derby. Available on your favorite podcast platform, they offer a mix of fun and detailed analysis with writers, artists, content creators, and other folks from in and around the video game industry.

Find them at their booth in the Game Center for stickers, statues, and a few rounds of classic N64 games!

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!

Tabletop Village is the fastest growing settlement in the lands! Merchants from near and far are setting up shop in the newly expanded TTV Merchant District for the MGC Market. Come peruse their wares, take home exotic products, meet astounding artists, creative creatures, astounding authors, and deadly adversaries?! All this and more awaits you through the Gateway to Adventure!

Tabletop Village
Population 10d100+YOU!

Looking for brand new and seasoned adventures! Walk up, sit down, play!

From the Birthplace of the “Game that Changed the World” come join Realms of Adventure with the very first role-playing game that has ignited the imaginations of millions of gamers around the world for five decades!

If you’ve never played, we will teach you the basics of the original role-playing game and give you a taste of this collaborative storytelling game that relies more on teamwork and less on competition to win the day. Ever wonder what changed the face of tabletop and video gaming from the early days of Pong and Space Invaders into the magic of Legend of Zelda and the Elder Scrolls saga? Let us be your guide and companion through amazing lands and dread dungeons to battle monstrous foes, best deadly challenges and seize marvelous treasures to forge your own legend!

Seasoned adventurer? Play with some of the people who were there from nearly the start, including Wisconsin (Harold) Johnson, Tom “The Dwarf” Darga, and others for adventures in the endless Realms of Adventure.

The TASBot community was founded in 2013 and is focused on helping our robotic mascot, TASBot, play video games perfectly for charity. TASBot content at Games Done Quick events has helped raise more than $1.3M USD for The Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders. TASBot plays back Tool-Assisted Speedruns from TASVideos.org using replay devices that typically pretend to be a controller plugged into a real video game console. Through this process TASBot verifies that emulators act exactly like the consoles they emulate. TASVideos Ambassdor TiKevin83 is a record holding TASer in Pokemon Yellow and has been helping present TASVideos and TASBot runs since 2019. TASBot, TiKevin83, and friends will show TASes being verified live all weekend!

Join Premium Edition Games, TokuCade, and Luke Huntenburg as they bring a taste of Japan to The Midwest Gaming Classic! Play classic pachinko machines, Fight off Kaiju in co-op play, and experience a variety of games straight from the arcades of Nihon. 

Did you know Magic: The Gathering was revealed at the same physical location we are at (although in the previous building) in 1993? Since then, we’ve had many other awesome card games get started including Pokemon, Lorcana, Flesh and Blood, Yu-Gi-Oh, and many others!  Join friends or make new ones playing Magic: The Gathering with us! Don’t have your cards? We’ll have some of the best local game stores to play these games on hand to purchase cards from!

To find specific Trading Card events and tournaments head to the Event schedule.

Over 100,000 square feet of gaming goodness! Whatever you are looking for – from games and systems to shirts, toys, machine parts, costume pieces, and so much more – find it among our 100+ vendors from all over the country! Remember, if you pre-ordered tickets, you get into the vendor hall 30 minutes early on Saturday, and for VIG, it’s an HOUR early on Saturday!

Want to be a vendor at MGC? Sign up here!

With a library of more than one thousand table top games to borrow, Verika’s Game Library has something fun for you to play with your friends! Pull up a chair and sit down at a table! Want help learning a new game? We’ll have staff on site to help teach you new things!

Check out the Wisconsin Jigsaw Puzzle Association at Midwest Gaming Classic 2026! They’re bringing puzzling fun for all ages to the convention floor! Try puzzle chess, casual puzzling, or test your skills in our free drop-in speed puzzling competition for pairs and teams (up to 4). Fastest times by the end of the weekend win prizes—so come take on the challenge and see what the jigsaw puzzle community is all about!

Wisconsin Jigsaw Puzzle Association – Where pieces fit and people connect!” Find out more at wijigsaw.org 

Call of Duty, HALO, Rainbox Six, who knows what we will be playing on this massive Xbox 360 system link setup?! Maybe we get lucky and dig up 10 copies of Gears of War 3 or 8 copies of Armored Core 4! Swing by the Video Game Museum area to see what we get up to with this massive power hog of an idea!