Gamers (Who Happen to Be Women)

Spakers: Imoto "Arcade" Harney, Jess Hutfless, Kelsey Lewin, Erika "Verika" Philipp, Rachel Ristow

A few years ago, we heard about a girl who loved coming to the Midwest Gaming Classic but was worried that "girls aren't supposed to like games," and it broke our hearts, especially because we work with so many influential and amazing women for the show all the time! We created this panel specifically to show everyone that not just can girls like games, they can do amazing things with them! The four pictured women are Imoto "Arcade" Harney, the face of MarcoTV, Kelsey Lewin, one of founders of the Video Game History Foundation, Erika "Verika" Philipp, who helps run the tabletop group MILCOG and has modeled for many board games, and Rachel Ristow, who has become one of the driving forces behind pinball in Wisconsin and the host of our Midwest Pinball Championship! We've also now confirmed that Jess Hutfless, an influencer who makes videos about video games, pinball, and TTRPGs will join too! This panel features fascinating conversations about the story of how they got into gaming, what they see happening in the industry today, and what it's like to be a gamer... who happens to be a woman!