SoCal Gaming Expo 2026 Review – Their Best Event Yet

The SoCal Gaming Expo is always one of my favorite things to cover year in, year out. The event emanates from the Pasadena Convention Center in Southern California and provides a place for fans of gaming, toys, physical media, and much more to buy, sell, and just peruse aisles and aisles of stuff. The event this year went on June 6th and 7th and was a smashing hit.

Previous years have had small issues that were easily remedied, and this year featured the best mix of booths, things to do, and even fixed some of those small issues that I’ve had in the past. If you’re into any kind of collectible, this event was for you. Booths had video games, toys, trading cards, collectibles, figures, vintage shirts, and plenty more. The focus, of course, was on video games, but this was a nerd’s paradise.

Outside of the shopping experience, they had some special guests, including voice actors from famous games like Resident Evil and other content creators, hanging out and meeting fans. The main event of the weekend was the Classic Tetris World Championship Finals though. They had that on Sunday and they crowned a new champion.

In the hallways outside the main halls, they also had free play arcade machines from across several eras, including pinball, fighting games, shooters, platformers, and plenty of others.

The vendor hall was easily the highlight this year, though. I’m sure the fire marshal was on watch because they put as many booths into the hall as possible, and it was a better event for it.

A Changing Of The Retro Guard

One thing I did notice between last year’s event and this year was the changing of the makeup of what games vendors were selling. Last year felt like it was dominated by the SNES, GameCube, and other Nintendo consoles. This year, however, had WAY more items from consoles like the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Xbox, and current generation consoles. There was still a big showing from Nintendo consoles and games, but the balance of power in retro gaming might be flipping to a new generation of gamers.

The show floor was busy but it never felt like it was overwhelming. There were only a couple of booths that had a poor layout, which made it feel claustrophobic in those specific booths. I also had a good time hanging out in the tournament room, just watching people play games.

It seems they’ve perfected the entrance to the event with the line now ending up in the courtyard of the Pasadena Convention Center. I arrived at around 11:30AM and got in with no problem, whereas in years past, the entry was always the worst part.

A Possibility For Expansion

The only thing that I can suggest to the owners and operators of the SoCal Gaming Expo is that it might be time to expand to other areas of the Pasadena Convention Center. While the event wasn’t as densely packed as something like San Diego Comic-Con, the event could use some more space. There are other areas of the PCC that aren’t used during the convention that have been used for other cons that I’ve been to.

Also, some more representation for games like Magic, One Piece, or other card games would have been nice. It’s cool to see so many old and desirable Pokémon cards, but the other games need some shine too.

In a perfect world, the SoCal Gaming Expo would be the all-in-one destination for nerdy games of all kinds, not just video games.

The Verdict On The SoCal Gaming Expo 2026

I had a fantastic time at the SoCal Gaming Expo and it was one of the best events of the year so far. In a place with so many different conventions like Los Angeles, the SoCal Gaming Expo sticks out as one of the best values and best events in the area.

Check out the SoCal Gaming Expo website for information!

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