It’s been a while since we last went to the London Gaming Market.

It takes place at the National Hotel in Russell Square every four months. Traders from all over the country set up stalls to sell a variety of items including retro games, old consoles and artwork. Going there always me feel like an excited kid because there are so many nostalgic things from your childhood.

This means you never come away empty handed. At previous events, I’ve managed to find physical copies of point-and-click games I played back in the 1990s including Simon the Sorcerer by Adventure Soft and 9: The Last Resort by Tribeca Interactive. Pete’s favourite purchase was a copy of Micro Machines by Codemasters for the Mega Drive, a release he remembers playing for hours.

We usually arrange to meet up with friends when we go to the London Gaming Market. However, our decision to attend last weekend was a spontaneous one, as so much going on at work and with London Marathon training has kept us from making any firm plans recently. Hearing about the changes to the ticketing prices and a new one-in-one-out entry system had also initially deterred us from going.

But after a change of heart, we decided to book our tickets last week. We added an additional one for my stepson so we could spend some time with him – but Ethan decided to ditch us at the last minute to go out with his friends instead, because they’re far cooler than we are (tsk, teenagers). Pete and I spent a lovely afternoon at the market and came away with a couple of new items, which may end up making an appearance during an upcoming Later Levels stream.

The highlights

As mentioned above, we were a bit worried about the new ticketing and entry system. While a one-in-one-out arrangement sounded more organised, it could potentially mean that we’d get split up and would have to wait for each other inside the hall. We were proven wrong. Someone scanned our digital tickets and handed over our wristbands while we were waiting in the queue, and this meant we were able to walk straight in at midday without too much hanging around. It all felt so much more relaxed and orderly.

I bought a Commodore 64 at the London Gaming Market back in November 2022 after wanting one for a while, thanks to my experience with the Island of Secrets book by Usborne when I was a kid. I’ve since had trouble finding many games for it though and so I haven’t actually used it much. That might change now after finding a copy of Strider by US Gold. Pete always mentions this title when we talk about retro gaming so, even though I’ve never played it before, it seemed like one worth picking up.

After some deliberation, we also decided to purchase a copy of Lemmings by DMA Design for the Mega Drive despite me already owning the PlayStation 2 version. Pete bought the console at the market in July 2022 after finding Micro Machines but it’s another one that we haven’t used much so far. I loved Lemmings when I was a kid but never managed to complete it due to a bug – now we have a reason to get out the Mega Drive and rectify that, and for me to tell that story in full during in a stream soon.

It felt as though there were fewer stalls the last couple of times we went to the event. The good news is that they all seem to be back now, and even the additional space at the back of the hall was fuller and busier. There are far less traders selling random merchandise and t-shirts (although there are still a lot of Pokémon-related items on offer) so the market is back to being more focused on the retro games and consoles themselves. Great for attendees, but not so great for our wallets.

The lowlights

As to be expected, the London Gaming Market is still incredibly busy and I don’t think this is ever going to change. The hall at the National Hotel isn’t the biggest space and there are plenty of attendees who are looking for something in particular and have no issue with pushing others out of the way to get it. If you’re short like me, it can be difficult getting close enough to the stalls to even see what types of games the traders are selling. The amount of people inside can be overwhelming and it’s good to escape outside for breaks.

This gives the event quite a ‘frantic’ atmosphere which is somewhat unsuitable for a casual browse. Previous experience has taught us that it’s far better to do your research beforehand and figure out what you’re looking for so you can go in to search for it, because there just isn’t enough room for browsing. I’m not entirely sure what the organisers can do to combat this. Perhaps the one-in-one-out entry system will help, but this didn’t seem to be in place when we wanted to return inside after some fresh air.

Speaking of research, we always say that we’re going to do this before the next event after leaving the current one and never get around to it. But we did try to come up with a while queuing outside. I knew I wanted to keep an eye open for more Commodore 64 games; and Pete suggested that we look for a copy of Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars by Revolution for the original PlayStation. Going through so many boxes of games is difficult when they aren’t in alphabetical order and I’m sad to report that we didn’t find one.

Be prepared for just how busy it can get if you’re thinking of going to an upcoming market. The hall at the National Hotel is always so warm and everyone is packed in together, so there’s no way you’re not going to get close and personal with your fellow attendees. On that note: please do us all a favour by having a shower beforehand and applying deodorant. Maybe even dab on a little bit of perfume. A little bit of consideration for other gamers can go a long way in making for a pleasant event.

The future

Although we were dubious about the new ticketing and entry system to begin with, I have to admit that it worked. Queuing before the event was so much nicer and organised this time around and we were pleased to get inside on time. Our past experience of purchasing 11:00 tickets in advance, and then wasting 30-minutes of that extra hour waiting outside, had put us of doing so again. We might now be encouraged to rethink this so well done to the organisers for implementing the changes.

We’re probably going to go back to the next London Gaming Market at the end of June to keep looking for Broken Sword. Sure, we could easily purchase a version online and save ourselves the trouble, but nothing beats that feeling of finding it in person. We’re in no rush anyway, seeing as we now have a couple of new Commodore 64 and Mega Drive games to play. I’ll also keep my eyes open for a copy of the Island of Secrets book even though I’m not overly hopeful, along with Bone Cruncher by Superior Software.

The photograph above was taken at last year’s Birmingham Gaming Market. This turned out to be a slightly calmer affair than the London event and we really enjoyed the vibe at the Custard Factory, as well as getting the chance to meet up with a few blogger and streamer friends there. Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to make the next one in April due to a clash with training for the London Marathon. Hopefully the organisers will consider doing more than one event in Birmingham a year.

Did you to go the London Gaming Market last weekend? Or are you planning to go to any of the events around the UK this year? Maybe we’ll see you at one of them soon and we might even have a copy of Broken Sword in hand.