The Activum in Hoogeveen today is dominated by Retrogames. More than two hundred stalls offer games for the Game Boy, the Nintendo DS and other old game computers “You will find all kinds of things that you cannot find in the store.”
“The fair is a place where Gameshops and collectors offer their games,” explains organizer Michael Steenbergen. Mainly with old games from the 80s and 90s, but some stalls also sell modern games, such as for the Nintendo Switch for example. “
“We organized the stock market, because things like this were not yet in Drenthe and actually not in the Northern Netherlands,” says Steenbergen, who is organizing the Retro Gamebeurs for the second time this year.
“At the very first edition of last year we expected about 1,000 visitors, in the end there were 2,100. That is why we have now rented almost the entire sports center, the last time it stayed at a room.” Steenbergen now counts on 3,000 visitors, but secretly hopes at 4,000. “That would really be a dream.”
In addition to the organizer of the event itself, Steenbergen is also an avid collector of games. Specific games for the Game Boy, a portable game console that was born in 1989.
“One collects art or stamps, I collect games. All my life I have been a gamer and since 2010 I have also started collecting games.” Although Steenbergen has been collecting for fifteen years, he knows that the collection he has built up is not nearly the largest. “When you see other collectors you know: it can always be crazier.”
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