Cardiff Gaming Market - 22nd October 2023 "Britt's Birthday Bonanza!"🕹️ @ReplayEvents #Retrogamer #Retrogaming

I’ve attended several Replay events over the years, and they have all been well organised, with some great stalls present that always have something that catches my eye. 

There were two things that had my trousers a-twirling this time around, though. Firstly, this was to be the first (as far as I’m aware) games market in my hometown of Cardiff - with the previous closest being in Bristol, several years back.

 I’ve often asked folks over the years about a full-blown convention in Cardiff, but as the majority of the pinball and arcade cabinets for these events are based/stored up north, the logistics seem to be an issue, for now at least.

The second thing that made the day so special, was that the gaming market was due in my hometown...on my 40th Birthday, October 22nd 1983. A date I’m sure resonates with everyone reading this because you’ve got it tattooed on your face because I play such an intrinsic part in each of your lives. Needless to say, I was excited. Especially as this was the first gaming event that we (@kingdomofcarts and I) would be taking our two-year-old son - Brian Blessed* - to.

🕹️ Bristol Gaming Market June 2018 - With Britt & Faye 🕹️ @BrittRecluseuk @ReplayEvents @KingdomOfCarts

The last time Faye and I went to a gaming market, it was last summer in London and we felt that the six-hour round trip wasn’t quite worth it and so vowed to only attend expos with markets as a part of them as opposed to gaming markets alone.

However, as this was so close to us we felt that we couldn’t miss the opportunity and so once again booked a hotel, packed up the Nintendo Switch (the hotel’s HDMI port was AWKWARD to reach!) and started off on our trip.