Gamers go old-school at Cowlitz County convention

Saturday, boys who looked like they might excel at high-definition auto theft games and Wii Sports struggled to maneuver Atari joysticks in the former Emporium storefront in Three Rivers Mall. Grown men complained that the “Pong” console made their hands sweat.

Wood-paneled Commodore computers blinked and beeped in rows as vintage video game collectors pawed through jumbled boxes of dusty game cartridges with names like “Smurf Rescue: Gargamel’s Cats.”

Longview resident and video game collector John Hancock conceived the event as a fundraiser for the Children’s Justice and Advocacy Center, an organization that helps abused children. Last year, the expo raised $5,000 for the organization.

It’s also a part of the phenomenon of “cons” (conventions) that provide a forum for self-professed “geeks” of all stripes to bond over a host of interconnected interests including science fiction, gaming, Japanese pop-culture, comic books and “cosplay” (creating and wearing elaborate costumes inspired by TV shows, movies, anime and comics).

In one corner, a group of costumed women sporting easter-egg shades of hair sold Japanese collectibles and handmade jewelry.

The women, vendors from the Olympia area, said they met in the course of the conventions they tour. They share an interest in cosplay and Japanese pop-culture.

Sarah Hollada sat behind the booth with a miniature top hat perched on her robin’s egg-blue hair, making adjustments to the hand-made costumes on her collection of intricate Japanese dolls. The dolls and costumes are enthusiastically traded in Japan and increasingly in the United States, she said. As the hobby catches on, the tiny doll costumes and accessories she and her friends create are beginning to fetch outsized prices — a well-made doll body alone can sell for as much as $600.

Vintage video game dealer Lacy Hecker agreed that it increasingly pays to be a geek.

Children who played on conosles like Atari in the 1980s now are nostalgic for the games of their childhood, Hecker said. They’re willing to pay for a piece of their past. The demand for low-fi games like “Frogger” and “PacMan” is growing, and certain small-run games in pristine condition — like an unopened copy of “Earthbound” for Super Nintendo — can sell for up to $300.

Business is “the best it’s been in eight years,” and competition to buy and sell the once-abundant gaming systems and cartridges (and other collectibles) has spiked recently, she said.

“Game stores are popping up everywhere,” Hecker said.