Video Game Con coming to Parsippany

• Montgomery native Paul Solomine is the owner and organizer of A Video Game Con, or AVGC, which debuts Sept. 19
• The con will feature one room with 60 or so vendors selling collectibles and another room dedicated to free play
• Solomine said the idea for AVGC was hatched when he mused to a friend that there aren’t enough video game shows around

Paul Solomine’s journey through adolescence was entwined with helping Link navigate his way through dungeons and guiding Mario on his quest to save Princess Peach. So it’s no surprise “The Legend of Zelda,” “Super Mario Bros.” and other video games are touchstones from his childhood in Montgomery.

He can still recall the Christmas he ripped off the wrapping paper, cast his eyes on its contents and screamed at the top of his lungs, “Nintendo 64! I can’t believe it!” Or the summer he mowed, by his estimation, 250 lawns so he could save enough money to buy PlayStation 2 the moment it was released.

“When you are a kid and you don’t drive, there are not many choices,” Solomine said. “So, I think it created a social thing because the only thing to do was get on your bike or walk down the street to meet up with friends and play those video games with them in person.”

Those 8-bit games of yesteryear may have morphed into online role-playing video games in which a very large number of people participate simultaneously, known as MMORPGs, but Solomine still is using the magic of video games as a way to bring people together.

Solomine is hoping A Video Game Con, or AVGC, which will debut at the Parsippany PAL on Sept. 19, will be a 36,000-square foot celebration for hard-core and casual video game enthusiasts alike from across the state and surrounding ones, too. There will be more than 60 vendors and 100 tables of merchandise. There will be live musical performances, video game tournaments and panels discussing various aspects of gaming.

Part of the show will serve the collector community. Solomine, the owner and organizer of AVGC, said there’s a whole subculture of the hobby made up of collectors who are trying to find the games they had as kids, before they sold them at garage sales or traded them in at their local video game stores. They’re driven by nostalgia, if not a chance to buy back a little bit of their childhoods.

No gamer convention, however, would be complete without some free play. So, there will be a separate room with some 60 consoles where you can play your favorite old-school games on Atari, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo and other systems. Or you can opt for the new consoles, such as Wii U or PlayStation 4.

“My vision was that (AVGC) just wouldn’t be people selling things or just that room,” said Solomine, who is a senior digital project manager at ad agency in Morristown that specializes in working with pharmaceutical companies. “I wanted a community aspect where people who share this interesting hobby, and I think I’m achieving it by focusing on as much as it is a show where people buy things, but there’s also activities.”

AVGC was conceived at a bar in Morristown a little more than a year ago, when Solomine mused to a friend how there was a lack of video game conventions. He would often trek to suburban Philadelphia for the annual TooManyGames show. Or he could go to the New York Comic Con, but even there, video games took a backseat to comic books, TV shows and movies.

He made a mental checklist of all the things he wanted to see at a convention and enlisted the help of some friends who had experience hosting Anime-themed conventions.

Friends, such as Rob Parmar, have been working hard to create something that will attract and hold gamers’ attention because they know that your typical gamer has interests that overlap with, say, comic book conventions, toy shows, sci-fi events and anime conventions.

“I think people are excited that we are doing a video game-only convention in New Jersey,” Parmar said. “Even at our earliest stages when passing out promotional materials, faces would light up at the possibility. Prospective vendors were pleased with the arrangement, and it is evident with all our sales tables being sold out.”

In the weeks leading up to AVGC, Solomine was spending one afternoon trying to get the best quote on insurance, sending invoices to the vendors who need electricity and trying to get a consensus of when he should close the vendor room. The irony is that he is investing so much of his time into creating the con that he hasn’t had any down time to play a little Castlevania.

“I have been watching this since we met, and watching it take shape, and it’s really growing into something enormous,” said Solomine’s girlfriend, Nicole Napoli. “For me, even though video games aren’t my favorite thing in the world, it’s made me appreciate him more to see how much effort he can put into something. To see the community embrace him like this, I feel so proud of him.”

To go the Video Game Con or AVGC

When: Sept. 19, 10 a.m. to midnight.

Where: The Parsippany PAL, 33 Baldwin Rd.

Tickets: There is an early bird special of $15 per admission when purchased online.

About AVGC: It will be a 36,000-square foot celebration for video game enthusiasts from across the state and surrounding ones, too. There will be more than 60 vendors and 100 tables of merchandise. There will be live musical performances, tournaments and panels discussing various aspects of gaming. Not only will there be a room for collectibles, but also a room set up specifically for free play.

For more information: Log on to avideogamecon.com