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SANDY — Grinning widely, 6-year-old Maxwell Wilkinson launched back and forth between three classic pinball machines.
With his chin hovering just above the edge of the game and his arms hugging the sides as he reached for the buttons, the boy's face lit up each time he successfully flicked the silver ball off the bumpers, calling out "oohs" and "aahs" as it ricocheted.
"Video games are my favorite things, but I also like these ones," Max explained, gesturing to the line of pinball machines.
Standing behind him, his father smiled just as enthusiastically, waiting for the boy to bounce off to another activity.
The father and son from Millcreek chose Salt Lake Gaming Con for a weekend together. Offering ticketed guests unlimited play of video games, board games and other activities, the two-day convention at the South Towne Expo Center was a good fit for both him and his son, Michael Wilkinson said.
"He comes to play games with the grownups. We just really enjoy games of all kinds," Wilkinson said. "He's into a lot of things, and my wife and I always encourage whatever he's into."
Max has a diverse set of interests, including soccer and snorkeling, his father explained. While Max especially enjoys video games, his parents carefully limit his screen time, his father said, so spending two whole days playing will be a treat.
Now in its third year, Salt Lake Gaming Con kicked off its annual event Friday morning joined by the founders of Salt Lake Comic Con, which bought out half the company last summer.
Gaming con founder Jake Williams said the event aims to provide "something for everyone."
"There's so much to do here," Williams said. "At gaming con, we really do our best to focus on what you can't get at home. … Something that we're really trying to push is experiences."
Activities at gaming con include dozens of video game stations, featuring new systems like immersive virtual reality headsets to original Atari consoles; a library of hundreds of board games; tournaments promising nearly $15,000 in prizes; and interactive activities like mystery escape challenges, Nerf gun battles, live-action role-play duels; and the collection of about 30 pinball machines brought in by local enthusiasts.
Gaming celebrities, including voice actors and competitive players, are also on hand to meet and greet attendees.
With the exception of tournaments, all activities at Salt Lake Gaming Con are included in the ticket price.
While comic cons have been around since the '60s, Salt Lake Comic Con co-founder Bryan Brandenburg said escalating interest in gaming and esports suggest events like Salt Lake Gaming Con will continue to grow in the next several years.
Co-founder Dan Farr called Utah and its family-oriented society a natural fit for the events.
"One thing that we have seen at our events that we have loved is seeing families come together," Farr said. "A lot of times parents are bringing their kids to introduce them to things they have liked at comic con, but what we see here a lot of the time is its the other way around — kids are bringing their parents to come and see what they really like."
As the convention floor began to fill Friday morning, Cindy Rowland, of Bountiful, and her fiance, John Phillips, of Salt Lake City, headed back to the board game library and settled in to learn to play a game called Hive. They expected to soon be joined by Rowland's 17-year-old son, though he is likely to gravitate quickly over to the video games, they said.
The couple expects to spend much of the weekend in the tabletop game area, as Rowland, a board game fan, tries out new games, and Phillips meets up with friends to play Dungeons and Dragons.
"I'm a game girl. I like any cards, board games, sports, anything that is a game, so I was excited to see what this was all about," Rowland said. "It's pretty cool."
Not only does Rowland love playing games, she wins a lot, Phillips points out.
"We enjoy the time together, even though she's a terrible cheater," he said, teasing his bride-to-be. "She wins all the time. I don't know how she does it."
For brothers Trevin and Braxton Avery, of Magna, a highlight of the day was trying out a new virtual reality game, "The Unspoken," set up for a test run at Microsoft's booth on the convention floor.
Their grins accentuating some small imprints that the VR headsets had left on their cheeks, the brothers raved about the game's immersive feel.
"I think it's spectacular," Braxton Avery said. "It takes only moments for you to be drawn in to how the world accurately adjusts to you as you turn and rotate."
Because they are both balancing jobs and college classes — Trevin Avery studies computer science at BYU while his older brother attends Broadview Entertainment Arts University — they usually only get a chance to play video games every few weeks.
"This is my checkout from reality for a little while," Trevin Avery said. "I just got back from (an LDS Church mission) in January and went straight into school two days later, so I don't get that much time to play. This is nice to be able to take two days off and just enjoy life."
In addition to video games, Braxton Avery regularly plays a "Yu-Gi-Oh" tabletop card game, leading about three competitive events a month at libraries near his home in what he calls the Duel Academy League.
Next year, Avery said he hopes to compete in Salt Lake Gaming Con's "Yu-Gi-Oh" tournament, but insists it would b
