Thinking about doing a small game trade show...

I was thinking about running a small game trade show to gauge interest in my area. I would use the amphitheater at my university for it, and all fees would go towards grants for lower income students. This is what I was considering:

- $2-$3 entrance fee.
- renting tables for $5 so that attendees could sell/trade their used games and PC stuff.
- holding auctions ($2 or so to list items)
- door prizes and raffle
- classic & modern game tournaments on the theater screen via data projector.

Nothing big, no key-note speeches or anything. Just something small for the local populace.

Anything else I should consider? Anything legal?

I'm seriously thinking about this because it's not the money that interests me. The university gets that for grants and they're only expense is giving us the amphitheater for a Saturday.

That sounds like a great idea, Melf. Do you have any idea presently how large of a gaming community there is in Cabo Rojo?

Granted you gain the approval of your university to hold the event, the only legal pothole that's poppin' into the head at the moment is the possible sale of pirated or stolen goods by the attending vendors. For any competitive gaming that goes on, I doubt that you'd have any legal worries, unless people start placing cash bets or something. As far as I know there exist no laws preventing the public performance/demonstration of video games, but I could be wrong on that.

I'd be trying to get everyone from at least the west coast of P.R. to come, so hopefully it would get a decent turnout.

I'd be making the rounds to ensure there's no pirated software for sale, and it would be prominently displayed on all advertising that it isn't allowed.

I think expos get around the whole copyright thing for tournaments by not making them mandatory or charging for them. You pay to get into the expo but don't have to participate in a tourney if you don't want.

You might check into the legality of raffles. In our state their not legal unless everybody gets a prize.

But heck yeah, that's a great idea, Melf!