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PAX Aus 2025: The Fun Came, We Saw, We Played!

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From Gaming to Cosplay, PAX Aus 2025 Had It All!🎮✨

Can you believe it’s been a whole year since the last PAX Aus? Time really does fly when you’re having fun—and wow, did we have a lot of it this year!

From the moment the doors opened, PAX Aus 2025 was bursting with energy, excitement, and that unmistakable buzz of shared geekdom. Whether you were there for the blockbuster game reveals, epic cosplay, thought-provoking panels, or just to roll some dice and mash some buttons, there was something for everyone.

The Main Hall was a sensory overload (in the best possible way), filled with new gaming experiences, neon lights, and endless action. Meanwhile, the Tabletop and Freeplay areas became mini worlds of their own – where strangers became teammates, rivals, and friends over cards, boards, and controllers.

And of course, we can’t forget the heart and soul of the show (Ed: we are biased!) – our beloved Classic Gaming area. But don’t worry, we’re giving that its own spotlight soon (because it totally deserves it). Keep an eye out for that post if you’re craving a dose of retro nostalgia! 👾

For now, grab a snack, get comfy, and let your mouse wheel (or index finger) do the work—scroll on and soak up all the PAX Aus 2025 goodness!

image source / copyright: ausretrogamer.com

Lego Ideas – MONACO F1 GP

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Experience the Thrill of the Monaco F1 GP with LEGO!

Hey, LEGO fans and racing enthusiasts! Get ready to rev your engines and build your way to the most glamorous event in motorsport history: the Monaco Grand Prix, now in LEGO form!

A Legendary Race in Your Hands

The Monaco Grand Prix is the crown jewel of Formula 1 racing (and one of three races in the Triple Crown of Motorsport), known for its challenging circuit and breathtaking scenery. Now, thanks to passionate LEGO builder, Peter_Designs, you could recreate this iconic race track right at home (if it garners enough votes!). This LEGO project brings the excitement and elegance of Monaco’s streets to life with stunning detail and creativity.

Feel the Adrenaline

Imagine assembling the tight corners, the famous tunnel, and the harbor lined with luxurious yachts—all with LEGO bricks! This project isn’t just a model; it’s a tribute to the legendary race where drivers navigate one of the toughest circuits in the world. You’ll feel the adrenaline rush as you build and relive the high-speed action.

What Makes This Set Special?

This LEGO set is a marvel of design, capturing the essence of the Monaco GP with precision and flair. Here’s what you can expect:

  • Iconic Circuit Details: From the start/finish line to the Casino Square and the hairpin turns, every element of the Monaco track is meticulously crafted.
  • Dynamic Features: Pit stops, grandstands, and the bustling paddock area make this set come alive, offering endless play and display possibilities.

Support the Project

To turn this amazing LEGO Monaco GP set into reality, it needs your vote! By supporting this project on the LEGO Ideas platform, you can help bring this dream set to LEGO fans and racing aficionados around the globe.

Why You’ll Love It

Whether you’re a LEGO enthusiast, a Formula 1 fanatic, or someone who loves intricate and dynamic builds, this set is for you. It’s not just about building a model; it’s about celebrating the heritage and thrill of one of the most prestigious races in the world. The Monaco F1 GP LEGO set captures the spirit of competition, innovation, and luxury that defines the Grand Prix.

So, race over to the LEGO Ideas website and cast your vote for the Monaco GP set. Let’s make this extraordinary project a reality and bring the excitement of the Monaco Grand Prix from the track to your living room! Start your engines, and let the building begin!


source: Lego Ideas

Yearning For Some Slot Car Action

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It’s very dangerous to go trawling online when you are predisposed to nostalgia.

There are some things that we may have long forgotten, but when you see them, they instantly trigger that fuzzy nostalgic feeling. Once such “thing” is slot car racing! As kids, we loved playing on our friend’s Scalextric F1 set – pushing that plunger and watching our car whizzing around was so much fun.

We had always wanted our own slot car racing set, but alas, money wasn’t growing on trees back then, so we had to make do with playing once in a while on our friend’s set.

So how does all this have anything to do about trawling online? Well, while doom scrolling through that marketplace that shall remain nameless, we stumbled upon a cool Carrera Digital 132 slot car set. The fact that the seller created the huge track (2,500mm x 1,300mm) by combining 2 tracks and then added the scenery, makes this even more desirable for nostalgia freaks like us!

Now, to find a spare 1.9K Aussie dollaroos………

image source: Facebook Marketplace



It’s Time We Got A F1 Themed Pinball Machine!

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We love asking the tough questions here at ausretrogamer. Today we ask, is it time for a pinball manufacturer to capitalise on the Formula 1 (F1) popularity by creating a modern themed pinball machine based on this pinnacle of Motorsport racing? F1 cars and pinball share a lot in common, both are highly engineered and precision made machines, with thousands of parts making them tick to perfection, and let’s not forget, they require skills to get the best out of them.

Thanks to the Netflix produced Drive To Survive docuseries (season 5 now streaming on Netflix!), F1 has experienced a renaissance, seeing its popularity break records by garnering new interest from all walks of life, including interest from teenagers, women and young kids, which previously were underrepresented. With pinball also enjoying a golden era, the fusion of this racing theme into a pinball machine would definitely not hurt in expanding the popularity of the silverball game – it’s a match made in heaven!

Stern’s ‘Stern Of The Union’ Newsletter for November 2022 contained this pic with Max Verstappen that we hope is a hint!
image source: Stern Pinball

Of course the licensing side would impact what can and cannot be included in such a theme, however, there are many different ways to infuse the F1 theme into a pinball machine, either based on a manufacturer/team, a popular driver, famous track or the F1 as a collective.

Now imagine a F1 pinball machine featuring exotic materials like carbon fibre rails, a rear wing topper and an integrated F1-style steering wheel on the lockdown bar for certain modes. As for the playfield and rules, well, we can only dream big; from incorporating qualifying laps to get to pole position, pitstops when your car needs to be fixed or requires a fresh set of tyres, to hitting a gear shifter to change gears and possibly hit DRS to kick off DRS multiball and ultimately get to the Chequered Flag wizard mode to be crowned F1 champion – the list of what to include in the design and play of such a pinball machine is (almost) limitless.

We love Stern’s Mustang, but we really want a F1 themed pinball machine!

The EM Grand Prix was cool back in the day

We are aware that there are a few car/racing themed pinball machines, from Stern’s Mustang and Grand Prix, Bally’s Corvette, Williams’ The Getaway to Sega’s Viper Night Driving and Data East’s Checkpoint (to name just a few), but we are still missing a F1 specific pinball machine, so please please let’s have one!

Imagine if you will a Stern Pinball F1 machine……



Formula Bit Racing DX – Review

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With the explosion in popularity of Formula 1 (Ed: thanks to Drive to Survive), it is great timing to have a game like Formula Bit Racing DX hit our gaming consoles!

So why is Formula Bit Racing DX great? Well, firstly it is a lot of fun to play! Secondly, we love its influence from classic arcade racing games from the 80s and early 90s, so if you enjoyed games like Super Sprint, RC Pro-Am, Super Skidmarks, Micro Machines, Super Off-Road Racing, to name just a few, then you will absolutely love this game from 2Awesome Studio!

The charm of this game is its low-poly HD graphics and top-down/isometric point of view of the race track, coupled with great control and the challenges thrown at the racer before they cross the finishing line.

Borrowing elements from iconic arcade racing games, Formula Bit Racing DX builds on this pedigree with a few modern twists, including the aforementioned gorgeously crisp low-polygon HD grx, catchy retro soundtrack and of course, the 20 fun circuits to race on with one of 10 unique cars! The exciting gameplay that the genre is known for is perfectly captured by Formula Bit Racing DX – lots of high speed action and skill series which are quite easy to get into, but mastering the control to turn, drift on the racing track is what keeps you coming back to it. The only thing we wish this game had was the ability to play against your friends, but the game is still solid playing solo.

At well under AU$10.00, this game is absolutely and totally worth grabbing, no matter your console – Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo Switch. So go ahead, start your engines and prepare for the craziest and most addictive racing you’ll experience today!



Our Passions In Life, from Retro Gaming to Formula 1 Watches

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We have a lot of passions in life, some come and go with time, while others stick around for the long haul!

It is no secret that we love video games, especially the retro kind, and let’s not forget pinball – that silverball has captivated us for a long long time. How boring would life be if we only had one or two passions (Ed: there is nothing wrong having one or two passions!), so we have other loves which on the surface seem diametrically opposite to video games and pinball, like our love of Formula 1. In reality these passions have a lot in common, especially the emotions they invoke!

So why are we blathering on about our passions and invoking emotions? Well, it is important to share your passions and be proud in what you love and enjoy. We have also been thinking recently how all of these converge and the best way to represent them in one product! It occurred to us that we have always been into wristwatches, ever since we got our first digital watch 40+ years ago. These days we have a modest collection of watches, spanning all eras since the 1970s, but there is one special watch that fuses all of our passions into one, the TW Steel TW1017. This Nigel Mansell F1 inspired watch reflects who we are and what we love – from fast cars to button mashing on our fave games to flipping a steel ball with pinpoint accuracy. The watch is bold, big and loud, just like all the things we love in life.

What are your passions and do you have an item or product that represents them all? Hit us up on Twitter, Mastodon or Facebook to tell us all about it.