Category: Computers/Tech/Games

Arcade Games and Saber Tooth Tigers

This is going to sound stupid, but nothing makes me feel cooler than hauling arcade games around on the back of my truck. So many collectors never get to show off their collections to outsiders — and when they do, typically it’s done online. Seeing pictures of someone’s collection can be kind of neat, seeing an item in real life is much cooler, in my opinion. I’ve never been hunting so I don’t really know what it’s like to take down a big animal or anything, but … I don’t know, I have this visual image of a caveman returning… (read more)

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Universe, Don’t Let Me Down

The single most frustrating part of collecting arcade games has been the amount of maintenance it takes to keep them running. As a kid I had no idea how much time and effort was spent in keeping these machines running — then again back then when these machines were new, I suspect they weren’t quite so fragile. Sometimes it’s the cold of winter that does them in; sometimes, the heat of summer. Moving them always makes me nervous. I can’t tell you how many machines I’ve bought in working condition in other states, only to have them arrive in Oklahoma,… (read more)

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World’s Largest Floppy Disk Box

Okay, it’s probably not the “world’s largest” … but it’s the largest one I’ve ever owned. I currently own literally thousands of vintage 5 1/4″ floppy disks. Over half of them are the same ones I accumulated back in the 1980s on my Commodore 64. The rest are ones I’ve picked up here and there since then. Up until recently, these disks have been stored in milk crates, cardboard shoe boxes, and mismatched vintage disk containers. While roaming the stores a few weekends ago I ran across the following storage container: It’s a Sterilite 3-Drawer Cart. They retail for around… (read more)

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Five Games … Gone!

After spinning my wheels for the past several weeks, yesterday I sold five arcade games … and the funny part was, three of them didn’t even work. One of the most important parts of sales and marketing is knowing your audience, and that’s something I’m definitely encountering in my efforts to sell these machines. There are lots of reasons why people buy arcade games. Most regular people might think that the only reason to buy an arcade machine would be to play it, but there are actually several other reasons. Sometimes, arcade enthusiasts will buy a machine just for the… (read more)

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Hugo Open House Competition

Back in December of 2011, Ice Cream Jonesy and Roody Yogurt (yes, those are their real names) suggested holding a “Hugo Speed IF” competition. The “IF” stands for Interactive Fiction (aka “Text Adventures” for you/us old timers); “Hugo” is the language the games were to be programmed in, and “Speed” part refers to works created in a very short amount of time. The “Hugo Speed IF” morphed into the “Hugo Open House Competition”. Originally I declined to participate for a number of reasons — the top three being I didn’t have the time to work on a game, I didn’t… (read more)

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Foreclosure of a Dream: Part II

Okay, I’ll admit it; yesterday’s post was a little depressing. I wrote it after moving 18 arcade games and coming to the realization that I simply don’t have the space or time to continue this hobby. It’s one thing to say it; it’s another thing to hear it from your aching back. What I neglected to share with you all were all the good times I had with my arcade. Here are a few of those. When we bought the house in 2002, what became known as “the arcade” was simply a shed. The previous home owner did woodworking as… (read more)

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Foreclosure of a Dream

This really shouldn’t feel like an eviction, but for some reason it does. Last Monday I spent from dawn ’til dusk clearing out the last items remaining of our old home: the arcade. For those of you who haven’t seen it before, in better days it looked like this: The “arcade” is really a shed that was already on the property when we purchased it. The actual number of machines inside fluctuated over time, but for most of 2011 it was home to 25 machines. I had another 3 in the garage that never made it out to the arcade… (read more)

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Moving a 720 Arcade Cabinet

I’ve had a lot of miserable experiences when it comes to moving arcade games. I’ve dropped machines, I’ve hit drive-thru signs with them … I even almost lost one off the back of my trailer once. Nothing, however, compares to moving a 720 arcade cabinet by yourself. 720 arcade cabinets are essentially a lesson in what not to do when designing an arcade cabinet. It’s tall, and top heavy. It has a 25″ horizontally-mounted monitor in it, precariously balanced on top of a thin pedestal. The pedestal goes into a base that, I think, may contain concrete. None of the… (read more)

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The Commodore 64 Moves In

My parents bought my Uncle Kenny’s Commodore 64 for me back in 1985. If I remember correctly the sound chip had blown out, so the first thing we they did was have it fixed. Sixteen years later, I still own (and use) that same Commodore computer. I’ve owned dozens of other Commodore computers over the years (many of which are sitting out in my garage, acting as “donor machines”) but I can always tell my main one apart from the others for a couple of reasons. One being, many years ago one of my friends modified mine for me by… (read more)

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Goodbye, EA, and Goodbye Modern Gaming.

While I was out of town last week I received an e-mail from Electronic Arts (EA). The e-mail informed me that my old “EA” account would now be known as an “Origin” account. My initial reaction was, “why do I even have an EA account?” Then I remembered. The reason I have an EA account is because, after buying a used copy of the last Need for Speed game for the PlayStation 3, I was forced to create an EA account to play the game online. Then, after doing that, the game informed me that I was going to have… (read more)

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