This is the fourth re-vamp of my site dedicated to classic video arcade games.
The full site index is on the left. Some of the tables look better when opened in a new window.
California Extreme! Too much to for a full list but the
noteable exhibits were the working
Computer Space
that the owner kindly opened up so we could take a picture of the
insides
and coined so we could
play
it. As expected there was a large presence of unusual Atari vector games such as
Quantum
and unusual Atari raster games such as
I Robot
that I didn't like too much and
Liberator
that was an interesting sequal to
Missile Command
that truly rocked in sit-down form. Most of the Williams classics were there along with a nice
Joust 2.
Gotlieb's
Reactor
was one of the stranger games. Newest game on the block was probably
Gauntlet Legends.
The show this year was being held in conjunction with the
Vintage Computer Festival
that had a nice
Atari Home Computer
shop display and of course an
Apple I.
A good time was had by all but many of personal favourites were missing
(Star Wars, Spy Hunter, Phoenix, Moon Cresta, Gauntlet) and the sole
Galaxians was pretty much knackered. Oh, I didn't win the
Zaxxon
up for raffle. Still, it was good to see and play the unusual stuff...
Attended the San Jose Super Auction. Didn't take a bidding number to make sure I didn't come
away with something. The prices were high but there was the odd bargain to be had
(had I number, I would have bid) (full results).
Also had a good-ol-chin-wag with a few local collectors -
Al Kossow, Aaron Giles, Bill Esquival, Jean, Mike Snider, Tim, Mitch P. - thanks guys!
They couldn't fail to spot me in the Darren H. Gorfian UKVAC T-shirt :-)
Played a whole pile of classic games for the first time since leaving the UK at
the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, with fellow UKVAC'er Duncan Bryan.
The Boardwalk had several classics in their multitude of arcades on the
front, including a "Classics Corner". I played
Gorf, Tron, Frogger, Galaxians, Asteroids, Joust, Q*Bert,
Donkey Kong, Asteroids (several), Pac-Man, Star Wars, Track'n'Field,
Firetruck (as two player - they had Night Driver as well but the arcade
closed before had a chance to play it) several pins including a strange
old 70's Atari Superman pinball (it was a
wide beast with a slight incline making it quite slow). The Star Wars UR
was working but the controller was well shagged and unplayable and the
Tempest was out-of-order. In general the physical
condition was pretty good but the mechanicals/electricals were poor on
some of the videos and pins and the sound was turned down too low which spoilt it a little.
According to the list (
http://www.classicgaming.com/locations) there were others but the arcade closed
before we had a chance to play them.
I have moved from the UK to the San Francisco bay area!
Everything video game related has gone into storage in the UK.
