18 Arcade Games in a trailer in Zionsville

Have you ever gone out and purchased an entire collection from another collector? Last fall I got an email from a gentleman in Zionsville – proposing such an idea. He had been consistently attending US Amusement auctions in the early 90′s and had amassed a great collection of classic games. I was excited, but cautious, one thing he told me caught my attention. The games were being stored in a trailer…

I’ve become a black hole for Zaccaria arcade games

If you have never taken the time to browse ZZZaccaria.com, I would set aside 30 minutes and immerse yourself in the world of Italian arcade games. The cabinets are beautiful – vibrant primary colors, intricate designs, curved plexi marquees – exquisite. Sadly, adding a Zaccaria section of your gameroom here in the states may be tad difficult. Fortunately, at least one of the Zaccaria games was imported to US and distributed in the 80′s – Quasar!

Oh baby! A rare find in Chicagoland

Last August (2012) I got an email from an individual in Chicago looking to sell three Pac-man arcade games. I love Pac-man, I have two Pac family games in my collection currently. The list was a Ms. Pac-man cocktail, a Jr. Pac-man conversion and a Baby Pac-man. The seller was nice enough to take and send some photos. One of the photos in particular caught my eye…

Atari could have revolutionized social gaming in 1981

In late 1981 Atari conducted a ‘World Championship’ event at the Expocenter in Chicago. If you aren’t familiar with the history of this event, a quick Google search will turn up a number of items online. This article is probably the best.

Rife with mismanagement, shady dealings and lost profits, the championship event is widely considered to be a colossal failure – not ET Atari 2600 bad, more like Pac-man bad.

But why did this event flop so hard? Atari was part of Warner Communications – a tremendous distribution asset. They had Lee Peppard, who would appear to have had some cursory success in event promotion. They had a number of things working in their favor, including the brand recognition and consumer base.

There is at least one key area where Lee Peppard / Atari obviously failed…

Artwork options for designing your multi-deco

As of this writing, it is my understanding that a small new batch of multi-deco kits are in development from Dave Widel. For those of you lucky to be on the list to get one of Dave’s awesome kits, you might be thinking about the right DECO cabinet and possibly even artwork. Here are some options.

Former operators have the best NOS artwork

Collecting arcade games has always been an ebb and flow for me. There are periods where games fall into my lap, and other times where I have to drive to Georgia to make something happen. 2012 has been a busy year so far for games. First it was a couple of DECO minis in Kentucky, then it was a HUO Zwackery and Tapper out of Chicagoland, and now it was a call to clean out the remaining inventory of an operator who had moved to Monticello IN.

The Food Fight that got away

How badly did I want to own a Food Fight? Apparently bad enough to drive all the way from Indianapolis to the border of Georgia and Florida to pick one up this past December. I’ve always loved the Food Fight cabinet, but did not have an overwhelming desire to own the game. That was until one fateful email in May of 2010.