Arcade Artwork
Following up with Richard Ford for Jr. Pac-man Sideart Photos
I emailed Richard back today to see if he had time to get some photos. I watched over Christmas, thinking I would get them over my vacation, but it is the holiday, and he was pretty busy I am sure. Sure enough, he shot me back a nice response and said just that, that the holidays are really busy for him at work, but hopes to get something off to me soon.
Collecting is about who you know
Today I exchanged two emails with Richard, he is super friendly, has an awesome collection, and is really willing to help me out. He says he is going to send me hi res photos of the sideart, I am so psyched, especially since it validates the idea that “it is not what you know but who you know.” But I got lucky to meet Joe in Chicago, he and Richard both are two extraordinary guys that I got lucky to be in contact with so soon.
Contacting Richard Ford about Jr. Pac-man
Having not heard anything back from Joe’s contacts, I decide to ask about the guy out east, and if Joe knew many people on that side of the country. Joe did know some people, but Richard was not one of the ones he listed off directly. I debated on calling each individual out there with Richard’s full name, but decided I would ask Joe about Richard directly. Sure enough, Joe knew of Richard, they had exchanged emails on a number of occasions for another super rare game.
I shot Richard an email, now we will just have to see if he responds.
Found posts about Rare White Mr. Do! on RGVAC
I find a post on the Google Group from 2001 of an individual in New York who owns this machine. Emailing, however, returns nothing as the emails are bounced back as the address is no longer valid. The individual’s name was Mark Deroller, so if you have any information about him, and if he still has this game or not 6 years later, please email me. Does the guy still collect?
I also found a post from Eric – “alphamonster” on the Google Group that claims to have the machine. The post is from 2005, but when I emailed him I didn’t get a reply back either.
Starting to track down images of Jr. Pac-man sideart
I started to think about doing a conversion on an empty Pac-man cabinet that I have to a Jr. Pac-man. But of course, I would have to have the original sideart on the side. Plus, because the sides were so different I knew that not only would I have to trace the artwork, I would need to recompose it to fit the difference in cabinets.
I emailed a good friend and well connected guy I had met in Chicago, Joe Magiera, to see if he knew anyone that may have the original Jr. Pac-man with the sideart in tact. This contact loves Williams games, so he didn’t know right off the top of his hear so he contacted a couple of guys in his network. We’re waiting to see if we hear anything back.
Found one Jr. Pac-man owner with Sideart
I did find one collector online on a prominent collecting site who lives out east named Richard Ford, and who had posted one photo of his Jr. Pac-man machine. I knew he had the original with sideart in tact, but at this time I wasn’t sure that I was going to pursue getting a copy of the sideart.
Vectorizing “The Glob” Characters from sideart
I got some 6 hi-res photographs of The Glob sideart last night from Richard. It is pretty simple, so for fun I went ahead and did one of the characters this morning. I traced the Frog in just under an hour.
I will probably work on The Glob himself next.
