Pixel Anthology 2 : an inside look for a retrogaming event

[CatPix]

So, this week-end, the Pixel Anthology 2 will take place, at La Bazoge, near Le Mans. In France, indeed.

 

 

Organized by the non-profit association Rétrotaku, it will host about 40 machines from every era, all playable, and will host games, guests and stuff.

 

Why am I talking about this here?

 

I am a member of Retrotaku, and so I though you might like to see what it's like to set up that kind of event.

I'll be posting pictures and comments about the event, but also of the setup, the after, and the result of this adventure.

 

 

First step was to decide the machines we will display, and to associate them with the televisions.

All of our TVs are donations, and mreo than often, they came with no remote control. and on a lot of those late TV, there is a serious lack of buttons that allow us to switch on A/V.

So it was important to sort out TV with no remote controls with consoel with SCART out that switched on the A/V, and console with composite output that didn't. And sole older SCART specs are finiscky with modern TV too so that had to be done.

 

And also, printing posters and putting them on cardboard to indicate where the fun is going to take place, and pointing out things we had and things we don't so we know what's good or not.

And all of this in a good, joyful atmosphere.

 

Stay tuned!

 

[Newsdee]

You can probably get one of those "universal" remotes to control the TVs. I think there's even an app for smartphones now.

[CatPix]

Well, I didn't expected doing such an event all week-end long would blast me out.

 

So, Friday; we start in the hall we are goign to expose : setting up the tables, the audio and video for the giant multiplayer games, and setting up the food parts, etc...

 

The most important thing : testing the multiplayer Bomberman on Saturn.

 

More seriously, the guy that knew how to use the hardware was available only this afternoon, not for the week-end, so it was indeed important to have all set up before he would leave.

 

 

 

 

We wanted to show that handicap and video gaming are compatible; somone brough a medical bed, and wheelchair, the club brough the gaming setup (explained later).

 

 

Tetris music

 

Setting up the arcade machines in the entrance hall

 

 

Things get set up more and more

 

 

And now, our biggest issue : ELECTRICITY

 

The geniuses that conceived this hall installed 4 outlets ONLY.

 

Testing

 

 

And we wrap up here for Friday. It was about 1am, and we needed to sleep, especially since everything should be set up for Saturday, for Midday.

Edited April 2, 2016 by CatPix

[CatPix]

And then, Saturday. We start around 9H, everything msut be ready to open a 12H. A pizza truck is planned to be there and deliver food.

 

Being that it's a Saturday, we have more members around, and their family as well.

 

In addition to our own club machines, we asked for external participation.

We got CustomRetro, that offered to customize game systems, and the Papercraft, that is,well, papercrafting.

 

 

 

A collectioner was also invited, bringing mostly PC-Engine and Famicom stuff :

 

The Nintendo corner set up :

 

Thanks to Tony, one of our older members, we were able to display handheld console with almost zero theft risks :

 

 

And the irony here, is that the Neo Geo Pocket is a DONATION, but the Watara Supervision, we bough it!!

 

 

 

Erwan, creator of the HAPPI system for emulation on raspberry Pi, offered us a demo of a bartop arcade with his system on, as well as a bonus, HAPPIGA, an Amiga system running on a Pi as well, fitted into an Amiga 500 shell, using the original keyboard.

 

His site (in French) : http://happi-game-center.com/

 

In this photo-obsessed times, we had to take advantage of it :

 

The "Old Pixels" corner. The one I was in, so except more pics of it! Plus, everyone knows Sega and Nintendo heh.

 

 

Yeah, I brough a top loading VCR for the fun of it.

 

SECAM LIVES!

 

That 70's feel :

 

The TV is busted on the VHF channels, I wan unable to tune on the Atari 2600. Ah well. I added a Pong later on that TV.

 

 

 

A "computer toy" from 1970.

 

 

This is where all started :

 

The Amstrad CPC corner

Both (most common) models, with the monochrome and the color screens.

 

 

Let's say Cocorico for a French-made computer :

 

 

Laptops, 1987 and 1996 :

 

A Sony HitBit and an Atari 8 bits :

 

Amiga 500 :

 

And now, it's MIDDAY! TIME TO OPEN!

 

[CatPix]

The start is slow. It's an easter week-end after all. Plus, there has been a miscommunication and most newspapers that annouced the event published that we would open at 14H and not 12H.

Anyway, it's not so bad, because it allow us to relax, meet the guests, and some some, meet some members of the club that never or rarely show up.

Plus, the pizza truck didn't show up.

 

So, I can slide in the handicap stuff I mentionned previously.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It happened that when the club was made, we received a generous donation from a public clinic here :

 

 

Yep.

A M82, with a Nintendo-labeled monitor, in a special housing made for medical environment.

And the documentation for a Hand-free adapter.

 

Sadly, the Hands-free being a medical item, it was discarded long time ago for sanitary reasons and disuse.

The Club president decided to look in the documents we had, and he found various names.

He found that one of those people was now at the head of a non-profit organization for handicapped/paralytic people.

He called him. They guy responded. He remembered working for Nintendo and bringing advices.

And he mentionned having a spare Hands Free at home.

 

HE DONATED IT.

 

Which allowed us to display it and explain it's use in medical condition, and the things that were ignored (the hand free is good for people that doesn't have the use of their hands, but you can learn to control a video game with your feet, this option isn't covered by the hands free, for example)

 

----------------------------------------------

 

Around 15H, things speed up.

Families show up with the kids, etc... It get crowded.

 

 

 

 

The handheld stand is a success. Idea definitively approved.

 

 

 

Geeks like a good reading, and I forgot to mention that we managed to invite Pix'n'Love, a French book publishing house that is specialized in retrogaming pulications.

 

 

We snagged multiple Buzz game controlelrs from the PS2 series of Buzz games, and used them on a computer for a multiple player quizz :

 

 

the Papercraft was a great success, of course. Kids loved those :

 

 

Generations of gamers :

 

 

 

And friendship :

 

Our Japanese machine fan brough a Nintendo Pong :

 

I was positively baffled by the fact that this random cheap TV was actually able to display the Japanese NTSC in COLORS (remember, this is PAL/SECAM country here), and (it's hard to see here) in such colorful and clear picture.

 

Sunday :

Nothing much changes. The collector wrapped up his stuff for the night, so he replaced the Famicom and Game Boy stuff by Sega Master System stuff.

And also vegetable controllers.

 

 

 

 

Since it's Easter, we had to do something, and we made the Pâquémons. (Easter : Pâques. Pokemon, Pâquémons, hmmm?)

 

 

Kids might not know what was that huge machine, but they found the "eject" button with no trouble.

 

Just for the fun, I installed Retro City Rampage 486 on the Pentium 1 laptop. And yeah, that floppy really contained the whole game, and it works. Excellent Job guys!

 

 

And I set up a Pong on the old TV, on a shooting game.

 

 

 

 

 

We planned to close at 18H, but there were so much people that we extented and wrapped up stuff at 19H.

 

 

 

Well, it lasted two days... but felt longer... and oddly, shorter.

 

My personnal contribution to the event

 

 

We managed to clean and move around midnight, which is a pretty short time.

 

Bottomline of the operation :

Saturday, we sold about 160 tickets

Sunday was even better, with about 190.

That's 250 tickets, knowing that some paid for a week-end, so they came back and aren't counted, and kids under 12 didn't paid, and we saw LOTS of them.

So even with a pessimistic approximation, this week-end was an amazing, even unexpected success , with about 400 people coming and visiting!