Midwest Gaming Classic April 7th-9th,2017

[Inky]

All my Atariage Friends,BassGuitari, thanatos, Tempest, Gamemoose, Dashopepper, YarsRevengeFan, PFG 9000, S1500, Supercat, CrazyClimber, BikeGuyChicago and, Nateo. It was awesome to meet many of you for the first time, and it was great to meet up with some of you I had met before. The Atariage forums really are the definition of community.

[+frankodragon]

I was there Saturday and played hours of free arcade and pinball machines and to see Svengoolie to give him a graphic hack of Fat Axl with his characters.

 

[Gamemoose]

Day 2 was pretty fun as I didn't have to watch my boys like a hawk like I do my daughter, so I could play more of what I wanted.

 

My step sons never been to anything like this before and I think 2 out of three never played a real pinball machine. That was a huge hit! I can't say if they played a real video arcade machine, though.

 

I was also able to get more on my shopping list in the vendor tent. I'm not really collecting much anymore and have been looking to give emulation the ol' college try. So controllers were my target. My budget was limited so I had to stay under a certain amount per controller. I found that with Type S Xbox controllers- you get what you pay for and like a dolt I didn't look close enough to my purchase. I foubd an S at a spot for $5 but no break away cable. I went to another spot where it was like they got bundles of mixed stuff of questionable functionality dropped off at their door and they wanted to get rid of it (even said everything must go). I found a broken Duke with breakaway for $1. Then I noticed my Type S's thumb sticks looked like a mouse used it with its teeth. While it feels like it should work...doesn't anyone take care of their stuff anymore before selling it off?

 

I did not get a chance to go back and talk to my fellow AA'ers. My boys wanted to hit up certain things and after all was said abd done, it was after 4 and I wanted to head North back home before any major traffic came about.

 

All in all, great show! My step daughters want their turn next year.

[YarsRevengeFan]

Had a great time this weekend!
Got to meet Inky and hang with him on Friday night, and met Dauber as well!
Looking forward to next year's con already!

[BassGuitari]

Had a great time at the show, as always! Always great to hang with Tempest, Thanatos, Stupus, Goodwill Hunter, RetroRogue, and my non-AA friends, and I had the pleasure of finally properly meeting Dauber and Inky. I missed the rest of you, though...we should try to work out an AtariAge meetup somewhere at the show next year.

Wife met Jeff Lee, and I got her one of the Q*Bert statues for her birthday tomorrow, which Jeff inscribed. Really cool guy! Ho Sung Pak and Daniel Pesina of Mortal Kombat were there as well, but I forgot to bring some Mortal Kombat carts to get autographed (they did have photos though). My 9-year-old self would be shitting his pants to meet those guys (I was a HUGE Mortal Kombat junkie BITD).

I'm not really into the whole cosplay thing but the costume contest was actually kinda fun. Loved seeing Starman from Pro Wrestling.

As for vendor finds, I was simultaneously disappointed and relieved that I didn't see much I really wanted. Rummaging through box after box of the same 2600 commons usually yields some label variants or Atari Corp. rereleases or something sorta interesting, but not this time. Finally got a nice refurbed Atari heavy sixer and a CIB Chess for Intellivision from my show-buddy Alex at Universal Collectibles, though (he has a little store up in Germantown if anyone's interested). For my 7800 I grabbed Mario Bros. (probably rarest/most valuable Atari cart I saw in general, actually, barring any Jaguar stuff I missed) and F-18 Hornet, and a pair of Pro-Line joysticks out of the free box at the Pie Factory booth. (Thanks, fellas!) Even found a third-party Apple IIgs 3.5" drive really cheap, too. Not quite the haul I'd bring back in years past, but there just wasn't much that grabbed me, and the Atari busted most of my budget anyway, so it's just as well.

(Vendor-related thought: Why was a boxed copy of Doom for 3DO being sold for, what was it, $150??? I'm admittedly not terribly hip to the 3DO scene but I don't recall that being especially rare at all.)

And as a bonus: none of my stuff in the museum got damaged this year!

[S1500]

Weird to see Nintendo officially there. but with all the retro gaming podasts talking about the Switch, it should be no surprise.

 

Atari carts were less & less common, but at no surprise. I think I collected all 7 Atari 5200 carts. Got Time Pilot for the Coleco. Also some obscure 2600 game(infiltrate?) for 1 dollar. I heard 2 mentions of Commando for the 7800, which is apparently rare.

 

Also introduced chrisbd to Hughes from The Retro League. Doing my best to cross-pollinate podcasters.

 

Got a Apple //gs manual for 5 bucks, where before they wanted the whole //gs manual stack for 45. Uh, no.

[BassGuitari]

Weird to see Nintendo officially there. but with all the retro gaming podasts talking about the Switch, it should be no surprise.

Nintendo was there last year, too. Maybe even the year before but I don't remember.

[Gamemoose]

Nintendo was there last year, too. Maybe even the year before but I don't remember.

I want to say they were there since 2014. It was after Super Mario 3D World came out as the reps were passing out colorful, fuzzy cat ears. That's where my daughter got hers-it was her fourth birthday.

[+thanatos]

It was great seeing all the 'old friends' and meeting other AtariAge-ers for the first time.

 

So FrankODragon, what did Svengoolie say about his cart? I was lucky enough to see it when you had it loaded up at the table. (And thanks yet again for making Fat Axl!)

 

Definitely the least I've ever spent in the vendor hall. I've gotten both cheaper and the prices have gone way too high for everything. A guy was trying to sell a Vectrex in the box with 4 games for $500, and guess what, he still had it Sunday afternoon. That's a hint, buddy!

 

I did get a working TV plug-in Golden Tee for $5, which is going to be a gag gift for a friend. And then Stupus tempted me with a Demon Attack CoCo cart. The label was too awesome looking to pass it up.

[RickO2]

It was a fun event. It's been years since I made the journey a crossed the Great Lake to the mwgc. I went to the first year at Brookfield and twice at the prior location. It has gotten MUCH larger than I expected. Things definitely went smoother than the 1st year in Brookfield with the exception of the chaos in the marketplace. For the record, I only went Saturday but was pretty much there from before it started until just before it ended so my pro's con's only reflect that day.

 

Con's:

The backpacks in the marketplace. I was getting sick and tired of getting hit by them. It was 3 deep w/out the packs Sat morning, they just added to congestion.

Disappointed in the selection of "for sale" second gen games. If it wasn't NES or newer it was slim picking. Guess us older gen collectors don't like to part with the good stuff ;^)

I think it's outgrown the venue, which is a good problem. A lot of things were in hotel rooms or even hallways.

 

Pro's:

Awesome selection of video game counsels, arcade games, and pinball machines to play!

Picked up a reasonably priced loose toploader to replace one I gave my bro.

Talked with David from Packrat games (another O2 collector).

Talking with other guys, and gals, that know their history and can share stories.

[BassGuitari]

And then Stupus tempted me with a Demon Attack CoCo cart. The label was too awesome looking to pass it up.

No shit, I actually thought about grabbing that off him but decided to leave it--figuring you'd want it--since I bought the Dino Wars cartridge from Supergun that you were eyeing up a couple months back. (And I was down to my last $20 or $25 for the show and wanted to get a drive for my otherwise sorta useless Apple IIgs anyway.)

 

 

It was a fun event. It's been years since I made the journey a crossed the Great Lake to the mwgc. I went to the first year at Brookfield and twice at the prior location. It has gotten MUCH larger than I expected. Things definitely went smoother than the 1st year in Brookfield with the exception of the chaos in the marketplace.

Glad you had fun! I still remember the first time I went to MGC, in 2004. It was very different then. It was actually extremely trying and problematic for Dan and Gary--the show actually took a year off in 2005 because '04 was such a bad experience for them, and as I understand it, it might not have even come back if not for Marty--but as a first-time showgoer, who had never seen anything like it before and didn't know other Atari/Intellivision/Odyssey/Coleco fans even existed outside of the internet, I had the time of my life. Lots of fond memories there.

 

I think it's outgrown the venue, which is a good problem. A lot of things were in hotel rooms or even hallways.

To be candid, it outgrew the venue five or six years ago. But, the Brookfield Sheraton was still the best overall option, and in many ways, the only option (believe me, Dan and Gary have looked exhaustively at other venues for years). Fortunately, a new convention center is going to be built on the site of the Sears building just next to the hotel, and I understand that will be MGC's future home, but it won't be finished in time for next year's show, which most likely means one more year at the Sheraton.

 

Talked with David from Packrat games (another O2 collector).

Dave's a good man and a good personal friend of mine who's really helped my collection over the years. He actually lives only about 11 blocks away from me and sometimes he'll come over to get feedback on WIP Odyssey games planned to be sold through Packrat.

Edited April 11, 2017 by BassGuitari

[+frankodragon]

 

 

So FrankODragon, what did Svengoolie say about his cart? I was lucky enough to see it when you had it loaded up at the table. (And thanks yet again for making Fat Axl!)

 

 

He asked if it was a real game and I told him it was. I wish there was a 7800 on hand at the show but he only had a limited time signing autographs then judging a costume contest.

 

On an unrelated note, I passed by the MGC Showcase area where several hotel rooms were opened up and someone must of barfed around there. Too much beer perhaps.

[Nateo]

I had the time of my damn life. My friend Seth and I got some great footage this year, and hopefully the video will be up sooner rather than later, but I imagine the hours of footage we took will take a while to edit down.

 

I played copious amounts of games in the arcade; even ended up with blisters on the inside of one of my fingers from pulling the ball launcher so many times (cue Beavis and Butthead laughter). Didn't get too much stuff at the vendor tents, just picked up some more carts for my Famicom collection. Everything was priced pretty high.

 

Got to meet up with Inky and Dauber at their table, and played some excellent 7800 homebrews. Makes me wanna buy a 7800. Also got to hang out with the Retronauts, which was a blast. I already can't wait until next year!

Edited April 11, 2017 by Nateo

[Tempest]

I had a good time. It's always nice to see my AA friends since I'm only in the area once a year (although some of you also head down to VCFMW). I'm terrible with faces and names so I'm always surprised when someone I've been chatting with gets called by his AA handle and suddenly I realize who they are.

 

Every year I'm surprised at how much love the VideoBrain gets. People love playing Gladiator on it! The Sorcerer also got a lot of attention since I put a really nice Asteroids clone it and it looked amazing with my new green screen monitor (thanks BassGuitari!). Most people just want to play the games for a bit, but I had a few people who were actually interested in the systems themselves including one guy who wanted to watch the tapes load. The crowds seemed better behaved this year, so I only had one incident with my stuff (someone had tried to load a game on the TRS-80 and put the disks in the wrong way).

 

Meeting Svengoolie was fun, I hope we didn't freak him out with our dorkiness. The arcade had a nice selection this year including a Video Pinball machine (never seen one in the flesh before), Roc n Rope (one of my favs), and some prototype games like Arena. Too bad I couldn't get onto the Black Knight or BK 2000 machines, but those are always crowded.

 

I actually did buy stuff in the vendor hall this year. There was one table in the back that computer stuff on it, so I picked up some rare boxed Apple IIgs games (Star Saga 1&2 for those who know the IIgs). Never thought I'd see those at the MGC.

[Inky]

. The arcade had a nice selection this year including a Video Pinball machine (never seen one in the flesh before),

 

I actually saw one at a little arcade in Atlanta, IL (on Rt. 66, about 20 miles south of Bloomington, IL) last summer. I didn't get to play it, but my daughter did, and she loved it.

[Inky]

He asked if it was a real game and I told him it was. I wish there was a 7800 on hand at the show but he only had a limited time signing autographs then judging a costume contest.

 

We had one set up at the Pie Factory table downstairs by Galloping Ghost

[ubersaurus]

I'll be in the E2M room in the corner with some of my Super Systems of the Seventies. If you've ever wanted to check out stuff like the Channel F, Studio II, or Bally Arcade (or Atari VCS or Odyssey 2 but chances are you've all seen those), come on by!

My friend and i had fun with the Telstar, and I always enjoy a few rounds of Dodge It on Channel F! I also noticed the Studio II and Astrocade seemed to be plugged in and ready to rock, even though they were powered off.

 

I had fun with the Retronauts panel, even though I was nervous as hell for a good chunk of it - hopefully it was a good time for anyone who checked it out. I think it was recorded and will find its way onto the podcast feed at some point.

[Dauber]

 

We had one set up at the Pie Factory table downstairs by Galloping Ghost

 

Yeah...and frankodragon demoed it at our table.

[Dauber]

Really, the sentiments above say it all. Hell, I had a blast and am already excited about next year...and I hardly even left the Pie Factory Podcast table! It was great getting to talk with a lot of people and optimistically exciting to see people excited about 7800 homebrews and Edladdin's stuff. Hopefully Ed and Albert both will see sales spikes...

[Inky]

 

Yeah...and frankodragon demoed it at our table.

 

Damn my memory....

[Nateo]

I had fun with the Retronauts panel, even though I was nervous as hell for a good chunk of it - hopefully it was a good time for anyone who checked it out. I think it was recorded and will find its way onto the podcast feed at some point.

Not to worry, I didn't notice any display of nervousness! I believe we briefly met at the Retronauts meet-up; I was wearing a Commodore 64 shirt and a green hoodie.

[BassGuitari]

My friend and i had fun with the Telstar, and I always enjoy a few rounds of Dodge It on Channel F! I also noticed the Studio II and Astrocade seemed to be plugged in and ready to rock, even though they were powered off.

Yes, I had the power supplies hooked up for all of them. Changing a system out was just a matter of swapping RF connectors behind the TV. I alternated between the Bally and Odyssey mainly, and left the Channel F on the other TV most of the weekend; one guy asked me to hook up the Studio II but there wasn't much interest there otherwise. The Telstar Arcade actually belongs to Stupus, though.

 

Dodge It for the Fairchild is a good show game because it runs continuously and you can just pick it up and go without really having to know how to do anything.

[Tempest]

I completely forgot about the most interesting thing I found this weekend at the show: Two VideoBrain controllers! They were sitting in a box of random RF switchboxes and power supplies which had a price of $10 for the entire box. Thankfully BassGuitari saw them and alerted me. Now I have four functioning controllers for my VB.

[Dashopepper]

I had a great time, Thanks Inky for the Pins to Identify people it was a great Idea. The vendor tent was depressing as usual. It's literally just a bunch of shop owners trading "rare" games amongst themselves. I did come away with an Apple IIe Joystick for $15 and one of the Sega swinging store racks for $100 which cleaned up pretty nicely. Cosplay contest was great this year - hopefully Svengoolie keeps coming back. As far as presenters go Ed Fries is an incredibly interesting and accomplished person and it was mind blowing to have him there. If any one missed it or doesn't know who he is here is an interview he did with IGN last year. Overall it was great I just wish I had more time or talked to more fellow AAers but I guess there's always next year!

[BassGuitari]

I completely forgot about the most interesting thing I found this weekend at the show: Two VideoBrain controllers! They were sitting in a box of random RF switchboxes and power supplies which had a price of $10 for the entire box. Thankfully BassGuitari saw them and alerted me. Now I have four functioning controllers for my VB.

Hey, you know. I've got a pretty sharp eye when it comes to weird stuff like that. Then again, when you've been in the game (so to speak) as long as we have and you normally see box after box and shelf after shelf of the same merchandise at every vendor booth, something like a Video Brain controller jumps out at you.

 

The seller/s can't have had any idea what the f@#$ those controllers were--they never would have been in a $10 box of miscellany otherwise (I take it they didn't google "video brain" or anything?). But hey, talk about your all-time finds!...