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[EAST] The OFFICIAL American Classic Arcade Museum @ PAX-East 2013 Thread
The American Classic Arcade Museum (ACAM) is proud to announce that we are returning to PAX-East. As in past years, we will be providing the PAX-East retro arcade full of classic 1970's and 1980's arcade video games.
In 2010, the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) held their first East Coast event in Boston after running a hugely successful event for many years in Seattle. Gary Vincent, President of The American Classic Arcade Museum, had first been approached by the promoters of the Expo in late 2009 to help create an exhibit of classic arcade games at the first PAX-East. The American Classic Arcade Museum had become a powerful presence, and having the Museum create the exhibit for PAX-East seemed logical to the event organizers. Gary and the ACAM crew took 21 video games to the Expo in 2010 and set up a small arcade in a private room off of the main Expo floor.
Over the last few years as the PAX-East event has grown, the ACAM presence has grown along with it. This year, ACAM will have two 24-foot trucks stuffed with close to 50 arcade games & a small army of staffers. ACAM will also be holding two panel sessions with video game industry insiders and former arcade game developers.
“I was concerned that first year,” said Vincent. “I knew the focus of the Expo was on newer games so I wasn’t sure how people would respond to us. It took about thirty seconds until all my concerns went away. The room was packed from the moment we opened the doors and all throughout the weekend. The most interesting thing to me was that I would say the average age of the crowd at the Expo was in their mid-20s and many of them had never experienced an arcade before.”
Mike Stulir, Board member for The American Classic Arcade Museum, couldn’t be happier with the way things came together over the last few years. “ACAM’s facility is very family-friendly in terms of lighting, music & environment. However, we feel a need to have some presentation of what the average arcade was like back during the heyday of the neighborhood arcade. PAX-East has become our annual time to pull out all of the stops and recreate that late 1970’s to early 1980’s arcade environment with a darkened room booming with era-appropriate music." Stulir says that the Museum is able to participate in events like PAX-East, MAGFest and Escapist Expo due to the notoriety and respect the Museum has earned since it’s founding. “Our position as the leader in arcade game historical preservation is due to the hard work of Gary Vincent, Bob Lawton, our Board of Directors and our volunteers. We have built a strong reputation not just with the gaming community, but with the game developers as well. We are especially proud of our close relationship with the PAX-East staff, and we expect to be part of this show for many years to come."
The concept of the Museum came almost by accident. ACAM is located within the Funspot Family Entertainment Center in Weirs Beach, NH. Having been a manager at the Funspot for man years, Gary and Funspot owner Bob Lawton were looking at all of the old video games they had back in 1996. Many of them were not in use on the floor anymore. Gary said “We have so many, we should start a museum.”
And that’s exactly what they did.
ACAM was founded and established as the first 501c3 non-profit facility dedicated to the preservation, history and play of classic arcade games. Today, The American Classic Arcade Museum encompasses almost all of Funspot’s third level. It also helped Funspot become the recognized as the largest arcade in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records. Over the years as more machines were added by being purchased or donated, the American Classic Arcade Museum soon became the Mecca for arcade game enthusiasts, and the merely curious. It is now the largest collection of fully operational video games from the 1980s in the world. In fact, every year players from around the world come to Funspot to play in the Museum’s International Classic Video Game Tournament. The museum has gained national and international recognition being highlighted in ESPN: The Magazine, MSNBC, EDGE Magazine, Retro Gamer, The Escapist, Yankee Magazine, in-flight airline publications and locally in NH to DO magazine & The Boston Globe. ACAM has also been the backdrop for several feature films, including the critically acclaimed “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.”
To learn more about The American Classic Arcade Museum, or to find out how you can contribute to our preservation efforts, visit http://www.classicarcademuseum.org
In 2010, the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) held their first East Coast event in Boston after running a hugely successful event for many years in Seattle. Gary Vincent, President of The American Classic Arcade Museum, had first been approached by the promoters of the Expo in late 2009 to help create an exhibit of classic arcade games at the first PAX-East. The American Classic Arcade Museum had become a powerful presence, and having the Museum create the exhibit for PAX-East seemed logical to the event organizers. Gary and the ACAM crew took 21 video games to the Expo in 2010 and set up a small arcade in a private room off of the main Expo floor.
Over the last few years as the PAX-East event has grown, the ACAM presence has grown along with it. This year, ACAM will have two 24-foot trucks stuffed with close to 50 arcade games & a small army of staffers. ACAM will also be holding two panel sessions with video game industry insiders and former arcade game developers.
“I was concerned that first year,” said Vincent. “I knew the focus of the Expo was on newer games so I wasn’t sure how people would respond to us. It took about thirty seconds until all my concerns went away. The room was packed from the moment we opened the doors and all throughout the weekend. The most interesting thing to me was that I would say the average age of the crowd at the Expo was in their mid-20s and many of them had never experienced an arcade before.”
Mike Stulir, Board member for The American Classic Arcade Museum, couldn’t be happier with the way things came together over the last few years. “ACAM’s facility is very family-friendly in terms of lighting, music & environment. However, we feel a need to have some presentation of what the average arcade was like back during the heyday of the neighborhood arcade. PAX-East has become our annual time to pull out all of the stops and recreate that late 1970’s to early 1980’s arcade environment with a darkened room booming with era-appropriate music." Stulir says that the Museum is able to participate in events like PAX-East, MAGFest and Escapist Expo due to the notoriety and respect the Museum has earned since it’s founding. “Our position as the leader in arcade game historical preservation is due to the hard work of Gary Vincent, Bob Lawton, our Board of Directors and our volunteers. We have built a strong reputation not just with the gaming community, but with the game developers as well. We are especially proud of our close relationship with the PAX-East staff, and we expect to be part of this show for many years to come."
The concept of the Museum came almost by accident. ACAM is located within the Funspot Family Entertainment Center in Weirs Beach, NH. Having been a manager at the Funspot for man years, Gary and Funspot owner Bob Lawton were looking at all of the old video games they had back in 1996. Many of them were not in use on the floor anymore. Gary said “We have so many, we should start a museum.”
And that’s exactly what they did.
ACAM was founded and established as the first 501c3 non-profit facility dedicated to the preservation, history and play of classic arcade games. Today, The American Classic Arcade Museum encompasses almost all of Funspot’s third level. It also helped Funspot become the recognized as the largest arcade in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records. Over the years as more machines were added by being purchased or donated, the American Classic Arcade Museum soon became the Mecca for arcade game enthusiasts, and the merely curious. It is now the largest collection of fully operational video games from the 1980s in the world. In fact, every year players from around the world come to Funspot to play in the Museum’s International Classic Video Game Tournament. The museum has gained national and international recognition being highlighted in ESPN: The Magazine, MSNBC, EDGE Magazine, Retro Gamer, The Escapist, Yankee Magazine, in-flight airline publications and locally in NH to DO magazine & The Boston Globe. ACAM has also been the backdrop for several feature films, including the critically acclaimed “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.”
To learn more about The American Classic Arcade Museum, or to find out how you can contribute to our preservation efforts, visit http://www.classicarcademuseum.org
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ACAM – CLASSIC VIDEOGAME PANEL
Saturday, March 23rd, 2013
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center -- Corgi Theatre @ at 4:30pm
Join Mike Stulir of The American Classic Arcade Museum as he discusses the birth of the video game industry, and the classic age of console and arcade video games. Appearing with Mike are legendary arcade game designers including the people behind arcade games such as "Super Missile Attack," "Ms. Pac-Man," "Food Fight," "Quantum" & the "Cruis'n" series of driving games. Console representation will include designers of the Atari 7800 hardware/launch titles, and Atari 2600 games such as "Kangaroo," “Centipede,” & "Joust."
Moderator:
Mike Stulir, The American Classic Arcade Museum
Panelists & Special Guests:
Steve Golson
Jonathan Hurd
Eric Pribyl
Mike Horowitz
Kevin Osborn
Carlos Smith
Tom Flaherty
Mike Feinstein
Betty Tylko
Josh Littlefield
Tickets for PAX-East are almost sold out. For info, visit http://www.paxsite.com
More info on The American Classic Arcade Museum can be found at http://www.classicarcademuseum.org
ACAM – PRESERVING VIDEOGAME HISTORY
Sunday, March 24th, 2013
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center -- Sphinx Theatre @ 1:00pm
What happens to the source code, development equipment and historical information from all of those video games from the 1970's & 1980's? Why is that historical material important to museum facilities and current/future generations of game developers? The American Classic Arcade Museum and our guest panelists will answer those questions, and describe the importance, value and methodology of preserving video game history.
Moderator:
Mike Stulir: The American Classic Arcade Museum
Panelists:
Gary Vincent: President, The American Classic Arcade Museum
John Andersen: Gaming historian and freelance writer
Joey DeSena: Co-host of "Retroware TV" series "The Video Game Years"
Jonathan Ferguson: Instructor in Game Design and Production for The Game Studio at Champlain College
Tickets for PAX-East are almost sold out. For info, visit http://www.paxsite.com
More info on The American Classic Arcade Museum can be found at http://www.classicarcademuseum.org
See you there!
I have been getting a bunch of private messages requesting games that we should bring. Unfortunately, it is impossible to please everyone, so we cannot take requests. We will do our best to bring a good mix of popular titles, and some obscure titles you may have never played before.
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http://www.twitter.com/ConMeoPaxEast
This is something we have tried to have some fun with over the years. In 2010, we did a lot of 80's stuff.....Huey Lewis & The News, Michael Jackson, The Bangles, Cindi Lauper, etc. In 2011, we changed it up and did a lot of late 70's/early 80's new wave music like The Cars, Bananarama, Oingo Boingo and Devo. Last year, we went with harder rock using bands like Aerosmith, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, etc.
We have something different planned for this year as well, so I hope everyone likes the music. Our goal is to set an atmosphere that makes you feel like you are back in the early 1980's. Plus, I am told that Adam is bringing back his seizure-inducing laser light show.....with 50% more seizure-inducing laser effects.
Mike Stulir
The American Classic Arcade Museum
Let me fill you in on what to expect. We have a 3,600 sq ft room with 45-50 classic arcade favorites. All games are set to free play, and you are welcome to stay and play as long as you want. We are a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to preserving these classic games, and we are almost completely run by volunteers like myself. If you like what you see, please swing by our donation kiosk and make a contribution.
Mike Stulir
The American Classic Arcade Musuem
That is our goal....making our visitors feel like they have stepped in a time machine. We hope you get more time to spend with us as well.
Friday: Show open through midnight
Saturday: 10am through midnight
Sunday: 10am through 3pm
You can't make a trip to ACAM and not see all that Funspot has to offer. After you are done playing the 325+ classic games on the floor in ACAM, go downstairs into Funspot and try out some more modern games, driving simulators, bowling, skee-ball, air hockey, etc. It truly is a great place to take a family for a day of fun.
Mike Stulir
The American Classic Arcade Museum
Can't wait to see what you've got in store for this year!
3DS Friend Code: 4210-4889-9706
ACAM volunteer John Zabel (l) and ACAM President Gary Vincent track down a power supply problem in Time Pilot.
Funspot employee Chris Ferguson (l) polishes the playfield of Flash pinball while ACAM volunteer John Zabel tests the trackball on Missile Command.
Nice! Will there be a list posted of all the cabinets coming, or should we just be patient?
Wicked pumped!
3DS Friend Code: 4210-4889-9706
Totally did not know this. I'll toss a donation your way.
Be patient.
I will say this... We will be bringing three pinball machines. We have a TON of requests for pinball, and after a lot of internal discussion, we decided to take a chance and try it again. Pins are much more susceptible to breakage/damage in transit than video games, and the pins we brought in 2010 got busted up pretty bad between the truck ride and the loading dock workers. We did not bring any in 2011 because of that, and only had one last year courtesy of our friends at Retro Pinball LLC.
Flash pinball will be in our arcade at PAX-East 2013 along with an uber-rare pin called Al's Garage Band Goes On A World Tour courtesy of our our awesome volunteer Scott Gaulin and his son Zach. Can't recall what the third table is off the top of my head, but it is in the process of being shopped.
Also, since our friends from General Computer Corporation (GCC) will be participating in our Saturday afternoon gaming panel with us again, we will have all four of the arcade video games they created: Midway's Ms. Pac-Man & Jr. Pac-Man, and Atari's Food Fight & Quantum.
Remember, we are a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to preserving these classic games, and we are almost completely run by volunteers like myself. All of the games will be set on free play, so no need to come armed with quarters. We love bringing these classic games to PAX-East so everyone can enjoy them, but it is a very expensive show for us to attend. If you like what you see, please swing by the donation kiosk we will have in our arcade at PAX-East and make a contribution. Donations can also be made through our web site.
Mike Stulir: Board of Directors
The American Classic Arcade Museum
classicarcademuseum.org
Thanks for the reply! It'll be neat seeing what you guys end up bringing.
Pinball's always fun, so I'd be happy just with that. And, if I can when the con comes around, I'd love to donate!
See you at PAX!
3DS Friend Code: 4210-4889-9706
579 Endicott Street North - Laconia, NH 03246
The first 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and display of classic coin-operated amusements
http://www.ClassicArcadeMuseum.org
I do want to address one problem we were faced with during the weekend. We closed one hour early on Sunday afternoon due to circumstances beyond our control, and we apologize to the disappointed people we had to turn away. This was a tough decision, but we really had no choice. On Saturday evening, two of our volunteers were sick with flu-like symptoms and a third had food poisoning. To make matters worse, another one of our staffers had a reaction to some new medication and had to be taken to the hospital, and will be there for several more days. With 50 percent of our staff out sick on Sunday, we made a difficult choice to close early due to the extra time required to pack our massive exhibit with only four people.
I do want to thank PAX-East staffer Ryan Hartman for understanding our difficulties and sending two Enforcers to help us pack our exhibit. Without their help breaking down our projector screens, signs and computers/electronics, it would have been a very late night for us.
See you all at PAX-East 2014!!!
Best regards,
Mike Stulir
Board of Directors
The American Classic Arcade Museum
www.classicarcademuseum.org
I hope your staff gets better soon.