Phosphor Dot Fossils

Where in Arkansas is this? I'll be right over.

Old thing, if I can make it from Fort Smith to CGE, or from Alma to CGE (and I've done both!), you too can do it too! TUPELO!

I've got some OVGE video clips here, and loads o' pics here. Here's the stash I brought home: Finding a vendor on the floor who was selling copies of Electronic Games Magazine for less than ten bucks was a joy to behold - I got January through August of 1983, and December of 1984. (The only issue I had before today was July '82.) I'm aiming for nothing less than a complete collection of EG. Big thanks to Steve W for the mini-disco light - it was smaller than I thought, but y'know, that means my wife will kill me about 30% less than if I had brought a huge, hi-fi-speaker-sized disco light (which Kent also called a "color organ") home with me. Steve also gave me a stash of VIC-20 games too. icbrkr brought me the Apple joystick there - many thanks. Of course the book is from Flack's table and I gladly plunked down the cover price and promptly started looking for my name in there. :-P Linda's Action Figures sold me the 2600 Raiders cart and manual. Believe it or not, I've never touched this game before. That's also where I got the 2600 manual, just 'cause. A huge thanks to both Steve and to Mr. and Mrs. MegaManFan for the six-pack of Dr. Pepper straight from the plant in Dublin, TX - where they still use real live sugar! Kent and I were wide awake for the trip home, that's for sure. :eek 2: As always, a big thanks to Kent for coming with me yet again, and to Jesse Hardesty (Crossbow) and his crew for putting on the show where all this fine madness took place. Now Olivia's just waiting for me to hook it all back up at home.

I'm in the middle of my mad preparation action: PREPARATION A: Boxed stuff is good. This box has balls. Trackballs, that is. PREPARATION B: Coleco mini-arcade goodness awaits transport. PREPARATION C: How rare is the stuff you'll be seeing at OVGE this year, you ask? Is this rare enough for ya? PREPARATION D: Due to some technical difficulties with my Magnavox Odyssey, it won't be coming to the show this year - it may be old hat to everyone else, but I always enjoy seeing it get so much playtime. Instead, my modded PS1 will appear, with the World's Greatest PS1 Joystick, and retro arcade compilations aplenty, including many imports. Qix? Crazy Climber? 10 Yard Fight? Yeah, we got dat. The CDs on the right are imported game soundtracks - that's what'll be playing through Atari Video Music along with some music from the one and only Mr. Tony Fox. By the way, I'll have some Tony Fox CDs to sell at the show, but hit me up early - supplies are limited! This stuff is so cool, Olivia wishes she could come too.

A late announcement here - due to duplication turnaround time, I won't be able to get the DVDs done in time for the show. Apologies to everyone who was setting aside their ten bucks for it - it'll be ready for the next OVGE for sure.

The tabletops will definitely be back this year - I just put batteries in them today, in fact! Those things get so much lovin' (and play time!) every year at OVGE that I'd fear for my life to show up without them. I honestly worry about what would happen if I did suddenly make a radical alteration to my usual OVGE lineup... (But don't worry, the biggest change this year is that there'll be DVDs of the video presentation for sale!) See everyone in about a week!

I'm planning to have copies of the new, improved and extended Phosphor Dot Fossils video available. This is a greatly expanded version of the one that's been running for the past couple of years, now with nearly twice as many games shown (on twice as many systems), more coverage of computer games on such platforms at the Apple II, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit machines, classic commercials, footage of rare gaming swag, and much more. Come visit the PDF road crew and get a piece of classic gaming history to take home with you! If you just want to play some games, of course we'll have some of those too, including a rare Altair 8800 setup.

The tables are paid for...and I'm bringing company this time! AltairBoy is planning on being there to show off some of his collection of vintage (and working!) MITS Altair computers at the PDF tables, with at least one 8800 up and running with a game or two, and some vintage computer magazines dating back before Apple came along and revolutionized everything. Now there's something ya don't see every day. I'll have the usual Odyssey2 goodness, and if I can coax it into working again, the original Magnavox Odyssey (again, not something that you can get your paws on every day). There'll also be a real live working Atari Video Music there that you can try out hands-on (along with a nifty mix of game-related tunes and vintage 70s and 80s goodness), as well as the complete Coleco tabletop collection - all with batteries in 'em! - and all those great goodies in the PDF videogame memorabilia collection. If I can get it all put together in time, this year will see the premiere of a new expanded version of the PDF video loop that has proven so popular in years past - with possibly even as much as an extra half-hour of vintage game clips. Oh, and that's just the PDF table. Flack, icbrkr and quite a few others will be there, all with their own displays that are at least that cool. If all this isn't sounding tasty enough for you to head to Tulsa for a Saturday, then I don't know what is! Come on out and play some classics. That number again is O-V-G-E.

I'm gonna show up just for the cat attacks. Let's see you get that special feature at any other gaming event.

Nothing wrong with that profession - you'll just be generating the press releases that those of us still in the field of journalism will, in all likelihood, be parroting word for word. And you'll probably be bringing more home too - hence, more homebrews. It's good to hear that you found some bacon to bring home at any rate! See you at next year's show! Seeing as I completely forgot to bring any camera of my own to this year's OVGE (grumble grumble lack of sleep), I may tap you to report on next year's OVGE for me.

Unless I've misheard, I think Videotopia is in "limbo" right now.

Now you've done it. Just watch, I'll try to move it and wind up losing an arm now...

I have a rule on buying stuff at OVGE: don't buy stuff until you sell stuff. This is how Albert winds up with me buying stuff from the AA table over the course of 3 or 4 visits in a single day! From AA, I picked up Starfire and Go Fish! I'm a huge Shark Shark! fan, so mere seconds after playing Go Fish! over at the tournament table, I was the proud owner of a cartridge. Or, as it's known around my house no matter what platform it's on, "the fishy game." Picked up Galaxian and Star Trek for the Colecovision from Jeff Cooper's table - those two have been on my to-get list for ages. From the MegaManFanFamily, I grabbed a 2600 Spiderman cart. Atari 8-bit Pac-Man and Donkey Kong from icbrkr (can you believe I actually didn't have those?), boxed 2600 Pac-Man and Defender from Vintage Stock, and a few other things too. I ogled a boxed The Earth Dies Screaming! at the Trade-N-Games table, and maybe drooled a bit too, but decided to wait - that's one where I'd be happy to just have a loose cart just to play it. It's another one high on my to-get list. And of course, my wife's still after me to pick up the Star Wars coin-op. Yeah, just a few minor purchases.

Guys. You got not just a picture of me playing an arcade game (something I've always wanted), but me playing Star Wars. Thank you! You have no idea! I can die happy now. My wife is still trying to get me to buy that machine.

Man, I didn't think we were boaring.

I'm still recovering from the OVGE trip this year - as anyone who talked to me probably guessed, I was losing my voice in a big hurry, having just recently gotten over being sick as a dog. Excellent show this year though - I was kinda frustrated by some technical difficulties at my table, but quickly got a "Plan B" going that was just about workable (a Gamecube + a Gamecube + GB Player on loan from Flack, hooked up together to play Pac-Man Vs. on 2 TVs!). My video loop worked perfectly this year and played throughout the day, though if you thought it was ick-worthy that Brian brought Toilet Kids, I went and hid for a bit when the first time my video presentation came to the little demo of Custer's Revenge, there was a woman with 3-4 kids sitting there watching the whole thing with rapt attention, prodding them to watch it with her. Remember, THEY'RE JUST DANCING! By the end of the day, I realized that I could have brought just two things - that video loop and the Super Mario Bros. magnetic "stage figures" - and everyone would've been happy. I think the most play time that my PS1 + Amazing Rotating LCD Monitor got...was from me. Also noticed at least two local TV stations there. One of them shot right over my shoulder as I was playing Robotron with my two-joystick PS1 setup, and I was actually "in the zone," so as much as I wanted to turn around and give them my well-rehearsed speech about why retrogaming is a great hobby and an even better subject of historical study, I really needed to make short work of the Brains. It was a decent year for selling stuff too, though I wasn't even trying particularly hard to sell anything. I picked up Go Fish (approximately 10 seconds after I played it at the OVGE tournament table) and went back later before the end of the show to grab Starfire. I also picked up a great many other goodies, and my wife was trying to talk me into buying the Star Wars arcade game, which is surely the 6.8th sign of the apocalypse. I was in possibly the most fun "island" in the whole room - MegaManFan and Mrs. MegaManFan on one side, icbrkr & Mrs. icbrkr on the other. Good neighbors made this a fun show - I spent as much time talking to people "in the island" as I did outside of it! The MegaMan DVD was a real treat - man, all of a sudden everybody's got a DVD this year! For next year's show I'll probably have to come up with live 3-D interactive holograms or somethin' just to keep up with the Joneses. Sadly, my complete and total lack of sleep - I had been up since about 8am Friday morning - and my even greater lack of organization conspired to make me forget to bring my camera, so I have zero pictures to show from this year. I do believe Kent grabbed some video footage though, so we'll see what he came up with. Probably lots of video of me trying not to pass out on my wife's shoulder.

Yeah - after working a double shift the day before, driving to Tulsa at around 5 in the morning, setting up and having fun all day, I'm gonna sleep after the show. Hopefully not on the drive back this time! That seems to irritate the OHP so much when I do that...

I'll just borrow the Doctor's psychic paper. For mine, if possible: Earl Green (Phosphor Dot Fossils) Bit of a mouthful, eh?

Thought I'd put out the feelers before I finalize my setup: if anything wants to see anything from my collection (you can get a pretty good idea by checking out my site), please let me know and I'll do my best to bring it along. I'm already once again planning on bringing the ever-popular Magnavox Odyssey and Odyssey2, the latter with the rare trackball controller and some rarities, imports 'n' homebrews. And since they were unexpectedly popular last year, the Coleco tabletop collection will be back again this year - in fact, I'm going to try to bring MORE of them that I didn't bring last year. (I figured they'd sit there all day and gather dust in '04 - instead, they were played more than anything else I had on display!) I'll also have PS1 retro-arcade compilations and imports aplenty, and I'm working on other goodies as well, hopefully a live hands-on demonstration of a rare piece of hardware or two. Oh, and those who have always enjoy my video game-related toy displays, you're in for a treat this year. I've got some new additions to that collection too. If there are any other requests, though, let me know - I bring this stuff for you guys to look at and play. If I was showing up so everyone could watch me play, heck, I'd just have a couple of bare tables and I'd be kicking back with the GBA.

None that were specifically intended for trackball, but there are some games that are damn nifty with it - I was showing off Killer Bees with the O2 trackball at OKGE last year, and everyone seemed to dig it. (That game was really meant to be the O2's answer to Centipede anyway.) Other games, like UFO and Cosmic Conflict, also work well with it. Now, straight-line maze games such as KC Munchkin or Turtles or Amok? It handicaps those savagely, sorta like playing a "drunk goggles" version of them.

And this would be different from my usual sober game of Kaboom! how, exactly? I'm not the greatest Kaboom! player in the world.

WHOA! Lucky find! You paid....well...less than I did for mine. As for the questions about plugging a 2600 trackball into a 2600-to-O2 adapter - the O2's joystick ports don't generate enough juice to power the innards (namely the optical sensors) of a trackball; a joystick is a simpler beast.

Well, I did see a blurb in the back for another upcoming Rolenta book, Bill Kunkel's Confessions Of The Game Doctor (his old Electronic Games Magazine alias), which I hadn't heard either Leonard Herman or Kunkel mention before, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. Kunkel was responsible (though not in a liability kind of way!) for much of my early writing style, and he's one of my heroes, so I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more about that one.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the book and it's just mind-boggling to think about the ideas that have come out of one man's mind. Branching video disc systems? Hello, DVD? I know some of the inside cover blurbs talk about Baer carrying on cranky in his book, but frankly, I'm amazed at how humble he is about it all. He's lived to see many of the things he created become not just household fixtures, but huge industries in their own right. If it were me, I'd probably be tooting my own horn just a little bit more! Fascinating read. There's so much history in here that nobody knew about before, whether you're talking Odyssey, Telstar, Odyssey2, or what have you. I'm glad Baer has finally gotten his say. Now who wants to bet on a Bushnell bio suddenly popping up sometime in the next couple of years?

No problems staying logged in at home or at work for me. At home I'm on Win98 with IE 5.0, at work I'm on an XP Pro box running the latest SP and latest upgrade of IE.