What is the "best" Atari Convention?

[+Larry]

If a U.S. resident were going to attend an Atari or Atari/gaming show, what one would you choose?

 

I am presuming it would be European, so there would be considerations of the size of the show, language (are some conventions more likely to have a larger percentage of English-speaking folks?), air travel, season/weather, historical/cultural things to see in the general area, etc.

 

I've always wanted to do this, and I'm thinking more seriously about it.

 

-Larry

[Ross PK]

I'd much rather go to a US one, it would just personally have more appeal to me, plus there wouldn't be any language problems.

[Bunsen]

If a U.S. resident were going to attend an Atari or Atari/gaming show, what one would you choose?

 

I am presuming it would be European, so there would be considerations of the size of the show, language (are some conventions more likely to have a larger percentage of English-speaking folks?), air travel, season/weather, historical/cultural things to see in the general area, etc.

 

I've always wanted to do this, and I'm thinking more seriously about it.

 

-Larry

 

I would suggest the fujiama. It is a convention in Germany near the czech border. It lasts one weekend in the summer (august) and has a very international audience (from czech republik - pepax, krupkaj, bobik, zdenek, raster ..., from germany, from switzerland, from austria, from netherlands and a few years ago there were two guys from uk - shiuming from myatari.net and nick from 1632systems). So main language is english (resp. broken english ).

 

For sight-seeing there are interesting cities nearby: Berlin, Prague, Dresden, Nuremberg, even Poland is not far away.

[+Larry]

I'd much rather go to a US one, it would just personally have more appeal to me, plus there wouldn't be any language problems.

 

There are a few US classic gaming shows and classic computer shows, but I think the last Atari-specific show was "World of Atari" 1998 in Las Vega. Do you have a show that you like?

 

-Larry

[twh/f2]

interesting topic.

 

when I think of what we can see on the internet of pictures, reports and event announcements then I personally feel that there are a lot more atari events in central european countries than in the whole U.S.

 

I may be wrong, because I've never been to a US atari event. But I believe that the kind of party -you even call it "convention"- seems to be pretty much different to the parties we are used to in Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Netherlands, France, etc. !U.S. fellows, please correct me if I'm wrong!

 

The funny part is that you can even speak of country-specific flair. I.e. a "polish party" feels just different to a "czech party" format, and I'm not speaking of the different language. So what I want to say, is that there is no typical "european party". But still, I believe we do have more activity here, especially when it comes to non-commercial parties like Forever, Outline, Xzentrix, Atariada and many more.

 

So I would vote for a mix of european parties rather than one specific. but this is of course hard to do, when traveling from the U.S.

 

grtx,

\twh::taos

[+Larry]

I would suggest the fujiama. It is a convention in Germany near the czech border. It lasts one weekend in the summer (august) and has a very international audience (from czech republik - pepax, krupkaj, bobik, zdenek, raster ..., from germany, from switzerland, from austria, from netherlands and a few years ago there were two guys from uk - shiuming from myatari.net and nick from 1632systems). So main language is english (resp. broken english ).

 

For sight-seeing there are interesting cities nearby: Berlin, Prague, Dresden, Nuremberg, even Poland is not far away.

 

Hi Bunsen-

 

Sounds very interesting. Do you know if there are any web pages where they have posted pics from past shows and/or a page from the show itself?

 

-Larry

[Bunsen]

I would suggest the fujiama. It is a convention in Germany near the czech border. It lasts one weekend in the summer (august) and has a very international audience (from czech republik - pepax, krupkaj, bobik, zdenek, raster ..., from germany, from switzerland, from austria, from netherlands and a few years ago there were two guys from uk - shiuming from myatari.net and nick from 1632systems). So main language is english (resp. broken english ).

 

For sight-seeing there are interesting cities nearby: Berlin, Prague, Dresden, Nuremberg, even Poland is not far away.

 

Hi Bunsen-

 

Sounds very interesting. Do you know if there are any web pages where they have posted pics from past shows and/or a page from the show itself?

 

-Larry

 

Hi Larry,

 

http://www.abbuc.de/temp/200707/lengenfeld...fujiama2007.htm

 

There were many people who visit regularly this forum. I saw cas, beetle, BigBen, Mathy, pepax, krupkaj,...

 

A group picture from last year is on the fujiama homepage (including me, the guy who stands in the back row first from left with the Atari shirt): http://andymanone.dyndns.org/atarixle/fuji/invite.htm

 

Greetings,

Bunsen

[twh/f2]

Hey Larry,

 

.tscc. and taos created a web site with the goal to collect pictures and information of almost every known european oldskool party where Atarians went once and want to go in the future.

 

http://twh.homelinux.org/zope/welta/partyfolders/2007

 

the web site is slow, the computer used is a bit stressed for the Zope portal, so stay patient

 

however, using the maps you can see the huge activity we have here in Europe..

 

grtx,

\twh::taos

 

I would suggest the fujiama. It is a convention in Germany near the czech border. It lasts one weekend in the summer (august) and has a very international audience (from czech republik - pepax, krupkaj, bobik, zdenek, raster ..., from germany, from switzerland, from austria, from netherlands and a few years ago there were two guys from uk - shiuming from myatari.net and nick from 1632systems). So main language is english (resp. broken english ).

 

For sight-seeing there are interesting cities nearby: Berlin, Prague, Dresden, Nuremberg, even Poland is not far away.

 

Hi Bunsen-

 

Sounds very interesting. Do you know if there are any web pages where they have posted pics from past shows and/or a page from the show itself?

 

-Larry

[emkay]

Isn't the annual ABBUC meeting supposed to be the best convention since years?

Probably with the highest count of Atari fans are there every year. People show their newest hard- and software for the 8 bits. And since the last years the ABBUC contest brings very good (this year highest quality also) productions ...

[Ross PK]

I'd much rather go to a US one, it would just personally have more appeal to me, plus there wouldn't be any language problems.

 

There are a few US classic gaming shows and classic computer shows, but I think the last Atari-specific show was "World of Atari" 1998 in Las Vega. Do you have a show that you like?

 

-Larry

 

I don't really know any shows. I've only saw a video of one which was somewhere in Europe, might have been Germany.

 

Then there were other shows back in the day that I'd see in my Atari User magazines. I think they were called trade shows? They were in the UK anyway. I'd love to see the videos of some of these, there must be some somewhere on the net.

Edited September 16, 2007 by Ross PK

[twh/f2]

Isn't the annual ABBUC meeting supposed to be the best convention since years?

 

huh? Am I missing something? The JHV is the official annual meeting of the club. It's a half-day only event. It's not comparable to "full events" like numerous others during the summer. The JHV is a good platform for ABBUC members and their internal discussions, but the Atari scene is more than just ABBUC, esp. when it comes to international meetings across European countries.

 

grtx,

\twh::taos

[Mathy]

Hello Larry

 

I've been to the JHV every years for I guess over 10 years now. It starts with the official part (since it is the yearly meeting of the members of the ABBUC) around 10:00 AM. This part lasts till about 01:00 PM (13:00 in Europe). After that the unofficial part starts. You can buy all kinds of mostly Atari 8 bit related stuff. And look at stuff people are developing or have developed. This part ends around 4:30PM (16:30 for us Europeans). Everybody packs the stuff the brought into there cars. If you like, you can stay for dinner. But you can't choose the menu. I'm a picky eater, so I go home when those who stay to eat, sit down for dinner.

 

Some of the people you might meet there:

 

Mr. Atari, developer of the MyIDE interface

Cas and other members of the Frankfurter Hardware Group, developers of the USB cartridge and SIO2USB

Bunsen

Beetle, developer of the 1500XL (Atari Laptop), 1001 (SIO2IDE in a box) and the 1200XL turned into somthing that looks like an 1450XLD

Charlie Chaplin

AtariXLE, developer of the BOSS graphic user interface

..... (sorry, can't think of anybody you might know)

and me ofcourse

 

The only convention I've visited so far is Fujiama (and the unconvention which was held at the same location before Fujiama existed). Been there the last three years. Takes me roughly 7 hours to get there, including planned stops, traffic jams and unexpected site seeing tours (why do I always have to get lost?). It starts at midnight, during the night from thurstday on friday and lasts untill somewhere between noon and 3 or 4 o'clock on sunday. You can sleep wherever you want. Some sleep on the floor, some sleep in tents, some sleep in their cars, some book a hotel room. (you have to bring your own sleepingbag and tent if you want to use one) The location has a shower, which we used this year. Some people worked on software, some worked on hardware, some just chatted (me), there's usually some real-live game (last year it was space invaders using water pistols, this year is was pac man, using chocolat bars and M&M's), last year it was hot, so some of us brougth water pistols. And temporarely took 25 to 30 years off our age. On Saturday evening, Mr. V starts up the barbeque (burning coal, not gas) and we all eat sausages on a bun (kinda like a hot dog, but the sausage is different).

 

People I've meet there (who's names might ring a bell):

Bunsen

AtariXLE

Raster

Krupkaj

Zdenek

Pepax

Schmutzpuppe

Cas

Beetle

BigBen

Atreju

Sleepy

Wolfgang Burger

mega-hz

Fandal

Vasco

... (sorry, it's getting late)

Me

 

Each morning (I usually arrive on saturday morning very very early, so I don't know about friday) we have breakfast at a big table. And really REALLY strong coffee, to get the grey cells to run at normal speed.

 

Usually, there's some kind of tray or box to put some money on, when you grab a bottle of something.

 

There's an easy to find gasstation in the village. For those who come by car.

 

The last two years, some of us went to McDonalds before we left for home.

 

Greetings

 

Mathy (who's birthday usually is only days before Fujiama, so he can't garantee that he'll be there every year)

[Shawn Jefferson]

Hmm, you are lucky in a couple of respects: a lot of Atari folks over there, plus almost everything is within driving distance. I drive for 7 hours and I'm not even out of my province. To go to the east coast takes 3-4 days of solid driving.

[JamesD]

Just curious... do any of these "Conventions" have over 30 people attend?

[Bunsen]

Just curious... do any of these "Conventions" have over 30 people attend?

 

Fujiama: ca. 30-40

ABBUC JHV: ca. 60

[Beetle]

Fujiama: ca. 30-40

 

Summa of guests and exhibitors, about 15 exhibitors there.

[carmel_andrews]

I would much prefer a computer fair/show type format...similar in style to the AMS fairs (Alternative Micro Shows) that used to take place in Stafford (Betw. Birmingham and Manchester) UK...Last one i went to was mid 90's (94 i think), they were usually very well attended and they even had an Atari Area/section (somewhere near the back of the massive hall)

 

There was a similar series of fairs/shows along the same lines as AMS but more frequent, called All Formats Computer Fairs (this included everything from pong right upto sega's nintendos etc as well as pc's) that seemed to supercede AMS for a few years...haven't heard of them recently though, or at least since the millenium)

[Ross PK]

Hopefully there are still shows that go on in the UK, because hopefully if I pass my test and get a car I'd really like to go to one. There's a few games that I'd like to trade too if people trade stuff at these shows.

[krupkaj]

Sounds very interesting. Do you know if there are any web pages where they have posted pics from past shows and/or a page from the show itself?

I have some photos on my web. You can watch pictures from Forever, Atariada, Fujiama, and some other. Just go to http://krupkaj.ic.cz

[+Larry]

Sounds very interesting. Do you know if there are any web pages where they have posted pics from past shows and/or a page from the show itself?

I have some photos on my web. You can watch pictures from Forever, Atariada, Fujiama, and some other. Just go to http://krupkaj.ic.cz

 

 

Thanks for all the replies, and for all the links of pics, etc. Very interesting!

 

-Larry

[Bunsen]

I highly recommend a new convention: NOMAM Fritztown 08 ( I am one of the organizers )

 

http://andymanone.dyndns.org/reno/nomam08.html

[Tezz]

I highly recommend a new convention: NOMAM Fritztown 08 ( I am one of the organizers )

 

http://andymanone.dyndns.org/reno/nomam08.html

This looks great. I'm visting Germany at the end of summer. will there be one held in September? Edited February 14, 2008 by Tezz

[atarifan49]

Well, I can only speak on Classic Gaming Expo here in the States. I attended WOA '98 and had a great time. It was smaller than the later CGE's shows. But WOA '98 was definitely Atari focused. Best Electronics, Wiztronics, and B&C Computervisions were the big vendors there. Curt Vendel was there with his Atari History items. We didn't quite know each other that well then.

 

I've been to the CGE's over the years (Las Vegas, San Jose, Burlingame, and back to Vegas). Even though it has expanded to include many more gaming systems (Nintendo, Sega, Xbox, Dreamcast) I would say it has something to offer everyone. People always enjoy the museum and the Saturday night auction can be quite enjoyable entertainment. Arcade games on free play all thru the show. The 2600 definitely has a big presence at the show. Plus being in Las Vegas provides something more to do outside of the convention. What makes CGE fun for me is the keynote speaks given by industry alumni. Being able to strike up a conversation with Al Alcorn is just awesome.

 

The other two big ones that I'm aware of but have no experience in attending are: Northwest Classic Gaming Expo (NWCGE) and Philly Classic.

 

There is a Computer Museum in Mountain View, CA that holds a Vintage Computer Festival once a year. They appear to have some great "go back in time" events during VCF. Just haven't been able to get to one. And if you're into arcade games then California Extreme in San Jose, CA is suppose to be a great one to attend.

 

And lastly, I used to have some good Atari finds at the Foothills College Electronic Swap meet that used to happen in Los Altos, CA. But over the years the swap meet has moved. It used to be in the back side of Onizuka AFS in Sunnyvale, CA. But now its at De Anza College in Cupertino, CA. It's held on the second Saturday of the month from March to October. It's mostly PC, Sun, and some Mac stuff now. If you're a Hamster then you will find a lot of HAM radio stuff also.

 

Well, that's my input on some of the things you can find in the Western part of the United States.

 

Regards,

Glenn

 

P.S. - I have fond memories of the conventions I attended back in the '80s. I was lucky enough to attend high school in Silicon Valley from '81 to '84. I used to go to Applefest and the West Coast Computer Faires. Computing back then was so fun and exciting. At least having my Atari's I can still relive some of those exciting days. And then the computer swap meets that would happen in the bay area were awesome.

[Bunsen]

I highly recommend a new convention: NOMAM Fritztown 08 ( I am one of the organizers )

 

http://andymanone.dyndns.org/reno/nomam08.html

This looks great. I'm visting Germany at the end of summer. will there be one held in September?

 

Hi Tezz,

 

Every year in october there is the annual meeting of ABBUC. I think there won't be any Atari 8-Bit conventions in Germany in september, because it's too near to ABBUC meeting. But perhaps this will be a good time for a meeting in Poland, Slowakia or Czech Republik?

 

Greetings, Bunsen