EclecticLee

Banish All the Wraiths

2011-12-12T14:06:00.005-06:00

This is my Rom contribution to the X all the Y meme. Click for a larger version.

A quintet of naughts video game finds

2011-11-10T17:29:00.003-06:00

I finally posted the last of the the old video game posts I promised over a year ago.

5 Jun 2000: Brag: Weekend Intelly finds
29 Jun 2000: Finds: Tandyvision & ... Yars' Revenge?
25 Feb 2002: Today's finds (books)
15 Aug 2003: Weekend Colecovision finds
1 May 2007: Re: Any good finds lately?

This is the last of my old "video game find" posts that I have for now, so I don't know if there will be more "pre-blog" posts in the future or not.

Boxed Intellivision find

2011-11-08T14:15:00.002-06:00

I was perhaps a latecomer to Craigslist, but today my CraigsNotification app for my phone finally paid off! Now, I've seen some items come and go before, but typically they were priced beyond what I was willing to pay. This purchase, however, has made up for a lot of those.

It was a very brief listing about a working Intellivision and "a bunch of games" for $25 featuring a photo of the Master Component sitting on its box! Although I responded within an hour saying I was interested and asking if the games were also boxed, apparently I was the second to respond. He said yes, the games were boxed, but he might already have a buyer and would get back to me.

Three days later, he sent me an e-mail saying he'd given up on the other person. He said he had about 12-15 games, all in the boxes with overlays. We made arrangements and met this morning. What he had far exceeded my expectations! Here's the list, which has 24 games. Nothing overly rare, but almost everything seems to be boxed and complete!

Intellivision (I) Master Component with packing materials (styrofoam & bags) & docs
Intellivoice in bubble wrap with docs
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Cartridge
Armor Battle
Astrosmash
B-17 Bomber
Blockade Runner (the only one I didn't already have)
Bomb Squad
BurgerTime
Donkey Kong
Football (INTV)
Football (INTV), SHRINKWRAPPED!
Frogger
Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack (of course)
Major League Baseball
Night Stalker
PBA Bowling
PGA Golf
Sea Battle
Snafu (Sears)
Space Armada
Space Battle
Tennis
U.S. Ski Team Skiing
Tron Maze-A-Tron
World Challenge Baseball (the only one not boxed; also missing instructions)

In addition to the hardware and games, there were also catalogs and a newsletter, none of which I already had:

Intellivision Game Club News #2
Triton catalog, Fall 1985
Triton catalog, Spring 1986
Triton catalog, Fall 1986 (x2)

There's also the original receipt, showing his (or probably his dad's) purchase of the console ($257.87) and Space Battle ($27.87) from Service Merchandise on August 24, 1981. With tax, the grand total was $305.74. I even found the original price tag inside the console's box.

The serial number on the box is handwritten (316663). Anyone know if that was common? And it doesn't match the typed serial number on the console (722341). However, the console also has a "TRW Rescue" sticker on the bottom dated 12-02-82 and another bright orange stickers saying "For service call TRW" with a phone number, so I'm wondering if the console had to be repaired and was swapped with another.

The price tags on the IntelliVoice box (serial no. 256826) are also interesting. They're all from Kmart. The oldest one visible is marked 5-84 and is for $19.97. There's then a series of labels ending in one from 6-86 for $4.00. He expressed dissatisfaction with the IntelliVoice when I was looking through everything and from the contacts, it appears to have been used very little.

One oddity I noticed as I went through is that most of the boxes were missing a long flap across the top or bottom. I thought maybe they were sent in for some sort of rebate and asked the seller about it via e-mail. Unfortunately, he could not recall why they were removed and, in fact, the games hadn't even been pulled out for who knows how long until I looked at them when we met.

He's apparently a well organized person who doesn't throw things away. I asked if it'd been sitting in his attic all this time and he said no, it'd been sitting on a shelf in his house. All in all, the condition of this stuff is amazing. I'm happy to have it. Now, how to let my wife know?

A pair of Rom mentions in blog posts

2011-11-08T11:19:00.002-06:00

Today I came across two mentions of Rom on the blogosphere. First, Jim Shooter spoke of Steve Ditko, noting "Giving Steve work is easier said than done. He’s very particular about what he will and won’t do. [. . . ] He refused to work on any books with 'flawed' heroes. [. . .] Fortunately, we had ROM, Spaceknight. ROM fit Steve’s criteria well enough."

Next, Marvel Comics of the 1980s today features some of Bill Sienkiewicz's original art from Rom. Enjoy!

JLA/Avengers dueling editorials

2011-07-21T22:43:00.015-05:00

On his blog, former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter is currently writing about the DC/Marvel crossover specials from his tenure and why the original JLA/Avengers crossover never happened. In Part 4 of "The Secret Origin and Gooey Death of the Marvel/DC Crossovers", he mentioned the editorial he wrote in Marvel Age#19 and the rebuttal written by his DC counterpart, Dick Giordano, but said he couldn't find them quickly on the Internet. So I figured I'd help out.

This took place somewhat early in my comic book collecting days, when I was just beginning to branch out to publishers other than Marvel. But I remembered reading Giordano's editorial, so figured I could probably help out if I scoured my collection. Little did I know!

Marvel Age#19 was easy. It was right in the box where I left it. (Click images to view larger versions.)

The first part of Giordano's response is available at the Last of the Famous International Fanboys blog, but he was unable to find the second part. Even though I wasn't buying a lot of DC comics at the time, I figured I must have it somewhere. I checked a couple of DC comics cover dated January 1985, but it wasn't in them. I went to the Grand Comic Book Database and did an advanced search to find all the January 1985 DC comics. It turns out I have very few. Finally, as I'm almost out of options, I find it. It's in a comic in my "to sell" box that has yet to find a new home: Robotech Defenders #1.

Now to post comments on those blogs to direct people here. I highly recommend you check them both out.

What if it's an elaborate joke?

2011-06-19T16:49:00.006-05:00

Perhaps you've heard that J.K. Rowling, creator of Harry Potter, has a mysterious new web site called pottermore.com? It would seem to offer more Harry Potter, but so far the only official word is, "it's not another book". What if it's all a big, elaborate hoax?

I don't just mean PotterMore. Or rather not just that. What if there is no J.K. Rowling? Today, J.K. is an abbreviation for "just kidding", giving a hint of her non-existence. The person you know is just an actress fronting for the group behind the prank. Yes, prank.

Have you wondered why "Rowling" is pronounced like "rolling"? Perhaps it's the clue to what it's all about. Imagine there's a group that studied worldwide trends and determined a young wizard in a magical setting would be the next big thing. They went on to write seven books that only increased in popularity with each one, leading to a movie deal that only grew the Potter auidence more.

Now, as the audience reaches it's peak with the final movie about to be released, we get to pottermore.com and it's attention-getting "coming soon". Well, what if millions go to pottermore.com at the appointed time and find out why it's pronounced "rolling" as they get rickrolled, the largest rickroll in history!

Or maybe not.

Shooter on Rom

2011-06-17T17:29:00.001-05:00

If you're a Rom fan, you'll want to read Jim Shooter telling the tale of how he made the jump from toy to comics. And that's all I have to say on it right now.

Spaceknight art by Jeff Slemons

2011-05-05T09:37:00.004-05:00

I hadn't heard of Jeff Slemons before, but he's apparently the one responsible for the Spaceknights piece you're seeing to the right. This piece of art, an ink illustration on 15" x 20" Strathmore 4-ply Plate Bristol, is currently up for auction on eBay. Don't consider this an endorsement of the seller, as I don't even know them, but it's at least worth looking at while the image is available.

UPDATE, 4:00 PM: I stand corrected. I have heard about Mr. Slemons before at David H.'s blog, but had forgotten. Still generally unfamiliar with him, though.

Survivng

2011-04-30T11:59:00.002-05:00

I live in north Alabama, which if you haven't heard, has been hit by a major series of tornadoes. My family are okay, but we will be without power for who knows how much longer. Internet service has sporadically returned to my phone, but is very unreliable, so you won't be seeing me online much for a while.

We were invited to a nearby friends' house, with power, to get a hot shower and wash some laundry. Ah, luxury! And Internet, so I'm able to post to various accounts. Hope whoever might be reading this is safe.

Build Your Own (Cubeecraft) Rom

2011-04-26T14:45:00.004-05:00

StormofDragons posted a link to his Cubeecraft Spaceknights (and Hellhound) to the Galador mailing list. Cubeecraft is essentially cube-like figures that you can make yourself by printing and cutting out the template. They're held together by tabs and slots, so no adhesive is needed, but I'd advise using card stock paper and a X-Acto knife. I just learned about these and therefore have no photos of the finished products, but here's what SoD said:

I have a number of papercraft models I've designed and built, and my youngest son wanted to participate in the hobby, so I found some that were up to his skill level. Cubeecraft are pretty basic, box shapes that require no glue or tape to assemble. Just print, cut, and assemble. My son and I have made dozens of these things related to anime, video games, and comic book characters.

That was when I realized there was a distinct lack of all things "Spaceknight."

To remedy this, I have designed a number of these Cubeecraft models over the last couple months, with the last 4 being Rom, Terminator, Javelin, and a Dire Wraith Hellhound.

I'm working on a male and female Dire Wraith, a Watchwraith, a Firefall, a Hammerhand, and a Starshine I. Eventually, I'll also do the Spaceknight Squadron, and a Gloriole. I want to have all the original Gen 1 Spaceknights represented.

So what are you waiting for? Get cutting!

Review of Annihilators #2 from the long-time Rom fan POV

2011-04-06T16:42:00.003-05:00

Annihilators #2
"Dark Sun Rise"
Writers: Dan Abbnett and Andy Lanning
Penciler: Tan Eng Huat
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Colorist: June Chung
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Bill Rosemann

Annihilators #2 came out today. What I said in the first paragraph of my review of #1 still applies, but I'm going to be briefer this time than last. Unfortunately, I found much more to be annoyed by than liked. Many, many spoilers follow.

First, on the very first page, in the recap, it says the team "was alerted to unusual signals from the vicinity of the Dark Nebula, location of Ikon's birth planet Galador". If they meant Galador is in the Dark Nebula, that's just wrong! If they meant Galador is near the Dark Nebula, I guess that depends on your definition of "near" since we're dealing with a galactic scale, but I'd still say it's phrased poorly.

The art is generally good, but there are some oddities, like Doctor Dredd's head sticking out of Quasar's quantum cage. And why on Galador does the Silver Surfer have ears? Did he have ears in #1? I'll have to go back and check.

Deathwings are not physical, but rather energy beings. Here, however, they look simply like black pterodactyls. Dire Wraiths have been known to transform into something like these, which are similar to (and called) Deathwings, but they lacked the soul-numbing abilities of the real thing. I was hoping that maybe what we saw on the last page of #1 was a bunch of Wraiths transformed thus, and while that could still wind up to be the case, that doesn't seem to be where the story is going.

Also, we're told Hellhounds are attacking as well, but I don't see a single one in the art. Speaking of which, once again it appears, except for Brandy, Galador is inhabited by nothing but Spaceknights. Where are the humans? Where are the Angel Elite? Couldn't they have sent some references to Huat???

Another question arises not from Huat's art, but Chung's colors. Why has Brandy Clark's hair changed to black? It should be brown. If they want, they can change the color once she breaks the Wraiths' hold on her and blame it on that. (Told you there'd be spoilers.)

And now her title is Matriarch? What happened to "Lady Prime"?

Fetch Brandy the Starshine armor? First of all, if we're still talking about the original armor, that's not something one can put on and take off. Typical Spaceknights of that generation were cybernetically grafted into it during what appeared to be a long and complicated process. Brandy, however, was mystically bound to it by Wraith magic. I doubt that's something the Galadorians would try to recreate. Second, there was a new Starshine. What happened to her? For that matter, what's happened to Brandy's sons? Were they indeed killed during Annihilation? They don't even rate a mention?

Beta Ray Bill explicitly mentions fighting in the last Wraithwar! Yes, continuity! Now if we can just get Gladiator to mention that he met Rom as well and it's all good.

I really didn't like where they were going with Brandy giving Doctor Dredd information, but I'll accept it as Dire Wraith manipulation. However, where the heck did Volx ("the Wraith Queen") come from? She just appeared out of nowhere! I thought maybe they meant she'd taken on the identity of one of Brandy's advisors, but there was no one there at all the page before!

Also, the same question applies to her as to Doctor Dredd: how is she back from the dead? She wasn't merely banished, Night Thrasher killed her! I'm really hoping we readers get a better explanation than Dredd's bizarre little rant in #1 by the time this series is through.

Finally, I'm simply finding no redeeming qualities to Ikon. Yes, she's a badass, but she lacks pretty much all the qualities that made Rom a great character. She has none of his nobility. I'm hoping, maybe, we'll see some character growth from her by the end of the series, but given that's it's already half over, I'm not hopeful.

Okay, so this was less of a review and more of a kvetching session. I apologize. I think it's great that they're trying to do something with the Wraiths and Spaceknights, but for all it's faults, I'm finding the Spaceknights approach far better than what's being done here so far.

Review of Annihilators #1 from the long-time Rom fan POV

2011-03-02T23:04:00.009-06:00

Annihilators #1
"Blame It on the Black Star"
Writers: Dan Abbnett and Andy Lanning
Penciler: Tan Eng Huat
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Colorist: June Chung
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Bill Rosemann

Annihilators #1 came out today, so I proceeded to my local comic shop at lunch time and made sure I left with a copy in my little, sweaty hand. (Metaphorically, of course.) Cutting to the chase, the story is riveting and the art is serviceable. Certainly worth it for the Rom fans. The high ($4.99!) cover price is due to the issue being double-sized, featuring a second, full-sized story featuring Rocket Racoon (another Bill Mantlo creation) and Groot from the former Guardians of the Galaxy, which I won't be covering.

I'm unfamiliar with artists Huat and Olazaba. They're art isn't bad, but to me it feels like it was rushed. Perhaps it's just their style. The Silver Surfer, in particular, looks off to me, but that may be because colorist Chung seems to have made him more gray than sleek silver, which admittedly is a hard effect to master in comics. The art certainly isn't bad, but in my opinion, it's not excellent either.

On to the story. (CAUTION: Major spoilers ahead!) First, we establish the villain. Somehow, Dire Wraith sorcerer Doctor Dredd appears to have returned from the dead. (Doctor Dredd is the Wraith warlock who bonded Brandy Clark to the Starshine armor, for those who'd forgotten.) Mind you, he's ditched the cape and extra-wide belt (sorry, the latter's not shown in my scan) and added some stripes and shoulder spikes to his outfit.

This brings up all sorts of questions. First, why is he bothering with his human disguise? Second, how is he alive? We saw a clone of Rom kill Dredd with his bare hands in ROM #43. There was little doubt to his death, as his body was clearly shown turning to ash as Wraiths do when killed. Dredd himself later answers this with vague comment, "nothing stays dead forever. Especially when you can take the galaxy and cut and re-edit it." Of course, since Wraiths are shape-shifters, perhaps this isn't the original, but another Wraith who's taken the same form?

Next we cut back to where we left the Annihilators and female Spaceknight Ikon at the end of The Thanos Imperative: Devastation. She seems to have a serious lack of manners, but it's for a reason. She mops the floor with the them, mainly to show that perhaps they're too powerful to make an effective group.

We then get a brief origin for her. Star-Lord invited Galador to provide a Spaceknight to the Annihilators team. After their embarrassing part as pawns of the Phalanx during Annihilation: Conquest, they sought to redeem themselves. Ikon — we are given no other name for her — was ultimately selected. She immodestly maintains that she is "the greatest living Spaceknight". This brings to mind one question. Did Rom ever describe himself as the greatest of the Spaceknights? I don't think he did, but would love an example if someone can provide it.

As she's trying to talk them out of forming their team, the Annihilators detect unusual readings coming from the Dark Nebula, so of course they go to check it out. It seems that Galador has a space station just outside it called the Keep. It's function is to keep the light of the black sun contained so that the remaining Dire Wraiths across the cosmos can't regain their magic.

This is all new information. The last we readers saw, the Wraiths were powerless after Rom destroyed Wraithworld. Although the fate of the Dark Nebula's black sun wasn't stated at the time, there was certainly no Galadorian outpost in place at the time to keep its light contained. I'm certainly willing to accept the sun, rather than Wraithworld itself, as the source of the Wraiths' power. (Galactus said as much himself in Rom #27.) But there's still a piece missing. Because the black sun was central to the Wraith's worldmerge spell at the end of the Wraith War on Earth, perhaps dispelling it temporarily disrupted the sun's energy patterns, leaving the Wraiths powerless only for a time. Perhaps the Galadorians realized this in time and setup up safeguards to prevent the Wraiths from regaining their magic. Perhaps I should ask Marvel for a No-Prize for my theory.

Anyway, inside the Keep, we find slaughtered Spaceknights. We get our first exclamation from Ikon: "great suns!" Then Dredd appears, who Ikon instantly recognizes. This seems odd. After all this time, why would Spaceknights be briefed on a Wraith known to be dead? And aside from transforming Brandy into Starshine, he never really did anything of enough consequence to be worth mentioning. Heck, Rom didn't even need his Neutralizer to take care of him, just his bare, human hands! At least we now know why he's in human guise, though. So Ikon can recognize him. (Because, frankly, all Wraiths pretty much look alike.) Then we discover the Dark Nebula's black sun is missing, causing Ikon to exclaim, "Oh, my god". What a curiously Earth phrase for her to utter. I'd think she should have said "gods of Galador" instead.

Back on Galador, we discover where the black sun went, and it's not good. Oh, and it's also accompanied by a few thousand Deathwings. Certainly quite the cliffhanger to leave off with!

A few quibbles here, though. The way they show it, you'd think everyone on Galador is a Spaceknight. That's certainly not the case. Also, all the Spaceknights in this issue are silver. Spaceknights have always come in a variety of colors.

So, in the end, the story's shaping up nicely. I just hope they're not planning on destroying Galador before they're through. I also wouldn't mind seeing some familiar Spaceknight faces, but that's not looking likely. Either way, I look forward to Annihilators #2.

More About Annihilators

2011-02-16T22:27:00.004-06:00

Alex Garner has posted his painted cover for Annihilators #3, and what a doozy it is! I hope the Silver Surfer's galactic glaze is Dire Wraith tongue-proof.

I mentioned last time that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (a.k.a. DnA) were approached about a Spaceknights sequel ten years ago and wondered if any ideas from back then might have carried over to this series. Well, I sent an e-mail to Mr. Abnett asking him just that. Here's his response:

The Annihilators is NOT the story we would have done on Spaceknights ten years ago with Chris [Batista], because things have moved on. BUT...the tone is similar, and it similarly explores our interest in and fondness for the Spaceknight characters and concept. Hope you enjoy the result.

Well, I can't speak for the story yet, but I'm certainly enjoying the covers.

The Dire Wraiths Return!

2011-01-07T17:30:00.004-06:00

First, a brief apology. I've somehow let three months slip by without posting to my blog. I had some ideas for posts, but not the time to do them. I'd love to say it won't happen again, but we have a family event coming in July that will probably derail the blog some more.

Moving on, it's time to eat my own words. The Dire Wraiths are, in fact, returning. Their return, however, has nothing to do with the Avengers, as one might have guessed from entries appearing in the Secret Invasion-related Marvel Handbooks. It's Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (a.k.a. DnA) who are bringing them back in Annihilators, a four-issue limited series coming in March. And where there's Dire Wraiths, the Spaceknights are not far behind.

DnA spoke with Comic Book Resources about the series and the Dire Wraiths, in particular. Of the Wraiths, Abnett said, "they're immensely cool." I suggest you check the interview out. The artist on the series is Tan Eng Huat. I'm not familiar with his work, but he did a nice illustration of Rom for the Spacenight 2 auctions, which I also recommend you check out.

The most interesting thing about this to me is something Chris Batista told me back in 2000 when the Spaceknights limited series was coming out. DnA were apparently asked if they'd like to write a Spaceknights sequel (assuming, at the time, that sales would be good enough to warrant such). Batista told me, "they were very ecstatic about the possibility." So I'm most curious if DnA are working from any of Batista's notes from 10 years ago, but haven't been able to get an answer.

As you can guess from the name, Annihilators continues the cosmic saga that began with Annihilation and most recently wrapped up The Thanos Imperative . However, if you're out of touch with Marvel's cosmic heroes, you don't need to know a lot. First, the Inhumans and Ronan are now in charge of the Kree Empire. Gladiator, of the Imperial Guard, is now head of the Shi'Ar empire. And the Silver Surfer is once again the herald of Galactus.

If you're a fan of Rom and want to get caught up, I highly recommend you pick up, The Thanos Imperative: Devastation, a one-shot that just came out this week. And not just so you can read about the aftermath of that event.

(I wish Blogger had the ability to hide text for spoilers, but it doesn't. Therefore, if you don't want anything spoiled, you can stop here. If you need a really good reason for spending your four bucks on this, read on.)

*BEGIN SPOILER ALERT!!!*
The final page of the issue features a previously unseen Spaceknight named Ikon. She carries some kind of cosmic polearm. The Dire Wraiths are talked about, but do not yet appear.
*END SPOILER ALERT!!!*

The Untouchables

2010-10-01T23:43:00.004-05:00

Ever since it first came out, I wanted a copy of Steve Jackson Games' Strange Synergy. This strategy board game gives you a deck of 100 cards with super powers and "gadgets." You are dealt nine cards and have three warriors on which to distribute the powers/gadgets on the cards. And to make it even better, the character art is by Phil Foglio.

The game came out in 2003 and was unfortunately not a hit. It's gone out of print and now costs $100+ in new condition. I only recently found this out and immediately created an eBay search to see if I could snag one. The very first one it notified me of was a used copy with a starting bid of $6.00. No one else bid on it! A week later, the game (literally) arrived at my doorstep.

My first game was against my 12-year-old son. I figured I'd give him a better chance of winning by playing the Mad Scientists. Each team has a unique ability and theirs is merely to carry unlimited gadgets. Turns out he didn't need any help. I was only dealt one gadget and little in the way of offensive powers.

He managed to get the abilities Inner Peace, Stunning Beauty, and Acrobatic Evasion. Inner Peace prevents any opponents from hitting the warrior until he attacks someone. Stunning Beauty makes the recipient so beautiful, opponents require a roll of the die just to attempt to attack him. Then you have to roll to actually land a hit. Acrobatic Evasion lets the warrior automatically avoid one attack per turn. Naturally he gave each of his warriors one of these. By the way, except for Stunning Beauty, these abilities are secret until you attack the warrior with them.

Only because one of my warriors had Flameblast (an initially secret offensive power), Two Heads (gives two attacks per turn), and Trick Shot (allows attacks on diagonals and is secret until used) did I manage to even damage his warrior with Acrobatic Evasion. Unfortunately, that was the first warrior he killed, so after that things went downhill for me quickly. (The only other offensive weapon/power I had was a boomerang.) At least he had a good time and wants to play again.

ROM: Tattoo

2010-09-29T13:35:00.007-05:00

The bicep to the right, festooned with a tattoo of Rom, belongs to Logan Williams. It's based on Michael Golden's cover for Rom #9. He sent me the photo last month and I'm finally getting around to featuring it. Logan said, "I've been a Rom fan since '81...he was my gateway to all things geek!" I'd say getting a Rom tattoo leaves little doubt that he's a fan. He added, "I'm planning on adding some Dire Wraiths and more background in the future." Here's hoping for an update when he does.

Yard sale score: Vintage Pac-Man bank

2010-08-27T08:06:00.005-05:00

A few days ago, Craigslist had an ad for a yard sale coming on Friday and Saturday that promised "old Atari game cartridges". I e-mailed them asking about them, but got no response. A year (or maybe less) ago, I had a bad experience of getting up early and driving all the way across town for a sale that promised Atari games. First, the guy didn't bother to start his yard sale at the promised time. After waiting and waiting, I wound up having to leave before he even came out. When I was able to return, it turned out someone had e-mailed him and bought the games days before the yard sale even began. At least this time the yard sale was on the way to work, so I wouldn't be put out if the games were gone or the sale not begun on time.

So, I got up early to get there around their 7:00 a.m. opening time. Actually, thanks to Hannah, I got up even earlier than I intended, but by the time she was asleep, it wasn't worth going back to bed. For the first time, I trusted my new phone's GPS completely and headed out with only a rough idea of where I was going. It got me there with no problems and I started looking around.

This yard sale was pretty cool! Many old board games, some old Disney and Sesame Street records, a few old Mad magazine issues, and Sweet Pickles children's books. I'd completely forgotten about Sweet Pickles! It was like a big slice of my childhood. Apparently the couple used to frequent flea markets and antique stores, buying up this stuff, but now they were getting rid of much of it at great prices. Luckily, I resisted the urge to buy a bunch of stuff and try to resell it on eBay. I've already got too much of that stuff, which I never seem to get around to actually selling. I did almost buy an old copy of the Clue board game that was the same as the one I'd grown up with, though.

I didn't find the games immediately, but it didn't take long. Two freezer bags of four cartridges each marked "$2.50 each." Unfortunately, it was all fairly common games. However, I did find a vintage Pac-Man bank by Tomy. Tomy took advantage of the products they'd previously produced in association with their Mr. Mouth game and simply rebadged them as Pac-Man. But they were officially licensed by Bally/Midway! (Kids, Mr. Mouth started out as a big, yellow, bald dude, not a frog. And why doesn't Mr. Mouth have a Wikipedia entry?!?) I got it for $1. Works fine, but needs some cleaning. Oh, and it had a penny already in it, so I guess technically it was 99 cents.

And as you can see, I also picked up a not-so-vintage Pac-Man lunch box. It's not a quite full-sized lunch box, being only about 2/3 the depth (I'd estimate) of a standard '50s-'80s metal lunch box. I almost put it back, but for $1, I went ahead and kept it. But I'm much more psyched about the vintage Pac-Man bank.

Info from the creators on unused Rom revival proposal

2010-08-25T23:37:00.002-05:00

Benny R. Powell was doing a bit of ego surfing and came across my page on his and Jim Calafiore's unused Rom revival proposal. He then contacted me offering previously unseen design drawings by Califiore. (Although one of them was actually sold on eBay last year.) I managed to get him to answer a few questions about the proposal. You can now see the improved page with a brief interview of Powell and Calafiore's Rom redesigns at Rom, Spaceknight Revisited.

Memories of Cecil Whitmire

2010-08-23T02:16:00.001-05:00

Cecil Whitmire, head of the group that saved and has since run the historic Alabama Theatre movie palace in Birmingham, died yesterday, from cancer. The group is now called Birmingham Landmarks. If you don't know Cecil, you can read the cold, hard facts at his Bhamwiki entry, which I also wrote (back in 2007). This entry, however, is to truly remember him.

I was a volunteer at the Alabama during the '80s, when it was "saved," so I saw Cecil and his wife Linda quite regularly. (Sadly, Linda was also lost to us due to cancer back in 2001.) They did not single-handedly (double-handedly?) save the Alabama, but they were at the head of the group that did. There's a parody of a saying, "behind every successful man is an exhausted woman." That sometimes seemed the case with Cecil and Linda. Cecil was a salesman, both by profession and, I think , birth. His charisma, charm, and storytelling ability made him the natural focus for journalists. Linda, meanwhile, had the talent for organizing. Together, they were an unbeatable pair.

I know you're not traditionally supposed to speak ill of the dead, but I have to say Cecil was not without his critics. As I said, he was a storyteller, but also a salesman, and sometimes he wouldn't let little things like facts get in the way of his storytelling. I once heard someone complain how, as the years went on, he went from hearing about how wonderful Stanleigh Malotte was at the Alabama Theatre back in the day to actually being in the audience and hearing Stanleigh play. But you have to admit, it makes for a better story.

One of my favorite stories told by Cecil was from when he was trying to secure a print of Gone With the Wind for the Alabama's annual showing. They had been doing it for years, but it was the movie's 50^th anniversary, so Turner Entertainment, which owned the rights to it, had pulled it from circulation. Cecil made several calls to the company, explaining how they were a nonprofit and that it was the backbone of their annual summer classic movie series. Finally, he received a call back and the voice at the other end said, "this is Ted Turner." Cecil, thinking someone was playing a joke on him, responded, "bullsh*t!" Unfortunately for him, it was Turner. And, a credit to Cecil's charm, he still managed to get the Alabama a print to show that year.

Part of Cecil's charm was a childlike mischievous streak. Cecil and Linda never had any children — why is none of my business — but there about half a dozen of us middle and high school aged kids, sons and daughters of the adult volunteers, who were regularly at the Alabama. Cecil not only put up with us, he was kind of like that cool uncle who'd let you do stuff your parents might not. For instance, I was recently reminded by one of these friends, Lisa, that Cecil let her and a friend drive his car in the Alabama's parking deck when they were locking it up for the night. I forget now if they even had permits yet.

Another friend, Amy, reminded me of the year we kids adopted Cecil as our honorary dad, since he didn't have any of his own. It was Father's Day and there was, like every summer weekend, a movie at the Alabama. After the movie, all the kids came out on stage to present Cecil with a cake my friend had prepared for him.

Back then, volunteering at the Alabama meant doing all sorts of odd jobs around the Alabama, for both kids and adults. My main job was running the spotlight during the pre-movie organ shows. Once Cecil was talking to the audience between songs about all the wonderful volunteers he had. The people selling tickets, the ushers, the gentleman running the light board, and so on. I couldn't, however, help but notice what I considered an important oversight on his part: me. So, with the encouragement of said gentleman at the light board — was it Dan or Larry? — I slowly faded the spotlight out. Cecil quickly figured why it had happened and started chuckling. Once he recovered , he said, "I'm sorry," and thanked me as well. I brought the spotlight back up to a round of applause. I guess Cecil wasn't the only one with a mischievous streak.

I also worked the spotlight for many shows and concerts that came through the Alabama. Sometimes they needed two spot operators and management couldn't find someone to accompany me. In these cases, Cecil would work the other spotlight himself. Although I could tell this was probably not his favorite activity, it needed to be done, so he did it without complaint.

Another thing Cecil and I often did together was change out the marquee on the front of the Alabama. At the time, this required climbing a somewhat rickety wooden trestle ladder of indeterminate age. We then hung large metal letters on the strips of the marquee. Cecil never failed to repeat the joke, whenever we were hanging a P, "as my mother-in-law always says, there's nothing like a good P."

In some ways, the Alabama Theatre volunteers were like a big family back then. We didn't just see each other at the Alabama. Cecil's birthday was Christmas Eve, so every year he and Linda had a bunch of us over at his house in Pelham to celebrate. The highlight of the evening was going out and watching Santa Claus ride by on a Pelham fire engine.

Another regular get-together was the New Year's Eve gathering of the Alabama Chapter of ATOS, of which almost all the Alabama Theatre volunteers belonged. We played a version of dirty Santa in which we played bingo to select a wrapped prize. Linda was always the number caller. A visiting organist once gave several of the members some truly, um, unique gifts. These wound up going into the prize stash each year. You were not allowed to unwrap gifts until the very end, yet somehow it seemed Cecil almost always wound up with one of gifts in this collection at the end.

No doubt the more I hear from friends, the more stories I will recall, but I must end this for now. During Birmingham Landmark's regular open house this summer, Cecil was notably absent. He was in the hospital. I made a special effort to take my family down for the open house so that I could also visit Cecil and now I'm glad I did. Despite his discomfort, he was still a storyteller.

Just weeks after my visit, I was told he had terminal cancer. He was moved up to his sister's home, which is where he passed away. Although he may be gone, the many people that knew him, not to mention those who simply were regular movie-goers at the Alabama, will not forget him. Please feel free to share you own stories of Cecil.

A sextet of 1999 classic video game posts

2010-08-15T23:37:00.002-05:00

I've posted six more old rec.games.video.classic posts to the blog, all from 1999. These are some of the ones I promised in "a day or three" over a month ago. Oops.

5 April 1999: Re: Is there a classic system you really DON'T like?
9 April 1999: Minor finds & unrelated grouse [Stop Thief, blue label Pitfall!]
29 April 1999: Today's finds [2600 Racquetball, Colecovision Spy Hunter & Spectron, Comp IV]
14 May 1999: This Week's Finds [Mattel Baseball, Lost Luggage, catalogs]
3 June 1999: Last week's finds [joysticks]
19 June 1999: Today's finds (future classics?) [N64 clock, strategy guides, Stop Thief]

There's at least five more to come, but this time I know better than to promise how soon they'll be posted.

Toy Story: One step removed from Child's Play?

2010-07-08T17:10:00.000-05:00

This post contains spoilers for the movie Toy Story 3. It also contains spoilers for Toy Story and Toy Story 2, but if you haven't seen them by now, I assume you don't care.

The Toy Story movies are just cute movies about the secret life of toys, right? But consider, for a moment, the ramifications of toys as living beings. As viewers have seen, Woody, Buzz, and the gang are often subject to the same emotions of jealousy and fear that we all feel. In fact, it was Woody's jealousy of newcomer Buzz that spurred the first movie's adventure.

Other prime examples are the villains of Toy Story 2 & 3: Stinky Pete and Lotso. Pete became bitter from having sat on a shelf in his package, never taken home and experiencing a child's love. Lotso, on the other hand, had a special bond with a child named Daisy and courageously journeyed back to her side after being left behind, only to discover he had been replaced by a new Lotso. At that point he snapped, and eventually became the embittered overseer of toys at Sunnyside Daycare.

Perhaps the one thing that saves people from the vengence of such toys is the rule, never explicitly stated in words in the films, that humans must never know that toys are "alive". Where this rule comes from is a mystery, but even the freshly unpackaged Buzz Lightyear, who believes himself to be a real Space Ranger, follows it by going lifeless as soon as Andy shows up. It's almost like it's an innate part of being a toy. Except . . . .

As even the first movie showed, there's nothing magical about the transformation from animate to inanimate. It doesn't happen simply because people are present, it happens because the toys choose to do it when people are present. There's always the danger of being accidentally observed, as was teased in Toy Story 3 by the scene with the janitor in the bathroom.

Furthermore, the toys can choose not to follow this rule, as was the case at the end of Toy Story. All of the toys let Sid see them move on their own, with Woody lecturing him the whole time. And frankly, perhaps the toys didn't think the whole plan out. After scaring Sid silly, what do they think he's going to do? Yes, he'll probably stop torturing and destroying them, but he's also likely to throw all the toys in his room away as soon as possible to get them away from him. So in the end, all of Sid's mixed-up toys wind up in the incinerator at the Tri-County Landfill. But I digress.

So what happens when one day an embittered toy realizes there's nothing actually stopping it from taking it's revenge on the humans that wronged them? Imagine Lotso taking his revenge on Daisy by sneaking back in and suffocating her with his own plush body. Imagine the Child's Play movies without the complication of needing a voodoo ritual to inhabit a doll with a human soul. It's enough to make a kid never want to play with an anthropomorphic toy again.

Video game brags and a disaster

2010-06-18T17:11:00.001-05:00

I've posted the tales of several good classic video game finds I originally posted to the rec.games.video.classic Usenet group. Back then we called them "brags". I also dug up the tale of my phone call with Billy Mitchell shortly after his perfect Pac-Man game. Finally, I posted the story of the first time our house flooded from a burst washing machine hose. (The second time was two days later, believe it or not.)

14 May 1996: Flood
29 July 1997: Finally, a brag!
12 Feb 1998: $50 Brag
10 August 1998: Re: Stop me before I buy again!!!!
10 March 1999: Brag, anti-brag, and book
5 April 1999: Small brag & Wico info
16 April 1999: First good 2600 brag in a while
19 April 1999: Hardly a brag
4 May 1999: Today's finds
30 July 1999: Brag: Hardware for $0.10 each
14 July 1999: Re: Someone got Perfect Pacman Score????
3 May 2000: Brag: Instant Astrocade collection & more
30 May 2000: Brag: NES Arkanoid controller
17 July 2000: Brag: 2600, 7800 games and more
26 May 2006: Brag: INTV games
28 May 2006: Re: Just a small brag
14 April 2007: Brag: Turbo board game

Belated Hannah update: 18 months

2010-06-17T12:59:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to write this entry for months now. I was going to give physical stats and such, but I don't have them. In the interest of getting this out, she's still 5% in height and head circumference and still below the chart on weight. However, she's on a steady curve and finally hit 20 pounds so we could turn her seat forward! Oh, and she has 12 teeth: eight incisors (four top & four on bottom) and four molars (at the four corners, after a gap next to each end of the incisors where her canines will grow).

I'm teaching her to turn out the lights around the house, as I obviously went wrong somewhere with my sons. They couldn't turn a light out as they leave a room to save their life. Typically the first thing I do when I get home from work is go around and turn out the lights in the back, because everyone's in the living room or kitchen. Naturally, I have to hold her up so she can reach the switches, but maybe she'll keep it up on her own once she's tall enough. She's got enough fine motor skill to do it, but sometimes gets confused as to which way the switch should go to turn the light off or on.

Developmentally, the doctor said she should speak 7-27 words, if I recall correctly what my wife recalls the doctor saying correctly. That's the main thing I want to document now: her vocabulary. Unfortunately, that's rather hard as it has rapidly increased since she turned 18 months, so there may be words I've left out. Note that she's not speaking these absolutely clearly, but her family can understand them when she says them. And she there may be a few that she used in the past that she's not using as often now.

Andrew: Apparently her favorite brother, because she's refusing to say "Walter", even these months since she hit 18. We wonder if she's doing it on purpose to taunt him.
baby: One of her earliest words. It applies to just about anything people shaped. She first started using it for baby dolls at the store, but she's since used it for action figures and young kids bigger than her.
ball
bubble: For her, this actually means apple.
bye-bye
Daddy
dog: This means almost any animal with four legs. (In the months since, she can disinguish between dog and kitty.)
duck: Mainly for rubber ducks, but sometimes real ones too.
ear
eye
juice: Any drink to her is juice.
Mama
meemees: Means she wants to nurse.
no: You might notice that "yes" isn't on the list. At 18 months, as best I remember, she wasn't yet saying "yeah" or "yes", just "no", which made it hard to ask her a simple question.
shoes: This was possibly her first word; it was certainly one of the earliest. The girl loves her shoes (and sometimes other people's).
thank you
tissue: This is sometimes hard to distinguish from "juice", just from the sound. Luckily, she has other ways of letting us know what she wants.
toes
uh-oh: Used most often when she or someone else drops something.

Wow, a genuine 2600 game thirft store find

2010-05-30T00:02:00.008-05:00

I was let off work a little early on Friday because of the holiday weekend. I thought I'd hit the comic book shop before going home as Fantastic Four #589 was out and it might have more Dire Wraiths in it. (I ultimately discovered it doesn't, but Rom is mentioned by a letter writer in the letter column.) To avoid an intersection that gets nasty at rush hour, I decided to take the old way to the store. Unfortunately, I was having a senior moment and started to take the way to a store that's been out of business for years now.

After getting back on track, I realized I was passing a thrift store I'd seen a few times, but hadn't yet stopped at, so I did. I'd been in the store maybe a minute when I spotted a Master Merlin. I'd never actually held one of these sequels to the classic Parker Brothers electronic game, so I quickly grabbed it. When I finally got the battery compartment open, it looked okay. Some minor battery acid on one contact, but nothing that looked like it would prevent it from working. Worth a $2 gamble, I thought. I also found a Michael Bolton CD with several of his hits on it. He probably hit his peak back when I was in college and my iPod is currently Bolton-less, so this is a great buy at $1.

I finally stumbled upon a box of 2600 games. And VIC-20 games? Huh. Anyway, looking through them, I see one title that I don't think I have. Unfortunately, my PDA with my lists of games owned died a while back, so I'm shopping blind. After being quoted a $3.50 price with only $5 on me (cash only store) and $3 already committed, I decide to take the gamble that it won't go anywhere before tomorrow after I check to see if I have it.

I get home. The Master Merlin works fine, I'm happy to report. And it turns out I indeed do not have Solar Storm by Imagic in my 2600 collection. Let the worry begin that it'll disappear before I can return.

Finally, late Saturday afternoon I get back to the store. The box is still there, but someone's moved some of the games around. Looking, looking, whew, it's still here. When I get to the register, it's only $2.50 plus tax. Either I heard him wrong yesterday or their prices are inconsistent. Finally tested it late Saturday night, just before posting this, and it works just fine.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I found an Atari 2600 game I didn't have at a thrift store. Yes, I found one at a video game store last year, but that's not quite the same. Most of my finds of games I didn't already have of late have been Intellivision games, which is not my primary system of interest. The 2600 is. I'll be savoring this for a few days.

Postscript: My timing couldn't have been better, apparently. On Monday, this thrift store posted an ad to Craigslist specifically mentioning "Atari Video Game systems" [sic]. So if this thrift store wasn't on my competition's radar before, it is now.

1995 classic video games quartet

2010-03-07T00:59:00.002-06:00

I've just added four back-dated blog posts about classic video games from 1995.

28 Feb 1995: Joypads found in Australia!
28 Feb 1995: Interesting find in Oz
4 Mar 1995: This week's finds
5 Nov 1995: Good find spoiled by being PAL

Comments for the individual posts are disabled, but you can talk about them here if you want.

1-1/4 years down, 3 years to go on Rom trademark

2010-02-15T13:42:00.003-06:00

Despite Hasbro's Rom trademark applications having seemingly been banished to bureaucratic limbo, there has actually been a small bit of news to report since the last update.

First, Hasbo did not respond within their deadline regarding their four "Rom the Spaceknight" filings, so the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has officially marked them as dead. Second, two of the "Rom" applications are still on hold, as reported last time.

Finally, the "Rom" applications, one for paper and office goods and the other for just about every game and toy you can think of, were published in the USPTO's Official Gazette on October 20, 2009 and no parties responded within the five-week deadline to object. If you'd like a personal copy of this four-pound, seven-ounce tome, the U.S. Government Printing Office will be happy to sell you one . . . for just $81! So Hasbro now has six months to submit proof of using the mark in commerce in order to secure it. Sounds good, right? We'll see ads for new Rom toys within six months, right? Well, no.

If Hasbro doesn't submit proof of use within six months, they can instead file for a six-month extension. So we'll know something in a year, right? Uh, no. They can file five of these extensions, meaning it could be three years before the Hasbro trademark saga finally comes to an end.

At this point, I hesitate to speculate any more on Hasbro's motives. In the blog comments, I'd previously argued that Hasbro's spending thousands of dollars on this surely meant they actually had some sort of plan. I'm no longer so optimistic. Perhaps this is simply a negotiating tool because Marvel or some other party (or even multiple parties) have approached them asking to license Rom. And they realized that to do so, they might need some better legal standing than, "we created this character in 1979 and the copyright is still ours." In any case, check back in six months or so for an update and prepare for a long wait for any resolution.

The North Pole Creed

2009-12-14T10:10:00.001-06:00

I believe in Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, granter of children's wishes, who is seen at malls, yet unseen Christmas Eve.

I believe in Saint Nick, Sinterklaas, who sees you when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist.

For us and for our children he comes down from the north, carrying a bag full of toys made by elves.

For our sake he was persecuted under Burgermeister Meisterburger; he was captured and jailed.
He escaped with flying reindeer; he ascended to the North Pole and built his workshop.

He will come each Christmas to judge the naughty and the nice, and his legend will have no end.

I believe in the spirit of Christmas, which doesn't come from a store, but means a little bit more.

I believe that Christmas comes but once a year.

I write one letter per year for the gift of toys.

I look for peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

Merry Christmas!

(CC) BY-NC-SA 2009 LKS

The North Pole Creed by Lee K. Seitz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Rom, van decoration

2009-11-16T16:56:00.002-06:00

Just a quick note. Maxim has included Rom as one of 12 Superheroes Who Should Be On '70s Vans on its site (not in print). He's #11. Thanks to ~P~ for the tip.

Is this the end of the Rom trademark saga?

2009-10-14T17:03:00.000-05:00

If you've been wondering what's the latest in Parker Brothers' attempt to renew their trademarks on Rom, you're not alone. So have I! Unfortunately, there had been nothing to report until now. (Well, actually a few weeks ago when I started this entry, but life interfered with finishing it until now.)

First off, let's tackle the four "Rom the Spaceknight" trademarks. I said previously that I was most looking forward to see Hasbro's response on those, particularly the one that would include comic books. Sadly, I've been denied. Hasbro failed to respond in the six month response period about these four applications, therefore the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has mailed an abandonment notice to them. This notice informs them that if they don't respond in an additional two months, the applications will be considered abandoned. I guess it's their "final final notice."

So, that leaves the four "Rom" trademark applications. The first, for software and video games, has hit a snag. When it was filed, it included various types of equipment. Hasbro's response to the USPTO's earlier claim that the category specified was too broad had them change it to include "downloadable software" for video game consoles and cell phones. The USPTO now says downloadable software does not logically follow from all the equipment (hardware) they specified in the original application. Frankly, I wonder if the original attorney really knew what he was doing in regards to the categories on the original applications. Anyway, Hasbro now has another six months to reply. At the moment, this is the final issue for this application.

The second application, for entertainment like movies, has been suspended pending the approval of an earlier application for "The Rom" by a company called Curious Sense, Inc. That application is for an "online community website featuring educational and entertainment related digital music content, video gaming, online shopping and social networking features". Curious Sense has less than a month remaining to either show they're using the mark in commerce or ask for an extension. We'll have to stay tuned for that one.

The third application, for paper and office goods, and fourth, for just about every game and toy you can think of, have both been accepted and will be published in the USPTO's Official Gazette on October 20, 2009. Barring, of course, objections by any other parties. The last one, of course, is the most important if Hasbro wants to actually bring the toy back.

So that's where everything stand now. Out of eight applications, four appear to have been abandoned, two are approved, one is awaiting clarification, and another is held up pending the approval of a similar but earlier application. But even those two approvals aren't the end for those applications. Hasbro will have to actually start selling something related to Rom to secure them! So, consider this just another step in what's becoming an unending saga.

Hannah update: 1 year

2009-09-30T21:52:00.011-05:00

Hannah turned a year old earlier this month. Hard to believe a year has passed already. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a doctor's appointment for a bit yet, so I can't give any official growth statistics. We have noticed, however, that her 6-9 month wardrobe is finally getting a bit tight, so we think she's had a growth spurt.

Developmentally, Hannah's still at or above where she should be. She's been walking since 10 months, which is well ahead of when either of her brothers started walking. Her vocabulary pretty much only consists of "mama" right now. Sometimes she'll say "baba", which usually refers to a baby doll. Rarely she'll manage "dada". Dorothy has tried to teach her some sign language, but she doesn't yet consistently use any of it. And at the moment, she's up to seven teeth: four on the top and three on the bottom.

Hannah's already taken on a chore for herself. If she's around when I start emptying the dishwasher, she'll bring me the silverware to put in the drawer. Usually this means one piece at a time, although recently she was doing two — on in each hand. The bad part is when I start putting the dirty dishes in, she'll still try taking the silverware out to put in the drawer.

Hannah has an amazingly good temperament. She fusses when she's hungry and sometimes when she doesn't get her way. We recently bought a gate and when we put it up between the living and dining rooms, she did not like it if someone went over it without her. We've since moved it to between the dining room and kitchen and that doesn't seem to be as traumatic. She doesn't fuss so much when she's tired; she just keeps going until Dorothy nurses her or she's put in the car, in which case she'll fall asleep quickly. She doesn't fuss over wet or dirty diapers, which is sometimes to her detriment because if it's a day where we're busy, busy, busy, we'll sometimes forget to check her diaper as often as we should.

Hannah's still not sleeping through the night, though. Well, at least most nights. She'll go to sleep around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. and stay asleep until around when Dorothy and I go to bed two or three hours later. Then she'll wake up, but go back to sleep until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. After that she's a bit restless until, of course, around 6:00 a.m. when I get up.

Hannah hasn't had a proper haircut yet, but Dorothy did trim her bangs a bit, as seen in the adjacent photo. Note that her hair was wet, so it's not its usual, curly self. As I recall, Dorothy was able to get the trim done without major drama.

For her birthday party, we invited her grand- and godparents, plus many friends who had children around her age. All the grandparents plus a great-grandmother and two out of three godparents made it and a few friends. It seemed like everyone had a good time. The party had a zoo/jungle animal theme and the kids seemed to have fun playing with inflatable, ball-shaped elephants, lions, and other animals.

So here's to Hannah celebrating a year of surviving being in the same house as her brothers. She's managed to avoid major injury so far. Life is certainly getting more interesting since she got more mobile, such as the scare with the paperclip. We look forward to what the next year will bring.

Mantlo in Wizard

2009-08-04T23:31:00.005-05:00

The latest issue of Wizard (#215, Sept 2009) contains a five-page article about Bill Mantlo. Titled "Tragic Talent," this article by Christopher Lawrence doesn't cover much ground that Mantlo fans don't already know, but it's great for younger fans who might not be aware of the breadth of his work. It summarizes his career, focusing, of course, on the accident that has put him in nursing home for the rest of his life. And it has some nice quotes from other pros who knew and worked with Mantlo during his career, including Keith Giffen, Mike Mignola, Carl Potts, Roger Stern, Walt Simonson, and Al Milgrom, who was Manlto's editor on Rom. Perhaps best of all, however, is the original, two-page spread by Greg Horn featuring a figure in Times Square surrounded by signs with some of the characters Mantlo was most associated with, including Rom.

If you're searching for it on the stands, note that there are two different covers. One features a jam cover of Marvel heroes for Marvel's 70th anniversary. The other features a photo of Iron Man from the movie for the story on Iron Man 2.

Thanks to Jerry Whitworth for the tip.

Rom tidbit of the day

2009-07-30T11:39:00.002-05:00

In searching the Web, I came across the following tidbit from The General Mills/Parker Brothers Merger by Ellen Wojahn (2003).

Most interesting for the designers and marketers in-house, ROM made breathing sounds that made for great intra-office obscene phone calls.

No doubt this occurred to many people who had a Rom action figure back in the day, but I must sadly confess that I'd never thought of it.

The Rom trademark saga continues

2009-07-27T21:49:00.008-05:00

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has updated half of Hasbro's trademark claims, namely those for just the "Rom" mark, with Hasbro's response. Sadly, the ones for "Rom the Spaceknight," which were the ones initially refused in part because of Marvel's "Spaceknights" trademark, have not been updated at this time. I would ascribe this to delays on the USPTO's part in updating their databases, not Hasbro's in responding, but that's only a guess.

In essence, Hasbro's lawyers did three things for each application. First, they disclaimed any relation to Rom and computer memory, essentially saying that their product is not called Rom because it contains Read Only Memory computer chips. Second, they narrowed the classifications on each one to show that their products would not conflict with those of other companies that already have related trademarks. And third, they reiterated that the applications were for "intent to use" and that "at this time [Hasbro] has not yet developed specific, detailed factual plans for the goods/services" (where it's "goods" or "services" depending on the application in question).

Despite their supposed lack of detailed plans, the new classifications give us a much better idea of Hasbro's potential plans for Rom: market the stew out of him. The new classifications include action figures and vehicles(!), playsets, plush toys, stuffed toys, ride-on toys, building toys, inflatable toys, water squirting toys, board games, card games, electronic hand-held games, and jigsaw puzzles. And that's just the toys and games application. Then we have computer games, video games, gambling machines(!), movies, television shows, DVDs, and soundtrack albums spread across two more applications. And finally, we have just about every paper good and office supply imaginable: coloring books, story books, fiction books, party supplies, wrapping paper, trading cards, lunch bags, book covers, posters, pens, pencils, stationery, rulers, and temporary tattoos. In essence, think of all the common Star Wars products created in 30+ years. Hasbro wants to leave the door open to make those for Rom.

There's one, however that may bite them in the butt: comic books. Fine for the plain "Rom" applications, but if they include that in the "Rom the Spaceknight" ones, they'll run smack into Marvel's "Spaceknights" trademark. This is the response I anxiously await to read. And after I do, I'll let you know about it here.

[Next trademark update]

Hannah update: 9 months

2009-07-02T11:24:00.004-05:00

By popular demand, Hannah updates are back. In short, she's doing great. She's running small on most measurements, particularly weight, but developmentally she's exactly where she should be, if not ahead. For the record, the measurements were 27.75" long and weighs 15 lbs. 2 oz.

She's dangerously close to walking. She can walk as long as bigger person holds her up or she can cruise holding on to furniture. In fact, she seems to prefer cruising to crawling. I fully expect her to be walking before 12 months.

She also has gotten her first two teeth. They're the two bottom ones. Hopefully you can make them out in the adjacent picture. She was starting to eat solid food even before the first tooth came in, but still gets plenty of mom's milk, too.

We had a scare over the weekend. Hannah spilled a container full of paper clips. Dorothy thought she had picked them all up, but then Hannah found another one, which Dorothy got away from her. Then, just a bit later, Dorothy thought she saw Hannah put something in her mouth. She checked and couldn't find anything, so she thought maybe she'd imagined it. Just a few minutes later, though, Hannah started choking. She spit up a bit of food and seemed to be fine, but that was scary enough that we took her to the pediatric ER.

It turns out they make teeny little hospital gowns for babies, as seen here. There was a bit of a wait, but it wasn't too bad, and much more pleasurable than going to the regular ER. Finally, we got an x-ray technician who loaded Dorothy and me up with lead smocks, as it was our job to hold her still during the procedure. We had to remove Hannah's cloth diaper, because of the snaps on it. The technician then seemed way too concerned about exposing her privates during the procedure. I mean, give me a break, she's just nine months old and the only people there were him and the three of us!

After another wait, we got the good news that nothing was found in the x-ray. So one $175(!) co-pay later, we were free to go. The cost made us feel a bit silly about the whole thing, but really, the peace of mind is priceless.

In other family news, our church had its music camp a few weeks ago. It was the story of the apostle Paul. Walter played the part of Peter. His main job was to do roll call for the rest of the apostles, which he did well. Andrew—seen here with his friend, Andrew—was in the sailor chorus, but also got to "stone" Stephen, which is what the costume he's wearing in the photo was for.

Found needed 2600 cart for -$1

2009-06-16T17:37:00.005-05:00

It hasn't happened in a long time, but today I got a 2600 cartridge I didn't have before: Pete Rose Baseball. Unfortunately, this wasn't a quarter find at a garage sale or flea market, but when you've got as many 2600 games as I do (about 300), you'll take about anything new. And in reality, I actually made money on the deal. Well, sort of.

You see, a few weeks ago I found out via Craigslist that there was a new used game shop in town. It deals exclusively in consoles older than current. That is, everything that's not Wii, PS3, or Xbox 360. They've got PONG consoles on their shelves, for Winslow's sake! While I never completely lost interest, collecting video games has been on the back burner with me for a long time. Finding this store, however, has got me interested again.

My interest was mildly renewed upon finding another used game store a few months ago. But this newest store is an improvement over that one in two ways. First, while the other does have some 2600- and NES-era games, the selection is very limited. Second, it's closer. :-) And in general, it's just nice to have a couple non-GameStop video game stores in town.

So, getting back to the point. My trade bait is an absolute mess. I came to realize I've go to pare things down a bit a while back, but haven't done much towards that yet. One of the things I acquired that's got to go are some used Genesis games I'm not really interested in from the local Freecycle group. Those were handy, so today I took them down. There was a couple versions of Street Fighter II, Primal Rage, and some sports games. Unsuprisingly, they only offer $0.50 for sports games, so I wound up with a grand total of $5 for them.

Checking the 2600 games, however, I discovered the Pete Rose Baseball. A game I actually needed! Although worth more, it was $3.99, so she gave me the game and $1. All for a bunch of carts I got for free. So I guess that's:

1) Troll for games on Freecycle.
2) Trade them in.
3) Profit!

Old photo of Douglas Adams, insane resolution

2009-06-08T17:05:00.003-05:00

If you hadn't heard, Jason Scott of textfiles.com is working on a text adventure documentary called "Get Lamp." His latest update mentions the PR photo of Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky that made the rounds back when the Infocom Hitchhiker's game was released. Scott got to scan an original slide of the photo and has now made it available at 8760 x 6010! Go to the previous link for the blog entry, which gives a bit of context, then click on the photo there for the Flickr link.

Hasbro's Rom trademarks refused, but it's not over

2009-06-04T22:12:00.008-05:00

Obligatory disclaimer: I am not a lawyer! So take anything I say about trademarks with the grain of salt.

In checking on the status of Hasbro's trademark applications for "Rom" and "Rom the Spaceknight," I learned a little bit more about just what information the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has available throughout the registration process. It turns out that the USPTO had issues with every single one of Hasbro's applications. Letters were sent in January and Hasbro was given six months to respond. So we might know something by July 21!

While we're waiting, I thought I'd explain briefly the problems with the filings. First, in every single case Hasbro was told the classification they requested was too broad. Hasbro's lawyer(s) simply copied the description of the entire classes of goods they were applying for. The USPTO wants something more specific in each case. For example, rather than "games," they want something like "computer game consoles for use with an external display screen or monitor."

Second, all the trademarks for "Rom" were initially refused for being "merely descriptive." In other words, Hasbro can't trademark "Rom" for something involving "Read Only Memory" because it's a common descriptive term. Similarly, in all the "Rom the Spaceknight" applications, Hasbro was told they must disclaim the word "Rom" as part of the trademark. In other words, they can claim a specific, stylized logo including the word "Rom," but they can make no claim to the word itself. (I should point out that Hasbro did not submit any specific logos with their applications.) It turns out Casio already has a trademark on a "ROM" logo they use on memory cards for some electronic musical instruments, as seen below.

But the best refusal I've saved for last. Three of the four applications for "Rom the Spaceknight" were refused because of the registered trademark Marvel got for "Spaceknights" back in 2001! Yes, you read that right; Hasbro was refused because of Marvel's limited series featuring Rom's children. Oh, the irony! And unlike Parker Brothers/Hasbro, who let the original Rom trademark expire, Marvel applied for an extension in 2007, meaning Spaceknights should remain a registered trademark of Marvel until 2017, at which time they can apply for another ten-year extension.

Now as I said, Hasbro can refute the USPTO's refusals and answer their calls for clarification, but they're quickly running out of time. I don't know how much lag there is between the USPTO receiving materials and updating their database, but hopefully we'll see something by the end of next month. I promise you that once I know something, I'll share it.

[Next trademark update]

Purpose of the blog revisited

2009-05-28T23:06:00.003-05:00

You might have noticed a dearth of family related stories lately. That's because, as mentioned earlier, I'm on Facebook now. I was iffy about publicly posting so much information about my family in the first place. Now Facebook has become the default place to post photos and keep people updated. This is because 1) I (theoretically) control who sees the information and 2) it's been much easier to get people to look at things there than to coax them to my blog. I'm still considering whether I should cross-post the blog to Facebook.

So, what will you find here? Well, it's still the home of the Rom blog. I'll also use it to rant on those rare occasions I feel something must be ranted about. And, as I said originally, I'll be going back and posting pre-blog items here.

And that's what I've spent this evening doing. First, there was the "thoughts and tips" section of my home page. That's now done, although I had to guess at some of the dates. Then there was a couple Usenet posts about collecting video games and a Weird Al concert I wanted to preserve. That's now done, too. The links to them can be found below. I've turned commenting off for these back-dated posts, so if you want to comment on them, do it here.

28 Nov 1994: Finally found my gold mine!
1 Jun 1995: Tip of the Moment (cat in bushes)
10 Jan 1996: Tip of the Moment (company in the red)
30 Jan 1996: Thought (blank disk)
10 Feb 1996: Thought (babies don't take holidays)
26 Feb 1996: Thought (fortune cookie)
13 Mar 1996: Thought (Bad Hair Day)
12 Apr 1996: Tip of the Moment (laser surgery)
20 Jun 1996: Tip of the Moment (washing machine hoses)
01 Aug 1996: Tip of the Moment (second opinion for cars)
2 Dec 1996: Thanksgiving finds (Goldmine lost)
15 Apr 1997: Tip of the Moment (tax withholding)
1 Sep 1997: Thought (leather leisure suit)
16 Mar 1998: Tip of the Moment (holes in walls)
25 Aug 2000: Weird Al concert report: Birmingham and Bermuda (LONG)
21 Feb 2001: Tip of the Moment (battery springs)

A look at a Rom that wasn't

2009-05-24T21:13:00.004-05:00

Back in 2000, thanks to Usenet, Rom, Spaceknight Revisited posted a bit of information of a circa 1998 proposal for a return of Rom by Benny R. Powell and Jim Calafiore. Well, right now you can find a page of Calafiore's art of the redesigned Rom on eBay! Frankly, I'm not sure Rom's the same with fingers, but I'll let you judge it for yourselves.

Impressive custom Rom figure

2009-04-21T09:45:00.011-05:00

I've seen several custom-made Rom action figures on eBay over the years. They have all obviously been labors of love, but of varied skill levels. Today I've come across what I feel is the best effort I've seen to date.

Is it perfect? No, there's several details that are a bit off. The back of the head is probably the most noticeable. But if I wanted a Rom action figure on my shelf – and I do – this would be the the one.

Unfortunately for me, bidding has already proceeded directly from $0.99 to $66.00, which is out of my price range at this time. So if you'd like to bid on it, be my guest.

Could this be the return of the Wraiths?

2009-03-24T16:38:00.005-05:00

Since Marvel began Secret Invasion, there have been a few mentions of the Dire Wraiths. The question is, are they building to something or is it all merely coincidence?

First, we have the Skrulls! one-shot. This is from the same group of writers who produce the Marvel Handbooks, but written from the Skrull perspective. It includes a Dire Wraith entry, which is completely understandable since they're an off-shoot of the Skrulls. There are numerous other minor characters featured in this book as well, so by itself this isn't a big deal.

Then, during the Secret Invasion cross-over, two books mention the Dire Wraiths, although none are seen. First, a Skrull mentions them in Runaways/Young Avengers: Secret Invasion #2, basically treating them like the boogeyman. Next, a passing mention of them is made in Black Panther #39.

Now, we have another Handbook-style entry, this time in the Dark Reign Files. I must admit that, to me, this one seems a bit out of place. Except for Volx, no Dire Wraiths have been seen on Earth since Rom left. Why include them in a list of super villains?

Well, one thing to keep in mind is that the Handbook's writers are fans themselves. And most, if not all, of them are long-time fans. So I'm sure that occasionally they put in entries simply because they like them, regardless of whether the subject has appeared recently or is likely to in the future.

From all indications, Marvel has the rights to the Dire Wraiths all to themselves, so there's nothing to stop them from bringing them back. Will they, however, when they can't use Rom as well? You can't really discuss the Wraiths on Earth without bringing him up. Heck, they mentioned him in the Dark Reign Files entry! Obviously, Marvel's lawyers have cleared purely textual references to him. It seems that only showing him in his armor is the big no-no.

My personal opinion is that Marvel doesn't currently have any plans to bring in the Dire Wraiths in a major way. They've just done Secret Invasion, so at this point the Dire Wraiths would only come off as a rip-off of that story. (Even though in reality it's more like the other way around.) It's possible, if a bit unlikely, that their recent Handbook-style entries have been bids to maintain some sort of rights to the name and concept, but I think the recent spate of mentions is largely a coincidence.

(Thanks to Kenny Doug and ~P~ for pointing out the mention in Runaways/Young Avengers: Secret Invasion #2, Sean Koury the one in Black Panther #39, and ~P~ for the entry in Dark Reign Files.)

More Tales of Appliances

2009-02-23T12:40:00.004-06:00

For the two of you that might possibly read this, my apologies for being away so long. In the past few weeks I've discovered Facebook, so I've been spending most my online time there. But there's a whole 'nother possible blog entry there, so let's move on to my recent adventures with major appliances.

Thanks to a bonus, we were finally able to purchase a new dishwasher to replace the one that died months ago. After months of washing dishes by hand, I should never complain about having to unload and reload the dishwasher again. I didn't say that I won't, but I shouldn't.

We selected a mid-range model and while I might possibly have been able to install it myself, I've seen some of the difficulties in doing so and opted to pay a professional to do it. We even bought a service plan on it. Historically, this is something we avoid, but given our history of problems with dishwashers, it seemed prudent this time, especially considering all the things it covered.

If you read my previous entry about making an emergency clothes washer purchase, we bought it at the same store as we did that. This time, however, since we had a bit more leeway, we didn't opt for "what do you have in the back right now." Oddly, this still worked out in our favor. The store called the morning of the delivery and said, essentially, "we don't have the model you selected, but would you be willing to take the next model up for no additional charge?" Naturally, we said yes and wonder just who turns down such offers that they feel it necessary to ask? I mean, it was still the color and manufacturer we selected, just a model that might offer an additional feature or two and cost about $100 more. Looked at from a certain perspective, that essentially means we got the five year service plan for free.

I'm no Eastern philosopher, but it seems karma dictates that this good fortune come at a price. A few nights later, around midnight, my wife woke me up to tell me the clothes dryer was making a funny noise. I checked, and yes, it was. Seeing few options, I took it apart. Just after 1:00 a.m., I had diagnosed the problem: one of the rollers for the main drum had worn out. It had obviously been working on it for a long time, but I guess something just finally gave. (I apologize for not thinking to take a picture of our laundry room with bits of dryer spread around it.)

My wife said she hadn't expected me to take it apart. However, I've seen the appliance repairman do so once before, several years ago. They're not that complicated inside. If the drum is turning and the heating element is working, there's not a lot left to go wrong with a dryer. I might point out that this dryer is probably 20-30 years old. We bought it from the people who sold us the house 15 years ago, and it was old then. I've been told, probably by the same appliance repairman I watched, that a dryer can last through about three washers. Most people replace them at the same time just so that they'll match. As we're not in the habit of inviting friends over to watch us do the laundry, we don't really care. They're both white and box-shaped, so I suppose that's close enough. Oh, and we're on washer number three.

Now, at 1:00 a.m., there's not a lot of options for getting dryer parts, so the cloth diapers she was trying to dry would have to wait to go out on the line when the sun came up. I did so before I left for work. Naturally, it rained during day while Dorothy was away from the house, so they didn't get dry. Luckily, some friends down the street let her use their dryer so we at least had clean diapers. I, unfortunately, had a meeting right after work. I hit one of the big-box hardware stores afterward, as they were the only things open. While they did have some generic dryer parts, as I feared, they didn't have what I needed. Thus ended the second night without a dryer.

The next day, before work, I attempted to visit the appliance parts store I'd been to once before, but they'd moved farther away from us. Next I checked what I could do online. Sears.com – it's a Kenmore dryer – led me to the where I could buy the parts. They weren't too expensive, but having them shipped next day delivery just about doubled the cost. So I called Bob Wallace Appliance, a locally-owned store listed in the yellow pages. They confirmed they had the part, so I went by on my lunch break. Once there, I told them I wanted to replace the belt too, at which point he said, "let's check the price on this maintenance kit." It turns out there's a set of pre-packaged parts that covered what I wanted/needed to replace, plus another part. And it cost less that buying replacement rollers and the belt separately. I'm sold!

So, on the third evening I go to work. I didn't pay attention to how long it took, but I eventually had all the new parts installed and the dryer back together. And it seems to work. I mean, it's been a week or two now and the clothes are getting dry. Paying $32 for parts certainly beats a service call, even if it took a couple days.

The dark side of Facebook

2009-01-04T19:17:00.008-06:00

Until now, I mostly stayed away from social sites like Facebook and MySpace. I flirted briefly with MySpace when Weird Al began his account there, but the interface was so horrid I deleted my account after a while. Then an online acquaintance invited me to Facebook about the same time I found out my next high school reunion was being discussed there. So I joined.

Wow! So this is where everyone I've ever known has been hiding online. I've found people from grade school – well, only because they also went to high school with me – to college – well, mainly because I was still in touch with them – to past jobs – now some of those were surprising. In this respect, it's great; I get to find old friends I remember fondly and find out what they're up to these days. I've only been able to do this sporadically until Facebook. And I've found it to be incredibly addictive. I've found friends I haven't seen high school graduation, my old band director, and the boss from my first full-time job, all of whom have been kind enough to accept me as a Facebook friend.

But there's another side to this coin. You start getting friend requests, too. Some might be from old friends you just hadn't searched for yet. Some are from classmates, but you were never close. Some are from people you'd done school activities with, but you'd mostly forgotten. And others . . . well, others you happened to go to school with, because you can find them in your old yearbooks, but they weren't in your class and didn't seem to be in any of your activities. What do you do then? Did they "friend" you because you inspired them from afar? (Be nice if they'd said so in a message with their request.) Did they have a secret crush on you? (That would be flattering to know, too.) Has your brain become swiss cheese when it comes to 20-year-old memories and you just don't remember that one class you had together? (Maybe.) Or are they just trying to accumulate as many Facebook friends as possible? (Most likely.)

I'm still new at this, so I'm unsure how to handle it. I hate to ignore someone that I did at least go to school with. But on the other hand, I don't really want someone I have little connection with being able to see all my information, either. I guess my main problem is this paranoid notion that I was somehow important to this person at one point and I don't want to snub them. Is there accepted etiquette for this? It seems rude to ask. (But then, it seems rude that they didn't say, too.) There is, at least, the plus that if you ignore them, they don't get a message saying you've done so. (But it's easy to figure out if they're paying close attention.)

At least it's taught me one lesson. If I'm friending someone I haven't seen in a long time, I make sure I include a message with my request to help jog their memory.

Rom sales: April 1984

2008-12-26T13:58:00.003-06:00

Here's a quick quiz for you. Which out of the following issues sold the best on the direct sales market in April 1984 (cover dates of August 1984)?

Captain America #296
G. I. Joe #26
Iron Man #185
Incredible Hulk #298
Micronauts #59
Rom #57

If you guessed Rom #57, you're correct! (And if you didn't, all I can say is, "yo, dude, this is the Rom blog.") This bit of information comes from a May 29, 2007 blog post by Marvel editor Tom Brevoort I recently discovered. For that month, Rom, with 73,800 units, outsold all the other titles listed above.

There is, of course, a caveat. The direct sales market was still very young in 1984 and Marvel was still seeing most of it's sales in the traditional, newsstand market. The difference between the two is that newsstands could return unsold comics, while direct sales shops couldn't.

So what sold better than Rom? The usual suspects (X-Men, New Mutants, Spider-man titles, Fantastic Four, etc.) plus Marvel's hot new limited series, Secret Wars (#4). If you want to see the complete list, visit the blog entry linked above. For now, I'm (naturally) going to focus on Rom's numbers.

Rom ranked 16th amongst Marvel's titles, down from 15th the previous month. It was pushed down by Power Pack #1, Alien Legion #2 (a bi-monthly that wasn't published the previous month), and Quest Probe #1 at 15th (78,800 units). Rom saw a remarkable increase in sales of 12.5% from 65,600 the previous month. Mind you, a quick glance through the numbers shows that most titles were seeing increasing sales. This is just another reminder that the direct sales market was new and expanding.

Three issues prior, in Rom #54, Marvel had printed its statement of ownership. It revealed an average sales per issue of 160,741 for the year and 170,588 for the most recent issue. That means direct sales accounted for approximately 35-45% of the title's sales.

So what's the bottom line here? When he was in print, Rom was not the third-tier character comic fans tend to think of him as now. While consistently outselling Dazzler, Doctor Strange and Power Man & Iron Fist may not sound like something to brag about, how about Marvel stalwarts like Iron Man, Captain America, and the Hulk? Not to mention other licensed comics like Micronauts, G. I. Joe, Conan, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones. You might say I'm jumping to a conclusion, but I think the only reason we haven't seen full revivals of him is because of the Parker Brothers license.

Finally found a copy of Zap!

2008-12-23T14:42:00.002-06:00

[The following was originally posted to the Usenet group rec.games.video.classic. I waited until after Christmas to post it to my blog so my mother wouldn't know what she was getting. As a result, this post has been backdated from when it was actually posted, five days later.]

My mother is hard to shop for, but an avid reader, so today I went to a used book store to see if I might find something for her. This led me to wander through a lot more of the hard cover section than I usually do on my infrequent trips there. And in doing so, I finally came across the game section. And what do I find on the shelf between the books on chess and bridge? A copy of Zap!: The Rise and Fall of Atari by Scott Cohen. I have been looking for this book for years! (Possibly because I've been unwilling to pay eBay prices.)

I've actually already read it before. It turned out my local library has a copy. (And yes, I considered doing something unethical like checking it out, failing to return it, and paying the fine, but I'm not that kind of person.) I realize it's not a perfect history. I also realize that it was republished by John Hardie through Xlibris. But that's just not the same as having an original, hard cover copy from 1984.

It makes a lovely addition to my collection. It's in very good condition with a tight spine, free of markings, and still has the dust jacket. Just some light wear along the top and bottom of the spine. Looks like it may have been read once (or possibly not) and then sat on someone's shelf for years before being traded in. Heck, for all I know it could have been sitting on the shelf at the book store for years. (Although not since the '80s, as they had a fire 11 years ago which forced them to restock.) Oh, and the best part was the price: $4 plus tax. (And I did find something for my mother, too.)

R.I.P. Rufus, 1993–2008

2008-12-22T14:32:00.008-06:00

We had to put our cat, Rufus, to sleep today. It was the most difficult decision I've ever had to make. He's now at rest in the raised flowerbed in our backyard next to our other cat, Somalia.

It appears Rufus had a blood clot or possibly a stroke. Back in September, I came home from work and heard a thud. Rufus had apparently attempted to get off the couch to greet me, but instead fell. I stood him up and he was having problems walking, so I rushed him to the vet. I called them as I was preparing to leave and they stayed and waited for me. The cause was uncertain then, but when he hadn't improved much the next day, they thought he'd probably had a mild stroke. The main symptom was his walking in a drunken stagger. Within just a few weeks, however, he'd appeared to have recovered.

We had to board him while we were gone for Thanksgiving. He seemed to do fine, but then I noticed after a few days of being back home he had appeared to stop eating. I might have noticed sooner, but the job of feeding him had been given to Andrew, and he didn't bother to mention it to us right away. A visit to the vet seemed to get him back on track, but then – after they'd done a follow-up call, of course – he seemed nearly to stop again.

I'd planned to call the vet today, but this morning, after Hannah woke us up, I heard him calling from the living room. I found him lying on the floor in front of the couch. Upon trying to stand him up, it seemed he was unable to. Further examination showed no movement in his tail or back legs. He was happy for the attention, though, calmed down, and began purring.

Once we got to the vet, the prognosis wasn't good. The options boiled down to more of the kinds of tests he'd had lately or putting him down. After much heart-wrenching discussion, we decided for the latter. I stayed with him while it was done, which broke my heart.

I think I understand, now, an emotional reason for burying the dead. Digging a large hole to put a loved one in helps a little, because it actually gives you something to do and focus on. Putting him in and preparing to cover him, however, I broke down again.

Dorothy and I got Rufus from the Humane Society back in 1994. He had gotten sick and his family had been unable to care for him. The Society had gotten him healthy again and then put him up for adoption. He was about 13 months old and came with the name Rufus.

I had taken Somalia from Dorothy's family a year earlier. She was a stray who was obviously uncared for and they couldn't really handle another cat, as they had many. We naively hoped that maybe she'd get along with Rufus immediately since she hadn't been a problem for Dorothy's family. We introduced them far too soon and, naturally, she attacked Rufus, the intruder. I grabbed the cat who was closest, which happened to be Rufus, and paid for it with numerous scratches on my hands and arms. Eventually, of course, they got along, although Somalia seemed to remain the dominant one.

Rufus was an unusual cat and extremely laid back. He loved to have his belly rubbed. Once we had children, Somalia tended to just stay away from them. Rufus, however, tolerated them better.

Sometime after Walter learned to crawl, Rufus came, laid down in front of him and rolled over for a belly rub. Walter, not knowing how to pet, just grabbed his fur. Rufus didn't react, other than to give him a look like, "what are you doing? That's now how you do it," and then got up and laid down a little further away. Walter crawled over and the scene repeated itself. Rufus tried a third time before giving up and wandering off.

When Andrew was one year old, he tried riding Rufus. Meaning, essentially, he sat on Rufus, although not putting his full weight on the cat. Rufus just sat there until he could get away. Other, more high-strung cats might have responded with clawing and/or hissing, but not Rufus. The above photo of baby Andrew and Rufus is not from either incident, but was one of the few I was able to find of Rufus with one of the kids.

I realized while burying him that Rufus had been in my life longer than any of my children and almost as long as Dorothy. While I felt sad when we had to euthanize Somalia, it didn't hurt as much. That was, perhaps, because while Somalia let us feed her and pet her, she remained aloof as only a cat can. Rufus was more affectionate. I don't know that I'll ever know another cat like him. Goodbye, kitty.

15 years is the "washing machine anniversary"

2008-12-17T12:40:00.004-06:00

About two days before our wedding anniversary, our washing machine died. For just $35, the repairman was kind enough to tell us that a slow leak had caused its innards to rust and the motor was dead. Even if he could repair it, it would cost more than a new machine. Great.

Thanks to my sister-in-law's Christmas present (unwrapped early), we had dinner plans for our anniversary. (Thanks, Beth!) Afterwards, we'd originally planned to get some Christmas shopping done for the kids. When you have three children, however -- particularly when one is in cloth diapers -- dirty clothes aren't something you want to get too far behind on. So after dinner, we had a lovely evening looking at washing machines.

It seems our desperate circumstances actually worked in our favor. After narrowing down our choices, we found out we were incorrect in our assumption that they'd have a sample of most models in back. So we asked what they had in the store right then. This revealed a discontinued model that the store happened to still have sitting in the back. There was no floor model on display; this was truly the only one they had. But we got a good deal on it because of that! (Or so it seems to us and we'd appreciate not being disillusioned.)

And there was also a good thing about the timing, as far as time of year. Our babysitter wasn't available until later than normal dining time. If it hadn't been the holidays, the store wouldn't have been open late enough for us to shop after dinner.

So, we found out we could indeed fit the washer in our minivan and drove it home. I then had to get the old washer out of the laundry room. I'd attempted to do so before dinner, but discovered it wouldn't fit through the way I'd initially picked, so I had to clear a second path when we got back home. Thanks goodness the laundry room has more than one door. Once that was done, I had to bring in the new washer and install it. And after that, I had to run an "empty load" to clean the machine out before using it. In the end, I think I got to bed around 1:30 a.m., but there was a load of clothes running when I did.

Two last interesting notes. First, the new washer thankfully came with new hoses. In removing the old ones, I discovered we were supposed to have changed them about seven years ago. You'd think after having our house flooded by a burst washing machine hose several years ago, we'd have learned our lesson and kept a better eye on that. I have dutifully recorded the date that the new hoses should be replaced in my PDA, so I'll get a an alert sometime in 2013.

Second, I was once told by a repairman that a clothes dryer can last through about three washers. Most people don't keep them that long, however, because they want their appliances to match. We're on a budget and don't give a flying fig; the laundry room's not a room we show off to guests. We bought our first washer and (the current) dryer from our home's previous occupants. The dryer is now on it's third washer. So happy anniversary, dear. I hope you like your present the clothes washer. Let's hope the "clothes dryer anniversary" doesn't come until at least 20 years of marriage.

Hannah update: 2 months

2008-11-21T07:51:00.005-06:00

The idea was that keeping up a blog would be easier than updating web pages at my personal site, but it's not working out that way. Apologies, but here's a late update on Hannah. At a six week checkup, she was up to 9 pounds, 11 ounces and 22 inches. Now she's up to 10 pounds, 2 ounces and 22-1/2 inches. Growing like a weed, but she's right at the 50th percentile in height and weight. Our perfectly average child. :-)

Earlier this month she was baptized. At the left you can see her sporting the lovely christening gown one of her aunt's ~~knitted~~ crocheted for her. She did an ensemble made up of the dress, hat, and a blanket. She couldn't ever quite get the booties right, so Dorothy bought a pair (not shown). I'm not sure, but Aunt Beth may have spent nearly as much time working on it as Hannah did in her mom's tummy.

Our church does two services each Sunday and we, having three kids to prepare, almost always go to the later one. But on the Sunday of her baptism, we got a call from a friend about the time early service was starting. "Is Hannah's baptism today?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"But not at early service."

"Uh, no."

"Okay, we'll go straighten the pastor out."

We had six people, not counting Hannah, at the baptismal rehearsal. All but one knew the baptism was to be at the late service. Unfortunately, that one was the pastor. (Of course, the rest of us were focused on this one thing while he has a dozen or more to coordinate each week.) Luckily no harm was done, other than the bulletin had the baptism listed for the wrong service. The pastor worked around it with seeming ease.

And here is a photo from the actual baptism. (Thanks to our friend, Sarah W. for taking photos for us.) Up until this point, Hannah had slept through most church services in her mother's or my arms. We were hoping that might be the case this morning, but it was not to be. Right before the baptism, the youngest children's choir sang. Doing a great job, I might add. Unfortunately, as they rushed back to their seats, one child ran past Hannah, stomping just right and waking her up. There was no time to get her back to sleep, so she fussed through a good portion of her baptism. It was probably the most anyone at church had ever heard from her up to that point. The pastor even commented as he showed her around that he'd seen her at church a lot since her birth and this was unusual for her.

So Hannah's doing fine. She's been remarkable at sleeping through the night . . . most of the time. Hopefully the next belated post will show off the kids' Halloween costumes. I've just got to manage to get Andrew back into his costume long enough to get a good photo.

Hasbro re-registering trademark on Rom

2008-11-19T13:37:00.011-06:00

On November 6, 2008, Hasbro began the process of re-registering trademarks on "Rom" and "Rom the Spaceknight." What exactly they have in mind, I can only speculate on. But first, let's review a little terminology and history. In the interest of keeping this (relatively) short, I'm going to gloss over some details where possible. And naturally, I must disclaim the following as legal advice, as I am not a lawyer and don't even play one on TV.

First, if you don't know, a trademark is merely a word or logo used to distinguish the goods of a company from all other companies similar goods. The words "Coke," "Pentium," and "Spider-Man" are all examples of trademarks. Any company can declare something a trademark by adding that little TM symbol (™) after the word or logo wherever it appears on the company's packaging.

However, to assure full legal protection, it is best to register the trademark with the federal government. The agency that handles this is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Once a trademark's registration is approved, it becomes a registered trademark. At this point, and only at this point, the company can use the little R in a circle (®) on its logos instead of the TM.

Another aspect of registered trademarks is that they only apply to the category of items for which they are registered. For example, while no one else can call a drink "Pepsi," one might be able to use it for a hammer. (I by no means advise trying this, as the litigation would probably kill your company even if you ultimately manage to win the lawsuit.) This is also why Apple Computers has had a history of trouble with Apple Records since going into the music market with iTunes.

That's trademarks in a very small nutshell. For further reading, I suggest reading the USPTO's Trademark FAQ and/or visiting their trademark page.

Moving on to the history, back in 1979 when Parker Brothers released the Rom action figure, they filed with the USPTO for a trademark on the word/logo ROM. This was actually done through their parent company at the time, CPG Product Corp. Although the toy was only sold for a couple years (at best), they maintained the rights to the trademark until 1987, about a year after the character's Marvel comic book series had been canceled. Parker Brothers assets were later acquired by Hasbro, who is still Parker Brothers' parent company today.

Trademark law is a tricky thing. Because Marvel had licensed the Rom character from Parker Brothers, they could no longer use him upon expiration of the agreement. Or, at least, not blatantly. He managed to make a few cameos in the years after his series, but by and large it is most likely Marvel has seen no potential profit in reviving a B-list character they'd have to pay for the rights to use again.

It is important to note that Parker Brothers only registered a trademark on the mark "Rom." Not "Rom the Spaceknight" or anything similar. The title of the comic book series, according to the indica, was similarly just "Rom," not "Rom: Spaceknight" or any other variation on that theme. Although generally included on the cover, the word "Spaceknight" was sometimes omitted there as well. Furthermore, the registration only covered it's use for "toy figures and related accessories sold as a unit." If you look at your Rom comic book collection, you will not find a single instance of "Rom" as a registered trademark because comic books weren't the category the trademark was registered for.

This became important in 2000 after Chris Batista got the green light for his Spaceknights limited series. He was kind enough to contact me during this period and one of the things he told me was that Marvel's legal department was concerned that they couldn't use the name "Spaceknights" because it might be co-owned with Parker Brothers as well. Ultimately they not only decided they could use the name – most likely for the reason just noted above – Marvel even applied for registration of the "Spaceknights" trademark themselves. (Only as a comic book title, mind you.)

Now we're back where we started: Hasbro has re-registered for a trademark on Rom. This time they've gone much further than they did back in 1979. They applied for eight trademarks, four on "Rom" and four on "Rom the Spaceknight." (I should note that the phrasing of the latter was most likely chosen because it is the three word phrase that actually appeared on the action figure's box back in '79.) That's one for each of the two versions of the mark in four different categories: entertainment, paper goods, toys, and equipment. The last one is a bit puzzling. In full, the category is:

Scientific, nautical, surveying, electric, photographic, cinematographic, optical, weighing, measuring, signalling, checking (supervision), life-saving and teaching apparatus and instruments; apparatus for recording, transmission or reproduction of sound or images; magnetic data carriers, recording discs; automatic vending machines and mechanisms for coin operated apparatus; cash registers, calculating machines, data processing equipment and computers; fire extinguishing apparatus.

If that seems like an odd combination of items, it might not entirely be Hasbro's fault. The USPTO seems to have certain categories for marks and many of them are some odd groups of things. The forum that I believe first announced Hasbro's move says the category is "normally used for video games." Although in this case it seems Hasbro's wording for the numeric categories they registered might simply be out of date. Other video game trademarks in the USPTO's Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) database actually just say "video game software." Then again, a vending machine that looked like a life-sized Rom would be really cool!

So we're finally back to the question of "why?" Why has Hasbro chosen to do this after all these years? Could it be that repeated interest from various parties in somehow bringing Rom back to comics has finally gotten their attention and something is forthcoming? Or have they gotten wind of someone who was going to take advantage of the Rom trademark's inactive status and are preparing for a lawsuit to stop it? I hope it doesn't mean they're coming after my humble fan site. Surely it wouldn't be worth all that trouble. All I can say for sure is that, pending the actual approval of the USPTO, I might have to change the fine print at the bottom of all those pages from "ROM was a trademark" to "Rom is a trademark." Thank goodness for server-side includes.

Another Rom revival bites the dust

2008-10-15T22:52:00.006-05:00

I sat on this news so long, it's a relief to finally be able to tell it, although the result is sad. Back in February, Bing McCoy sent me a note saying:

Negotiations with Hasbro completed. Platinum comics is going to re-release ROM.

Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to tell anyone! Now I'm a very patient person, although some might merely call it procrastination. Anyway, I set up a ChangeDetection alert on Platinum Comics news page and waited. And waited and waited and waited. Not a word. Figuring I'd long since passed the point where inquiring would make me a pest, in September I asked McCoy about the status of the "re-release." He responded:

Hasbro backed out just before signing the contract - and thus ended a long business association with them. Cannot do business with people who do not honor their word.

So it would seem that McCoy is done trying to revive Rom, which is a shame because he seemed to be the one who's come closest to doing so since the Marvel series ended. (And upon asking, he said yes, I can talk about it now.) Of course, whether Platinum's series would have resembled the original, Marvel series in any way is a whole other topic and I won't go into that right now.

Still, other questions remain. How far did Platinum get in defining the series? Did they have creators lined up for it and, if so, who? Assuming Platinum wasn't going to answer questions from a no one like me, I e-mailed the only person I could think of who might be able to get answers: Rich Johnston. Unfortunately, he tells me he doesn't have any contacts at Platinum. But he might publish something about it in his column and see what comes up. I guess there's nothing to do but wait and see.

Children all dressed up

2008-10-13T12:24:00.007-05:00

By popular demand, here are photos of Hannah. First, on the left, we have her in a lovely dress picked up at a recent kids' consignment sale. (Click the photos for bigger views.) Totally impractical, as she'll be lucky to wear it more than twice, but too cute and too cheap -- especially considering it still had the tags on it -- for her mother to pass up!

Next, on the right, we have her only slightly more casual and with ballet slippers on. Dorothy recently took her out wearing this outfit and never once got the "boy or girl" question. (Just the "how old is she" question.) This finally proved to me that those bows are completely silly after all.

Finally, we have a milestone for Walter. He is now old enough to serve as an acolyte at church. This primarily consists of lighting the candles before service and putting them out afterwards. Here he is doing the former for the very first time.

Purpose of the blog

2008-10-08T17:40:00.004-05:00

I don't know that I have any real readers yet, but as I'm jut starting out I thought I'd go over the purpose of this blog. This is all as I see it right now and naturally I reserve the right to change my mind as the blog evolves.

First, you're unlikely to see much in the way of politics and religion. Or rather, you're unlikely to see much proselytizing on either subject. I hate conflict, so I tend to keep my opinions to myself. This probably forever dooms me with the label "boring," but I've (mostly) come to accept that.

You're also unlikely to hear much about sex, drugs, and rock & roll. Sex is private, I don't do drugs -- let me reiterate for any current or future employers doing Google searches on my name that I DON'T DO DRUGS -- and, okay, maybe I have experimented with rock & roll. Yeah, I take it back; you'll probably hear me talk about music. (For example, did you know Weird Al just released a new single?)

You're also unlikely to see many four letter words here because that's simply not how I usually express myself. Does this mean the blog will be kid-safe? Mostly, but I make no guarantees. I do find much naughty humor funny and I might find something too irresistible not to share.

So what will you find here? Mostly tidbits from my life. I'm hoping for more humorous photos like the one I started with. Unfortunately, those sometimes take time to produce, which is the one thing I don't seem to have a lot of right now.

Speaking of which, I make no promises for anything resembling a normal schedule of posting. I'll simply grab time where I can, so I encourage you to use the RSS feeds or to visit often. I'm hoping this will work out as a better way to keep my kids' grandparents, aunts, and uncles appraised of their activities, as I've proven hopeless at keeping their web pages up to date.

Another thing you'll find are updates on my interests, often related to web pages I "maintain." For example, I'm hoping the next post will be about the recent failure to return Rom, Spaceknight to comic books. If you've come here from one of these pages and aren't interested in, for example, how my kids are doing, note the labels at the bottom of each post. You might want to bookmark a single label rather than the whole blog.

Lastly, I've actually been doing something resembling blogging since before the WWW took off. (Remember, "blog" is short for "web log.") So over time, I plan to find old e-mails and Usenet posts that I think are worthy and post them with the original dates. Whenever I do this, I'll try to also post a new entry referring to the old one(s) so you don't miss anything. In fact, I've gone ahead and posted one from 1996.

Whew, and here I thought this would be a short little post. Sorry it seems to have turned into a manifesto.

Hannah update: 2 weeks

2008-10-01T12:44:00.003-05:00

Hannah is two weeks (and a bit) old now. At birth she weighed 7 lbs., 3 ozs. If she'd been born in a hospital, that number probably would have been higher because they would have weighed her right away. At the midwife's she was an hour or two old when they did it, so she'd pooped away several ounces.

The midwife checked her the other day and she's up to 8-1/2 lbs. Not bad for two weeks. Because of her gestational diabetes, Dorothy had been concerned those first few days that her milk wasn't coming in fast enough. Whether it came in quickly or not, this is confirmation that Hannah's getting plenty now.

Hallmark missed the point

2008-10-01T11:38:00.008-05:00

How did this happen? I caught a post on Usenet a couple months ago saying there would a Pac-Man coin-op ornament released in October, so I set a reminder in my PDA. (That's what they're for, right?) It goes off today, so I go looking at the Hallmark web site to see if I can find the date. What I find is an ornament page with the photo you see to the right.

That's not the coin-op I remember and loved. Yes, it's yellow. Yes, the shape's right. Yes, it has the lovely, red-knobbed joystick. But the marquee and side art, two of the most important distinguishing characteristics of an arcade cabinet, are all wrong. What I remember is the classic Midway cabinets, like the one to the left (photo stolen from the KLOV).

What, I wondered, had gone wrong? Could it be that somehow, after Midway's Pac-Man contract expired and Namco got the rights back in the States that they could no longer use the art from Midway's cabinets? Is this, perhaps, what the cabinets looked like in Japan, except for having "Pac-Man" where it was "Puc-Man"?

Unfortunately, my Google fu failed me and I could not find a photo of the Japanese coin-op. But I did come across what you see to the right at the Brookstone web site: a 25th anniversary coin-op for home use. Look, right there on the side! That's the Midway artwork! (Yes, with a 25th anniversary Pac-Man logo over the top of it, but that's irrelevant.) Obviously, Namco can still use the artwork.

So now I'm just baffled. Hallmark has made an Pac-Man coin-op ornament, advertised under "Nostalgia & Fun," but made something that doesn't actually look like what Generation X will remember. Nostalgia is a very tricky thing. No, an item need not look exactly like the original to invoke it, but it needs to be close. Hallmark's ornament falls short of that. I don't care if it does make the original arcade sounds -- which is cool, I admit -- I'm not nearly as interested as I was and probably won't bother to buy it now.

Am I being to picky? Has my years of dedication to the classic video games as a hobby clouded my judgment? Will others not remember the Pac-Man cabinet as well as I? I may have to poll my friends. Maybe that's also a good excuse to let them know about my new blog!

And so it begins

2008-09-23T14:48:00.002-05:00

I've toyed with doing a blog for a while. Unfortunately, I have little profound to say and little time to write it. However, I recently had my third child, a girl named Hannah. This is our first girl, so I was inspired to take (and caption) the below photo.

To clarify, those are cloth diaper covers hanging up to dry and the purple thing at the lower left is the diaper pail liner, also drying. No doubt there will be more photos in the future of this blog. In the meantime, welcome, friends.

Re: Any good finds lately?

2007-05-01T12:42:00.001-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

In article <0AbZh.1532$VE.1164@newsfe12.lga>, T. Rivet wrote:
>Managed to hit the flea market and a few rummage sales today, but didn't
>see a thing worthwhile.

>Not a game related siting at the yard sales, completely bone dry.

>Anyone else having any luck? Or has it dried up everywhere?

My neighborhood had a yard sale this Saturday. I found an Atari Ultra Pong in the box with instructions. A check of the battery compartment revealed batteries which weren't leaking, but it looked like there might have been some leak slightly once before. In general, the console was in good shape. I haven't taken the time to test it yet. This is my first Ultra Pong. Oh, and I paid $5. (It was marked $20.)

The box is in good shape except for the packing tape used once to seal one end. Unfortunately, it appears someone ripped some of it off at one time, leaving a white gash in the front. :-( The instructions would be in good shape if they hadn't been all crumpled up from the console being put in on top of them.

[I posted a followup on 24 May 2007.]

Sorry to follow up on my own post, but it's actually an Atari Ultra Pong Doubles. Unfortunately, it's missing two of the four paddles. But the good news is that it does work. It was kind of odd, though. When I first started testing it, there was no sound. As me and my sons played it, though, the sound started working.

Which leads me off on a tangent. Many "pong" consoles have their own speaker rather than using the televisions. Why is this? Was it really cheaper to include a speaker in the console rather than the circuitry to send both video *and* audio to the television? And how hard is it to convert a "pong" to work directly with modern TVs with separate audio/video inputs?

[J. T. August answered my question.]

"I can go to any electronics surplus store and buy little cone speakers under $1 each. The circuits to produce the audio channel(s) of an r/f signal are several, and have to be soldiered into the r/f circuit, making it noticeably more complicated. So yes, it was easier and cheaper to just include an internal speaker."

Brag: Turbo board game

2007-04-14T18:00:00.002-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Today was half-price day at the local kids' sale. For those without kids, this is basically a giant consignment sale. A small group rents a space for a month, takes in pre-priced items from contributors, has volunteers help sort them and set up, and so on. The primary seller is kids' clothing, but there are also toys, books, baby items, etc.

Since most items come from parents of kids ages 0-12, it's usually not a hot spot to find classic video game stuff, although often there's some more modern games. Today I scored a 1982 Turbo board game in great shape and complete for $2. I didn't have this one, so it was a nice find.

I also picked up one of those Ms. Pac-Man TV Games by Jakks Pacific for $2. Someone had left the batteries in it until they leaked -- I didn't think these things had been around long enough for that to happen(!) -- but some Q-tips and vinegar took care of that. It works fine. This is the first of the arcade-based TV Games plug-and-plays I've spent any time playing. It's old news, but they did an okay job on it. The controls obviously aren't up to arcade standards, but the games are close enough to the real thing that the differences just nag at you a bit. (As opposed to the whole thing being so obviously something like an NES-on-a-chip that you want to retch.) Rotating the joystick to steer in Pole Position worked better than I thought it would.

It's been a long time. Nice to find something "new" again.

Re: Just a small brag [Mattel Football I handheld]

2006-05-28T18:26:00.003-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

In article , Relic wrote:

Went into a local thrift store earlier today and found a number of the old Mattel Electronics devices laying around their toy section. My guess is that someone got rid of their collection en masse judging how many devices were there. I just picked up three (fearing that they may not work); Football 1 (1977 copyright on back), Auto Race (1976 on back, missing the battery cover) and Battlestar Galactica Space Alert (1978, missing battery cover).

Cool!

To add my own brag, I found a Football I at a church rummage sale for
$0.50 a month or two ago. And it had the battery cover, something the
one I've had since back in the '80s is missing. Works, too.

Brag: INTV games

2006-05-26T00:04:00.002-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Hi! Maybe someone here still remembers me. I haven't checked in for a long time. Video games have been on the backburner as a hobby for a while now. I'm trying to do some catching up here, but I'm currently reading messages from July and August 2005! Despite this, I thought I'd check in with a brag, as they're few and far between for me these days.

For the past year and a half, I've been going on a semi-annual trip that took my by a flea market quite a ways away from here. I was happy to discover a stall with used video games all the way back to the 2600. Back in October, I stopped even though I didn't really have enough money to buy anything. Boy, was I sorry! I found copies of Stadium Mud Buggies and Hover Force for the Intellivision.

Now honestly, I don't know Intellivision rarity that well, as it's not my primary system. A check of eBay when I got home, however, had me kicking myself for not buying them. It's too far to make a special trip, even for such gems, so I waited.

A few weeks back, it was time to go again. With some trepidation, I stopped at the flea market and went to see what they had. At first, I couldn't even find any Intellivision games, but continued searching revealed that box. It had been covered by something else, causing me to overlook it.

I scan through the titles. They're both still there! Also Bump 'N Jump and Chip Shot Super Pro Golf! And Pitfall II, which according to my list, I don't have. I pick them all up for $2 each!

"Wait a minute," you say, "Pitfall II wasn't released for the Intellivision!" This is true. I told you Intellivision wasn't the system I know best. It turns out this is a C-64 cartridge that got stuck in with the Intellivision ones. Oops.

I finally tested them tonight, except for Pitfall II. They all work! It's nice to find something I don't have. That they're of respectable rarity is even better.

[I found these at the flea market beside I-59 near Hammondville during our semi-annual trip to a Cub Scout camp out. I'm amazed they were still there after six months. I haven't seen them ever get anything new in for the classic consoles since, so I no longer mind sharing that information. — 18 June 2010]

A trip to Vulcan

2004-12-06T10:13:00.002-06:00

[Originally posted to the Homewood High School class of 1989 Yahoo! Group.]

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I took my two boys on a solo trip to Birmingham. This gave my wife a much needed break, as she's home-schooling and therefore gets almost no time away from them. My parents had some errands to do, so what to do with a 6- and 3-year-old in B'ham? Take 'em to the restored Vulcan!

I probably haven't been to Vulcan since college. For those unaware, they took Vulcan down for restoration a few years ago. The park has had a big overhaul as well, returning it to something closer to its 1938 roots. Gone is the enclosed viewing platform underneath him. Now it's a simple, open platform. There is still a glass elevator, but it now faces the south side (Homewood) instead of the west. You're free to take the stairs, as well. The first couple of flights are covered in marble, but above it's more utilitarian. The kids had a good time, although the 3-year-old didn't care for the platform. I hope I haven't given him acrophobia for life.

Oh, and Vulcan's spearhead is revealed once again. No longer does he carry a torch signifying when there's been a traffic fatality. There's also a museum and picnic area. Furthermore, you only have to pay for the museum and going to the top of Vulcan, so if you're short on dough you can still go up and take a look around the park.

Re: Ever picked up a cart out of pity?

2004-01-07T17:10:00.002-06:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic as a response to the quoted (>) post.]

In article <20040106165616.01786.00001429@mb-m20.aol.com>,
Bass Guitar God wrote:
>Now here's the question: Have you ever "rescued" such a cart, purchased it,
>taken it home, cleaned it up, and add it to the stack of copies you already
>owned just out of respect for the game?

>And you cannot stand to see it like this, and figure that it would be much
>better in your care, until the time comes when you can at least give it to
>someone who could use it. Can anybody relate to this? I can!

Yes, and that's my problem! 8) I'm currently agonizing over that Pong clone I mentioned Monday. I went back and they wanted $15 for it! ($10 after I showed the lady the battery leakage.) I can't afford to pay $10 for the privilege of seeing if I can resuscitate it.

Today I went do a different thrift and found a Mattel D&D Computer Labyrinth game for $2! It was missing some pieces, of course, but in the (beat up) box. I went up to the counter and asked about opening it to check it out. I also made sure there wasn't an old battery in it and related my experience to the cashier. She said there were some thrift stores in town (didn't mention names) that price things based on how nice you're dressed. I figure that's what's happening to me, because I have to go on lunch hour from work. I also figure she was referring to that very store because I think all the rest in town put price tags on everything.

And before you suggest dressing down and going on the weekend or something, I've been making regular trips there so long they know my face. My only hope is to catch a time when a different lady is at the register. (I've never been fond of the one I had to deal with, and this is why.)

Weekend Colecovision finds

2003-08-15T14:56:00.002-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I admit, I'm only thrifting infrequently right now, but while out of town this past weekend, I finally found some actual classic games that I didn't already have! I don't remember the last time that happened.

There are four thrifts I usually try to hit while at the in-laws, which are spread out quite a bit. I picked one for no particular reason, but chose wisely as I scored some Colecovision games. The ones I didn't have were Illusions, Ken Uston's Blackjack & Poker, and Threshold. I also picked up 2010: The Graphic Action Game, B.C.'s Quest for Tires, The Heist, Jumpman Junior, and One-on-One for trade bait. I left Donkey Kong, Venture, and Zaxxon for the next person. So yes, for this weekend, I was Sum Guy.

I haven't had time to test them yet, but look forward to doing so.

[10 Nov 2011 comment: I sadly don't remember exactly which thrift store this was any more. Possibly it was the America's Thrift Store located at Airport and Schillinger. (I think it was open back then.) That store has since moved to Tillman's Corner and the old space is now a Dirt Cheap.

The phrase "Sum Guy" originated on rec.games.video.classic to refer to that person who bought up all the classic video game stuff before you got there, even the common games (e.g. Pac-Man, Combat, and Space Invaders). As best I can tell now – because honestly, I don't remember as no one had any idea it would catch on so at the time – it was originated by Terry E. Rutt on 4 Feb 1996. Some credit might also be due to Robert Batina for starting the thread on the phenomenon and CudaBert for following up with "News Flash.....Some Guy spotted in New Jersey area".]

Today's finds (books)

2002-02-25T15:04:00.003-06:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I don't get to go thrifting much these days, but decided to hit at least one today. This turned out to be a good decision. No games in sight, but I found the 1984 Comsumer Reports Buying Guide and Don't Overdo with Video Games!. I may already have the former (I'll have to check), but not the latter. So far I've only had a chance to glance at them, but here are some notes.

The 1984 CR Buying Guide doesn't give ratings to the consoles, just reviews. All the info is condensed from the Nov 1982 and Jan 1983 issues of Consumer Reports, if you care to search those out. They review the Astrocade, Atari 5200, Atari VCS, Colecovision, Intellivision, and Odyssey^2. They also review a few games for each console in just a few sentences. I love what they say about 2600 Pac-Man: "The graphics aren't quite as good as in the arcade version, and the unresponsive joystick limits the player's control."

The full title of the second book is actually What to Do When Your Mom or Dad Says . . . Don't Overdo with Video Games!. It's by Joy Wilt Berry with illustrations by Bartholomew, and is the Weekly Reader version of "The Surival Series for Kids." (This means it has a flipside that's WTDWYMODS . . . We Can't Afford It!.) The illustrations feature a young boy being constantly tempted by what looks like an orange monster from Pac-Man, but with arms and a mouth. My favorite part is that all the games the boy plays are part of the fictional Gorp series of games. (Note that this book is copyright 1983 and Gorf debuted in 1981.) There's Gorp, Gorp Zapper, Combat Gorp, Space Gorp, Wizard Gorp, Star Gorp, Ms. Gorp, War Gorp, and Super Gorp. All we need now is Gorp Deluxe, Gorp Plus, Baby Gorp, Gorp Junior, Gorp Bros., and Gorp-o-tron, and we'll be set. 8)

[An hour later, I followed up with the following post.]
I gave it a better look. Here are some quotes I've added to my random signature file. William Cassidy and other O2 enthusiasts beware; they weren't kind to it.

"Gone are the simple home video games of the 1970's. Current machines have micorprocessor 'brains' that endow them with computer-like speed and sophistication."
     -- Consumer Reports on home video games (1984)

"The graphics aren't quite as good as in the arcade version, and the unresponsive joystick limits the player's control."
     -- Consumer Reports on Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 (1984 Buying Guide)

"The list of games available for the Atari 5200 should lengthen rapidly . . . ."
     -- Consumer Reports on the Atari 5200 (1984 Buying Guide)

"Here's another challenge to your ability to master the controls before they frustrate you."
     -- Consumer Reports on Night Stalker for the Intellvision (1984 Buying Guide)

"The only computer language available . . . is "Assembler" -- a cumbersome language of little practical utility on this equipment."
     -- Consumer Reports on the Odyssey² (1984 Buying Guide)

"The machine's [joysticks] worked reasonably well. But that was was about the only good thing the panelists could find in the Odyssey 2."
     -- Consumer Reports on the Odyssey² (1984 Buying Guide)

"Several panelists wondered why a machine with such potential was handicapped with an array of such crude games."
     -- Consumer Reports on the Odyssey² (1984 Buying Guide)

Tip of the Moment (battery springs)

2001-02-21T00:00:00.002-06:00

Tip of the moment: Check the springs when you change the batteries.

I recently got a Palm PDA as a present from my wife. I changed the batteries for the second time since I got it and rushed off to an appointment. Upon arriving, I discovered my Palm had reset and I'd lost everything. Investigating, I discovered one of the springs that's supposed to make contact with a battery was bent sideways. I fixed it and restored all my data upon my first opportunity. (Yes, as recommended, I'd done a HotSync just before changing them.)

[From my "Past Tips of the Moment and Past Thoughts" page. This was the eighth tip and 13th and final post overall. Although the page and the section on my home page stayed there through 2009, I let it stagnate and never updated it again, even though I didn't yet have a proper blog or other venue to replace it.

This tip refers to my first PDA, a Palm IIIxe. Unlike later PDAs, it used regular, disposable AAA batteries instead of a rechargeable one. It did have some way to maintain its memory during battery changes, but it was a very short term thing. — 28 May 2009]

Weird Al concert report: Birmingham and Bermuda (LONG)

2000-08-25T00:00:00.005-05:00

[Originally posted to alt.music.weird-al.]

I probably don't have to tell you guys that Al was in concert at the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham on Wednesday night, so I won't. 8) I will tell you that this is my report on that concert. First, I need to give you a little background.

I last saw Al live in concert when he performed at the Oak Mountain Ampitheatre in Birmingham as the opening act for the Monkees in 1987. (I was 16. Do the math yourself.) It was just a few weeks ago, however, that I watched a friend's copy of the "Weird Al" Yankovic Live DVD. I'd also seen it when it debuted on VH-1, so I pretty much knew what to expect.

You should also know that I used to be a regular volunteer at the Alabama Theatre from the mid-80s to mid-90s. Although I no longer live in B'ham, I am still in touch with the people who are in charge of the Alabama and my mother still volunteers there. Having Al perform there was a dream come true. (To find out more about the Alabama, a historic movie palace, visit www.alabamatheatre.com.)

I showed up at the Alabama just before 5:00 p.m., when there was supposed to be a sound check. However, the people at the Alabama had been told that the band and crew had been doing the tour for 14 months, so they didn't need to do one. As it turned out, Bermuda did show up and do some checks with the sound guy. It was fun to hear him warm up.

After he was finished, he talked to the sound guy some. I went and sat down front and waited patiently. (The sound board was on stage.) Eventually I got a chance to speak to him and get his autograph. I showed him around backstage (or should I say understage?) some. He invited me to come back after the show, but didn't have any passes, so he asked if I'd still have my backstage pass. I said yes, but I'd be with my wife and a friend, so he said we'd have to play it by ear.

Now we fast forward to the concert. The Alabama seats approximately 2200. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near a sell-out. There were 635 presale tickets sold, 55 walk-ups, and 90 complimentary tickets. Four hundred of those presales were in the first three days! After that, the rest only trickled in. The mezzanine was pretty much full, but no one sat in the balcony. The main floor was well covered, but not packed. Our tickets were dead center in the seventh row. Great for seeing the show, but not for getting to be close to Al.

The opening act was a (local, I think) comedian named Max Davis (or something like that). His mouth wasn't too foul, but he did mention drugs (specifically pot) several times. Needless to say, several mothers there with children complained. Al's management (or the promoter) had requested a clean comedian, of course. This had been the first question the Alabama staff asked when they called the Comedy Club. They had been told he was clean, but this is what they got. By and large, the comedian did seem to go over well with the audience.

After a short intermission, Al and the band came on. There's no need to tell you all the details, because you've read them before and can see the set list at http://www.weirdal.com/rwstour.htm. Oh, in case it hasn't been mentioned before, I will mention one thing. They now include clips from the "Celebrity Death Match" episode featuring Al during part of the show.

From a technical standpoint, the show went well for the most part. It seemed to me they didn't have Al's mike turned up loud enough at some points and it was sometimes difficult to hear and/or understand him while he was singing. For fans, this wasn't a problem during most of the songs because we already know the words. I did have a problem making out some of the unrecorded stuff, though. Also, my wife, who's not a big Al fan but had a good time anyway, had some comprehension problems. They also seemed to miss a mike cue on Steve singing "microscopic bacteria" during "Germs."

The lights and special effects were great. The smoke could be a little irritating when they overdid it a couple times. (I can't imagine how it is for the band.) The bubbles were fun and the snow was plentiful during "The Night Santa Went Crazy." (Another quick background point: my primary job at the Alabama was working the spotlight.) I don't know if the spotlight operators were local or part of the traveling crew. They did a decent job, but it could have been better. I noticed during one song one of them didn't have his spot high enough on Al. (It stopped around his chest.) Because the second spot was on him, I doubt anyone else noticed.

The crowd was enthusiastic, although I think they got moreso as the concert went on. Some people hung a bedsheet banner from the mezzanine saying "Al 4 Pres" during intermission. The group in front on house right was particularly rowdy. Things got a little out of control during Al's journey into the audience in "One More Minute." Some people were coming up front to touch him. When Al went to give the underwear to a lady on the front row, some guy snatched it and ran back to his seat. Al was back on stage at this point and tried to grab it back, but was unsuccessful. I feel sorry for the lady who didn't get the underwear. (I guess only an Al fan would understand that. 8)

Between two songs, Al said how nice it was "to be back in my home town, Birmingham, Alabama." He continued about how he'd wanted to make sure it was on the tour and asked his manager to "make sure it's the same night as the final episode of 'Survivor.'" This got some laughs, but before the show some of the Alabama Theatre people I talked to felt this might be part of the reason for the less than stellar attendance.

After "Fat," Al and the band, of course, got a standing ovation. The audience never sat down again, choosing to sway, clap, and sing along with "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda" encores. After that, most disperesed. A few stayed behind. After most people had left, Ruben came out, practically unobserved, and sat to talk with two ladies he apparently knew sitting two rows behind us. As he went out the lobby with them, my friend and got him to do some quick autographs. Jim had come out, been slightly mobbed, and disappeared again, during this time. I never saw him again, so he's the only band member whose autograph I didn't get.

At this point, my friend decided to leave since it was a long drive home for him and it increased my chances of meeting Al. I took my wife with me backstage. Unfortunately, it appears in trying to be courteous, I'd waited too long to go back. Down in the green room, I found it soley occupied by Steve, eating a bit of food and reading the paper. I hesitantly asked him if he knew where Bermuda was and got an autograph. I get the feeling he didn't like being bothered, but he didn't say anything or refuse the autograph.

He told me Bermuda was just down the hall. This time, thanks to borrowing my mother's keys, I was able to show him the organ console. He declined my invitation to also see an organ chamber, which is really one of the most interesting things to see. He said Al didn't have any guests tonight, so that wasn't a problem but he had disappeared. If Al was back on the bus, he told me, he couldn't make him come out. I understood, of course.

We all went out the stage door and found Al sitting on a stool on the sidewalk signing autographs for a long line of fans. We said goodbye to Bermuda and got in line. Slowly we moved up and I got to say a few words to Al, get his autograph, and a picture of me with him. I realized later I had stupidly missed my opportunities for a picture with Bermuda. (D'oh!)

I suppose I should say, I may have done some stupid looking things while showing Bermuda around. I was somewhat nervous and unfortunately I haven't been backstage in a few years. There have been some changes made that I either wasn't aware of or had forgotten. I also probably didn't make much sense to Al as I blathered on. Oh well, hopefully the short note I'd given to Bermuda earlier to give to him will make more sense.

I was conservative with my pictures because I didn't have an extra roll of film. If they come out, I'll eventually post them on my web site. Thanks to Al, the band, and the crew for a great show! And thanks to Bermuda for putting up with me. I hope you guys travel safely for the rest of the tour and get to come back sometime.

Brag: 2600, 7800 games and more

2000-07-17T00:01:00.002-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Woohoo! Today was a great day, especially for a Monday. I hadn't even planned to go thrifting today, but changed my mind for sundry reasons. I'm glad I did!

First stop: The local used game shop has marked all their $4.95-6.95 NES games down to 3 for $10. I'm tempted by some, but the only things I'd really like haven't been marked down (e.g. Donkey Kong 3, $19.95). They've also marked down SNES games to 3 for $25 and Genesis to 3 for $15. I didn't look over those too closely.

Second stop: Someone donated a few Atari 8-bit computers with stuff. I went up front with an old-style trakball, a Tac-2 joystick, two unnamed joysticks with not much of a base (I've seen these before, but I don't believe I have any), and a pair of remote control joysticks and the receiver. (In a fit of irony, I'd recently made a deal to buy a boxed set of remote control joysticks from a local collector, but hadn't actually bought them yet. I hope he won't mind if I back out.) The cashier priced everything at $2, except the trakball ($10!). I put the trakball and one practically-baseless joystick back.

I also did NOT pick up the following loose Atari 8-bit carts for $3 each: Atlantis, Beamrider, Gyruss, Miner 2049er, and Monster Maze. Should I go back for them (at that price)?

Second stop: I usually don't head straight to the video and sound media area (for lack of a better name), but this time I thought I saw a new batch of 2600 games, so I did. Jackpot! For 25 cents each, I got (all loose):

2600 - Demon Attack (blue label), River Raid, River Raid II, Sea Hawk
7800 - Double Dragon, F-18 Hornet, Titlematch Pro Wrestling, Xenophobe

For another $1, I got a complete, boxed copy of Archon for NES. All of these were in excellent shape! (Demon Attack and F-18 Hornet has some actiplaque. Titlematch has some odd, smudged black spots.) I bought Demon Attack to replace one I traded away for a hardcover copy of The Complete Guide to Conquering Video Games: How to Win at Every Game in the Galaxy a few years ago. I thought River Raid would be a label upgrade for me, but it turns out I apparently already have one in good shape. All the rest were ones I didn't have.

BTW, I was initially given a price of $0.50 each on the loose carts. After going back for River Raid and coming back, she only charged $0.25. I told her her initial price, but she said she was "in a good mood today," so I told her I wouldn't argue.

Finds: Tandyvision & ... Yars' Revenge?

2000-06-29T13:39:00.002-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

[Geez, these always end up longer than I intend. I guess I'm naturally long-winded. Does anyone actually read them?]

Went to the thrifts yesterday and saw a Radio Shack Tandyvision One (semi-rare Intellivision rebadge, if you didn't know) in the box for $10. I didn't have that on me and I had to get back to work, so I left it in hopes it would be there tomorrow. (OT: In the store before this, I bought MS Office Pro & Bookshelf for Win95 for $4! Now I've got to make room on my hard drive for it.)

Went back today and it was still there. The console was the only thing in the box (no docs and no switchbox (like I need another one)). It was in good shape and so was the box except for one side that had had some clear packing tape torn off of it. Ten dollars is higher than I would have liked, but this is only the second one I've ever seen and I let the first get away. (I wasn't collecting Intellivision then and eBay didn't exist.) I asked if any games had come in with it, and the cashier called in back. There was some confusion, but the answer seemed to be no. Turns out the confusion was because they'd also had an Atari come in early in the week. I did not need to hear that, because there had been no trace of it.

I also picked up a Midway promotional, bulk mail video (Midway Rocks the House), which includes games like Rush and Rampage World Tour. I've never seen one of these from Midway before, just Nintendo. Since video tapes are usually cheap at thrifts, I've started collecting video game related one, no matter the age. Anyone else collecting these? Got a Mixed Game Bag 2 cassette for the Timex-Sinclair 1000 lot I'm gonna put up on eBay one day, too.

For some reason I wasn't satisfied with my find, so I went back to two thrifts I'd already visited this week. At the first, I still can't quite convince myself to pay $3 for a Colecovision Ladybug cart, and I needed what was left of the money I had for lunch anyway. At the second, I found a bag of about 10 common games for $5. (Pass.) In another spot, I found a boxed Yars' Revenge. Picking it up, I found the $1 price tag and, for reasons I'm not sure of, felt the box. It became obvious there was more than one cart in it. It was taped shut, so I didn't know what it was and just assumed one of the was Yars' Revenge. For $1, I bought it. (I don't think I actually have an original, orange Yars' Revenge box, but I'm probably wrong.)

Upon getting to the car, I cut the tape and found . . . Video Chess (text) was the extra cart. The other was indeed Yars' Revenge. But it was in near mint condition! It obviously wasn't used much. Also included were near mint copies of the docs, comic, and rev. E (red, 49 games) Atari catalog. Ths box is in fair shape. The tape was easily removed without harm. (If I'd known that, I would have tried it in the store.) I also removed the thrift price tag to see the original Hills tag under neath it. It seems the previous owner got it for a whopping $0.97 + tax.

[10 Nov 2011 comment: You might note that this is at least the third copy of Video Chess I found in just over a year, after never finding any "in the wild" prior to that. I found the first just after buying one online and the second complete in the box just a few days later.]

FIND: Super Simon & Inty games

2000-06-22T00:00:00.003-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Okay, so that should probably be "[FINDS]".... Anyway, earlier this week I found a Super Simon in nice condition & with both battery covers in the box. Can anyone tell me (Lenny?) if Ralph Baer created this sequel to his most popular game? I couldn't find a price on it, but as luck would have it, one of the main pricers was by the cash register when I got there, so he let me have it for a buck. (Then he saw the $2.49 price written in small print, but let it go.) I also picked up a Sega Menacer, missing one eyepiece but otherwise complete, also in the box for $2. I saw it shortly after they got it, when it was marked at $12. I wasn't going to buy it at that price. Glad I checked the price again this time.

Off-topic, I also picked up the paperback Gidget Goes New York, thinking my wife might like it since she likes the movies. On a lark, I checked for it on eBay and was surprised at the profit I can probably make selling it. She said if I sell it before she reads it, that's fine.

Today I picked up a bag of 10 unboxed Intellivision games for $2.50. I broke my personal rule about only getting common carts if they were complete (box, docs, overlays) because it had Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in it. The only other game in the batch I didn't have was Triple Action. I was pleasantly surprised to find most of the games had the overlays tucked in their manuals. (I couldn't tell this before I bought it.) Here's the complete list (I=instructions, O=overlays):

Auto Racing (I(x2?),O)
Sea Battle (I,O)
D&D (INTV label)
Star Wars: TESB
LV Poker & Blackjack
Sub Hunt
Major League Baseball (O)
Triple Action (I,O)
NFL Football (all I,O)
Utopia (I,O)

[Ralph Baer is the creator of the world's first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey (not Odyssey²). He also created the original electronic Simon game. "Lenny" was addressed to Leonard Herman, who hung out on the group at the time. He confirmed Mr. Baer did indeed create Super Simon as well.]

Brag: Weekend Intelly finds

2000-06-05T13:54:00.001-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

[As usual, I seem to have rambled on longer than intended. Skip to the list if you're in a hurry.]

I had to get a new battery for my car, which is not too far from a weekly flea market that I don't normally make it to. (A real flea market with junk, not so much new stuff.) First I spotted a bare Intellivision (I) console. (Pass.) Then I spotted a pong system in the box. As I was looking at it, I spotted another Intellivision (I) with some carts nearby. She wanted $15 for the console and 11-15 games (I forget).

Being light on cash (and not really needing another console and common carts to clutter up my already overcrowded space), I asked if she would consider selling any of the games separate. After mulling it over and realizing she could make more money that way (she actually said that), she agreed to sell the games for $1 each. I took seven that I thought were at least semi-rare. I passed on the pong since it didn't seem to be anything special. (I didn't even ask the price.)

I got home and found out most of the games weren't overly rare, but I did make one really good score. None of these are tested yet, but here's what I got (all loose unless otherwise indicated):

AD&D Treasure of Tarmin
Centipede
Congo Bongo (w/manual, missing one page)
Frogger (w/manual)
Q*bert
River Raid
Shark! Shark!

There's something odd about the Congo Bongo (the rarest of the batch by far). One of the screws has detached from the bottom half of the case, yet the label is intact and, except for peeling at the end, in great shape. In other words, the screw's still there under the label, but it's no longer screwed in.

Brag: NES Arkanoid controller

2000-05-30T00:01:00.004-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Okay, so I don't officially consider the NES classic, but if I stuck to the true classics, I'd hardly ever post a brag or find these days. 8(

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I took a short trip to another city. Visited a mall and discovered my first GameStop store. Inside, with the other NES controllers was an Arkanoid controller marked $1.99. When the cashier rang it up, it came up as about $4 instead, to which I objected. The manager, who was just at the end of the counter going through papers, saw it and said they weren't supposed to sell it without the cartridge. (He'd remembered when it came in and thought it had been pulled from the shelf since the cart was missing.) I said I was willing to pay $2 for it, so he had the cashier ring it up at the marked price.

Today provided an interesting footnote. At my local, overpriced, used video game store, I saw they had an Arkanoid controller which was marked $19.99. No thanks! (BTW, this makes up for the one I passed by a few years ago because I didn't know how rare/desirable they were.) Now I just need to find the game so I can test it.

[If I remember correctly, I found it at the GameStop in Century Plaza, Birmingham, Alabama. — 18 June 2010]

Brag: Instant Astrocade collection & more

2000-05-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

This is shaping up to be a good week. No doubt about it, it's spring cleaning time! First, at a church yard sale this weekend, I picked up a few common (Dr. Mario) and not so common (Klax) NES games that I didn't have yet for $0.50 each. I'd also spotted an NES Game Genie box, but didn't give it a good look. A kid came up behind me and asked if he could see it. I handed it to him and kept digging through the games. He said he thought it was actually a Super NES GG and handed it back. He was right! I got it for 50 cents, too! (Thank goodness he didn't decide he wanted it.)

Other finds at weekend yard sales were mostly more Nintendo stuff. (And I'm not a Nintendo collector, dammit!) I did pick up an Atari ST/Amiga/Atari 8-bit trackball.

Monday I found a couple dozen boxed, complete Intellivision games. I picked up Mouse Trap and Beauty and the Beast (which I may already have, I forget), and some box upgrades. Tuesday I remembered to take my not-up-to-date list and got some more as box upgrades.

Tuesday something had told me to go to Value Village, but I didn't have time! So I went today. The first thing I see, sitting right next to the door, is a boxed Sega Master System. I'm not really interested, especially for $38.99, even though I see some boxed games inside. So I wander around the store some more. As I make my way around to the second electronics section, I'm confronted by a big box that says "arcade" on the side. What's this?!? A Bally Profesional Arcade in the box!

I've never seen a single Astrocade item in the wild before. It's marked $24.99. Not knowing how much they go for on eBay, I debate buying it, but quickly decide it's worth it since I've never seen one before. (I also pick up NES Spy Hunter for $2.99 for the heck of it.) I get outside and it's raining. The box is already heavily taped, but I don't want to get it wet as well. So I decide to sit down and see what's inside.

I find 17(!) cartridges, 10 big game manuals, 9 small game manuals (plus three Football playbooks (Why do I have two for the blue team?)), the system manual, a keypad overlay, power supply, and four(!) controllers. No switchbox and no dust cover, but I'm not complaining! None of the cartridges are more than a 3 in rarity by the DPG. Somewhat annoyingly, I have manuals for Star Battle and Artillery Duel, but no carts. All the cartridges/manuals are the "Bally" versions except The Incredible Wizard and Artilery Duel.

Then I went down the street to another thrift and picked up a pair of Starfighter joysticks with a standard 9-pin (2600/C64/etc.) connectors. Never come across this particular type of joystick before.

Now, I just hope everything I've picked up this week works. I haven't had a chance to test any of it yet, and don't forsee being able to do so until next week.

[To date, this is still my only Astrocade find ever. — 18 June 2010]

I hate my thrift!

1999-09-20T16:57:00.003-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic. "Thrift" is slang for a thrift store--a store usually run by a charity that sells used items donated to them.]

I hate one of my local thrifts. They have insane prices, but I have to keep going back because they tend to get in more of what I'm looking for. (Unfortunately, it's so dry here that even they don't get in much in the way of video games.) Here's an exchange I had with the cashier today:

I put on the counter a C-64 magazine and paperback. The price sign by the register says $0.25 & $0.50 for paperbacks, but nothing about magazines.
"$1.25."
"A dollar? For a magazine?!?" I ask. I had been expecting 15 to 25 cents.
"For a computer magazine," she says as if this makes perfect sense.
"But it's over ten years old!" (It was from 1986.)
"It's an antique then, isn't it?" she says incredulously.
"Then you can keep it," I say in a bit of a huff.
"Be happy to," she responds icily. I paid my quarter for the book and left.

The cashiers at this store get to set the prices. Nothing is marked, although there is aforementioned sign giving prices of the more common items. They apparently have some unwritten code for pricing some items. (Like all video game cartridges, from 2600 to Genesis, are $3.) This is the same lady that priced an in-the-box pong-style system at $10 for me last week. I passed on that, too, and it was still there today.

Maybe I'm showing up on different days, but it seems to me they get a cashier who works for a few weeks and then disappears. (And for some reason they're all older women.) This lady has been there before. At least the previous cashier was pleasant, even if she was equally insane on pricing. The store is run by a local rescue mission, and I'm sure they'd make more money if they sold some of their items for less.

ObCVG: Picked up a NES Game Genie for $0.50 at a yard sale this weekend. Haven't tested it yet.

["ObCVG" stands for "obligatory classic video games" content. The newsgroup was supposed to be for discussing classic video games, which was not the main topic of my post. So I added a teeny bit about them to make it on topic.

I was much later told at another thrift store that some other thrifts in town priced items based on how the purchaser was dressed. I typically did my shopping on my lunch hour, so this is probably what bit me because I was wearing "business casual" dress--essentially slacks and a collared shirt. Fancy clothes for someone buying stuff at a thrift store. — 5 June 2009]

Brag: Hardware for $0.10 each (& More finds today)

1999-07-30T00:01:00.006-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Subject: Brag: Hardware for $0.10 each

More classic computer oriented, but anyway. Today I stopped by a thrift I don't have much luck at. It's actually more of a consignment shop, but if people leave their items past a certain amount of time and they don't sell, the shop claims them and sells them itself. What I didn't know is that red tag items (ones the shop has claimed) are 10 cents on Fridays!

I went up to the cash register with a Commodore 128D (just CPU, keyboard, & built-in floppy drive; marked $2.50), TI 99/4A (computer, power supply, switchbox, and Wico joystick adapter; $2.50), and an Atari Video Pinball (w/switchbox & coax adapter, missing side buttons covers; $3.00). Don't ask me to explain why the Video Pinball was marked more than the computers.

The couple in front of me let me put my stuff on the counter, but was still going to go ahead, which was fine with me. The lady saw I had a red tag item and said they were $0.10. I was amazed and said they were all red tag items, so she let me go in front of them after all. It came to $0.32. I had planned on charging my purchase since I had all of $0.35 on me, but I got to pay cash. 8)

The computers will be eBay bound after a while. If I sell them for $1, I'll make almost a 1000% profit. 8) The Video Pinball is an duplicate unit. I figure if the paddle works better than my other, I can transfer the button covers. Just like my other one, I haven't managed to get the battery compartment open to see if there's anything in there or not. Finally, am I correct that the C-128D just needs a normal power cord like a PC? (No fancy power adapter like a C-64.)

[This was the Thrift Shop on Redstone Arsenal. Sadly, I no longer work on the Arsenal and hence don't have access to the store any more. To give locals a feel for how long ago, this was when the shop was still in the complex of out-of-the-way buildings between Ajax and Patriot Roads, just north of Neal Road. (Sorry, I don't remember the building number.) It was while I was working out there (1998–2000) that they moved to their current location in building 3209 on Hercules Road. — 18 June 2010]

[Here's a second post made the same day.]

Subject: More finds today

I forgot to mention another thing in my "10 cents each" brag. At another thrift I picked up a set of twin size Pac-Man sheets for $3. (Just fitted & flat sheets, no pillowcases. 8( ) We don't currently have a twin bed in our house, but our son will be sleeping one in a few years. But do I dare let him actually *use* them?

At the same thrift, I found an NES Roll & Rocker controller for $4. I've heard of it before, but hadn't paid much attention. Can this be used in place of a standard controller or does it only work with certain games? Anyway, it's an addition to my informal "odd NES controllers" collection.

[I did indeed use the Pac-Man sheets on my son's bed when he got older. And eventually they were a preferred alternative to Barney. — 1 July 2010]

Re: Someone got Perfect Pacman Score????

1999-07-14T00:01:00.009-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic as part of a lengthy thread about the original announcement of Billy Mitchell's perfect Pac-Man game.]

In article <r#1XL5Vz#GA.68@pet.hiwaay.net>, Lee Seitz wrote:

Okay, let's try this again. Looking at the split screen photo at VGR's web site (http://www.clark.net/pub/vgr/pics/pac-man.gif), and comparing to a normal board, it looks like there's 104 dots and two engergizers. So...
[snip]
612,000 + 1040 + 51,000 + 100 + 204,000 + 2,459,600 = 3,327,740

Hmmm, now I'm 5,620 under. Assuming it appears okay and is edible, I believe 102 dots will only yield one key (5000 pts.), which still leaves me 620 points off.

Heck, I think I'll just ask Mr. Day. I'll let y'all know what he says.

(Cross-posted to r.g.v.a.c because of similar threads there.)

Well, Walter Day called me and conferenced in Billy Mitchell earlier this evening. (Surprised the heck out of me! He sent a brief e-mail earlier, but I was in a hurry and only half read it.) I'm not at liberty to reveal everything we discussed, but here's what I can tell you.

First, after the call, it occurred to me I could use MAME's cheat function to go straight to the split screen. (Why didn't we think of this before???) I think I miscounted the dots on the good half. There seem to be 112. Anyway, the key is that there are also dots on the bad half. (They're hard to see on the photo I referenced earlier because it's so small.) And they reset each time you die! So a perfect score includes eating these dots and dying, then repeat.

A perfect game also sets the number of lives to maximum. Since the game has a finite end, it was agreed among the top players that this should be done to allow the absolute maximum score to be achieved.

At this point I'm sick of trying to do the math, so I'm simply going to take Walter & Billy at their word that 3,333,360 is the max. possible score. I have no reason not to believe them.

Some other threads referenced classic magazines that gave higher scores and ways to get past the split screen. Quite simply, Walter didn't believe back then that people would lie about a video game score. In his defense, most players had signed documents from their local arcade saying they achieved the score they submitted. Apparently the arcade's simply went along with the lying claimants, either knowingly or unknowingly. After relating all this, Walter said, "I hope I'm not wrong now, but I was definitely wrong then." He seems to have enough different people who should know all telling him the same thing to be right this time. Thanks to him and Billy for taking the time to talk to me.

[The opening equation is: 255 boards of dots + split screen dots + 255 boards of energizers + split screen energizers + 17 boards of monsters (4 per energizer) + 255 boards of fruit. My total is off because there are 112 dots on the left side of the split screen, not 104. Note that the image above is much clearer than the one I mentioned on VGR's web site — which, as far as I know was the only one available at the time — so it was more difficult to count the dots.

Also, as I figured out, I forgot to include one key on the split screen for 5,000 points. So the total should be 3,332,820. That leaves 540 points to be picked up by eating the nine dots hidden on the right six times (five starting lives plus a bonus life).

I was utterly flabbergasted when Walter Day called me on the phone at home. And I don't think I gave him my phone number, either. Apparently he knew enough about my Classic Video Games Nexus site to think I had some standing in the classic video game community to deserve such treatment, and I certainly wasn't going to dissuade him. I later saw Mitchell play Ms. Pac-Man at Classic Gaming Expo 2K. His skill is awe-inspiring. — 18 June 2010]

Today's finds (future classics?) [N64 clock, strategy guides, Stop Thief]

1999-06-19T00:01:00.005-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I only had time to hit four yard sales today, but the first one was good. It advertised computer & video games. Turns out the guy was a former Electronics Boutique manager and was dumping a bunch of stuff. I picked up several expensive hint books for games and systems I don't have (yet) at $0.50 each! I even picked up a little bit of software, too. But the coolest item had to be a Nintendo 64 clock for $5. It has the big 3-D N logo in the middle. I don't have a clock in my office, so this will do. It might even be worth something to people like us in 20 years. 8) Of course, I'd trade it for an Atari logo clock in a heartbeat. 8)

Quick notes on some of the books:

The Battlezone Strategy Guide has some quotes from the creator of the classic arcade game. He talks about how being a home game allows the new Battlezone to have more depth.

The Summer 1999 Expert Codebook actually tells you how to find the secret room in Adventure! It's an "Extra" in the Saturn section. (Yes, there really is a short Saturn section.) Right below it is another Extra that talks about the stuff you can get by frying your 2600. They don't actually call it that, nor do they mention that you could potentially damage your system doing it.

The only other things I found were at my second stop. A Stop Thief board game ($1, eBait) and a computer data switch ($2). I think I'll eventually use the latter for the Intellivision Controller Interface when I get the money for them.

[The N64 clock is still on my wall, but I still don't own a N64. Nor did I ever buy the Intellivision Controller Interface, which is probably just as well since computers have all gone USB since. — 15 August 2010]

[Galen Tatsuo Komatsu posted the following regarding the Adventure secret room instructions four days later (6/23/1999):]

This originally appeared in the August'98 issue of Expert Gamer, in an article, "50 Greatest Videogame Tricks of All Time" which also appears on their videogames.com website.

Since you have the item in front of you, grab a copy of Atari B-TECH and compare the text of the trick in the two.

hmmm...

Last week's finds [joysticks]

1999-06-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I've been meaning to post this for a while. This is stuff I found last Friday (May 28th). A couple weeks ago, Alex added a picture of the Accuball controller to the 2600 Nexus. Well guess what I found in a box full of Commodore 64 stuff? Yep. Plus three Super Champ joysticks. These are the ones that let you wind the cord into the base. Very handy. Two of them work fine. The third was completely disassembled, but in the box. I told the lady I really just wanted the box and showed her the parts inside. She sold that to me for $0.50. My total was $5.50. I could have sworn I got something else, too, but I can't remember what.

I slapped most of the parts together. The previous owner apparently disassembled it because the plastic ring that presses the direction contact broke. It looks like this wasn't the first time someone tried to fix this problem. All the parts are there, except a couple screws, but they went a little overboard on their disassembly. They not only desoldered the fire button wires (which is necessary to get it apart for the fix), they also cut the ones going from the top button to the trigger button. Oh, and it's missing a suction cup, too. If anybody wants the broken one, just let me know. It's yours for the cost of shipping. I'm happy to have two working ones now, plus a box!

This Week's Finds [Mattel Baseball, Lost Luggage, catalogs]

1999-05-14T00:01:00.005-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I didn't get out much this week due to a stomach virus. But I still had some luck. First stop Thursday was to go pick up a Mattel Baseball handheld I'd seen earlier. At $3.75, I'd been hesitant to pick it up, but a quick check of eBay afterwards confirmed I should have gotten it the first time. I was tempted to let it sit until it was half-price, but at this store it seems anything I want disappears the day it goes to half-price. Oh, and it was still there. Now it'll be eBait.

The last stop Thursday netted me a copy of Lost Luggage (green label) with the manual for $0.50! I've been looking for this for a while. I found one last summer, but the board is loose and I haven't had a chance to repair it. (Gotta be careful so I don't ruin the label.) This one works fine. I also picked up Apollo and Spectravideo catalogs with it, as I didn't have those. Oh, and an Entex Hockey for $1. It has some cloudy spots on the screen and I wasn't real impressed with it, so I may trade it.

I'd forgotten to take my list with me, so when I got back I discovered I should have picked up the Towering Inferno for its manual, too. I went back today (Friday) and did so, also deciding to pick up Defender & Atlantis (label upgrades) and Planet Patrol just to round things out to $2. All came with manuals. It just occurred to me, however, that I think I didn't really need that Defender. I need to get my printed list updated again, I guess.

A prior Friday stop netted me a Coleco Alien Attack handheld for $1.50. I can't say much about it yet as I don't keep C batteries at work. It looks nice and clean, though.

I also picked up two N64 promotional video tapes. The ones they send in the mail to registered customers. I only ever got two in the mail myself, as I never upgraded to the N64 from my SNES (that I rarely play). I already had both of them (Diddy Kong Racing & Banjo-Kazooie), but figures extras won't hurt at $0.50 each. Does anyone else collect these? I don't know why I started. Partly to preserve them, partly in hopes they'll be a wanted item in the future
since everyone seems to throw them out eventually.

[I eventually gave the Entext Hockey to a fellow collector who's also a big hockey fan. I found it incredibly hard to hit the ball in Mattel Baseball, so it went on eBay, as did the Alien Attack. —15 August 2010]

Today's finds [Telstar Colormatic, Simon, battery guarantee]

1999-05-04T00:01:00.009-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I tend to be long-winded, so here's the topics of interest in this post: Coleco, dedicated (pong-style) systems, Ralph Baer, Simon, Microvision.

At my first stop, I found a Coleco Telstar Colormatic. At first I thought it someone had broken off the paddle knobs. But then I realized the external two paddles sitting next to it were meant to plug into it. They weren't taped to it or anything, so I felt lucky they were still sitting beside it. The really unusual thing about this system is it's from Coleco *Canada*. (I live in Alabama, USA.) It also has legs that it sits on so the console is angled for reaching it easier.

I haven't seen a Telstar exactly like this one before. They wanted $5 for it, which seemd like a bit much, but since I hadn't seen one before, I picked it up. Does anyone know if it has a U.S. equivalent? Or was it released here in the U.S. too? As I said, it has two remote paddles. It also has a rest button, and on/off, tennis/hocky/handball/squash, & beginner/intermediate/pro slide switches.

The next find was at my second stop (of two): a complete, looks-like-new Simon. I've kind of been wanting a vintage Simon since I learned Ralph Baer (inventor of the original Odyssey) created it. I saw the box and thought it looked in good shape at a glance. A closer look showed the box was in great shape with only light wear on some corners and edges. Opening it revealed a pristine Simon, complete with instructions, blank warranty sheet, and even the styrofoam bit on top to keep the box from getting squished. The D battery compartment was empty, but the 9V compartment still had a battery in it. Luckily, it hadn't leaked (see note). Do modern Simons still require this many batteries of these sizes?

I put it back in the box and inspect it to see how "original" it is. It has the Milton Bradley Electronics logo on it, like a Microvision. There's a 1978 copyright on it, but that just means they hadn't changed the box markings since then. Then I look at the bottom. There's ads for the Super Simon (Never seen one of those before.) and Mircovision on it! That cinches it. This is worth $3. Once I got back to work and looked at it more closely, I found 1984 copyright dates on the instructions and inside top of the box. I guess they printed up a *bunch* of stickers to cover the boxes back around '78 and were still using them in '84. Oh, well, I won't quibble with one in this great a shape. (Hope it actually works.)

Note: As I was throwing the 9V battery (a Ray-O-Vac Heavy Duty) away, I noticed a note on the side.

Consumer's Guarantee: If any device using this battery is damaged by leakage, send the battery and the device prepaid to Ray-O-Vac corporation, Madison, WI 53703. We will either repair or replace the device and batteries at no additional cost. Guarantee void if either user or device recharges battery.

Now *that's* a guarantee! I wish modern batteries had that kind of guarantee on them. I'll have to look more closely at the electronics I find with corroded batteries in them from now on. I wonder how they'd repair or replace a vintage handheld or pong?

Today's finds [2600 Racquetball, Colecovision Spy Hunter & Spectron, Comp IV]

1999-04-29T00:01:00.006-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I hit a store today and was surprised to see they had some new Atari 2600 games in. ("New" as in used games that were new to the store.) I pick out what I thought was two 2600 carts and one Colecovision cart for about $1 each. Later, in the car, I glanced in the bag and noticed that there were actually two Colecovision carts. I had previously not noticed the distinctive Colecovision shape at the end of one of them. It turns out both CV carts are rare! Here's what I
got:

Racquetball (2600; tradebait)
Spy Hunter (CV; now I *really* need a Super Action controller)
Spectron (CV)

The labels aren't in the best shape. In fact, the two CV carts look like they've been stored in an open box in someone's basement for several years. I also noticed after I bought them that the labels around the screw holes have been punched through, so I hope they really are what they say they are. (I once bought a Destructor that turned out to be a non-working Super Action Baseball.)

I also picked up a Comp IV at another store. For those that don't know, Leonard Herman says in Phoenix that this was the first electronic game produced commercially. This is my second one, and I still need the instructions. Anyone got them? (Photocopy, ASCII, anything!)

[I still don't have Super Action Controllers for my Colecovision. And I can't check at the moment, but I believe the two Colecovision games worked and were what they said. I believe I also found some form of instructions for the Comp IV as well. Interestingly, the silkscreen on the "screen" of the second Comp IV is different from that on the first. —15 August 2010]

Good find or not? [2600 & 7800 stuff]

1999-04-26T00:00:00.006-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

So how do you define a "good find"? I'll tell you what I found and you can tell me if I did good.

First stop was an annual church rummage sale. I bought a C-64 Fast Load cart for $0.25 just because it was so cheap. I don't have a C-64 or any real interest in owning one, but I figure I might end up with one someday anyway and carts typically don't get any cheaper.

A few stops with nothing from there. Then I hit a neighborhood yard sale. The first house has a box with some SMS games & a loose Colecovision Venture. The sign on it said "Sega system & games $20," but there was no sign of the system. I wasn't interested and didn't need the Venture, so I moved on. (I probably should have asked about more Coleco games, though.)

The rest of the neighborhood revealed nothing until the last pair of houses. I saw a TI-99/4a box and decided to stop. Very little TI stuff and nothing else classic. Then I walked to the house down the street.

One of the first boxes I see is filled with about a dozen boxed 2600 games and loose console. I ask about the Atari and the owner points to *another* box saying, "this here?" It contains two 7800s, two 2600s, and some loose games. I ask how much for all. He says $30. I only have $25. He takes it.

I haven't tested most of it yet, but here's some of what I got. This is from memory as I don't have the stuff in front of me.

1 complete 7800 (power supply & two joysticks)
1 7800 minus power supply w/two questionable joysticks
3 2600s w/power supplies (I think it's 1 black 4-switch and 2 wood 6-switches.)
2(?) standard 2600 sticks
3 *gray* Atari power supplies (What the--?!)
Shrinkwrapped 7800 carts (all available from O'Shea):
- Centipede (x2)
- Choplifter
- Donkey Kong Junior
Boxed 2600 carts:
- Codebreaker
- Combat
- Jr. Pac-Man (shrinkwrapped)
- Pac-Man
- Space Invaders
- Space War
- Video Chess
- more commons that I forget
Loose 2600 carts:
- Astroblast
- Fathom (the only one I needed; the label could be much better)
- Gorf
- E.T. (x2)
- more commons that I forget

I figure I'll sell the complete 7800 with some games on eBay to make back my money. The other one will probably become a spare. (I rarely see 7800 consoles in my area.) I don't know what I'm going to do with the 2600s. I may turn them into complete systems with some games and sell them, too. I didn't have some of the game boxes and instructions, so I'll keep those. I guess the rest goes on my trade list.

If you've read my brag posts lately, you'll know that I recently found a copy of Video Chess while waiting for one in the mail. Now I find one CIB! Why is it I go years without finding this fairly common cart, and then find two of them?

The disturbing thing is the seller said, "these things must be getting popular again. I sold five this morning." I'm not sure if he meant five games or five systems (w/about 10 games each, from what he offered me at first). I fear the latter, in which case who knows what good stuff I missed out on?! Well, to whoever got it, you missed the Fathom! 8)

["CIB" stands for "complete in box," meaning it has the box, instructions, and cartridge. —5 June 2009]

Hardly a brag [Mattel Football I handheld, 5200 joysticks, Pac-Man Fever 45]

1999-04-19T00:01:00.003-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

When yard sale/rummage sale hopping on Saturday. The only video game items I saw at all were a Virtual Boy w/1 game($15; I passed), a Mattel Football handheld w/o battery cover ($0.25; I took), and a pair of 5200 controllers ($1; I took). The Mattel Football replaces my older unit which I've been unable to repair. (I don't have a screwdriver bit in the shape of a little triangle. Damn you, Mattel Electronics!) The 5200 controllers I haven't tested yet, but I only got them for spare parts. Someone's messed with them before because the two fire buttons are missing from one side of one and the flex circuit for the Start/Pause/Reset buttons has been incorrectly reinserted.

Finally, the minor brag. On a lark, I flipped through the 45s at one yard sale. About the third one in was the Pac-Man Fever single. One dime later, it was mine! This prompted me to finally hook up the turntable I bought at a yard sale last year. Now I've finally heard the instrumental version of Pac-Man Fever. I just need the Donkey Kong single now.

[I've since bought the Donkey Kong single on eBay. I still could use that stupid triangle-shaped bit, though! — 18 June 2010]

First good 2600 brag in a while [Picnic, Stellar Track, Video Chess]

1999-04-16T00:01:00.006-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Today's thrifting started out bad. Went to a store not usually worth going to and found some computer & SMS stuff. (I don't usually pick up either, but it's been so dry!) I grabbed three mostly common, third party, 2600-compatible joysticks, Pengo & Star Raiders II for the Atari 8-bit, and a Master Gear Convertor for SMS. The guys there weren't the regular guy and didn't know how much anything was if it wasn't priced. (They said the store wasn't even supposed to be open.) None of my stuff was priced, of course. I offered $5. He claimed a joystick alone was worth that. I left it all there. They said the guy who runs it is only there two days a week, and of course he didn't know which two. I think it's time to just stop going to that thrift.

At the next store, I found a Sears 2600 set up that had apparently just come in. (It hadn't been there Monday.) Lots of Sears game, but I don't collect those and at $3 a piece, it's usually not worth it for trade bait. I picked out Picnic (Woo-hoo!!! Didn't have it!) and Stellar Track. Take them to the register and the lady says $1. I tell her I'm going to grab a couple more! (I gotta make sure I only buy when this lady's at the register!) Go back and pick up Sears Demons to Diamonds and Video Chess. I've never found Video Chess before. I have the Sears version that a friend gave me, but prefer an Atari label. Of course, I just sent out payment for a copy of Video Chess two days ago, but bought this one anyway out of principal. Why does it always work like that?!?

This makes the third new 2600 cart I've found in the past two months. Before that, I don't remember how long it's been since I found one. This year just might be shaping up. Maybe I'll finally break 300. Oh yeah, the Sears Demons to Diamonds and Stellar Track are up for trade. My incomplete trade and want lists are at http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/trade/.

[18 June 2010 comment: That URL isn't linked because it no longer exists. My trade pages never seemed to lead to any actual trades and it was a pain to maintain them, so I eventually ditched them.

For anyone that is local to Huntsville, the first store was in the 900 block of Oakwood Avenue NW, between Buford and Grace Streets. I don't remember the name. It was two different thrift stores, one right after the other. One was much better run and organized than the other, which you can guess means it wasn't the one above. I don't even remember which store came first any more, it's been so long.

I honestly don't remember the incident at the second store, but from the $3 price mentioned I'd guess it was the Breaking Free Thrift Store on N. Memorial Parkway just north of Oakwood Avenue.]

[10 Nov 2011 comment: And regarding Video Chess? In a few days, it gets worse.]

Minor finds & unrelated grouse [Stop Thief, blue label Pitfall!]

1999-04-09T00:01:00.007-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I don't remember the details, but I dreamt of finding boxed carts last night. Unfortunately, this wasn't an omen. All I found was a Stop Thief board game (complete minus battery cover) and a blue label 2600 Pitfall. I passed on an Atari 8-bit Gyruss and a Comp IV. This is my third Stop Thief in two months, but the first with instructions. (Naturally, someone mailed me a photocopy of them just a couple weeks ago.) The blue label Pitfall is up for trade. See my trading post (http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/trade/) for my want list & a link to my have lists. (It's under construction, but the video game part is pretty much done.)

The grouse has to do with what I missed out on. Near the concentration of local thrifts is a Blockbutser Video. I've been visiting it weekly, waiting for them to get rid of their last set of SNES games, which included Atari's Greatest Hits:The Atari Collection. I went today and didn't notice any new SNES games for sale, but when I went to see if it was on the shelf, I found PlayStation games. I asked the clerk and AGH had already been sold. Bummer! (Not that I really needed it with MAME and a full-sized Missile Command in my garage.)

[I'm not sure why I passed on the Comp IV, although it's probably because there doesn't seem to be much of a market for them, despite their historical significance. Later in the month, however, I picked up my second Comp IV. The trading post link is no longer valid. I gave up on it because it wasn't generating any leads. —14 August 2010]

Re: Is there a classic system you really DON'T like?

1999-04-05T00:01:00.016-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

In article <19990405024751.06059.00002725@ng101.aol.com>, BluRoom wrote:
>I don't know if this has been thrown around recently, but just for fun - is
>there a classic system you just can't stand or have no desire to collect for,
>and why?

I have two Odyssey²s and a dozen or two boxed games collecting dust. This mostly has to do with the controllers not working properly, but even after getting at least one to work, Odyssey² games just don't inspire me.

It's the same story for my two Channel Fs. Except one system doesn't work at all and I only have two cartridges. (Which both have one game in common. What's up with that?!? Atari never even stooped that low.) Of course, this is the sum total of Channel F stuff I've seen in all the years I've been collecting.

Also stored away are various pong-type systems, a Studio II (one cart), a Microvision (about six boxed games), and some original Odysseys. (Come on, who can honestly say they can't get enough of their Odyssey? The only reason any of us buy them is for their historical significance.)

It's quite likely I'll eventually sell the Odyssey² stuff eventually. Maybe the Channel F as well. I've got to clean up my room so I can actually sort through it all first. For some bizarre reason, though, I kind of want to keep the Studio II. Maybe it's just because it was one of my early finds. The Microvision and original Odyssey are definite keepers, even if I don't play them much.

[It's now 2010 and I still want to get rid of the Odyssey² stuff, but haven't. — 14 August 2010]

Small brag & Wico info

1999-04-05T00:01:00.003-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I went to a thrift today and picked up a box for a Wico bat handle joystick marked $2. I wouldn't have been interested if not for the box. I opened it up and saw a Gemini Gemstick inside. (Bleah!) I decided it was still worth it because the box was in good shape. Looking around more, I found the joystick and swapped it for the Gemstick. I also picked up an NES Advantage and an Apple II copy of Ultima III (to go on eBay to support my classic video game habit).

Here are some part numbers from the box that might help people identify any Wico adpators they have:

TI 44/9a: WICO Adaptor 72-4530
Apple II: WICO Adaptor 72-4525
Odyssey^2: WICO Adaptor 72-4540

Also in the box were the original twist-tie for the cord and a manual that covers the installation and use of most of Wico's joysticks. That's probably about as close as I'll ever get to owning their 5200 stick and numeric keypad.

Brag, anti-brag, and book

1999-03-10T00:01:00.003-06:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I went to Value Village today. A couple months back, I bought about a dozen Intellivision carts with overlays & manuals (no boxes) in a bundle for $0.50 each (about $6 total). This seemed like a good deal, even though I only needed about half of them. Today I got in and they've got bundles of four Atari carts for $6.99! (About $1.75 each.)

I started to buy a package just for an Enduro manual, until I made out the price on it. Then I went up to the front and they had more bags behind the counter. Unfortunately, these had two rare carts I didn't have (in two separate packages, of course). I hated to encourage them by buying them, but for $1.75 I couldn't pass up (both for 2600):

Frankenstein's monster (w/manual)
Time Pilot (w/manual)

Hey, the Time Pilot seems to be a bit heavy. It's obviously not a prototype, though. Is this common for Time Pilots?

That's the brag. The anti-brag are the other six carts I had to buy:

Combat
Ice Hockey (w/manual)
Missile Command (w/manual)
Phoenix (w/manual)
Vanguard (w/manual)
Wizard of Wor (w/manual)

At least the Wizard of Wor is in better shape than my current copy. And I didn't have the manual for it.

Lastly, I picked up a book called The Home Computer Wars: An Insider's Account of Commodore and Jack Tramiel by Michael S. Tomczyk for $0.50. It should be interesting reading about the man who destroyed Atari. (There's a book title for you!) In fact, the book ends right after Tramiel's takeover. First I gotta read Hackers that I got back at Christmas, though.

I've already learned something from the back cover. Mr. Tramiel is a Holocaust survivor. Interesting.

[I later found out that the book was probably a better brag than the cartridges. It's apparently much sought, yet hard to find. — 18 June 2010]

My Best Brag Ever

1999-01-12T00:00:00.003-06:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

The short version:

Today, out of the blue, I got a working Missile Command coin-op in good condition! For free!!!

The long version:

A friend of mine sent me e-mail saying a coworker of his was getting rid of a Missile Command arcade game. I just happened to be checking my personal e-mail when his note arrived. (Thank goodness!) The guy was going to trash it if no one wanted it. My friend works very close by, so he said I could drive over and take a look. His coworker had it in the back of his truck.

Upon arrival, I found the Missile Command to be in good shape. The owner, who had had it dumped on him by his mother-in-law, said it worked, so I quickly agreed to take it. We transferred it to my friend's truck. At lunch, he drove it to my house and helped me get it situated.

I turned it on and it came up just fine. Of course, the text was in French, but I knew from the quick research I had done that it was just a switch setting. It was already in free play mode, so I tried a game. Everything worked, except the sound was barely audible and the trackball squeaked.

I managed to open it despite not having keys. (Thank God for DejaNews!) There was a pair of keys inside. After going to the trouble of printing out the switch settings, I discovered upon putting the back cover back in place there was a sheet with the switch setting stapled to the inside. D'oh!

It also showed me where the volume control is. Cranking it up revealed one speaker doesn't work, but I'm sure I can fix that later. I still can't believe I finally get to join VAPS! 8)

[Sadly, I was forced to sell the Missile Command about six years later when money was tight. VAPS is the Video Arcade Preservation Society. It was a group of people owning arcade video games at home. They established a web site in the early days of the Internet. Being able to join it seemed like a big and unattainable honor at the time. —11 June 2009]

Re: Stop me before I buy again!!!!

1998-08-10T00:01:00.001-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

In article <6qjhve$293@james.hwcn.org>, Chris Cracknell wrote:
>Arrrggg!!!!
>
>I got into this hobby to relive my childhood and fulfill of childhood fantasy
>of owning a shirt-load of atari 2600 carts. I didn't want to collect for
>other systems, just the 2600. It's what I had as a kid so why should I want
>to collect another system?

>I must curb this habbit. It all started out so innocently but now I'm
>running out of space. Stop me before I buy again!

It's not hopeless yet. You haven't bought any coin-ops. 8)

I started out like you: strictly 2600.

Then I found a 7800 and some games cheap, and justified it like you did.

Then my wife bought me a Gameboy for Christmas. The next year I got a SNES. Both get played very little, and luckily, I haven't bought very many cartridges for either...yet. I'm in trouble in a few years, though.

Someone gave me a Vectrex. Like you, I feel it's too cool not to keep.

I've had three friends give me Colecovisions. One included the Adam module, which I need to get rid of, but haven't yet. You wanna talk about a space hog?!?

I found an NES with a Power Pad and Short Order/Eggsplode and told myself it would be good exercise. And it was the six or so times I've played it since then. I told myself I would be very selective of the games I bought for it, but lately I've been getting this itch to buy NES games.

Then I bought an Intellivision because it was cheap and I was tired of not finding new 2600 games. So far I've succesfully kept myself from buying anything but complete, boxed games, so its' not out of control yet.

I bought a 5200 (w/ 2600 adapter) and a bunch of mint boxed 2600 & 5200 games a few months ago. I haven't even taken the time to test the thing yet! It's getting out of hand!

And this doesn't include the RCA Studio II, Microvision, one semi- and one non-working Channel F, and numerous dedicated consoles stored away in my room. And there's an original, non-working Atari Pong coin-op sitting in my garage waiting for me to fix it. Help!

Tip of the Moment (holes in walls)

1998-03-16T00:00:00.003-06:00

Tip of the moment: Leave the holes in your walls alone.

In preparing a bedroom for our new baby, I needed to install a proper phone jack where the current one was simply hanging out of the wall on wires. In the process of fooling with it, I managed to make the hole bigger and bigger, so I had to replace a section of drywall before I could install the outlet.

[From my "Past Tips of the Moment and Past Thoughts" page. This was the seventh tip and 12th post overall. It refers to preparing what had been—up until that point—our guest bedroom/storeroom as a nursery for our first child. — 28 May 2009]

$50 Brag

1998-02-12T00:01:00.002-06:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Last night, I purchased a 5200, some 5200 stuff, and 2600 games from a former co-worker. I had made the offer over a year ago (when he was still my co-worker), but it took me a while to save up the $50 I offered. I know that sounds like a lot, but he had over 60 games ... *and* keep in mind as you read this, that EVERY GAME WAS COMPLETE WITH MANUAL AND BOX!!!

Personal Highlights

Complete, 2-port 5200 system in box (no packing materials)
2600 adaptor for 5200 (Okay, he didn't have the box for this.)
5200 games:
- H.E.R.O.
- James Bond 007 (!!!)
- Star Wars: The Arcade Game
2600 Tron joystick (!!!) in box with Adventures of Tron & Tron Deadly Discs (No packing materials, but the $57.95 price tag was still on it.)
2600 games:
- Sears' Chase, Outer Space, Tank Plus, & Target Fun all in the ORIGINAL (Intellivision-style) type boxes (!!!)
- Beamrider
- Crackpots
- Megaforce
- Stellar Track (Sears)
Two 2600 keyboard controllers

I never thought I'd see in person, much less own the Tron joystick. The same goes for Intellivision-style Atari 2600 cart boxes. (Too bad they're Sears instead of Atari. I'd still like to see one of those.)

BTW, before he left my company, he had given me some mint condition folders with arcade game logos on them (Centipede, Tempest, Space Invaders, etc.) and a Robot Tank poster.

The Rest

2600 games: Adventure (Sears), Air Raiders, Amidar, Asteroids, Atlantis, Barnstormer, Berzerk, Breakaway IV (Sears), Capture (Sears), Codebreaker (Sears), Cosmic Ark, Defender, Demon Attack, Dragonfire, E.T., Flash Gordon, Frogger, G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike, Gunslinger (Sears), Haunted House, Keystone Kapers, Laser Blast, Memory Match (Sears), Missle Command, Ms. Pac-Man, Pitfall, Raiders of the Lost Ark, River Raid, Robot Tank, Seaquest, Sky Jinx, Space Invaders, Spider Fighter, Star Master, Star Raiders, Star Wars: Jedi Arena, Star Wars: RotJ -- Death Star Battle, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Superman, SwordQuest (EarthWorld of FireWorld, I forget which), Video Pinball, Warlords (Sears), Yars' Revenge
2600 controllers: Two stock joysticks, one pair of paddles.
5200 games: Countermeasure, Joust, Pac-Man, Pole Position, Popeye, Qix, Vanguard

[While I still have almost all these items today, I've decided to sell the 5200 console and games. I'm just not that interested in it and something's got to go. — 17 June 2010]

Re: What was your last thrift purchase??

1997-12-03T00:01:00.002-06:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic. Robert Batina asked, "tell everyone what your last thrift store purchase was and why."]

THRIFT STORE:
What?
-----
Five boxed Intellivision games with manuals and overlays for $2 each. (A bit pricey, but that's the going rate for classic cartridges at this thrift, boxed or not. I refuse to buy anything from them unless it's boxed and I don't have it.)

Why?
----
"Recently" bought an Intellivision + Intellivoice ($5) elsewhere and needed more games. Left a couple with boxes, but no overlays and/or instructions.

RUMMAGE SALE:
What?
-----
Boxed Odyssey 2000 with switchbox, power adaptor, and packing foam. (Only lacked instructions, as if I needed them.) Also a Merlin with half the instructions. Five bucks for both.

Why?
----
Desperate to buy *something* so I felt like I hadn't wasted my time. 8) Also, it was a high school band fund raiser and I was in band back in high school, so I sympathized with them and didn't try to talk them down. Besides, I didn't have an Odyssey 2000 or a working Merlin.

[I honestly don't remember either of these very well any more, so I can't give any more details. I'd guess the Intellivision games came from the Breaking Free Rescue Mission Thrift Store, based on the comments, but I'm not 100% certain. — 2 July 2010]

Thought (leather leisure suit)

1997-09-01T21:45:00.001-05:00

Current thought: Say "leather leisure suit" fast five times.

My wife was telling about one of her co-workers wearing a leather leisure suit for some reason. She had such difficulty saying it, it took her several tries before she did so successfully. She discovered a new tongue-twister!

[From my "Past Tips of the Moment and Past Thoughts" page. This was the fifth "thought" and 11th post overall. I didn't keep track of the dates beyond the year, so the date is an estimate. — 28 May 2009]

Finally, a brag! [2600 Sesame Street games, Commando Raid, Raft Rider, Pooyan, Intellivision & Intellivioice]

1997-07-29T00:01:00.005-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Finally, I found something worth bragging about. It's been months since I've seen anything at the local thrifts, but yesterday I picked up these 2600 cartridges for $0.50 each:

Cookie Monster Munch	(R, light Actiplaque)
Big Bird's Egg Catch	(R, very light Actiplaque)
Commando Raid	(R, my third)
Raft Rider	(ER)
Pooyan	(ER, !!!)

Plus a Kid's Controller with Cookie Monster Munch overlay for $0.25. Pooyan is the first Konami cart I've ever seen (which is no surprise since all three are ER, according to VGR). Can anyone tell me how to play Raft Rider? The manual isn't on Greg Chance's page. It claimed four game variations on the label, but I can't get the game select switch to do anything and I didn't notice the game difficulty switches making a difference.

Today I went back there and picked up the Intellivision with Intellivoice for $5 I had to leave. (I didn't have enough money for it and the carts before.) I've only tested it briefly with a Bomb Squad cart I happened to have, but it seems to work fine with a little coaxing. ("Mattel preezentz...Boom Squad." 8) The Intellivoice didn't seem to be making contact with the cart slot at first, but hopefully it just needs cleaning. I've resisted buying Intellivision stuff up to now, but since it's so hard to find anything any more, I think I may start.

[This, indeed, was the start of my buying Intellivision games. — 17 Jun 2010]

Tip of the Moment (tax withholding)

1997-04-15T00:00:00.002-05:00

Tip of the moment: Don't forget to change your tax withholdings!

This tax season, my wife and I were hit with a major payment to the federal goverment. It seems I forgot to change my deductions when my wife got a full-time job. (Break out the W-4.)

[From my "Past Tips of the Moment and Past Thoughts" page. This was the sixth tip and tenth post overall. I didn't keep track of the dates beyond the year, so the date is an estimate. — 28 May 2009]

Re: Finds that made you feel like a moron.

1997-03-27T00:01:00.003-06:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic. James R. Leek had asked "who's got a 'find' that made them feel like a total idiot after they bought it?"]

Well, I swore I'd never admit this, but I suppose I will since this thread came up. I paid [more than $1]* for my first (bare) Combat back around 1991. This was before I started going to thrift stores and you could still buy new carts at the toy stores (cheap). I answered an ad in the paper. It turned out some kid's parents was letting him sell his 2600 and games to earn money for something. He was nice enough to reduce the per cart price since I was buying several games. At least the money went to a good cause.

(As opposed to another time at a yard sale, I asked about the 2600 and games they had out and the kid who was getting the money started telling his mother, right in front of me, "$10! $10! No, wait. $12!" Mom went with $8.)

* Sorry, I just couldn't admit it.

[Possibly I later fessed up just how much I paid for that Combat on Usenet, but I'm not going to do it here. — 2 July 2010]

Thanksgiving finds (Goldmine lost)

1996-12-02T00:00:00.004-06:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Well, I went to visit in-laws out of town for Thanksgiving. I did a little searching and came up with a few items, but no 2600 cartridges I didn't already have and no 7800 cartridges at all. My best 2600 find was Slot Machine. I did find some interesting 2600 controllers, though. One is actually a Sears Video Arcade II (Atari 2800) controller. The other is a joystick where you can wind the cord into the base by twisting the joystick. Cool! 8)

The most frustrating find was Art Master for the Vectrex. Frustrating because there was no Vectrex or light pen in sight. 8( Now I have a cart that plays pretty intro music and then leaves me with a menu of three choices I can't pick. Thank goodness for the emulator!

I was also saddened to learn that my gold mine, which I posted about a few years ago, is gone now. I had tried to visit it twice before now, only to find it closed at the times. This time it was open but the old owner sold it to another guy who cleaned things out. He still has 2600 cartridges, but he also said there were Sum Guys (Great, he's multiplying. 8( ), who came in regularly and went through the 2600 stuff. Judging from the 5200 cartridges, they go through those too. (Pac-Man, Centipede, Pac-Man, Pac-Man, Centipede, Centipede. Oooh, look: Super Breakout! [That's sarcasm, son.])

Tip of the Moment (second opinion for cars)

1996-08-01T00:00:00.002-05:00

Tip of the moment: Get a second opinion for your car's ailments, too.

I had a supposed Honda specialist shop do my car's tune up and check on what was wrong with my air conditioner. They told me either of two parts might be broken and how much it would be to replace each. I decided to wait to have it fixed. Eventually, I took it somewhere else to have the A/C fixed. They checked it over and told me that the A/C in some of Honda's models won't work unless it's absolutely full of freon. That was my only problem: it was missing a few ounces of freon. (Mind you, thanks to the EPA, checking it for leaks and filling it up cost almost as much as the first shop's estimate for one of the two parts that needed replacing.) I won't embarrass myself by saying how long I went without A/C because of this.

[From my "Past Tips of the Moment and Past Thoughts" page. This was the fifth tip and ninth post overall. I didn't keep track of the dates beyond the year, so the date is a guess. Unfortunately, I didn't run the A/C during the winter(s) to keep the hoses sealed, so it eventually stopped working again. — 28 May 2009]

June's Finds [heavy sixer, Chuck Norris, H.E.R.O., blue 2600 catalog, original Odyssey games, Pong coin-op, Scramble handheld, Vectrex]

1996-07-03T00:01:00.004-05:00

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Well, I kept meaning to write up weekly finds, but never seemed to get to it. Here's a summary of what I found in June (or thereabouts).

1. A six-switch 2600 (possibly an original) with 40+ games for $18. (Less than $0.50 per game plus the system for free is how I figure it.) Highlights include Chuck Norris (Xonox single-ender), Star Wars: The Arcade Game (my second; no offers yet, please), H.E.R.O. w/manual, and Space Shuttle w/manual & overlay (I bought it new post-Crash, so I got a black & white manual and no overlay, but blue label.). Many other games had manuals as well, plus some game catalogs. One catalog was an original blue Atari which, combined with how heavy I thought the system was, leads me to think it's an original. I haven't had a chance to test it or the carts yet. I seem to have misplaced my alcohol for cleaning them.

One pair of paddles has been "fixed". The guy put new knobs on them, which are stiffer than the old ones. He said he'd been meaning to give it all to his grandchildren, but he never remembered. When he was cleaning out his shed for the yard sale, he decided to put it out, too.

2. Some boxes of original Odyssey games. I was amazed. I never figured I'd see anything like these. I was disappointed to find out each game didn't include a new card. Nevertheless, I now have cards 7 and 8 to go with 1-6, 9. 8) Oh, and they've already been traded for a bunch of neat stuff, so don't ask.

3. Pong coin-op by Atari. Yes, the first commercially successful coin-op video game is *my* first coin-op! Unfortunately, it doesn't work . . . yet. Oh, and yes, I found it at a thrift store. The same day, I saw a Zaxxon coin-op at another thrift store, but it was more expensive and I never really cared for Zaxxon. It was the first time I'd ever seen a coin-op at a thrift store.

4. A few good Atari 8-bits carts: Miner 2049er, Decathalon, Popeye, and Star Trek: SOS. Can you say "trade bait"? I knew you could. 8)

5. Scramble "hand-held" by Tomy. Works great and in good shape. I'm impressed by how fun and challenging it is so far. Between it and the Coleco Frogger mini-arcade I bought last year, I guess I've got a collection started. 8)

6. Something good should be on it's way to my house. I don't want to say anything more for fear of jinxing it. Let's just say I'm adding a new system to my list to collect for (currenty 2600, 7800, and original Odyssey (I guess)) and finding cartridges won't be easy.

7. A co-worker knew I collected old video games, but asked if I also collected memorabilia. Of course I answered yes, so the next day he brought me a Robot Tank poster in mint condition! His parents had brought it down with a bunch of his stuff from their house. It's been a while since I've seen the RT box, but I'm almost positive this art isn't the same. Does anybody know the scoop on how one originally got these? Send UPC's or what?

[The first set of 2600 items came from a yard sale.

The boxed original Odyssey games came from a Magnavox dealer that was going out of business. Oddly enough, it was where my regular comic book store, The Deep, is now located at N. Memorial Parkway and Mock Road. These were sets of games still in the shipping boxes. After buying one, the manager (owner?) told me there were more in the trash. They took me around to a room outside, in the back. There were many more of these shipping boxes of original Odyssey games! I left behind many that were water damaged, a decision I now regret some. I wound up trading away all the extra boxes for a lengthy list of items from Jerry Greiner, a major collector who had made a business out of classic video games. They were available from his site, www.atari2600.com, for a long time, but now I no longer see them there.

The story of my Pong coin-op can be found in an 18 June 1996 entry. The Zaxxon I saw at the Downtown Rescue Mission Thrift Store, back when it was still on 9th Ave. SW, just around the bend from Seminole Drive. I'll say more about #6 below. The Robot Tank poster came from the same co-worker who I later bought his complete 5200 collection. — 2 July 2010]

Date: 9 July 1996

In article <4rf1r0$o6h@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, John Vivian Matthews wrote:
>But isn't there a multicart for the Vec...oops.
>
>matt
>
>ps And I'm only guessing...

Well, it was a good guess. My Vectrex finally arrived yesterday (Monday) evening. One controller, no overlays, no manuals, Minestorm ('natch), Armor Attack cartridge, and Berzerk on a PROM board with no case. A multicart and converted Sega controller are definitely on my "wish list" now. AFAIK, I'm the first rgvc'er in Alabama to get one. I know one guy has some cartridges, so we'll have to get together some time and test them. (Hi, Ralph.) This is a neat system and it's not going anywhere for a long, long time, emulator or not.

[The Vectrex came from Russ Melanson, who also did the original logo for my website, the Classic Video Games Nexus (defunct). He gave it to me, asking nothing in return. I was amazed. I still sent him some money, not nearly enough, as a high school graduation present.

Ralph was Ralph Hulcher, a collector in Birmingham, who I'd met the year before. We never did get together to test his Vectrex carts and eventually fell out of touch, unfortunately. — 2 July 2010]

Lee has a good week (and a riddle)

1996-06-28T09:00:00.006-05:00

On Thursday, 27 June 1996, I correctly answered the following riddle, sent to Riddle du Jour by Doug Mattox of Rolla, MO:

Decapitate me and all becomes equal. Then terminate me and I become second. Cut me front and back and I become two less than I started. What am I?

The answer is below, but here's something to make up some spoiler space. I won a 1996 Parrothead Club Caribbean Soul T-shirt for my trouble. And my home page was linked from the "Previous Riddles" section for a week and the "Sphinx's Hall of Fame" for who knows how long. I've been answering their riddles (or at least attempting to) for several months now. I probably get the correct answer about 30-40% of the time, but I was never selected as a winner. This time I was one of 93 people to answer correctly (out of 1316 who guessed). I don't always pay attention, but I'm pretty sure there has usually been more people with the correct answer when I've gotten it right before.

I'm sure this page will seem silly in a few weeks, but I'm writing it shortly after I found out I won, so I'm still excited. It's been a good week, as my (Useless) Super-Hero Generator was selected as a Surfers' Pick by Tony over at Yahoo! on Monday, 24 June 1996. I don't know how he found it since I haven't gone out of my way to advertise it, but I'm not complaining. 8)

Okay, I've wasted enough of your time. The answer is the word "seven."

What, you don't get it? Okay, here's the progression:

seven
 even (equal)
 eve  (2nd person, according to the Bible)
  v   (Roman numeral five; two less than seven)

Gee, do you suppose my (Useless) Roman Numeral Convertor gave me an advantage? :-)

[This is an early example of what one would later call a blog post. This was posted as two separate pages -- one for the question, one for the answer -- to my personal web site back on 28 Jun 1996. Now I'm putting here, therefore saving a whopping 3 Kb by removing it from my site after twelve years. And yes, it does seem a bit silly now. Oh, and the Riddle du Jour and Yahoo! destinations are long since gone, but the links are maintained for posterity. — 8 Oct 2008]