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It's
Friday evening, and time again
for the annual 80's Alumni Dinner. I'm in this photo (in
back), while Susan Lanzinger takes the shot.
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Now
Susan joins in,
and I take the photo.
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Franz
Lanzinger (left) talks with Ed Logg. They were both coin-op
designers at Atari.
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L-R:
Paul Dean talks with Mike
Klug and Mark Robichek.
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The
whole group (sans Susan, who took this shot) gathers together.
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After
the dinner, the group goes to Golfland. Here, Gary Hatt
plays Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo.
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Mark
(left) looks on as Franz plays one of the many classic titles on
an Ultracade machine.
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L-R:
Ed Logg, Paul Dean, Mike Klug, and Jason Spindler gab
near the arcade's main counter.
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A
final evening destination is the California Extreme show floor.
The games are being set up
for the weekend event.
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Here's
a sequence of rare or
standout games that I saw Friday evening. First up is Journey.
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This
unusual electro-mechanical
coin-op is called Penny Pitch.
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Based
on the unusual marquee,
I think this edition of Time
Pilot may be a prototype.
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Space Race, by Atari.
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At
about 3 feet tall, this
Neo-Geo 'candy cab' would
be perfect for kids to play.
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Because
of the marquee, this
appears to be a Jr. Pac-Man kit
that was put into a Mappy machine.
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| A
proto Space Lords machine.
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Here's
a nice example of a 720°.
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Reactor
is shown here.
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Two
Beavis and Butthead
machines sit side-by-side.
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Here's
a very rare Inferno machine.
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The
artwork on Joust 2
is really beautiful.
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Apparently,
Star Wars
Racer Arcade is made as a
conversion for Battlezone.
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Mad
Alien features a standout
color scheme on the cabinet.
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Fötsball
is an electronic variation
of the table game of Foosball.
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Paul
gets his contest area ready
for the weekend, while Gary
practices a little.
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Saturday
has arrived, and multiple contestants vie for top scores
in Paul's contest.
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Jeff Kulczycki talks to Todd Rogers. Jeff
designed Donkey Kong II,
and Todd is here as a TG referee.
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Thomas
Peter takes a break,
while others are still hard at
work (or, is it 'play' ?).
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Gauntlet:
Dark Legacy is shown.
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There's
always something
intriguing about girls with guns...
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Two
event attendees play the
cocktail version of Donkey Kong.
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This
unit housed a terrific 'high-def' version of Super Street
Fighter II Turbo (and thus, the HD Remix name addition
at bottom).
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Todd
Rogers poses by the main arcade game that he holds a
world record
on - Gorf.
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Mark
Robichek has arrived for
the 'Tips and Tricks' panel that
I (Mark Alpiger) organize.
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Mark
shows off his incredible collection of medals that he earned for
making weekly high-scores on Crazy Climber at a local
arcade. This almost looks like the famous Mark Spitz Olympic
Medals photo.
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What
a great group shot of
famed classic arcade gamers; l-r: Mark,
Todd, Gary Hatt, and myself.
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The
'Tips and Tricks' panel has begun. L-R: panelists Todd,
Mark, myself, Jason Spindler,
and Jon Koolpe.
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Jon
talks about I, Robot.
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L-R:
Todd, Mark, and Jon
listen to the next panelist.
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Now
it's my turn. I talk
about Food Fight.
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Jason's
up next. He
covers the game Journey.
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Jason
continues.
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Next
up is Mark, who covers
Crazy Climber. But first, he tells everyone about his
9 golden medals.
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Mark
explains how the game
play of Crazy Climber works.
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Last
up is Todd, who goes over
how to play Gorf, albeit without the advantage of a backup
video, like
the rest of the panel had.
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The
sign for the location where the event is being held announces
the dates of the show.
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A
group of my gaming friends poses by the sign. L-R: Ryan
Waelde, Jason Spindler, Gary Hatt,
and Mike Klug.
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Now
the group is off to lunch,
at Johnny Rockets. Ryan
took this photo.
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The
group is no doubt
discussing gaming matters.
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Back
at Paul's contest area,
the entrants are hard at it.
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Paul
takes time for a lunch break, courtesy of myself and Gary Hatt
getting him some goodies.
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| Jimmy
Linderman (left) has arrived, and gets right to work, on Joust.
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Taking
a break from the contest
area, I find this interesting shot,
where players need a 'step up' to
play the Wizard pinball game.
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A
very popular modern title at
this year's event was the act.
Apparently, it lets you dial in levels
of bravery for the main character.
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On
my journey around the show
floor, I came across Franz
Lanzinger, playing one of his
favorite games - Pengo.
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Back
to check in on Paul's contest.
It looks like things are
hopping.
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Now,
it's out to the show game area yet again. Here's an
interesting modern title - Come on Baby,
where you
control... babies !
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Jeff Kulczycki poses next to the game he designed - Donkey Kong II.
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Justin
Goeres (center) interviews Todd while Michael Aivaliotis
(of VI Shots)
records.
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Michael's
daughter tries out Wizard.
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This
Bank Panic game belonged
to an Aladdin's Castle arcade,
as shown by the property
tag on the side.
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Checking
back in at Paul's contest, we see the gamers are still hard at
it. Eric Liddell is shown at far left.
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A
view from the far end shows Todd playing Super Pac-Man, and
another player taking on Donkey Kong II next to him.
Further down are Paul's three contest games.
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Here's
another vantage
point for the previous shot.
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Since
he's recording, this gamer is apparently going for a record
on Esh's Aurunmilla.
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Justin
and Mike corral Mike Klug
for an interview, which I'm
still trying to do.
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A
few of Paul's contestants
take some break time.
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While
out on the main floor, I run
into Franz again. We get someone
to take our photo, where we're mutually admiring one another.
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Here
we go again - it's another 'girls with guns' photo. This
time it's on
a real oldie, from the 1940's.
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Jimmy
goes for a high score on
Klax. When I see his skill,
I encourage him to go for the wr.
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Jon
Koolpe, show co-organizer, finally gets a chance to
play in the contest.
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Another
contest shot.
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| Another
angle on the contest area.
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Over
in the cocktail game area, Jimmy tries a little Ms. Pac-Man
on this multi-Pac kit machine.
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A
wide shot shows how many cocktails there are - a lot !
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| Jeff
Jones (left) shows off an incredible Bagman knitted
sweater, while friend John Yates strikes a matching pose in his boxaroo
tee.
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Paul's
contest has ended, and most
of the entrants pose for this photo.
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First-place
Carnival winner
Steve Thornock poses here.
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Steve
receives his $40 in
prize money from Paul.
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Thomas
Peter came in
first place on Joust.
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Paul
hands over the first-place prize.
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Finally,
Jeff Yonan, who took
first on Rally-X, poses.
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Jeff
gets $40 for coming in first.
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A
friend of Jeff's let him bring her
son, Jonathan Lagos, to the
show. Here, he poses by a fave game.
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Now
it's Sunday, and I set up my hard-drive cam to record Jimmy
going
for the Klax wr. TG had a 3.2M mark in book one, so
that's
the goal I set for Jimmy to beat.
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Mark
is back, and eager to pose between screen changes on Pengo.
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Now,
Mark concentrates on
getting by the next screen.
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| Paul
and Todd take a break, while being joined by a show attendee.
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Another
femme fatale takes on
a typically male-oriented title -
Raiden Fighters.
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Moonquake
has had its control panel strengthened since last year.
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| Todd
decides to show off on Gorf.
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Rob
Welkner, of COIN-OP
TV, poses next to one of his fave titles
(as you can tell from his shirt !).
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After
his game, Mark strikes a pose.
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up, lucky Mark gets to pose next to the lovely Jeri Ellsworth.
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Now
it's my turn - brainy beauty
Jeri poses with me (she's so nice !).
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Back
in the show area, it's cocktail time
(as in cocktail table games !). Here's Frogger.
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up is Defender.
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Needless
to say, this Crystal Castles tabletop is one
of my favorites !
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Here's
another Williams
cocktail - Stargate.
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Dig Dug.
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Not
one, but two, Joust
cocktails are seen here.
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Wow - Jimmy did it
!!! He not only topped the old wr (just over 3.2M), but he
smashed it, with 3.46M !!
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| Here's
a close-up view of the score.
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Paul
decides to play Frenzy,
a title he holds a wr on.
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Time
for dinner. Here, the Dragon's
Lair Project group is shown, along with 'my group', and
select others.
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Morningdove
(left) is joined
by Rob, Paul and Todd for
dinner, at Peggy
Sue's.
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Back
at the event hall, Todd and
Paul try a doubles game on Joust.
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Jimmy's
done it again - on his first game, he set the wr on Galaga '88,
at 1,601,900. Well, actually, the settings may have been
'off', but the mark shows Jimmy can set a wr.
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A
shot of the Galaga '88
high score table.
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Here's
a great shot to wrap things up - Jeri Ellsworth (right) plays
pinball next to companion Trish Hess.
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