California Extreme 2010

I haven't written much here in the last year, but I wanted to do a quick entry about this year's California Extreme Classic Arcade Game Show. I didn't see much new at the show this year, but I did learn a lot. In an effort to inspire myself to write, I arranged with the Santa Clara Weekly to cover the show with a 500 word article. I even got a press badge to the event, and with Amanda along as my photographer, I interviewed some of the volunteer organizers.

I had always known that virtually all of the games at California Extreme are provided by private collectors, but I didn't realize how large some of those private collections are. One of the show organizers pointed out that over 60 of the games there were his. Another guy owned over 100 of the games. That just boggles my mind, that they are obsessive enough to collect that many machines, and yet also generous and trusting enough to let the attendees play with their toys.

As usual, I had a great time at the show, and I enjoyed the flash-back to my youth. It was also fun to again see and play some games that even predate me. There was a bar trivia quiz machine based on an internal slide or filmstrip projector. There was also an all electromechanical pinball machine that had only 4 digits on the score counter, and had bumpers worth "1 point." All in all, it was a lot of fun.

If you want to see the Santa Clara Weekly piece I wrote, it is here: http://scw.tearn.com/2010/07/california-extreme-2010.html.