The Beginning
The Rediscovery of Classic Video Games
January 1998
It wasn't until I experience Videotopia at the National Press Building in Washington, DC that I discovered classic video games still existed, and it wasn't until I found a retailer in Springfield, VA that I realized they were also for sale. That summer I bought my first two video games, Donkey Kong and Time Pilot. I purchased them from a place near Springfield, VA called Home Arcade. Both units were in decent shape, and I slowly restored them after finding NOS parts off of Ebay.
In the last five years, I collected my first top twenty video games, but recently down-sized to sixteen. It was difficult - not because I couldn't find the games, but because I couldn't decide on which games I had to have NOW and which ones I could pass up. Sometimes I was content having just ten games, while at another time I had forty games on my want list. Luckily I found a realistic number of games I could both house and afford, and finally I can share photographs of my collection with the rest of the collecting community.
Recently I made some major change and sold ten video games. I'm definitely not giving up collecting classic video games, but I woke up one day and suddenly felt my collection was out of control. Since I am moving, it was a good time to purify the collection down to my eight all-time favorite games. After I move, I plan on buying or building a MAME machine, as well as collecting a cocktail or two, and even a cabaret. What games those might be I have yet to think about.
All of my games are in very good or better condition, and I purchased half of them through the Internet and the other half through local retailers such as home arcade and the PA Gameroom Warehouse.