I personally wanted to thank all of our special guest panelists, as well as all who attended them. This was the best part of the show for me, as I thought ALL of them were superb (and I'm not just saying that because I was hosting/ interviewing). It was a great surprise how they evolved, as we didn't really have a set agenda for any of them, and you can't prepare for how the discussion flows from one topic to another, as it also is dependent on input from the audience. We were hoping we wouldn't run out of questions or things to talk about, or awkward or dead air time. Fortunately, we had NONE of that, and actually could have gone on for another hour on each panel. Apparently, we've confirmed I have the gift of gab, as Dr. Dude says.
Going in order of panel schedule:
Saturday afternoon, Tech Repair Panel-Special thanks to our guest panelists Atari Jim and Hamster. Atari Jim was very well received by the audience, providing a TON of valuable knowledge to both beginning collectors thru advanced. First explaining some common issues on pins, some achille's heels of certain manufacturers that have common problems and why, discussion of WPC power board and what he was going to repair AFTER the panel for those interested in watching, to taking questions from the audience and even taking a look at a faulty board an audience member brought, and giving a quick diagnosis along with Hamster. I even got Hamster to explain how his fancy Atari calculator board tester thingy works!
Of course both answered lots of questions from the audience, everything from monitor repair, things you can do/ check as a novice tech, and things you definitely SHOULDN'T screw around with if you don't know what you're doing. Really a great panel, I learn something every time I hang around these 2! As mentioned, Jim was like the Energizer bunny, and kept going AFTER the panel ended, having people follow him into the ballroom to let them watch him repair the power board, then over to the game where he showed how to install and test. It worked, no surprise!
Good stuff!
Saturday mid- afternoon: Arcade Collecting 101Special thanks to our fearless leader Jack Laughlin (Numbersix) and surprise guest panelist Paul400!!!
As I walked into the room, I saw that it was just me and Jack going to be on the panel, so said "gee, looks like the audience IS our panel...anybody ELSE here want to be on the panel?". Paul graciously (or foolishly
) volunteered. This was really great. I thought it really showed how the panels are FOR the people, BY the people! Really, anybody who wanted to talk had a chance to talk, and since Paul is a fellow collector, he was more than qualified. ANY of us qualified. Anyway, it was very spontaneous and cool that we had things happen like this, it keeps it fresh for sure. Jack started off with a few of the basics of how most of us go about collecting pins and vids, where we find them, and Paul chimed in about things to beware of when dealing with buying games from CL, unknown sellers, or homeowners who may have neglected games. Also discussion on how to figure out if it's a good deal or not, and how NOT to get turned upside down when purchasing a game that may need more work than the "deal " may indicate. Best advice: ASK QUESTIONS from us collectors here and other sites online. This was a great panel, the audience members really seemed to appreciate the advice and knowledge to help them not get screwed when making a new purchase, and what to do when those purchases stop working.
Saturday evening, spontaneous panel- Meet the New World Champs!HUGE thanks to special guests and new world champs in attendance, Keith Swanson (
www.Arcadedoctor.com) and David Cruz, who BOTH just recently within the last 3 weeks achieved the new World Record High Scores on Gorf and Tron, respectively. Since we discovered both were in attendance at the same time and willing, this was an unscheduled panel but I jumped at the chance to do another panel to chat with both of these great people. As everyone knows, I'm a Gorf nut, so this one was easy. The high scores both of these guys achieved was just astronomical, as proven by example of comparing my Gorf high score and Brian /prok's Tron high scores with those achieved by THESE guys. We won't even mention mine and prok's scores, which we THOUGHT were pretty decent being lifelong fans of each game. Keith and David eclipsed us by about 300 times, no exaggeration. Keith's Gorf score is 1 million +, and I believe David's Tron score is 14 million plus. I'll just say that Mine and prok's respective scores are in the thousands, just to give you a chuckle.
We could have talked forever on this panel, lots of input from the audience as well. Everything from how long they've been playing, what drives them to do it, how LONG they played the game straight, what they did to prepare themselves to do it, where they did it, how their body reacts to the extreme amount of time playing the game, as well as standing on their FEET for so long.... was just extremely interesting to here all the how's and why's they did it, as well as seeing all the jaws in the audience dropping. I'm very glad both of you made yourselves available for this event, and agreed to offer your time and insight so generously. We later realized that THIS may have really been your first public recognition of these feats, as Keith did his at home recorded on video, and David did his up North at an arcade, but this is his first Florida arcade event appearance since then. We're all very glad we could give you both some proper public recognition and kudos for your great accomplishments, way to go, and huge thanks for sharing with us!!!!
Sunday afternoon- Todd Rogers, and Meet ALL the champs!Special thanks to our panelists Todd Rogers, Keith Swanson, and David Cruz!
This was originally scheduled to be just a panel with Todd, but as he met Keith and David before the panel and they all got to talking, they all hit it off for SOME reason as they share similar experiences, so all agreed to come up for this one to do it all together, WAY more than we expected! This was like a continuation or Part 2 of the Saturday evening panel, and was VERY cool to get insights from all THREE of these guys, and even let them ask each other questions, as well as all taking questions from the audience. Todd's mastery of most all things video game related has stretched over 30+ years, and having literally THOUSANDS (really, I think the exact figure is 2,004 world records) is just mind boggling. Most of us will never have a world record on ONE game....ever....compared to holding thousands, most for over 30 years now. He spoke of everything from what it was like in the 80's arcade gaming days, to how he made a professional living being a gamer and representative for various companies, to his thoughts on comeraderie vs. snobbery vs. competition with other well respected players, to some of HIS astronomical high scores (i.e. 1 million+ on Centipede), to how he beat the friggin computer on Dragster game, a feat not even the computer can equal!!! Not to mention his record of playing a video game for 85 hours STRAIGHT, no breaks, no sleep. THINK about that.
He also discussed his new role as a referee with Twin Galaxies, taking over Walter Day's role, and thoughts on newer games and challengers as well. Just great, great, GREAT stuff from Todd, Keith, and David...HUGE thanks for having our last panel above and beyond our expectations.
I very much appreciate everyone's compliments on my interviewing skills, but really, I was just up there chatting away like I would with any of you, it was very easy really. I didn't have any prepared questions, just went with the flow and found things just flowing out of me, talking and talking and talking....who woulda thought I can talk as much as I type!
Really, this was just huge fun, and EXACTLY what many of us (i.e Prok, myself, others...) wanted to see at a show, to differentiate it from just a bunch of games in a room. I'm SO glad they all went so superbly, but that's really a reflection of the great guest panelists we had and THEIR willingness to open up and share their thoughts and knowledge with all of us. I was just the guide. These were really a nice break as well, giving people a chance to just chill and relax a bit and talk about arcade stuff. I really enjoyed myself immensely, as I surely don't get a chance to hang and chat with Atari Jim, Hamster, Jack enough at our local events, was glad to meet and chat with Paul...and certainly never spoke with our 3 world champs before. The audience also steered it, which again really made it personable, as we talked about what YOU wanted to hear.
THANKS TO ALL INVOLVED, WELL DONE !!!!!
