Post by bradx on Oct 11, 2009 2:08:17 GMT -5
took a road trip down to a vintage video game museum down on old route 66, just got back a couple hours ago. towns that were built on the railroad and then nurtured by the mother road, and finally left to die when the interstate passed them by. there isnt much left of the road now from what we could see, and most of it is very poorly signed.
recently i developed an interest in classic arcade games. i acquired several cabinets and built my own multicade, but theres lots of nuances to old games. some have rare vector monitors and many have custom controls that cant be accurately duplicated by a single all purpose joystick. a couple of my friends, mark and jesse, play on a regular basis and we compete for high scores.
when i was researching the hobby i joined a message board, but rarely post. the people on this particular board are hardcore collectors, not operators or retailers out to make a buck, but rather often restore classics to mint condition with all original parts. one of the collectors got a deal on rent for a nice historic location across the street from his warehouse/shop, and decided to open an arcade museum.
he decided to keep it dedicated to the classics, and every game in there is from 1984 or before. he posted a couple pics on the message board but hasnt announced its opening or advertised for it at all. it was only open two days before we showed up, as a sort of preview last weekend. the place doesnt even have a name yet!
i noticed it was only a state away, so i did some research and found out it was about a 5 hour drive which puts it far closer than any comparable place, most of which are located on the coasts. until now, there was basically no vintage arcades in the midwest. i am not interested in shitty late 80s/early 90s fighting games in conversion cabs or beat to shit classics with fucked up monitors and unoriginal controls. 60 or so late 70s and early 80s games in good condition was exciting, so i emailed the guy and made sure he was gonna be open this weekend and started planning.
jesse's parents are rich, i mean, they have their own fucking plane and shit and own a business with a buncha vans, so he took a van and friday morning we hit the highway. the first tank of gas was free, and when we crossed the state line we stopped and grabbed a bite to eat at a steak and shake. i wanted to eat at checkers but we couldnt find one.
it was about 3pm when we got to the arcade, so we played for about 3 hours and then went and found a motel room. it cost $50 including tax and the arab guy was amazed 3 men would be willing to share a room with only two beds. he didnt know what a "cot" was so jesse got to sleep on the floor. we picked up some beer and caught a little buzz.
around 7:30 we got back to the museum and played until 9. then we decided to try and find a bite to eat in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. we were staying in a motel with no name in a city with only one restaurant that was already closed. nobody had a map and we were all ripped, so we headed down route 66 in search of pizza.
for a dozen miles or so we headed south until we ended up in some little college town. the signage for route 66 fell apart like it always seems to, so we got entirely lost and drove around in circles for the next hour or so. we stopped to pick up some tall cans (road beers). eventually we found our way back onto the highway and discovered a greasy old pizza shack that looked like it had been there forever. sat out back drinking while they made our pie.
after driving back to the motel and eating the pizza (fresh dough and toppings, very tasty) we watched trailer park boys and got fucked up like crazy for half the night. i got some new altec lansing computer speakers i brought with me, they sounded great! jesse and mark passed out so i listened to hank williams for another hour or two.
luckily check out wasnt until 11am, so i got a fair amount of sleep, which was important considering how much i drank the night before. we packed up and headed straight over to the arcade and played for an hour or so before getting big time munchies.
back to route 66, and we stopped at the original dixie truck stop, which i had seen on one of those travel shows. apparently it has changed owners, because it totally sucked. one of the worst meals i have ever had. overpriced and just plain bad.
with a load of shitty food in our guts and a fresh tank of gas, we started back north. just outside of town is funks grove, a nature preserve with 100+ year old trees and some decent trails. in season they tap maple syrup there. we saw a cat with no tail. took a hash hike for a couple miles and got some nice nature videos.
it was already 3 in the afternoon when we started back for home. the 66 signage was nonexistent again, so we quickly got lost and used the sun to navigate until we finally found a town. i stopped and bought a map and we headed towards chicago.
just outside of chicago i noticed an old drive-in hot dog stand, so we stopped and grabbed some dogs to hold us over. when we got back to wisconsin we stopped at white castle. fish nibblers are delicious! still, i was reminded why i only eat white castle once every couple years. its fairly terrible.
got home a couple hours ago and just got done uploading the video footage i shot:
blip.tv/file/2706862
recently i developed an interest in classic arcade games. i acquired several cabinets and built my own multicade, but theres lots of nuances to old games. some have rare vector monitors and many have custom controls that cant be accurately duplicated by a single all purpose joystick. a couple of my friends, mark and jesse, play on a regular basis and we compete for high scores.
when i was researching the hobby i joined a message board, but rarely post. the people on this particular board are hardcore collectors, not operators or retailers out to make a buck, but rather often restore classics to mint condition with all original parts. one of the collectors got a deal on rent for a nice historic location across the street from his warehouse/shop, and decided to open an arcade museum.
he decided to keep it dedicated to the classics, and every game in there is from 1984 or before. he posted a couple pics on the message board but hasnt announced its opening or advertised for it at all. it was only open two days before we showed up, as a sort of preview last weekend. the place doesnt even have a name yet!
i noticed it was only a state away, so i did some research and found out it was about a 5 hour drive which puts it far closer than any comparable place, most of which are located on the coasts. until now, there was basically no vintage arcades in the midwest. i am not interested in shitty late 80s/early 90s fighting games in conversion cabs or beat to shit classics with fucked up monitors and unoriginal controls. 60 or so late 70s and early 80s games in good condition was exciting, so i emailed the guy and made sure he was gonna be open this weekend and started planning.
jesse's parents are rich, i mean, they have their own fucking plane and shit and own a business with a buncha vans, so he took a van and friday morning we hit the highway. the first tank of gas was free, and when we crossed the state line we stopped and grabbed a bite to eat at a steak and shake. i wanted to eat at checkers but we couldnt find one.
it was about 3pm when we got to the arcade, so we played for about 3 hours and then went and found a motel room. it cost $50 including tax and the arab guy was amazed 3 men would be willing to share a room with only two beds. he didnt know what a "cot" was so jesse got to sleep on the floor. we picked up some beer and caught a little buzz.
around 7:30 we got back to the museum and played until 9. then we decided to try and find a bite to eat in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. we were staying in a motel with no name in a city with only one restaurant that was already closed. nobody had a map and we were all ripped, so we headed down route 66 in search of pizza.
for a dozen miles or so we headed south until we ended up in some little college town. the signage for route 66 fell apart like it always seems to, so we got entirely lost and drove around in circles for the next hour or so. we stopped to pick up some tall cans (road beers). eventually we found our way back onto the highway and discovered a greasy old pizza shack that looked like it had been there forever. sat out back drinking while they made our pie.
after driving back to the motel and eating the pizza (fresh dough and toppings, very tasty) we watched trailer park boys and got fucked up like crazy for half the night. i got some new altec lansing computer speakers i brought with me, they sounded great! jesse and mark passed out so i listened to hank williams for another hour or two.
luckily check out wasnt until 11am, so i got a fair amount of sleep, which was important considering how much i drank the night before. we packed up and headed straight over to the arcade and played for an hour or so before getting big time munchies.
back to route 66, and we stopped at the original dixie truck stop, which i had seen on one of those travel shows. apparently it has changed owners, because it totally sucked. one of the worst meals i have ever had. overpriced and just plain bad.
with a load of shitty food in our guts and a fresh tank of gas, we started back north. just outside of town is funks grove, a nature preserve with 100+ year old trees and some decent trails. in season they tap maple syrup there. we saw a cat with no tail. took a hash hike for a couple miles and got some nice nature videos.
it was already 3 in the afternoon when we started back for home. the 66 signage was nonexistent again, so we quickly got lost and used the sun to navigate until we finally found a town. i stopped and bought a map and we headed towards chicago.
just outside of chicago i noticed an old drive-in hot dog stand, so we stopped and grabbed some dogs to hold us over. when we got back to wisconsin we stopped at white castle. fish nibblers are delicious! still, i was reminded why i only eat white castle once every couple years. its fairly terrible.
got home a couple hours ago and just got done uploading the video footage i shot:
blip.tv/file/2706862