SC3 / Arcade party recap. TONS OF PICS!!!!!!

[shertz]

In show business, there's an old saying that a bad rehearsal leads to a great performance. This was certainly true for SC3's 10th anniversary party, held April 25, 2009, in Claremont, CA. Setup for this event was tricky. A snazzy new brickwork patio area was installed in our usual meeting place, but the construction ran long -- workmen were busy fitting stones as late as the day before the event. That delayed our setup; we were moving arcade cabinets into place until the final minutes before the party began. Not only that, some of the machines weren't even working when we got started. Our movie screen got torn the night before the event. You'd think that after 10 years we'd have learned how to avoid these kinds of problems.

So that was the "bad rehearsal" part. But this performance ended up going off without a hitch, thanks largely to our friends Mitch, Jeff, Jason, Damon and Paul. Jason brought our dead cabinets back to life shortly before the event began. Paul and Damon brought additional machines (including the crowd-pleasing The Act, an incredibly rare, modern laserdisc-style game), and along with Jeff, helped us transport and move cabinets into the proper positions just minutes before things got started. We jury-rigged a new screen that actually turned out to be easier to set up than the old one. It was a lot of work, but somehow all the pieces fell into place just as the attendees started to arrive.

And arrive they did! About 140 people showed up over the course of the night, by far the biggest crowd we've ever had. At one point, we estimate that 120 people were there at the same time. But there was plenty of fun for every one of those 120. The garage arcade was at capacity all night, and the spectators around Rock Band and The Act were densely packed. We reorganized the patio arcade this time, opening additional paths for the crowd and better exposing the projected MAME/Visual Pinball/emulator setup, which was hopping until the very end of the event. Ten classic console systems, plus one 1982 Tron VFD handheld, were set up for those who prefer their gaming on vintage hardware.

Speaking of vintage hardware, we were loaded with it for this event thanks to Mike from online auction site ChaseTheChuckwagon.com. Mike brought a huge pile of vintage games and systems, which were broken into several lots and raffled off to eager collectors. There's not enough room here to list every raffle item, but highlights included boxed Mystique games for the Atari 2600, a boxed 5200 setup, a Vectrex console, more classic computer hardware than you can shake a fastload cart at, and much, much more. But that wasn't all. Mike also brought a gaggle of giveaway items, which were available FREE to any interested collector. We're talking vintage Pong-type systems, PC games, controllers, loose carts, strategy guides and all kinds of other goodies. Collectors pored over the "Free Tree" all night long. Thanks for playing Santa Claus, Mike!

SC3 would also like to thank Twin Galaxies' Walter Day and Billy Mitchell, who lent their support to the event with the donation of several full-color, limited-edition SC3 posters and individually-numbered bottles of hot sauce. For those that don't know, Twin Galaxies has been the official scorekeeper for the world of video games and pinball since the 1980s. Walter Day is the founder and chief scorekeeper, and Billy Mitchell is the world champion of Pac-Man and countless other classic arcade games. (He also runs Rickey's World Famous Hot Sauce.) We're thrilled to have the support of these famous folks! The posters and sauces were given out to event attendees or raffled off, although one bottle was opened for the picnic area. Tasty!

Halfway through the event, the picnic area received another delicious treat: SC3's 10th birthday cake! As hard as it is to believe, our group turned 10 years old at the end of 2008. The cake featured a photo from the early days: Geoff and Robert almost literally bringing down the house while playing Dance Dance Revolution. SC3 started as a small group of about eight SoCal console collectors gathering together to swap Vectrex carts and play Combat. Now we're at 140 gamers, some of whom flew out from the East Coast to attend, clustering around dozens of coin-ops and consoles and belting out Rock Band tunes for hours on end. Thanks to all those who attended and especially those who donated to the Kitty Jar. We just about broke even this time. With your continued donations, SC3 will be around for another 10 years!

Big thanks to Damon Claussen for bringing 'The Act' and Trog arcade games and Paul Dean for bringing Donkey Kong and Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters. Thanks guys!!

The next meeting will take place later this year. It's tentatively scheduled for the last week in September. As always, you should monitor our Future Meeting Page and Forums for details as they become available.

We have collected over 350 pics from this past SC3. Thanks to Robert Welkner, Haily Bright, Todd M1A, Beu, The Applemonkey, Dan, Mosley, and Hogan Carter for donating their pics =-)

Pages 1 - 9 are setting up in the afternoon. Pages 9 - 11 is around 6pm of when the party starts. The rest is in to the night. ENJOY!!

http://community.webshots.com/album/...host=community

Haily Bright from Coin-Op.TV video of SC3...

http://www.vimeo.com/4353071

Mike from chasethechuckwagon.com video of us setting up...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuYplAIeenY

[thedrewster0]

Wow, this looks like something I should have been a part of!

[Blades]

That's pretty neat. Too bad it wasn't a little closer. Would have like to have gone too.

However, as hot as Hailey Bright is, one can't help but wonder if she's REALLY into video games or using it as her "big break" and has just stuck with the Video Game theme until something better comes a long.

I mean, you get a lot of Gamer Girls that say they are totally into video games, but are they really?

Maybe I'm the only one that wonders this. However, she's still hot, that is for sure.



;

[mrbill2084]

when she said qbert was her favorite game, you know she was full of it...

Yes, qbert is a good game, but is it anyones favorite???

[shardian]

Originally Posted by Blades

However, as hot as Hailey Bright is, one can't help but wonder if she's REALLY into video games or using it as her "big break" and has just stuck with the Video Game theme until something better comes a long.
;

I think it is time for you to learn an ancient secret that will help you in your life quest:

Girls lie. Alot. In many ways. Sometimes even subconsciously.
They also cheat. One could write a book on tricks girls use to make themselves look more attractive than they really are.

[Tronic]

Originally Posted by mrbill2084

when she said qbert was her favorite game, you know she was full of it...

Yes, qbert is a good game, but is it anyones favorite???

I would say at the moment, Qbert is my wifes favorite game.

[Fly]

Thanks for the pics. I finally got to see where my wife was hiding out ALL NIGHT!! I never did get to see the Karaoke party room first hand since it was off limits to us civilians.

Hec

[SilverCoin]

It does look awesome..

I totally want that Cobra Command..

Great selection of games!

[FMonk]

What's the story with that NES cart? Is that just a replacement case or is it some kind of multi-cart?

[FMonk]

Oh my god, that is freakin' awesome

Is it obvious that I'm just going through these pictures at work?