Arcade related museum ideas?

Oryk Zinyo

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I am planning to build a small "museum" area as part of the 2013 Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show. I have been thinking about this for quite a long time and I have been gathering parts over the years to make it happen but I would like to solicit ideas from KLOV. This is not a museum aimed at KLOV members, this is aimed at children and other interested parties. Here are the areas I already have plans to set up:


Video Gaming Influence on Popular Culture - I have books, vintage clothes, vintage drapes, vintage music, and a few other categories of things that were directly influenced by arcade gaming and gaming in general.

The Evolution of Arcade Video Games - I intend to have gutted versions of three or four video arcade games on display along with descriptions of what major components the viewer is looking at. I plan to start with something from the golden era with a power brick, linear power supply, game board, monitor, etc. while a Jamma era will be very similar though the board will be more compact and a switching power supply will sub for the brick/linear. Other eras include a modern PC based machine and maybe something from the old black and white era or possibly a vector.

Internals of a Pinball Machine - Current plan is to have two pinball machines, one EM and one DMD era open and available for people to see.

A map of Washington State with all privately owned public arcades marked. No home arcades and no chains like Chuck E Cheese will be on the map.

A display of the many modern documentaries that revolve around the arcade and arcade culture.

An interractive area that contains some basic electricity toys such as a Van De Graff generator and a plasma globe as well as things that are specific to arcade games. Maybe a board with leaf switch joystick/buttons along side micro switch joystick/buttons so that you can feel the difference. If I can find a complete EM chime box I would love to rig it up with a switch box allowing you to see solenoids in operation as well as hear them.

Possibly a display detailing the commonly used tools in repair and maintenance.



So, is there anything else you guys think would be cool for the kids?
 
Regarding the boardsets. A display showing a working Williams game boardset along side a JROK running the same game would be a pretty dramatic display of the differences between original and modern hardware.

Along the same lines, starting the display with a Magnavox Oddessy, an Atari 2600, a Colecovision, a PS1, a Super Nintendo and finishing with PS3 or an XBox360 would be a cool console version of the evolution of home video gaming.

ken
 
Regarding the boardsets. A display showing a working Williams game boardset along side a JROK running the same game would be a pretty dramatic display of the differences between original and modern hardware.

Along the same lines, starting the display with a Magnavox Oddessy, an Atari 2600, a Colecovision, a PS1, a Super Nintendo and finishing with PS3 or an XBox360 would be a cool console version of the evolution of home video gaming.

ken


I have thought about something similar, but I was thinking I may use an old love tester vs. one of the newer build it yourself hand held units.

However, your Jrok idea is a great one and I have access to everything needed. I am sure Dokert would let me use his Williams test bench which is completely exposed and mounted to a single board and i have a Jrok board, I'll just need to add the monitors.

Thanks Ken!
 
There was a company in the mid-80`s that made pinball & video game cabinets out of thick clear plexiglass & you could see all the guts inside while operational. Find a couple of those & that would be an eye candy display.
 
I don't know how much and what kind of things you have on hand.

Maybe try and cover some of the chain of events from manufacturer to distributor to operator.

Pictures of a factory, dealer displays for games, flyers to give operators.

LTG :)
 
I don't know how much and what kind of things you have on hand.

Maybe try and cover some of the chain of events from manufacturer to distributor to operator.

Pictures of a factory, dealer displays for games, flyers to give operators.

LTG :)


That is a good idea, Lloyd. I am not sure I have much of the stuff needed for this but I can likely piece it together since there are plenty of pics floating around the internet.
 
There was a company in the mid-80`s that made pinball & video game cabinets out of thick clear plexiglass & you could see all the guts inside while operational. Find a couple of those & that would be an eye candy display.

I have never seen or even heard of this.
 
Another cool thing you could do along the lines of marking out the arcades would be to do something like 1983 vs. 2012 in locations, but this would probably be a bit of a challenge to find the old arcades from back in the day.
 
Another cool thing you could do along the lines of marking out the arcades would be to do something like 1983 vs. 2012 in locations, but this would probably be a bit of a challenge to find the old arcades from back in the day.


My goal is to point out to visitors the places they can go right now and play some games. I don't want to confuse them with a map of locations that are no longer in operation.
 
Show how arcade games got converted from one game to another with the use of conversion kits.

Also it would be interesting to have a display showing the setup of how the wire harness goes from the edge connector of the game pcb to the control panel, monitor, speakers, etc., to illustrate the simplicity (or complexity) of an arcade game.

You should also show how some arcade games came in cocktail versions too.

I'm sure you'll cover the whole sprites vs vector games as well. :)
 
Stick a camera in a pinball machine running to a monitor so the player can see what happens inside while playing. May be more playable than an open machine.
 
I am bumping this thread up to see if there are any more ideas. Here is where things currently stand:

I dropped the idea of the interractive electronics displays. I will add these back at some point in the future but for now I think I want to concentrate on history and gaming specific exhibits.

There will be four machines open for observation by the public, two vids and two pins. One vid will be Centipede and the other will be a Centipede Jamma conversion. The pins will be an EM and a SS. The playfield of the SS will be removed from the cab and installed on a rotisserie for easy viewing of the entire machine.

I will also have a tools display. It will have simple tools (soldering iron, crimpers, multimeter) as well as specialized tools such as my Bally/Midway Universal Tester and some modern tools designed by members of our community.


All of this will be on display at the 2013 Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show in June. After the show I am hoping to locate a permanent location for the museum so that I can grow it.
 
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