CAX 2018 Second time the charm - REVIEW -

[Mokthemagicman]

What a show and what a turn out! I loved that they moved a big chunk of the games to another room and made the isles a lot wider. I heard they did this last year (that I didn't attend) and had to check it out for myself. Having the games in a two main rooms created more space between games isles and it makes a HUGE difference! Also having the retro-console area upstairs gave more places for people to go. This really helps spread out the people and made it easier to get around. Wait times were not too bad ether. Sat around noon to 4:00 was peak crowds but it let up a bit in the later hours. Luckily this year almost everything I played worked how it should. Not many duds in the line up. Love that. BTW, who brought the new six player Starlords (Warlords remake) game? That was pretty amazing and I have never seen one before. I still suck at it though. Was that one of a kind?

It was nice to see the last raffle call for the Iron Maiden pin was held in the speaker room this year and not the main hallway. Now you can actually hear the numbers. Only problem, it was over capacity. Security almost shut it down. Luckily it wrapped up just before they closed it. Whew! So happy my friend CarrieZ won the collector raffle for the hand truck. Yay Carrie! I really wanted that PS2 LOTR game too. Lol.

As far as the usual expense of hotel food/beer is to be expected and not the fault of CAX. Thankfully thinking ahead, I had a friend bring a cooler of beer so we could pre-game it before the show or having drinks after the bar closes early. Hiding a flask doesn't hurt ether. Weeeeee!

In all, I thought the event was a total blast and it was great seeing friends again at the show.

My thanks to CAX staff, all the collectors that brought games and special thanks to Jeff Kinder (for his hard work) putting on an awesome show this year.

Great work everyone! Looking forward to CAX 2019.

-Mok

 

[timerunner88]

what a show and what a turn out!

mok approved! We are going in 2019 just based on this new review!

 

[Mokthemagicman]

mok approved! We are going in 2019 just based on this new review!

Yay! See ya there!

 

[Phil Bennett]

Indeed. Thanks to all involved; I had a great time.

Here's my review that nobody asked for.

The good:

* Great selection of games, including some I'd never seen before (e.g. Change Lanes)
* Working condition of games seemed better than previous years (e.g. Assault with fully working joysticks!)
* I was finally able to acquire an Astro City cab
* I got to mingle and meet with some very interesting people.
* Large attendance.

The not so good:

* Large attendance.
* I didn't get to play Star Rider (did anybody?)
* No Atari protos this year?
* The Jackie Chan: Fists of Fire tournament didn't take place (I don't think it was announced?)
* "GREETINGS PROGRAMS!" is still as cringe-inducing as ever.

 

[Mokthemagicman]

* I didn't get to play Star Rider (did anybody?)

I heard the power supply busted when turned on. Bummer right? I haven't seen that game working in years!

 

[alggamer]

That is correct. The power supply in Star Rider quit right after they brought it in. It worked just prior as I was told. No replacement available as it is a unique supply.

 

[ArcadeClassix]

I had a great time. Good seeing you Mok and all the other Arcade Hangout folks and everyone else as well! Now I gotta figure out how I can sell my soul for an Inferno (Williams Inferno that is). May settle for a Flip Table lol

 

[norCal4Life]

I always have fun at CAX and this time was no exception. Lots of cool games and the crowds weren't too bad. Every year I tend to want to play one game a lot. This year was Missile Command. I also got some quality time on Crazy Climber, Wizard of Wor, Zzyzzyxx, Liberator(awesome, motivates me to get started on my conversion), Star Castle, and Gravitar. I want to say that I really, really appreciate everyone who brings games to the show. Bravo to the organizers and the volunteers who make the best classic arcade game and pinball expo on the planet happen. You guys are awesome and appreciated.

Also, the Galaxian T shirt design this year was the best ever, just beautiful (I guess it doesn't hurt that Galaxian is one of my all time faves).

 

[z3k3]

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Highlights to me were:

Black and White Ball including the
Vector Pong homebrew
Exidy Pong with Select-A-Game
Meadows Flim-Flam
Midway Shuffleboard

Starlords (a 6 player Warlords update)

Porky and Wall Street

Up N Down
Dragon Master proto was just about unplayable, but still interesting

EM Pong
cocktail row

...and it was cool to see all the modern Japanese arcade games.

I gram'd some pics here:

Black and White Ball
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl12e7pFck5/?taken-by=arcade72

Japanese cabs
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl57ZXulwsF/?taken-by=arcade72

This is my second year in a row after long hiatus. I may skip a year and come back in two as it's a long ways from Philadelphia...it was good to see friends old and new.

 

[Atari Force]

Anyone have pics of the Starlords 6 player Warlords? Sadly I couldn't attend this year as usual it seems.

Brian

 

[mrbill2084]

Anyone have pics of the Starlords 6 player Warlords? Sadly I couldn't attend this year as usual it seems.

Brian

it needs better pots or optical encoders. its too jumpy as is. plus those lights around the screen are too bright. But it looks like a winner when they finish it. I also liked the pong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU5InJ9g_nQ

I played houdini pin and it seemed cool. The inverted flippers is a trip. Will have to play it again when I can hear it. I read people complain it taunts you for bad play.

played iron maiden. played well, but again need to play it where I can hear it.

did not get a chance play total annihilation. I hear its good, but it seems a little basic to me.

played batman 66. Looked interesting, but again could not hear it and I am sure the sound is a huge part to it.

 

[jawhn]

Dammit. I meant to seek out Mok, too.

This past weekend was a blur. A happy blur.

 

[InsaneDavid]

it needs better pots or optical encoders. its too jumpy as is. plus those lights around the screen are too bright. But it looks like a winner when they finish it. I also liked the pong.

If you gave the pots a few full spins to their limits, the paddle movement would tighten up and recalibrate.

Glad that picture I took is getting around!! Haha.

Not as much as that short SegaSonic Bros. video I put on Twitter though - holy shit! 1300+ likes, 500+ retweets.

 

[z3k3]

If you gave the pots a few full spins to their limits, the paddle movement would tighten up and recalibrate.

Ah, I didn't realize that.

 

[Mokthemagicman]

Dammit. I meant to seek out Mok, too.

This past weekend was a blur. A happy blur.

I saw you once as we passed in the hall and said hi. You were with Dave and Drewster. Lol.

 

[mikejmoffitt]

CAX impressions:


Good

Special Games:
Always happy to see Irritating Maze, Lupin III: The Typing and The Grid. Extra appreciation must be shown for keeping The Irritating Maze in good shape, since it's not the world's sturdiest cabinet and there are many lamps to replace in it.
The row of Japanese cabinets made an impact and they were constantly in use. Not one failed on the show floor. Rhythm games were in great shape and were very popular. Nobody stole or damaged the cardboard side art that my friend has put a lot of time into.
I liked seeing the mechanical table pong, especially the clear version.
Naturally the vector cabinets and pins were well maintained.

exA:
The exA booth ran without any real hiccups. People liked the games and we got valuable feedback for improvements. SegaSonic Bros was on display as well (after I had to repair a burned video ground trace on the floor!) and it was interesting to see an unseen prototype.

Not so Good

Dock Management:
Next year we need to have somebody dedicated to being a showrunner for the dock area. It is tough dealing with low bandwidth there as it is, but it's extra bad to go up to the dock, only to find a completely empty truck sitting there with the driver and some others chortling away about water cooler smalltalk bullshit. Save it for inside - there are people waiting! We need somebody on the dock more or less yelling that.

The Grid:
I helped a bit with getting The Grid up and running - this involved a monitor swap, regreasing / rebuilding trackballs, cleaning keypads, and mostly (for me) calibrating the monitors. In spite of this some still didn't work right, and codes could not be entered. Some monitors badly need a re-cap. Since these don't get put on location I'm a little upset they need so much work the night before the show. The Grid is one of my favorite parts so this was a bit of a bummer.

Monitors:
Many cabinets had monitors that were wildly out of calibration, or badly needed a degaussing. I'm talking black levels brought way above an appropriate level, some missing color channels, white point not set... remember how many people are seeing these old games for the first time, so leaving a good impression is important - otherwise people can come away thinking "games were just shitty back then".
If your monitor is out of focus, or the colors are wrong, or the gain is set so high that colors are streaking to the side (looking at your blue channel, Rampart) then please fix it! All of these are like five minutes of adjustments. There is such a wealth of information available and plenty of people who can be asked to help that there isn't a good excuse for a poor monitor. I put a chunk of time into calibrating the monitors for the japanese games (and some rhythm games) to get them presentable, so it would be nice if all of the games were calibrated.

Next year I am not stretching myself so thin and will be doing only one or two things, so I will have time to run around fixing monitors more as well.

 

[visionik]

BTW, who brought the new six player Starlords (Warlords remake) game? That was pretty amazing and I have never seen one before. I still suck at it though. Was that one of a kind?

Starlords is currently a prototype / side-project by Other Ocean ... http://otherocean.com/

It's an amazing, fun game. As mrbill said, it needs some tweaks. But man it's fun.

They were not expecting the level of player interest (this game was stacked with players all weekend) / or all the requests to purchase units.

I talked with their CEO on Sunday, they plan to regroup and figure out how/if they will take it to market in the coming weeks.

 

[Phil Bennett]

Next year I am not stretching myself so thin and will be doing only one or two things, so I will have time to run around fixing monitors more as well.

I'd happily lend a hand with that.

 

[Battlesmurf]

Starlords is currently a prototype / side-project by Other Ocean ... http://otherocean.com/

It's an amazing, fun game. As mrbill said, it needs some tweaks. But man it's fun.

They were not expecting the level of player interest (this game was stacked with players all weekend) / or all the requests to purchase units.

I talked with their CEO on Sunday, they plan to regroup and figure out how/if they will take it to market in the coming weeks.

I am very curious to follow this. I was not fond of the controls (a little floaty and "laggy" with the time I spent with it. Still, the idea is great and with some minor tweaks/options this thing could do very well on location (and in my house lol).

 

[MIKE96]

Anyone take pics of the games that were there?