Home Arcade Book Idea

ThatGuy

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I've had this book idea running through my head for a few months and need some feedback from the KLOV community. This book would feature home arcades and their collectors. I can see a two page spread per collector with full color pictures and a write-up about how the collection came to be, number of machines and extras, and general information. I know there are tons of incredible home game rooms around the world and wouldn't think there would be a shortage of game rooms to showcase.

I do have a book agent (of course he might think this is a terrible idea for a book) who sold my humor book called LETTERS TO EBAY to Warner Books (now called Grand Central Publishing)

http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Ebay-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267549829&sr=8-1

and I know the book business pretty well. So, does anyone think this book would have any merit? Obviously the KLOV would be a great resource and I'm sure there are some incredible game rooms out there that have yet to be discovered. I just wouldn't think that the market for this type of book would be very broad. Any other suggestions?
 
That would be a great idea! I mean, it would definitely be a specific target audience, but I would buy it. I think a lot of guys here would as well. Like anything, you would just need to get the word out. I don't think it would be exclusive to arcade gamers either as some of our game rooms have a lot of nostagic memorabilia and/or gaming items that are of interest. Any fan of video games would probably dig it.

What would be the requirements to make it into the book? Or would you just take open submissions and pick and choose from the lot?

By the way, Letters to eBay is hilarious. I recommend it to anyone who wants an easy, fun and quick read. :)
 
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Sounds neat, although collections change weekly it seems.

I also think that we'd probably get a little tired of seeing a DK, pac, or Tron in every gameroom. The book would have to be cautious not to get to boring this way. You'd have to go abroad with the Gamerooms and keep unique stuff in there.
 
Another thing, I'm not so sure there'd be enough market for a mass production of this book. Maybe I'm wrong?

I do know that there are some sites out there which allow you to download editing software and create your own book. Then, folks here can simply order one as they need, or whateva.

I was thinking of doing this about a year ago with Blurb.com
 
That's a great idea but the logistics of it would be really hard.

What makes a home collection great is the awesome condition of some folks efforts to restore them. When I see online pictures of a restoration I can only imagine what professionally shot photos of these collections would look like. Restoration threads etc.

Going around the country to interview and to photodocument all of this makes it a pretty pricey venture.

In video game magazines I've seen photos of home collections but it often comes across as junk collector nerds. An arcade collector book would be interesting but how many collections are photo ready like nutballchamp? CERTAINLY NOT MINE. Luna City Arcade also no longer exists.

A "how to guide" might be more usefull as collections change and only a handfull of collections are ready to be publically viewed.
 
I would agreed with Gozer. Leave the Ms/Pacman's, Centi/milli's, Tron's & DK's out!
 
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Or maybe a book that focuses on a somewhat larger audience, like a book showcasing "home theaters", arcades, bars, man caves, etc etc.
 
I would go for a book that had a lot of great pics of games. I would also include the idea of the collectors with the collections. I think it's usually hard to get a good idea of someones collection from one pic. Unless the collection is small. Most people probably don't care all that most about us collectors as individuals. Of course there are the exceptions of those with impressive game rooms or a ton of games. I think great artistic pics could be the main focus and the collectors and collections more the minor part. Would also be great to include info such as history and stats on the games pictured. Possibly even short stories from some of the creators. Some collectors and OPs could also offer great stories. I think pics should also be included of people moving, restoring ect. Something more than just games sitting in a game room. Although those are great too. Personally I would also dig up some pics of Luna City and throw them in there. I'd probably try and dig up some basic info and post the years it lasted for. Sort of a tribute to one of the greatest collector game rooms of all time. Could probably include some of yaggy's pics if he'll let you.
 
There should be a cable TV show called "The Game Room". It featues DYI restoration projects of all sorts for the game room including pinball projects, video & EM games, pool tables, and some unusual games. It would also feature outragious game rooms.
 
I think it's a cool idea,but I don't think you'll be able to get a green light for it due to a very small target audience and ergo,not much money to be made.But if you do get it green lighted and it is published I'll definitely buy a copy.
 
There should be a cable TV show called "The Game Room". It featues DYI restoration projects of all sorts for the game room including pinball projects, video & EM games, pool tables, and some unusual games. It would also feature outragious game rooms.

There used to be a show call Man Caves on one of the home improvement channels that did something similar to the above.

I agree with the others that the audience may be limited and it's not likely that a publisher would invest in this project. You'd probably have to self-publish it. At least some KLOVers would buy it.

I had a similar idea for a book. I was thinking of focusing on one classic game for each 2-page spread and have the history/info on the game and then a profile of a collector that owned the game, such as this KLOVer with PunchOut:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=150854

The most difficult part would be collecting the stories/photos from collectors around the country/world. As others have said, nice photos would be very important and based on the ones I've seen in GameRoom Magazine, you'd need to have someone that knew what they were doing travel to take the photos rather than having the owners take their own photos.
 
I was thinking about this thread again and really wish there was a book that actually listed all of the arcade games themselves and not collectors or their gamerooms. I have books on electric guitars and even guitar amps that are wonderfull. Having one on arcade games would just be awesome. Again the venture would be expensive. It would be a print w/ professionally shot pics of many of the games version of our beloved KLOV. I think having it as a cocktail book would be really fun, and awesome.


Budget 3-5k per photoshoot unless it was a collective effort where you someone that could shoot all ofb thew shots for you and could light the arcade in a similar style to the direction given to them.

The other way to do is to have a collective workspace where you would include as many games as you could but would have to have someone collect required photos, write some info about the game, a feature a collector that donated shots of the game, specifications etc. Why that particular collector considers it a "grail piece" would be the whole reason why you would do a collector bio other than feature him/her for just donating to the project.

Over time you would collect as many assets as you could to profile as many games as you could for a picture coffee book with large spread photos. Many folks couldn't profit from it but I for one would actually contribute what I could to the project. (picture worthy games, time, editing resources etc...)

Goals could include:

1) documenting the rich history/cultural impact of the arcade business (in america or globally)
2) catalog of many popular arcade machines and show off their beauty.
3) introduce folks to arcade collecting
4) setting realistic expectations of value and labor of restoration/repair/ownership/collecting.

Name suggestion?

"the Holy Grails of arcade collecting"

I wouldn't want to earn any profit from the book but a credit as well as a number of copies of the book would be enough.

... and lastly you would have to leave out the whole sundance story... (the dark side of arcade collecting)
 
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I would absolutely buy something like that, if published.

What if we did a small-scale, KLOV-specific book- where KLOVers could submit pics of their game room and a bio for a 2-page spread.

I'd buy something like that, too (hell, I'd want a spread of my own).
 
I would absolutely buy something like that, if published.

What if we did a small-scale, KLOV-specific book- where KLOVers could submit pics of their game room and a bio for a 2-page spread.

I'd buy something like that, too (hell, I'd want a spread of my own).

Well, I'd like to see the restored games first, Collections second, pics of the collector last...

The number of great games i want to see with big great pics maybe more than we could put into a book. The Great collections that I'd like to see 50-100. How many picture worthy collectors? Near zero...

I have this Tube Guitar Amp book written by one of the gurus of the tube biz and it's really cool. I learned so much about Tube amps from it. I wish I had the equivalent for an arcade book. There are some great guys here that could really explain the magic of RGB monitors, company histories, rises and falls etc...
 
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Well, I'd like to see the restored games first, Collections second, pics of the collector last...

The number of great games i want to see with big great pics maybe more than we could put into a book. The Great collections that I'd like to see 50-100. How many picture worthy collectors? Near zero...

I was thing more of "collection bios." The only owner info would be like name and location. The rest would be details about the actual collection.

I don't want pics of owners themselves either. :)
 
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