Meph's 1st Annual Arcade Halloween Party

Meph

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Location
Marcellus, New York
Two years ago the wife and I upgraded from our 1500 sq foot home to our current house which is 2200 sq feet with an additional 2200sq walkout basement and garage. It took us several years to find the house we wanted because we were looking for the right neighborhood, school district for the kids, and my wonderful wife was always on the lookout for a game room for me. When we finally found the house we made a decision that we were going to do the one thing we had always wanted but never done, entertain.

While we have entertained some small groups here and there, last night was a first "party" in the house. We hosted what will most definitely be our annual Halloween party. All of my co-workers know about my arcade hobby yet very few have ever seen it. We decided for our first party we were going with an 80's theme.

We found out last night that party planning is hard. I created a Facebook event and sent invites to a whole lot of people, many of which never responded. Surprisingly almost everyone I invited from work showed up and those that didn't let us know ahead of time. My wife had a whole bunch of co-workers say they were coming and not a single one of them showed up. We ended up making enough food to feed an army and overdid it a bit. I do know that my co-workers are getting a huge tray of Skull Pizzas and Confetti Cupcakes on Monday. All said though, we had 30 people show up which I think is pretty respectable for a first time party.

Two weeks ago I setup the basement, moved in new games and fired everything up one night to test out the electrical. Low and behold I found out that the previous owners decided to run the ENTIRE basement off a single 20 amp breaker. The next day a fellow local collector (timiskander) was at my house helping me add another circuit and rewire some of the basement. After a bunch of work last week my basement now is split up between 4 20amp circuits and I had no power issues last night. The night began with all of the games working other than Mr Do which is having an issue with the horizontal hold pot. One of the two dart machines is having an issue with the power supply and started acting up mid party, so that was the only casualty of the night.

The pinball machines were the biggest hit and to my surprise Street Fighter was the most played arcade machine. I had put the Big Blue cabinet in the corner and I see that has to change. Several times there were multiple people watching and waiting to take on the winner. Frogger, Ms Pacman, and Super Mario Bros were also big hits. I had my touchscreen jukebox upstairs pumping out a halloween playlist and I had the same playlist on a laptop streaming to a soundbar and subwoofer in the basement.

Everyone had a great time. I already know some things I am going to change for next year and some things I want to add.

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Since it was an 80s theme I went as DMC (1st and 5th pic), my wife was Madonna (2nd pic) and my kids were Cyndi Lauper and Obi Wan (or Luke...depending on his mood).

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Been following you in the FB group, your basement is coming along great! Looks like it was a great party too, love the theme and costumes.
 
Nice.. I like the willie nelson guy.

I did that one year because I already had a beard and dressed like a bum so it was like an instant costume just add a bandanna.
 
There is alot of work that goes into something like that.. entertaining can be hell, but I know it was all worth it when you watched these guys having such a great time. Pat yourself on the back, job well done. And who ever was responsible for the decorations.... Salute..
 
There is alot of work that goes into something like that.. entertaining can be hell, but I know it was all worth it when you watched these guys having such a great time. Pat yourself on the back, job well done. And who ever was responsible for the decorations.... Salute..

My wife and my 10 year old daughter were responsible for the decorations. They did a great job. One thing I didn't get a picture or a video of was the AtmosfearX Witching Hour projection that I had going in the upstairs window also. Was a big hit, even had some people on the road stop to check it out. I had speakers in the window pumping sound out to the yard as the witch was signing and chanting.
 
Doh, odd. I checked that thread before I posted it and all the photos were showing. Now they aren't. I guess I need to spend some time on Photobucket downloading all of my photos and throwing them up somewhere else.
 
Since it was an 80s theme I went as DMC (1st and 5th pic), my wife was Madonna (2nd pic) and my kids were Cyndi Lauper and Obi Wan (or Luke...depending on his mood).

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Umm... not to be picky, but he can't be Obi-Wan with a green lightsaber. Tell him he has to stick to canon, so either Luke or Qui-Gon. :p;)

Been following you in the FB group, your basement is coming along great! Looks like it was a great party too, love the theme and costumes.

Ooooo.... link, please? PM if you prefer...

My wife and my 10 year old daughter were responsible for the decorations. They did a great job. One thing I didn't get a picture or a video of was the AtmosfearX Witching Hour projection that I had going in the upstairs window also. Was a big hit, even had some people on the road stop to check it out. I had speakers in the window pumping sound out to the yard as the witch was signing and chanting.

They did an amazing job on the decorating. That said, your game room looks "incomplete", but damned well under way. I have a feeling you're still working in it, so keep up the good work, I hope to see it when it's finished!

That kind of set up is very similar to what I want to pull off one day. We just don't have the space in this house for it. Not a lot you can do with 900sf. My games are literally in the dining room, and some spill over into the living room. :004_ssuprised:

Doh, odd. I checked that thread before I posted it and all the photos were showing. Now they aren't. I guess I need to spend some time on Photobucket downloading all of my photos and throwing them up somewhere else.

Yeah, they pulled that crap sometime back($300 per year, I think it is), but apparently haven't finished updating everyone's settings. Personally, I use http://www.imgur.com ... It's free, and you can group things in specific directories to make them easy to find.

Just make sure you set your "directory" settings the way you want them. If they're public, people will be able to look at the pictures and "upvote" and "downvote" them.
 
All I can say is you need more cheese balls next time...

:D
 
That said, your game room looks "incomplete", but damned well under way. I have a feeling you're still working in it, so keep up the good work, I hope to see it when it's finished!

My game room is only functional. None of the walls are framed out, electrical needs to be upgraded, subfloor and new flooring, lighting, etc. I also have some more games coming in soon but I wasn't able to get things ready and them moved here before the party. It's definitely a work in progress but it has taken a back seat to landscaping, drainage tile, septic issues, etc. My first year I had water issues so I spent much of my time resolving the outside issues so the water isn't coming in. It will get done and I hope to get some of it done this winter.
 
My game room is only functional. None of the walls are framed out, electrical needs to be upgraded, subfloor and new flooring, lighting, etc. I also have some more games coming in soon but I wasn't able to get things ready and them moved here before the party. It's definitely a work in progress but it has taken a back seat to landscaping, drainage tile, septic issues, etc. My first year I had water issues so I spent much of my time resolving the outside issues so the water isn't coming in. It will get done and I hope to get some of it done this winter.
I actually considered putting bags of sand on my basement floor and painting the ceiling joists blue with clouds and putting in beach chairs and cranking up the heat.

Seemed like a great idea in the middle of February. LOL
 
My game room is only functional. None of the walls are framed out, electrical needs to be upgraded, subfloor and new flooring, lighting, etc. I also have some more games coming in soon but I wasn't able to get things ready and them moved here before the party. It's definitely a work in progress but it has taken a back seat to landscaping, drainage tile, septic issues, etc. My first year I had water issues so I spent much of my time resolving the outside issues so the water isn't coming in. It will get done and I hope to get some of it done this winter.

The landscaping(from the pictures) looks amazing! I used to work at a plant nursery(10 years), and I'm very proud of my front yard. It also gives me a great appreciation for when people take the time and effort to.... as my wife puts it.... "boost their curb appeal" with some great landscaping.

Because of my spine and nerve issues, even going out and doing the weeding takes "forever". But it's such a pleasure to look at.
 
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