National Videogame Museum

I was in the area earlier this year for work, and my coworker and I spent the day at the NVM... we were both really impressed and had a great time. I've known the guys since the Classic Gaming Expo days, and had seen many of the pieces over the years at CGE, but I thought the museum layout was really good. And the fact that my coworker who likes video games, but isn't in the "scene" enjoyed it says that they did a good job of keeping it mainstream enough for the general public.

And yeah, the museum itself is definitely home video game focused, but there's a decently sized arcade there as well (maybe ~40 games?). Just looked at my phone, and found one picture I took of the arcade (not a great pic, but you get the idea). I wouldn't say they're museum pieces (e.g. not "restored", they don't have signs next to them telling the history, etc.)... but I they were well maintained (monitors looked good, didn't notice any broken controls, jammed coin slots, etc.).

DogP
 

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I wouldn't say they're museum pieces (e.g. not "restored", they don't have signs next to them telling the history, etc.)...
... and yet, they're in a museum. Did anyone also notice the strip of plastic that's riveted across the top of the Asteroids Deluxe monitor bezel? lol C'mon, that's ghetto. If anyone remembers visiting Videotopia years ago, they often had a large stand next to each machine that offered some general history about it (ie. who made it, when it was released, etc). That's how you do it correctly (props to Keith Feinstein and Jeff Anderson). That's how *everything* should be treated in a museum. NVM also has several rare Pong variants, plus a Computer Space and a Space Race - none of which can be played. And you're right in that the focus of the NVM is home games. Well, that should be reflected in the name, but it's called the National Videogame Museum. But the NVM treats arcade games the same way they did when it was the CGE, except the games were free to play at CGE (including Computer Space and Pong). Who wants to pay to go to a museum, and then have to pay to play common games like Pac-Man and Asteroids Deluxe?

 
Do they still think an Atari 2600 has 256 bytes of RAM?

I tried to help them (Videotopia and NVM) out in the early days by pointing out a few typos and errors in their displays. That was one of the most glaring errors.
They basically told me to f*ck off and they have engineers and historians on staff that "actually know how the machines work inside" and that the "public just doesn't have the technical ability to understand complicated computer systems like they do" .

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

They were really nasty about it too. REALLY hateful and condescending.
F 'em!
 
... and yet, they're in a museum. Did anyone also notice the strip of plastic that's riveted across the top of the Asteroids Deluxe monitor bezel?


It may be ghetto, but it's factory from Atari. That's the "anti-glare" solution from Atari, they sold a kit that changed the angle of the front plexi and they did that by screwing the plexi in at a straighter angle using that ghetto bracket.
 
I've heard of that anti-glare kit, but never had it on any of the several Deluxe uprights I've had over the years, and never saw it on anyone else's. Plus BITD, most arcades in my area had low or no lighting from above, and glare wasn't an issue that I recall. I also remember playing a Deluxe in a local supermarket back then soon after it was released, and glare wasn't an issue - the game's high difficulty was, however :)
 
I had a AD that had previously had the anti glare kit installed (it had the holes drilled in the plexi) but the plexi had been put back to normal position. The kit was in the cabinet, I tried it both ways and hated it with the anti glare kit installed. But like you, I prefer my arcade 80's style, with very little light other than the games.
 
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