Videotopia in Tallahassee FL.

gameguy1957

Active member
Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
1,203
Reaction score
10
Location
Mobile, Alabama
I stopped by the Videotopia display at a museum in Tallahassee, Florida on Friday. The kids loved it and it was neat to see a "classic" style arcade set up and running again in public.

Unfortunately several of the games were in a sad state of repair. To be fair it does look like the games get a lot of daily use and abuse. There were about forty people that passed through and played while we were there (including the daycamp munchkins they let loose on them for about 30 minutes).

They also have a small display of home consoles. Many of the arcade games have a display with facts about the machine, date of build, etc. and include a list of other things happening at the time (movies popular that year, who was president, what was on TV, etc.)

Here's what's on display from what I can remember. I got a few pics of things before the camera died and I'll post them once I get home and on a real computer.

Computer Space - not working
Pong - not-working
Tank -working, but had a very noticeable scan line scrolling up the screen
Gun Fight - working
Breakout - working
Video Pinball - working
Space Invaders - works somewhat, invaders appear to have a shield. The bullets explode before hitting them. If you do get a good hit then the whole group will drop one level. Also has some video problems. Makes for a short, aggravating game.
Pole Position II - working, cutout cab with plexi and lights on the inside to show the internals.
Berzerk - working
Star Trek - working
Indiana Jones - working, but color was way off on it.
Donkey Kong - working
Donkey Kong Jr. - working
Zaxxon - working
Xevious - working
Defender - working
Joust - working
Robotron - not-working
Centipede - working
Millipede - working
Missile Command - working
Crystal Castles (in Missile Command cab) - working
Warlords cocktail - working (but no chairs to sit in while playing)
Asteroids - working, but had some video problems (looks like raster game with every other scan line missing)
Battlezone - working
Tempest - not working
Gravitar - working, but monitor very skewed, unplayable
Star Wars - working, but for some reason had an Empire marquee on it they charge .50 per play on this one
Space Duel cocktail - working
Qbert - working
Atari Football (2 player) - working

Several newer games - working, but I didn't pay attention to them and can't remember the names.

There are probably several other games that I forgot, but I'll add them when I post the pictures.

The museum also has a floor with a display of Native American artifacts (very cool to see up close) and a floor with a hands-on exploration-type things for the kids.

Overall it was worth the cost of admission and the time to stop by, I just wished the games had been in a little better shape. Maybe I'm just brought down by the fact that several of the games I really wanted to get my hands on were down at the time.

-JM
 
thats a decent lineup of games,. i was at gameon in chicago a few years back and it was similar with several of the games not working properly, but for a hands on experience alot of younger people may not have seen outside the movies i think its pretty cool. sounds like a great game lineup!
 
I went to it in Roanoke, Va, Washington D.C. and Baltimore. All three were cool. DC was a bit limited due to space constraints. Baltimore was a bit pricey but had room to put out probably all the games at once. I didn't know Videotopia was even still touring.
 
Still touring -- though not very often. From their website:

Pittsburgh, PA - The Carnegie Science Center (premier/test run) - 6/15/96 - 9/15/96
Philadelphia, PA - The Franklin Institute Science Museum - 6/20/97 - 9/1/97
Washington, DC - The National Press Building - 1/31/98 - 4/30/98
Tampa, FL - Museum of Science and Industry - 6/6/98 - 9/7/98
Dallas, TX - The Science Place - 9/25/98 - 1/5/99
Baltimore, MD - Maryland Science Center - 5/29/99 - 9/6/99
El Paso, TX - Insights El Paso Science Museum - 12/20/00 - 7/30/01
San Antonio, TX - Institute of Texan Cultures - 8/12/03 - 11/02/03
Singapore - Singapore Science Centre - 10/21/04 - 2/14/05
Orlando, FL - Orlando Science Center - 1/12/06 - 2/09/06 & 1/07 - 3/07
Rochester, NY - Strong National Museum Of Play - 5/30/09 - 1/5/10

I don't see when they were ever in Roanoke though...

I loved when they were in DC -- I was there almost every day.
 
Still touring -- though not very often. From their website:

Pittsburgh, PA - The Carnegie Science Center (premier/test run) - 6/15/96 - 9/15/96
Philadelphia, PA - The Franklin Institute Science Museum - 6/20/97 - 9/1/97
Washington, DC - The National Press Building - 1/31/98 - 4/30/98
Tampa, FL - Museum of Science and Industry - 6/6/98 - 9/7/98
Dallas, TX - The Science Place - 9/25/98 - 1/5/99
Baltimore, MD - Maryland Science Center - 5/29/99 - 9/6/99
El Paso, TX - Insights El Paso Science Museum - 12/20/00 - 7/30/01
San Antonio, TX - Institute of Texan Cultures - 8/12/03 - 11/02/03
Singapore - Singapore Science Centre - 10/21/04 - 2/14/05
Orlando, FL - Orlando Science Center - 1/12/06 - 2/09/06 & 1/07 - 3/07
Rochester, NY - Strong National Museum Of Play - 5/30/09 - 1/5/10

I don't see when they were ever in Roanoke though...

I loved when they were in DC -- I was there almost every day.

The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY *bought* the Videotopia display that was there. They are supposed to do something with it again later this year.
 
Wow I can't believe you were still up at 3am to post this JM ;). It was great meeting you and btw...there was a monitor in that Gunfight :D!
 
I just wished the games had been in a little better shape. Maybe I'm just brought down by the fact that several of the games I really wanted to get my hands on were down at the time.
-JM

Comments like this never cease to amaze me. Are you serious? Videotopia is a traveling exhibit and the games are abused by the people playing them. What exactly did you expect, games that looked like they just rolled off the assembly line? Museums like Videotopia, ACAM & others have a herculean task keeping those games running, and no matter how much time and money are thrown at the games, it is never enough.

There is no way these games will ever look/function like the ones we keep in our homes. There is a huge difference between a game that runs in a museum 12 hours a day 365 days per year as opposed to a home game that is on just a few hours a week.
 
When you find a traveling museum exhibit of 25-35yo amusement machines,
all in perfect condition, please let us know. I'd love to see how many crates of
parts they have to haul around with them to keep a 100% uptime record.

I know you mean well, OP.
It is a constant uphill battle and it sucks that
the caretaker is probably gonna see this thread and get mad.
Dude works hard and doesn't deserve this discouragement.
 
I supplied them with a NEW Sega "Zektor" machine, which was previously thought to be an unreleased machine, as basically NOBODY had ever reported to have seen one out in operation. I found it in a warehouse where it had been sitting for over 20 years after it had been put out on test for only 6 months before the monitor went out in it. I also supplied them with an original Empire Strikes Back boardset so that they could convert a Star Wars. This was back around 1996 or so...
 
Should be up an running again by the end of this month. :)

That one was #2 on my want to play list, Computer Space was #1. I'm about five hours away and won't be back that way for about a year and it will be long gone by then. Wish I was closer so I could make it back over and give it a play or two.

Here's the other games they had that I didn't remember until I watched a video we made while we were there.

Rail Chase 2
Galaga
Ms. Pac-Man
Baby Pac-Man
Point Blanc
2 x Fighting Game - SF of some type
Escape From the Planet of Robot Monsters
720
APB
Hip Hop Mania Complete Mix
Daytona USA
Gauntlet II

-JM
 
Here's some pics.

#1 - Food Fight and Gun Fight loaded for trip to Tampa

#2 - Entrance to the museum

#3 - Computer Space and Pong

#4 - Console display

#5 - More b&w games
 

Attachments

  • 100_1561.jpg
    100_1561.jpg
    60.1 KB · Views: 17
  • 100_1564.jpg
    100_1564.jpg
    51.2 KB · Views: 22
  • 100_1565.jpg
    100_1565.jpg
    22.4 KB · Views: 21
  • 100_1566.jpg
    100_1566.jpg
    31.2 KB · Views: 19
  • 100_1567.jpg
    100_1567.jpg
    24.6 KB · Views: 21
#6 - Another shot of the b&w games

#7 - Last pic of the b&w games

#8 - Vector corner

#9 - Wide shot of the room

That's all I got before the camera died.

I brought a Smash-TV back from Tampa, thanks to all involved with the game trading while I was down there.

-JM
 

Attachments

  • 100_1568.jpg
    100_1568.jpg
    23.6 KB · Views: 18
  • 100_1569.jpg
    100_1569.jpg
    22.7 KB · Views: 16
  • 100_1570.jpg
    100_1570.jpg
    23.3 KB · Views: 24
  • 100_1571.jpg
    100_1571.jpg
    22.3 KB · Views: 18
Still touring -- though not very often. From their website:

Pittsburgh, PA - The Carnegie Science Center (premier/test run) - 6/15/96 - 9/15/96
Philadelphia, PA - The Franklin Institute Science Museum - 6/20/97 - 9/1/97
Washington, DC - The National Press Building - 1/31/98 - 4/30/98
Tampa, FL - Museum of Science and Industry - 6/6/98 - 9/7/98
Dallas, TX - The Science Place - 9/25/98 - 1/5/99
Baltimore, MD - Maryland Science Center - 5/29/99 - 9/6/99
El Paso, TX - Insights El Paso Science Museum - 12/20/00 - 7/30/01
San Antonio, TX - Institute of Texan Cultures - 8/12/03 - 11/02/03
Singapore - Singapore Science Centre - 10/21/04 - 2/14/05
Orlando, FL - Orlando Science Center - 1/12/06 - 2/09/06 & 1/07 - 3/07
Rochester, NY - Strong National Museum Of Play - 5/30/09 - 1/5/10

I don't see when they were ever in Roanoke though...

I loved when they were in DC -- I was there almost every day.


I saw the show in Philly, DC, Dallas, and Baltimore. I think the Baltimore show was he biggest. All where awesome, though.
 
Back
Top Bottom