Two Retro Gaming and Computing Events This Weekend.
There are two great events coming up this weekend for those of us who love to fire up old computer and video game hardware: The Vintage Computer Festival East, and the Midwest Gaming Classic.
The Vintage Computer Festival East 4.0 in Wall Township, New Jersey is not fooling around. Lots of times when people want to include "vintage" computers in a display, they march out an early Mac, a C64, a Sinclair - in other words the same junk that I've got in my basement.
That stuff is fun, but the Vintage Computer Festival East really means it when they say vintage. Their event this Saturday and Sunday will feature machines that use chunky rotary switches, alligator clips, and bailing wire to do their work. On these computers, "GUI" probably refers to the Letraset labels next to the myriad knobs and patch bays.
The best part is that all of these units still work! Here's a rare chance to get some face time with everything from garage developments to large scale technological achievements that have made modern computing possible. If you want to bring some of that retro computing home with you, last year had a booth dedicated to the affordable Digi-Comp kit that we reported on a few months ago. Follow the links at the bottom of this post to get more info and please check out the many great pictures too.
Also happening this weekend is the sixth annual Midwest Gaming Classic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The MGC has lots of dealers in classic and modern video gaming gear, arcade cabinets set to free play, lots of pinball, and a comprehensive "museum" of the history of video games. Don't forget to bring along your spare gaming stuff - lots of trading happens right on the show floor.
If you're going to be there, make sure that you find me and "hi!" (You can see what I look like in the video review we did of the Quasicade arcade cabinet). I'll have a table with a couple of friends showing off whatever fun and weird video game console stuff I can dig out between now and then.
I'll also likely be spending time at the Messiah table, as well as hooking up with Albert of Atari Age who will undoubtedly be showing off more of their great homebrew titles for the 2600.
Both events are going to be a lot of fun. If you can, mention to the organizers that you read about their events right here on Retro Thing. Don't forget to tell us all about either event right here in the "comments" section of this post. Thanks!
Details of the Vintage Computer Festival East
Photos from last year's Vintage Computer Festival East
Main page for the Midwest Gaming Classic
Photos from MWGC 2006