What started you collecting?

[Rik]

[Dan]

Maybe it got beamed there from the USS Enterprise when they were finished using it as a prop!

[R.O.B.]

thanks rik for the manual and I learned this game was my aunt's and that in the 80's she bought it at the sharper image but I thought it was only in japan. no one knows how it got here! thanks again,very fun to play!

[LEDFreak]

I remember a friend of mine in grade 6 had a brand new Coleco Electronic Quarterback. We were all jealous as he seemed to be one of the first in the school with such a game. We'd ask him to play the sound when you made a touchdown or scored a field goal, so he'd quickly flip on the game, do really lousy on one side ( on purpose ) and then when the next side was up he'd score and easy few points...and play the neat little melody. I wound up borrowing it a few times.
The next thing we knew, there were kids bringing in Tomy Digital Derby, and Blip, Mattel Hockey, Coleco Head to Head Hockey, Mattel Battlestar Galactica, Sears Auto Race, Coleco Zap!, and other classics. I received Castle Kingpin, Parker Bros. Merlin, Digits, and Mattel Hockey during this time.
I stayed interested in these game for a long time. When I was in grade eight I got Bandai Missile Invader ( from Sears ). A friend of mine had Tandy Cycle race which I played to death. I also bought Microvision, but never wound up buying any games other than Blockbuster for it. In 1980 I went to Germany and purchased Mattel Armour Battle, which along with Microvision, I still have today.
I then basically concentrated on shoving quarters in arcades. Even on my graduation in 1984, we all walked to the mall near our school in our suits and played numerous games while waiting for our dates and dinner/dance to happen.
I started collecting these game very recently and am relatively new to this forum. A colleague of mine had a copy of Mattel hockey in his classroom. He had it since he was a kid. I checked in my basement and came up with a broken Merlin, working Microvision, and Armour Battle. I checked on eBay for a copy of Mattel Hockey, got it, and continued on my collecting way.
I don't know if I qualify as a collector, as I don't really care if they come in boxes, and I want to actually paly them. I'd rather have them displayed in a see-through case of some sort anyway. I am concentrating on collecting the games that I have played and enjoyed.

[mario101]

You guys got me into collecting. When I saw your collections, I got so mad. I still envy you. So, I always wanted to be part of something that was somewhat popular, so, this sounded more fun. And I'm right.
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Emulators are for the non collectors

[Roback]

Gosh, where do I start. When I was in my early teens, we had an arcade very close by. Between spending hours playing Atari andshoving quarters in arcade games, well, it left very little time for much else to the dismay of my parents.
Some of my favorites arcade games were Joust, Crazy Climber, Asteriods, Space Invaders, Missile Command, Mrs Pac man and so many more that I am drawing a blank. I am new to this forum and as my memory gets jogged I am sure to remember so much more. I have always loved arcade games, handhelds and gaming consoles and I cant tell you how happy I am to have found this site.

[FinEngineer]

[AlienLockNChase]

My handheld tabletop library began completely by accident.

There's a weekend-only flea market about 10-15 mins. from my house, which occupies the space formerly used by Agway{a East Coast-based lawn and garden/farm supplies retailer}.

I often go in there to buy reasonably-priced VHS tapes, as well as NES and Sega Genesis games.

I came across a loose Tandy Astro Command game there last summer, and bought it for 2 dollars{a price I'm quite pleased about}.

Knowing very little/next-to-nothing about handheld tabletops at the time, I Googled it and came across Rik's wonderful site.


I now have a total of six loose VFD's{the only type/style of handhelds that I collect}, and its superb how accurate many are to their arcade counterparts.

The greatest aspect about VFD handhelds is the wide variety present.

Some are based on actual arcade releases[Zaxxon, Crazy Climber], whereas others[Kingman, Puck Monster] are endearing knock-offs of existing titles {which still manage to carve out their own unique niches regardless}.

Still others [Dracula, Caveman] are exclusive to the tabletop format, so there's an awesome range of titles to choose from!

I'm finding new and fascinating handheld tabletops all the time, and will be posting which ones I currently have{with pictures} in the "Brag" section of these forums soon.

[blanka]

My collection started with a visit to a second hand clothes shop in Osaka Japan. My GF was shopping nice seventies stuff, when I found out the shop also had some vintage interior stuff, including a Astro Thunder 7 from Epoch. The guy put batteries in it and I was sold. The sound and graphics of that machine are amazing. Back home I found out I bought the Electronic Plastic book in one of my Art-book-store-grab-all-that-looks-nice activities 5 years ago, and then the ball started rolling. With a visit to Play Belgium in Brussels, I saw a lot of them in RL and so I started shopping for them.

The stuff I remember playing as a kid are only 3 titles, as these games are not the most seen stuff in rural Holland. 2 buddies at school had the Airport Panic, Donkey Kong Jr and Donkey Kong II handhelds.

[bomberpunk]

other than actual video games (and later the gameboy line), i grew up on Tiger/Konami LCD games. when i was a kid my mom would drag me to garage sales & thrift stores. as a stereotypical woman, she took her SWEET time looking around. to shut me up, she'd get me one or two things if i saw anything i was interested in. i scored a Tron, Cosmic Clash, and a semi-working Adventure Vision (for $6.99) all before i turned sixteen.

after my collection got wiped out in 2005, i set a new goal to reclaim that collection and make it even bigger. with the exception of 2 or 3 missing titles. most of my stuff is stored in copier paper boxes with the exception of bigger units like Cosmic Clash and, of course, the AV.

for the longest time i was not only a collector, but a player. even well into my 20s. unfortunately with added responsibilities in the adult world, i have less time to kick back and play around with them. i'd like to still consider myself a player, but who am i kidding? realistically, i'm hoarding toys. and i'm fine with that.

hi. i'm michale and i'm a 30-year old child.
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cheers,
bp

[Singer]

I grew up on the Atari 2600, TI-99/4A and later the NES, so I always loved games. Went to the arcades, played computer games at school, a lot of Apple IIe.

As for handhelds, my cousins had some of the Coleco handhelds such as Pac-Man which I thought were neat. At home we collectively had Mattel Baseball and Football I. The first one I really owned was Tandy's Caveman. I remember when Tiger games came out they all seemed really stupid compared to GameBoy stuff. Too limited, too pricey for what they offered. I have some appreciation for them now.

Digging through my old stuff at Mom's house recently I found Caveman which has held up very nicely and renewed my interest. I also found the Mattel Baseball and Football I. So I started collecting some new stuff on eBay, even some Tiger handhelds. I really do prefer the glowing color of the VFDs though. I just picked up Epoch's Astro Command and it seems pretty cool but the controls are sticky, the joystick only goes down, not up, and the buttons are slow to fire, so it's hard to play. I'll work on cleaning it up.

[blanka]

Epoch controls are prone to get dirty and easy to clean up. Do that!

[Singer]

How do I get the knob off the top of the joystick so I can open the case?

[blanka]

You don't have to! It has a screw under the sticker, but you don't want to mess up that sticker. You can open it with leaving the joystick as is.

The trick is: open the case, twist the top shell till the screw of the control panel is accessible. Then unscrew the control panel.
This trick works for Firefox F-7/Astro Thunder (hard!), Fights of Titan, Astro Command/Scramble, Crazy Monster/ZigZag Monser and Dracula