My joysticks and buttons have arrived! Exciting day. This was the first day that I really felt that this project was a reality and wasn’t just some ongoing figment of my imagination. I’m sure the day I get my MDF wood will be a similar…
I saw a MAME cabinet on eBay a few months and I very nearly bought it. I could have saved myself a lot of time and effort there, instead of attempting to build one myself. But it was still quite expensive and I wouldn’t have…
It’s been over a year since I last posted about my plans to build my own arcade machine. I stupidly started my plans a month before we had our second child. A lot of things have been put on hold this past year. But it’s…
One of the coolest things about gaming in the 21st century—or really, even just in the 2010s (which I think is what we’re calling this decade)—is that new branches of the video game industry are helping old games to be revived for new audiences. Largely…
I had the pleasure yesterday of attending Play Margate, a gaming and retro-gaming event organised by @ReplayEvents. The event was a scaled down version of the bigger Play events in Blackpool and Manchester, but it still had a very good amount of games and things…
Everyone knows what an Etch A Sketch is but not everyone has experienced a Skedoodle. Made by Hasbro in 1979, it had a cool round screen, compared to the flat Etch A Sketch screen. It also had a joystick which allowed you to draw shapes…
I’ve already posted this week about starting to build my own home arcade machine, and then I also posted about my Top Ten Arcade Games. But to round up my flurry of arcade posts this week I wanted to write one which was almost a…
After posting a few days ago about my plan to build my own home arcade machine I thought I would do a Top Ten based on my own favourite arcade machines. Donkey Kong just has to be on the list. It’s the first appearance of…
Name: Skedoodle Manufacturer: Hasbro Year: 1979 Country of origin: US Category: Toys & Games Tags: Hasbro Notes: The Skedoodle is Hasbro’s answer to the Etch-a-Sketch. The main difference being the curved screen and the joystick controller. An extremely cool looking retro toy and a great…
Name: Competition Pro Manufacturer: Kempston Micro Electronics Year: 1983 Country of origin: UK Category: Computer Hardware Tags: Joystick, Notes: For me this is possibly the most iconic joystick of all time. You could argue for the Atari joystick too but I think the Competition Pro…