Name your CGE "moments"

[Starcade]

I made this topic because I want to know everything there is to know about the show, because from what I hear from DP, this show 0wnz, and I just wanted people to tell their special stories about the show, like an extra rare item bought, trades completed, funny stories, ect. Thanks everyone!

[digitalpress]

Here's a unique one. Not a reason to go to CGE, but a very vivid "moment".

It's CGE 1999 and I'm standing at my booth, peddling DP Guide 5. I had the opportunity to meet several game designers who I was proud to share the book's contents with ("Hey, Mr. Crane! We think Dragster is one of your finest and most underappreciated games!"). Along walks one Mr. Joe DeCuir, who at the time I really didn't know by name.

He introduces himself as one of the "early Atari designers" and begins to flip through the book; I ask which "early Atari titles" he worked on and he states "Combat" and "Video Olympics". Cool, eh?

Not really.

He opens the book first to "Combat", where an early error in our information showed that Larry Kaplan designed the game. Here is where I discovered first-hand that this was not the case.

"Kaplan had NOTHING to do with the game", DeCuir says.

"No? Well... heh. Our book is ONLY as good as the information we've gathered, sir! Thank you, and we shall correct it".

He names the group that ACTUALLY designed the game (which includes himself) and as I'm scribbling the names down in my perpetual "list of things to fix in the guide", he thumbs over to the Video Olympics entry in the book. He notices at about the same time I do... there's one of them there "unsmiley faces" next to it.

Allow me to quote the "editor's comment" that Joe DeCuir, designer of Video Olympics READ aloud in front of me, the editor:

It was called “Pong” at one time, and these “olympics” include hundreds of variations on Pong, basically. I guess they couldn’t do a pong version of track & field events, and who can forgive them for leaving out the equestrian or bicycling? The heartless bastards! Hey, it’s just a few squares moving around, and a slightly smaller square moving between them, so don’t get on my case about these numbers. [Gr: 1, So: 1, Ga: 4, Ov: 2].

Well there really wasn't anything I could say that would undig the hole I had dug for myself here, so I simply said "that's MY opinion - not the world at large". Then I think I crawled under the table, which suddenly felt like part of a tiny prison just for me, right there at CGE 1999.

But you know what? Here's how cool DeCuir was.

"So... would you like me to sign something for you?"

My eyes darted around for something to sign and naturally I didn't have a SINGLE fucking COMBAT cartridge around... but there was the show program. It was Len Herman's, who was sharing the booth with me. Len, if you're reading this and I never told you, this is how Joe DeCuir's signature ended up in your show program.

I have LOTS of CGE stories, from a vendor, organizer, and even attendee point of view. But I'll let someone else add something here next!

[Sniderman]

Personal CGE moments, eh? OK, here are some highlights:

CGE 2001 - my first one:
- Meeting Don Bluth and having him sign my Space Ace DVD. I think I said to him, and I quote, "Guh." It's funny, I don't get tongue-tied around celebrities (I've met a few), but personal heroes floor me.
- That was the year I brought the Venture II-Treasure Chest editions. Sold 19 to friends - for $20 each as I remember. Placed number 20 up for auction later that night, expecting a similar ending bid. Ended at $240 or so. About crapped myself. And used that money to buy much more CGE-related materials.
- Played Cliff Hanger for the first time since 1986. Over and over again for nearly an hour with no one waiting to play. For free yet.
- Sat in on Joe Decuir's Atari 2600 Programming seminar. Learned a ton of applicable stuff for many projects.
- Helped man the Classic Gamer Magazine booth (RIP) and enjoyed BSing with the gang there and those who stopped by.

CGE 2002 - last year:
- The first night, I went up to where the CGE dinner was wrapping up, just to give my hellos to everyone. Joe taps me on the shoulder and I turn around. I'm face to face with David Crane - creator of damn near every cool Activision game ever made. Joe introduces me to yet another childhood hero. I say "Guh" for the second year in a row. Dammit.
- Had my wife with me. It was great to finally see her somewhat excite about my hobby. Plus, she actually played the sit-down Night Driver game - a game from her childhood.
- The Homebrew Section of CGE Museum was all mine. Happy to help stock the museum.
- Saw the beta of Dragon's Lair 3D months before anyone else did. Ha! Sadly, still waiting for the PS2 release.
- Dig Dug Drop.
- Live concert by The Minibosses. Please, in the name of all that is holy, tell me they'll be there again this year.

I could go on, but these were personal "Yeah doggies!"

[Starcade]

Guys, these are fantastic, please keep em coming!!

[retrogmr]

CGE 1999:
- Having the pleasure of being recruited into the DP crew
- Watching John Hardie start tossing carts into a pile in front of the CGE Services booth the last night of the show selling everything for 25 cents each. I personally think this one was a much more dangerous situation than the Dig Dug Drop last year. Somehow a Berenstain Bears ended up in that stack :P

CGE 2002:
- Peddling NES/SNES/Genesis games at the DP booth like I had some clue about 8 and 16-bit gaming. Thanks to that nameless guy who kept me occupied and interested with an in-depth discussion about why the Turbo Express is such a cool portable. Also spent much time debating Beavis and Butthead with Dave G aka Arcade Antics.
- Getting to help set up the museum. How often do you get to hold hundreds of prototypes, one of a kinds and pieces of history in your hands?
- Dancing around like a white guy in a Pac-Man costume to the Minibosses... wait, that white guy in the Pac-Man costume WAS me
- Not having a drink sprayed in my face as a result of a Daphne vs. Kimberly debate (inside joke)
- Meeting so many of the cool people that make this forum a great place to hang out.

Lots of hard work, but a ton of fun. It's a must-attend event!

[portnoyd]

- Live concert by The Minibosses. Please, in the name of all that is holy, tell me they'll be there again this year.

Agreed.

My favorite is bringing my Bart vs The Space Mutants cart up to Gary Kitchen for him to sign, and him groaning "Oh god! I thought no one remembered this."

Hehe, wait til I come this year armed with Captian Planet. And the fact that I played through the whole damn game when I was younger.

dave

[MegaManFan]

Meeting Don Bluth, and getting his autograph.
Meeting Al Alcorn, and getting his autograph.
Meeting Don Daglow, and getting his autograph.

Hmmm.. anybody sense a pattern here?

I also remember going home with about $250 worth of stuff - complete in the box shrinkwrapped Atari, ColecoVision, and Intellivision games (most of which I've opened). I even went to Joe's Atari2600.com booth and bought a loose copy of Rubik's Cube for $50, and my wife bought me a pair of Sega Master System 3-D glasses CIB at another table for $40.

I remember meeting fellow collectors, hobbyists, and enthusiasts. I remember Jerry Jessop letting me post with his Computer Space. I remember playing Wizard of Wor and Super Pac-Man until my fingers turned blue. I remember being stunned to see a working Space Ace, and how much nostalgia it brought back to play it again.

I also remember nearly being trampled in the Dig-Dug Drop.

I do remember meeting Cassidy Nolen and drooling over his rare carts.

Too many memories to name them all really. All I can say about the CGE is that it was a wonderful experience, and I can't wait to go again!

[Anonymous]

CGE 2k2 (the only one I attended)

- The Pre Show Party at Atari Age's room woohoo!
- The Post show dinner with the DP crew
- The Auction. Two of the items I sold went for over 500 dollars total, when I was expecting to get about 30 dollars apiece for them! they paid for my whole trip!
- Unrelated to the show at large, I had a blast driving down. 30 hour drive from Seattle to Las Vegas, I did it in one shot, without sleep

[DDCecil]

CGE2002:

- When I first got there, I bought my DP Guide 7, and then went to the CGE Services booth. There a man said "Hello" to me, and I said "Hi" in a very light voice back. Soon, someone goes up and says "Mr. Warshaw! Please sign my copy of Yar's Revenge!" All of a sudden, my jaw dropped. This is the man who made Yar's Revenge? Holy crap! I soon ran out of the place, went downstairs, got my Yar's Revenge, and went up to him and said "Would you sign this for me?" He said yes. The first time I had ever met anyone famous.

- Holding that $600 River Patrol at the Atari2600.com booth, and seeing all those other rare carts.

- The museum was great. Seeing that Sega Master System Kiosk was a great memory, as that was probably the only thing in the museum I had ever owned one of before.

- The auction was great. What I couldn't believe was my brother bidding and winning that Dragon Ball GT. Where'd he get that kind of money?

[slapdash]

The Jump Rope Girls.

Almost as good as Girls Jumping On Trampolines.

Mmm...

[punkoffgirl]

The whole event last year was a bunch of firsts for me:

1st time at CGE
1st time on the West Coast
1st time flying by myself (heck, it was only the 2nd time I'd ever flown!)
1st time staying in a hotel by myself
1st time in a casino
1st time meeting MANY of my Roundtable friends: Nate, Mat, Tim, Dave G, Larry, Keith, Chris K, Kevin, Lia.. (and anyone else I may have omitted!)


Memorable moments included escorting Larry around in the Pac Man costume, watching the pig-piling madness that was the Great Dig Dug Drop, chatting with a much inebriated member of the Minibosses, the post-show dinner and conversation with Nate , and the limo ride to the airport VERY early Monday morning with Scott, without whom I never would have stayed awake to catch my flight.

[Dan Iacovelli]

in 2000(being my first one),
playing tempest coin-op against Fard(and lossing might I add)
seeing the museum and seeing peopleple from DP and such.
in 2002(my second one)
listening to live (and loud) music
buying two homebrew games for the 2600
did dug drop (man that was nuts)
buting a jaglink for the jaguar for only 7.00
playing wizard of wor
and seeing more people people from DP and such.

I also enjoyed listening to the keynotes
Dan Iacovelli

[toddrogers]

Well there are so many GREAT expieriences at the past 2 CGE's that ive been to. Like meeting Ron Corcoran and his Family... and the Dark Unicorn Production team.....and all of the people with D.P. But it doesnt stop there here is an instance.

CGE2K2--- I was running the DRAGSTER competition and had a great kick out of watching players duke it out over who could get the fastet time. I had a hand written scoring table above the TVs so players could view what the fastest time was. Well at this particular point the time was down to 5.91 and like I said players were very competitive in getting their times below 6 seconds there were these two players in particular really going back and forth on whos better i had to keep re-writing their time one after the other wittling it from the 7s down to the lower 6's . Here's where the fun can into play when one player gave up for a few runs I took over and raced against his friend . His friend was so into the game he didnt at first notice me take over the JoyStick. I scored a 5.77 and the look on this guys face as he thought his friend was racing him and thinking he beat the days best time was priceless. Then he turned and saw it was me and still didnt realize that I was running the contest..as in Dragster you can reset the game by hitting the JoyStick to the right. He freaked out when I reset the game and said Bah thats nothing lets race again....The strange twist of fate though would happen as I was racing by myself i noticed a player was getting good times too when I looked over it was David Crane .....who now was the person with the look of suprise. After 20 years of each of us knowing each other and still playing this game we have not lost our touch....

one of many stories to come ....

Todd Mr Activision Rogers

[8bitweapon]

I have had many great CGE moments...

The biggest for me was meeting my 1st ROCK ICON: DAVE WARHOL!!! We even had dinner together! IT was something I never even thought would happen...or even could happen! I talk to Dave regularly now.

THANK YOU JOE!!!!

love,

8BW

[Boboduo]

CGE 2002--my first (definitly not last) CGE. The dig dug drop was
a blast. It was cool seeing all the new retro releases and playing
Cobra Command again after 15 years.

[RetroYoungen]

I have memories... fond ones, of the first time I walked through the double doors into the Expo itself, and being overwhelmed at the site of more classic goodness that I didn't know was legal in the lower 48. That and buying my Lynx, and finally getting to play one of my new favorite games: Crystal Mines II.

[BillKunkel]

Having been to all (five?) CGEs (even when they had that Atari name) I think I have more of a montage of moments than a single instant to share. Ever see the famous painting "Nude Descending a Staircase"? It's a series of staggered after-images and that's what I see when I think of the CGE, from that first year when a few curious, self-conscious fans walked tentatively around the Union Plaza, wondering if they were total dinosaurs, ludicrous geeks, or both, to last year when the event had actual cache. It happened slowly, in year-long bites, but it's happened -- we've arrived! Again!

Seriously, it has become increasingly clear that not only CGE but the entire phenomenon of classic gaming has found its place in pop culture. We have a real identity and sense of pride. With books like "Lucky Wander Boy" being published mainstream and people like me being allowed to teach courses on the electronic games business at UNLV it's clear that our hobby has attained maturity and perspective -- an awareness and appreciation of its own history that kind of legitimizes us.

I'll be back at CGE this year, of course and I'm sure it'll be bigger than ever. Then there's the meeting old friends and making new ones which comes with the turf, and for me, that's the ultimate payoff.

--Bill

[digitalpress]

*bump*

Just because it's worth reading... 2 weeks to go and I'm almost as pumped as Earl!

[MarioAllStar2600]

Getting a Venture 2 for $20 bucks from Sean
Recieveing a Digital Press guide on behalf of the digital press guide

[MarioAllStar2600]

I mean staff

[RetroYoungen]

This is just such a great and happy thread, if only every day could be CGE day (and that I'd always have money for those days...).

I remember CGE 2K2 when I first REALLY met the guys here at DP. The little pre-CGE party last year, simple as it was, was a great highlight of my CGE. Just hanging out talking about the Lynx, how bad the Game.com was, what was coming out for the GBA that was any good, and more. It was so cool. I hope I can get to do that again this year.

[evg2000]

[quote="retrogmr"]CGE 1999:
- Watching John Hardie start tossing carts into a pile in front of the CGE Services booth the last night of the show selling everything for 25 cents each. I personally think this one was a much more dangerous situation than the Dig Dug Drop last year. Somehow a Berenstain Bears ended up in that stack :P

Apparently the Berenstain Bears was supposed to be in there, cause I'm the one who grabbed it, and I asked them if it was a mistake (giving them the opportunity to take it back if it was a mistake). BTW, it was a new sw copy.

later,
Charles
see ya at the show! I'll be the tall guy at the front of the line.

www.evg2000.com (I've got some pics of CGE past posted)

[digitalpress]

I've got another "moment" to share. RetroYoungen reminded me of the "pre-CGE party". Let me tell you about the night that tradition really began.

At CGE2k, my first year as an organizer, I was a nervous wreck as we prepared for the little ceremony where John, Sean, and I each stand in front of our idols and give them a speech, welcoming them to the show individually and impromptu, each in our own unique way. Turns out that even though John and Sean had done this once before, they were just as nervous.... and the beer flowed.

The beer flowed for hours before this speech, in fact. While I should have been inside eating, I was instead outside at the bar drinking myself into what I was sure would be a state of mental peace, contemplating what I would say and how badly I would fuck it up. The beer continued to flow, even for Sean, who had not had ANY alcohol for YEARS prior to this night.

Somehow the banquet went without a hitch, and I vaguely recall using a "Survivor" analogy to explain how I was chosen as Keita's replacement, the "new guy" organizer. I was really pretty soused though, and after what seemed like a week's worth of evenings, the evening was over.

Or was it? One of the crew had caught wind of a party going on in a room at the Plaza, specifically held by CGE attendees. Though we did not know these people, we felt it was our god-given right to attend. This, despite the fact that it was 1am. This is one of the many reasons why you should never drink - because you find "god-given rights" in just about anything.

Bad enough that the CGE crew of 8 or so merry men was en route to this party, but we dragged along a veritable entourage of CGE guests with us. I met (at that time) NextGen editor and now G4 producer Tom Russo that night, I'll bet he wishes I would just forget already ... by the time we got to the room, there had to be 15-20 of us. I knocked on the door.

A very sleepy face answered.

"IS THIS THE CGE PARTY?" I inquired.

"Yes... but..."

You know those Kool-Aid Man commercials, right? Where Kool-Aid Man bursts straight through the wall with a mighty "OH YEAHHHHH!!"? Well replace Kool-Aid Man with John Hardie and the wall with a door that was probably not meant to be opened all the way to our boisterous little group.

Ten minutes later, the party, which had pretty much ended an hour earlier, was ALIVE again, complete with humming 2600's, a Joyboard, and a Vectrex. Also, Sean who had a little too much to drink slumped on the couch, still conscious. The group immediately descended on the remaining food, and the gigantic leftover sub sandwich was devoured as if by a swarm of locusts. One of the "snapshots" in my mind is of John holding a dish and offering sandwiches to us like a maid. He put a large jalapeno pepper on Sean's baseball cap. I'll come back to that in a second.

We hung around for a bit when I noticed that across the hall there was another party going on. In my state it was completely natural to wander over there, as if this were a college dorm. I was greeted by a large group of... well... PUNKS. Turns out the hacker's convention DefCon was going on that same weekend in Vegas, and there was a pre-DefCon party right here. The room was loaded with youngsters with funky colored hair and British accents, lots of very cute girls. How could I resist.

"Would you like to join us? We're featuring a man who wears a Jalapeno pepper on his head next door", I proclaimed.

"Oh! You're having a party?" a lovely female brit with pink hair asked.

"Come on in and join us, don't forget to say hi to SEAN, the Jalapeno-pepper wearing gamer!".

Moments later, the party doubled in size as we introduced the DefCon'ers to the shindig we had hijacked, featuring SEAN, who wears a Jalapeno pepper on his head. As you might imagine, they were very intrigued by the vintage games systems we were all playing, it was as if worlds had collided but were totally compatible.

I spent the next day - the first day of the actual Expo - downing Advil like there was no tomorrow, and fortunately the guys who hosted the party (one of whom is a forum member here - "Sanriostar") were extremely cool about the whole thing. In fact, they had unknowingly started a tradition of unwelcome party-crashing that may finally end this year when we appear at a party that we're EXPECTED at (see Janice's "Where's the Party" thread in this forum).

We met up the the DefCon kids on Sunday, too. They poured onto the show floor on an otherwise fairly quiet day and we played Atari games with them like it was Friday night all over again.

[Cav]

Far too many to list!

- Going to World of Atari 98 and not knowing what to expect. I was totally intimidated by Leonard Herman. After all, this was the guy who wrote Phoenix for God's sakes. And if you know Leonard AT ALL then you know just how silly that sounds. Certainly one of the nicest and most approachable guys you can ever encounter.

- That surreal pre-cocktail thing they had at WOA '98. It was incredibly dark and I couldn't read a single name tag. Mostly a bunch of dudes just standing around with their stunned wives and eating cubes of cheese.

- That stoner/death booth at WOA '98 that had NOTHING to do with classic gaming. I also think that was one of NYKO's first trade shows. Now I always get a chuckle when I see their huge presence at E3.

- WOA '98 Auction. You had to be there for the full effect. It's how Mark Androvich and I first bonded though. There were plenty of one-liners to be had. (The professional auctioneer had to say "Beat 'em and Eat 'em" repeatedly.)

- Manning our table for Classic Gamer Magazine for a couple years at the show. It was a great way to meet a lot of people. I had a scan of my NTSC Asterix proto in ish #1. Steve Woita was flipping through it and when he saw the picture said, "Hey! I think that's my writing on the cartridge!" Also, people asking me to sign their magazines was something I'll never forget.

- Meeting Bill Kunkel, Arnie Katz and Joyce Worley. I was really nervous to meet my personal heroes. When I saw them making their rounds at the show I got a case of the stomach flip-flops. Joe was kind enough to introduce them to me (which really was nice Joe! Thanks again!). Very personable people and very complimentary to the Classic Gamer Magazine. Bill stopped to take the time to talk about it, offer advice, etc... It was great. Eventually, Bill wrote a hilarious column for CGM #6. Talk about surreal. I always wanted to write for his magazine and here he was writing for mine. A great life moment for me.

- Seeing Joe drink an amazing quantity of beer from a giant plastic football while he stood next to some drunken, shirtless street dude dancing maniaclly to "Men At Work." And Joe wasn't fazed one bit.

-Cav

[Mayhem]

Well I'll bite... seeing as last year was the first one...

- Meeting the gang from here. Well that HAD to get somewhere in the list so might as well make it the first thing I write. I wander into the convention hall early Friday morning cos I'm bored and just wanted to see if anyone was about. Cue Joe and Sean pacing around like headless chickens trying to make sure (even at this early stage) everything was okay. So naturally I say hi, introduce myself and get helping out. I get to meet some of the others such as PoG later on in the day as chaos ensues trying to make sure everything is in the right place!

- Getting haranged by PoG for QoF's birthday message tape. As she wasn't able to go last year, PoG had the great idea of filming most regular DP people say hi to her and the so on. I just happened to be almost the first person she cajoled into doing this! Then Nate hijacked the tape and did a tour of Seattle to fill the rest of it up! And I still haven't seen the damn tape...

- Dig Dug Drop. If there is video/pictures to describe the phrase "utter chaos and pandomonium" then this would be it. Sheet a brick, it was worse than free chocolate at a chocolate lovers' convention.

- Protos... and more protos... can't forget seeing so many!

- The Auction. Bidding wars between myself and someone else (whom I can't remember) for VecCaves; the young dude already mentioned elsewhere for surprising everyone by building on god knows how many items; The Donkey Kong cereal boxart; the neon Nintendo light; many other great items many of which I'd love to have if bringing them back on a plane was so easy.

- Dave Crane. Got to mention the big guy now. Fortunately I was able to string multiple sentences together (unlike a certain Sniderman) and have a good chat about his C64 stuff. Must remember to bring LCP with me this year for him to sign...