I promised I’d share some pictures from my visit in August this year to the California Extreme arcade expo, so, here we go!
This year marks the 27th Anniversary of the California Extreme Expo!
Hosted at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Santa Clara, the event describes itself as the ultimate celebration of coin operated pinball machines and video games. What makes the event so special is its location – right in the heart of silicon valley, and therefore is well attended by local collectors – many of whom have or had close connections to the Atari factory. Of particular interest to collectors are the regular appearance of locally owned rare and prototype machines. As the organisers put it:
California Extreme was born with a desire to share fun coin op games that are in the hands of private collectors and to hopefully spread the word that pinball machines were once plentiful, and that videogames were not synonymous with “martial arts” and violence.
California Extreme mission statement
Having eyed the event from a distance for many years, I was finally able to get my diary aligned and managed to make the trip over the Atlantic with Retro Gamer magazine’s and Ted Dabney Experience co-host Paul Drury.
Our arrival was not without incident. We were due to fly in the night before from Las Vegas just as a huge storm was coming through the area. Our flight was cancelled twice and we ended up on a 1.00am flight to Oakland, coupled with an Uber down to Santa Clara. We arrived at the hotel at 4.00am just hours before the show opened. Without our luggage. So apart from spending the first day in the same clothes we wore the day before and feeling like zombies having had four hour’s sleep, the event turned out to be excellent!
What I will say up front is that California Extreme is by far the best event I’ve visited in terms of the things you are likely to see. Collectors from far and wide open their Pandoras Boxes and are happy to share their spoils. And boy was there some rare stuff. So below are some of the more interesting things you would have seen at the event.
With literally hundreds of cabinets on display, it was good to see some logic in terms of their placement on the floor:
Nintendo row. That Punch Out is a huge beast and great fun to play
A row of Gottlieb cabinets. Mad Planets, Krull, Q*Bert, Q*Bert Qubes and Reactor. Krull had the unique comedy roms installed
Here’s a sight you won’t see often. A gaggle of Williams cabinets – Robotron, Inferno (insanely rare!), Joust 2 and Bubbles
And completing the Williams line up – Sinistar, Joust, Varkon and Turkey Shoot. Whilst playing each of these, I was reminded of the real innovation coming out of the Williams factory during the early eighties
This was a nice area to spend some time. Lots of iterations of Pac-Man cabinets. The cabinet on the right is original throughout, but the PCB houses a set of roms that allow you to start the game on level 255 of the game. If you get through that level, you’re straight into the split screen of level 256. A nice idea that was very popular over the weekend
A row of vectors here (all working amazingly!). Armor Attack, Black Widow, Space Duel, Tempest, Solar Quest and Star Wars
Another row. I was pleased to see a couple of dedicated Xevious cabinets and spent far too long playing them (someone sell me one!)
An eclectic mix here. Particular highlights were Space Zap and Wacko. Also, Missile Command!
Hiding amongst this lot was an interesting Cloak & Dagger conversion kit installed in an old Defender. Never seen one before. I can’t say the game was much fun, but an interesting piece of arcade history all the same
It wasn’t all classics. There was a good spread of candy cabinets, like this row of Sega Blast City’s, housing mainly beat ’em ups and 90s shooters. An impressive sight in the flesh!
Cocktail cabinets were popular back in the day; probably less so now as the footprint they require tends to be larger – so owning one of these cabinets does require a certain amount of space. Here’s some of the rarer pieces on display:
An Omega Race cocktail. Midway’s only vector title also available in cabaret and upright form. This was surprisingly comfortable to play
If Q*Bert wasn’t rare enough, this cocktail version of the game was released in very limited numbers. I like the detailed artwork which makes a change from the usual woodgrain tops of most cocktail machines
You don’t see William’s cocktails every day that’s for sure. Most of us will be familiar with the iconic upright. I found this Defender pretty uncomfortable to play, due to the physical nature of the game. Although missing here, the game was released with a plinth that could increase the height of the game allowing it to be played standing up
Unique in its design, Joust cocktail, also by Williams, on the other hand just makes perfect sense. Players sit next to each other facing the same way, meaning the other end of the cabinet can be located against a wall. This would have made more sense for operators (and us collectors)
There was a good number of Atari cocktails at the event as you’d expect, but this was the standout cabinet. Crystal Castles in all its glory. Great artwork here that takes cues from its upright bigger brother
Although not a video game, This Joust pinball table is worthy of mention. Very very few were ever produced and I don’t think many made it out of the factory. Players stand at either end and literally play pinball against each other. It is actually a really fun game once you figure out the ruleset. Keep an eye out for one – very cool
Talking of pinball, I won’t dwell on them too much, but suffice to say there were a lot and all playable!
The usual suspects were available to play…
Early Guns n Roses was great with some satisfying rulesets (arguably better than the newer version)
A real highlight was the ability to play some of the most up to date releases from the smaller manufacturers
Stern had a big presence at the show, which coincided with the release of their new Venom pinball. There must have been 20 of these out on the show floor. I didn’t get a chance to play, but this area was popular all weekend
New Foo Fighters Stern pinball
A great selection of electro-mechanical pinballs from the 60s and 70s were on display and playable. Great for a change of pace from the frantic newer tables
If you know anything about my collection, you’ll know I love a cabaret. California did not disappoint on that front!
A lovely row of minis. Missile Command, Centipede, Stargate, Robotron, KLAX, Bosconian and fan made Quantum!
Dig Dug in cabaret form is not something you see every day. The Ms Pac-Man was in lovely condition, and the Neo Geo gold is something I’ve not seen before
I thought these two were worth highlighting. Both are fan-made in Atari cabarets. A Major Havoc and Centuri Aztarac. The Aztarac was really well done complete with side art and dedicated controls
Love the artwork on this dedicated KLAX cabaret. One of Atari’s last cabaret releases, and some might say its last great game?
With so much on show, it was easy to get overwhelmed just looking at stuff and figuring out what to play. Here’s a few particular super-rare highlights that I thought were worth sharing:
Boxing Bugs was produced by Cinematronics in 1981. A rare vector title and only a handful remain to day. It was a real treat to be able to play it
Atari’s Rebound. A bronze age game positioned as a volleyball simulator. Great modular design
Galaxy Ranger is a laserdisc game created by Sega and manufactured by Bally/Midway in 1984. It was released as a dedicated cabinet and as a conversion kit for Astron Belt. In Galaxy Ranger, you fly through the universe battling alien ships, making your way to fight the main Alien Battle Cruiser. Along the way, you fly across alien deserts, through tunnels, and over alien cities, and you get involved in a few astro-dogfights with enemy space fighters.
Cosmotrons is a modern take on classic vector titles of the golden age. Its kinda hard to describe, but it plays like a combination of Gravitar, Asteroids and Space Duel. Great multiplayer fun and highly recommended
Zzyzzyxx is an arcade game developed by Advanced Microcomputer Systems, and manufactured by Cinematronics in 1982. It was retitled as Brix for release as a conversion kit in 1983. The title screen and marquee were the only changes. Advanced Microcomputer was founded by Rick Dyer, who would later go on to create “Dragon’s Lair” for Cinematronics
Always wanted to see one of these. Inter Stellar is a Laser Disc game released in December 1983 by Funai. The laser disc background images were created by Japan-based company, Gakken. Armed with lasers and bombs, you travel across alien deserts, through space caverns, and into bizarre wire framed cities to find and destroy the Delta UFO. As laser games go, it was good fun to play. Lovely looking cabinet too
Sega Samurai. One of these was found recently which I read about, so it was cool to see one in the flesh. Lovely looking cabinet, shame about the game!
This game was designed and created by Cinematronics, but sold to Vectorbeam who released it in 1979 as Barrier. Its an interesting maze type vector game. Very hard to find these days and a lovely piece of arcade history
Bit of a mystery this one. This is the only surviving prototype example of Teeter Torture. It is believed to have been developed by Exidy but never saw a release. Note the hand drawn marquee artwork
Another Exidy title, Hard Hat puts you in the place of a Carpenter, chased by hammers and whirlwinds through a grid of scaffolding. The player moves scaffolding to move letters and spell “EXIDY” and “HARD HAT”. Another super rare title and pretty fun to play
Great to finally see this cabinet in the flesh. A cabaret prototype of Atari’s Liberator. Aside from the fact this is a proto, this cabinet design was intended to be the never released Gravitar cabaret, which I wrote about here on the blog a while back
Not so much rare, but really beautiful. A Namco Gaplus in the flesh – a lovely looking cabinet and a fun shooter
And this Atari Vindicators is a great example of Atari’s unique design ethic
As well as seeing and playing lots of awesome classic arcade cabinets, we also talked with many programmers, designers and engineers at the show. It was great to meet all of these people who we previously interviewed for the Ted Dabney Experience Podcast.
With ex Atari programmers/engineers: L-R: me, Dave Sherman, Owen Rubin, Ed Logg and Ted Dabney Experience co-host Paul Drury
With Atari graphic designer Evelyn Seto (who was great fun!)
Paul and also I hosted a couple of panels with Warren Davis, Matt Householder, Al Alcorn and Roger Hector:
L-R: me, Gottlieb’s Warren Davis & Matt Householder, Atari’s Al Alcorn & Roger Hector and co-host Paul Drury
Paul and I looking somewhat bedraggled in yesterday’s clothes with Owen Rubin
Here I am flanked by Al Alcorn and Roger Hector of Atari, just after our quiz panel
And here’s Paul in the middle of the opposing team from Gottlieb, Warren Davis and Matt Householder
Was a pleasure to finally meet collector Scott Evans, who rescued so much of the old Atari archives, some of which went to Strong Museum in Rochester. Scott is a great guy and has a wealth of knowledge about Atari’s history
In the absence of anywhere else to post this picture, here’s Paul and I outside of the location of Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale California. This was the original site location for testing of Atari’s Pong. Its now a comedy club, and a short drive from the California Extreme event
And just down the road at the Computer History Museum, we were able to see that very cabinet. The first Pong machine placed in Andy Capp’s Tavern in 1972
Phew – that’s a lot of photos. Anyway, here’s a walkthrough video of the event:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/4WHSR42nK ... ransparent
Thanks to YouTuber bitfixer for capturing this content!
So there you have it. California Extreme 2023. Seriously, this is an excellent weekend event. If you have any interest in classic arcade games, pinball or otherwise, I highly recommend you check it out if you can. Hope to see you there next year!
Thanks for reading this week!
Tony
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Source: https://arcadeblogger.com/2023/11/04/ca ... expo-2023/