Yearly Illinois Game Con - my haul!

Darth Duck.  Hey, it's funny.

This is the complete Quest for the Rings (overlay, tokens, game board/map, cartridge) for Odyssey 2. Had it before, loved the game, but sold my childhood copy. They wanted $15. I purchased this for just $10.  I can't believe I found it.  I can't believe I purchased for that price.

Four NES carts for $32. I didn't actually have an original Mario/Duck Hunt Cart. I am hoping that the Defender II is actually Stargate. Also curious about about the Super Pitfall since I love Pitfall and Pitfall II for Atari 2600.

Six Calcite and Quarts geoids for just $5.  Trust me that is a good deal.

New copy of Five Nights at Freddie's for $15 for the Switch.  Felt like that was a pretty good deal. 

List of supported the Atari Gamestation Pro consoles

People on Facebook and Forums keep asking for a compatibility list for the AGSP, so I made one.
Default Firmware 1.10 and updated 1.20

Game Platform	file extension
Atari 2600	.a26
Atari 5200	.a52
Atari 7800	.a72
--
Nintendo Gameboy	.gb
Nintendo Gameboy Advance	.gba
Nintendo Gameboy Color	.gbc
Nintendo NES	.nes
--
Sega genesis	.bin
Sega cd	.bin/cue
--
TurboGrafx-16	.pce
--
Mame/arcade	.zip

Updated Firmware 1.30 adds

Game Platform	file extension
Nintendo Super NES	.sfc
--
Sega Master System	.sms

Updated Firmware 1.30c adds

Game Platform	file extension
Atari 400/800	.atr or .com
Atari ST games	zip, .st, .stx, .m3u
Atari Lynx
Atari Jaguar
CBM
PET
C64
Intellivsion
Oddyssey 2
ColecoVision

I have tested Atari 2600, 7800, NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis. I have tried over a hundred ROMs without a failure yet.

The Atari Gamestation pro

The Atari/MyArcade Gamestation pro has become my primary console. So much so, I'm thinking about shelving many of my other game consoles. I'm beginning to see this is an underrated console. The system plays Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Genesis, NES, SNES, Game Boy, MAME Arcade, as well as several other game systems. With Firmware "1.30c", there are ways of making Odyssey2 and Intellivision games run on the console. Really almost any 8-bit or 16-bit game console. Plus the amount of controllers that people have made run on the console is impressive too. If some could get PS1 and PS2 to run this would be my one console, but I'm not holding my breath as I really don't know the amount of horse power under the hood of this console.

As long as you put the games in the "Games" folder of the root of the micro SD card and use the correct extensions for the BIN/ROM file, the system plays thousands of different games across all these systems.

For example (not a complete list): .a26 for Atari 2600 .a52 for Atari 5200 .a78 for Atari 7800 .gb for Game Boy .gba for Game Boy Advanced .gbc for Game Boy Color .nes for NES .bin for Sega Genesis .gg for Sega Game Gear for updated firmware 1.30 [vendor] .sfc for Super Nintendo .sms for Sega Master System

Birthday Game Pickups!

I now have PS4 Spider Man and Genesis The Lost Vikings. Everything is pretty much checked off my lists now to be honest. I'm very fortunate. I was sooo stupid selling my original copy of The Lost Vikings in the first place and fortunate to finally find (via the hard work of my son) a version of this game

I also recieved a mini space invaders table top from my oldest daughter.

On my little spare time, I have been trying to update my game catalog that has grown significantly this year.

Huge surprise today.

 I had a huge surprise today.  I picked up a light-6er with 39 cartridges and a original CX joystick.  Nine games came with boxes and all with manuals!  Big thank you to Dan H!

My game room catalog has not been updated in a LONG time.  With this acquisition, it is really out of date.

My game pickup today:

1 Stampede	2 Cosmic Ark	3 Venture	4 Dragster
5 Outlaw	6 Enduro	7 Pele's Socker	8 Street Racer
9 Night Driver	10 Carnival	11 Pitfall!	12 Tennis (Activison)
13 Atlantis	14 Breakout	15 Defender	16 Vanguard
17 Space War	18 Yars' Revenge	19 Missle Command	20 Air Sea Battle
21 Adventure	22 Battlezone	23 PAC-MAN	24 Casino
25 Galaxian	26 Video Olympics	27 Jungle Hunt	28 Home Run
29 Combat	30 Laser Blast	31 Star Voyager	32 Grand Prix
33 Donkey Kong	34 Blackjack	35 Dragon Fire	36 Haunted House
37 Super Breakout	38 Berzerk	39 Riddle of the Spinx

At the geek store

Finally picked myself up a keypad for Atari Systems.  I have been wanting one of these for some time. $10 felt like a fair price for one in good condition.  I was also looking at an Atari 800.  Didn't get it as I could not get a view of the mother board and was not sure what year and batch it was made.  Likely the $200 asking price was fair, but hard to justify.

I did manage to get this phot from the board from underneath 

 

Atari Mini

Yes, I have already prepaid for the new Atari "THE400 mini". I did so as soon as I could. Why would I be so eager to purchase this little tiny device (other than I have become an Atari everything fanboy)? First and formost, The 400 mini will run software created for all of the Atari MOS 6502 computers with all the formats. Let me list the Atari devices out that his will run the software for:

Atari 400 and 800

Atari 5200

Atari 1200XL, 600XL, and 800XL

Atari 65XE, 130XE, adn 800XE

Atari XEGS

What does the 400 mini look like? It looks like the original Atari 400 from 1979.

Original 1979 Atari 400	New 2024 Atari THE400 mini

What are the hardware specs for the Atari mini?

H3 CPU

RAM 256MB; FLASH: 128MB

5 USB ports for game controlers, drives, keyboards, and what ever else.

HDMI output
Unlike many other mini consoles, this one makes it easy to run your own atari software via USB.

Don't own any Atari software, 25 games are included...like

Berzerk

Boulder Dash

Capture the Flag

Lee

Millipede

Miner 2049er

Missile Command

M.U.L.E

Star Raiders II

Yoomp!

Battle Zone

Air Ball

Crystal Castles

Elektra Glide

Henry's House

Seven Cities of Gold

Yep, we only know of 16 of the 25 games so far. Since the Atari MOS 6502 8-bit CPU systems are really good gaming systems - This mini also includes a CX-40 like USB joystick. I hear that is of good quality. They are also touting that many other USB controllers work too.

Added the new cabinet to the game room

 I placed my new Arcade1UP Atari Tempest Legacy on the East wall by the Ms. Pac-man.

Played a few games on the cabinet.  I found the track ball and spinner worked quite well.  I had heard stories about some of the pervious cabinets not doing well.

The cabinet comes with a back lit marquee, 2 built in speakers mounted below the marque, 17" Color LCD screen, and an Atari Tempest matching riser.  Unlike my other Arcade1Up cabinet, this screen is horizontal instead of vertical.  I thought this would hinder true game play for some of the games, but it did not. There are  12 classic games bundled into the cabinet: Asteroids, Centipede, Major Havoc, Missile Command, Akka Arrh, Crystal Castles, Tempest, Millipede, Gravitar, Liberator, Asteroids Deluxe, and Space Duel.  

The control board has 7 arcade style buttons, a spinner, a small track ball, on/off switch, and a volume control.

If Arcade1Up reads this, my only complaint is that the build process was really crappy considering (a) they did not supply me any instructions and (b) they had NO INSTRUCTIONS on their web site for cabinets that have sound bars and and light up marques :(

B-day Stuff

It has been a great weekend. I had a great day with the family at Arcadia, I have also acquired 11 new Cubs baseball cards from Anne. Some new Pac-Man game room décor stuff from Maddie, and a new Atari arcade cabinet.  I also acquired some D&D crystal rock dice from Amy. An official D&D log book from Vinnie.  August got me a Mustang sign with 7 awesome Stang's.  Parent's got me a nice telescope to top it off.  So yeah, great birthday weekend.   

Odyssey2 and game room

At Last! My Magnavox Odyssey² Console arrived! This was another gamble purchase. Seller said that the console powers on and creates a test pattern, but had no cartridges to test it with. They wanted $39.99, so I went for it. With tax and shipping $55. Plugged the Odyssey² in and it worked! Played about 5 different games with no issues. Luckily for me, another successful gamble. I have been without an Odyssey for about seven years and really wanted to own one again. This was my main game console for a whie and what I learned how to do some assembler language programming. This console has a special place in my heart.

A photo showing the difference in controller size from an Atari 2600.

I have my new Pac-Man artwork hung on the east wall of my game room.

My game room 'great' bargains from this Saturday

PitFall II - working... ebay $21


Atari hat - new @ Hobby Lobby - sale $2.75!!



Pacman drawer handles - new @ Hobby Lobby - $2.50 each



Pacman 3-D framed 'poster' - new @ Hobby Lobby - $9.50

Odyssey2 replacement console

Just purchased an Magnavox Odyssey² computer consule tonight! Very excited.


Been shopping around for one for a long time.

I did return the non-working Pitfall II cartridge and got my money back for that and put that towards the new O² :)

Game Room room update, Pitfall II

This spring, I have had a trickle of Star Wars, Cubs décor, and D&D stuff come to the game room.  As far as game system, mainly just have the Atari 7800, Sony PlayStation 4, and Sony PlayStation 2 setup for games along side of the Arcade 1Up.

I finally found Pitfall II for the Atari 2600.  Paying $25 plus tax is not ideal, but I also realized this cartridge does not pop up often.  I was so excited to map out a learn this game, but alas after trying both consoles and cleaning the cartridge... the cartridge is dead.  I find it hard to believe it was not tested. :(

I'll see if they will honor the exchange.

Dice Set has grown.

Since I very informally started collecting dice, my collection has grown.

When I last posted in Feb 2018, my dice collection has nearly doubled from 17 sets of dice to 30.
https://elfstones69.blogspot.com/2018/02/my-dice-collections.html
At that time, I did not call it a collection, but now it kind of is. So I'm going to start sharing more sets, little by little.

First things first - How do I catalog/describe my dice? I have broken up my collection of dice into 7 dice types, 4 dice functions types, and 4 dice displays types:
Dice Base Types:

4d=   4 sided

6d=   6 sided

8d=   8 sided

10d= 10 sided

10dT= 10 base 10 sided

12d = 12 sided

20d = 20 sided

Dice function types:

N= number

C= compass

B= body

S= situation

Dice display types:

Top or vertical aligned 1=

Bottom, horizontal, and/or underscored. 2=

Pip-scored 3=

Pip only numbers 4=

Here is a listing of my collection:

Set 18 - 11 pcs - Red Pearl
D&D Brand

4d    N1   Red Pearl
6d    N3   Red Pearl
6d    N3   Red Pearl
6d    N3   Red Pearl
6d    N3   Red Pearl
8d    N3   Red Pearl
10d   N23  Red Pearl
10dT  N23  Red Pearl
12d   N3   Red Pearl
20d   N3   Red Pearl
20d   N3   Red Pearl

Set 19 - 9 pcs - multi-color

d12  N2  White
d12  N2  Light Blue
d12  N2  White
d12  N2  Light Blue
d12  N2  White
d12  N2  Orange
d12  N2  White
d12  N2  Orange
d12  N2  White

Set 20 - 7 pcs - Dark Red & Black Pearl

d4   N1  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d6   N2  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d8   N2  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d10  N2  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d10T N1  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d12  N3  Dark Red & Black Pearl
d20  N3  Dark Red & Black Pearl

Game room flare!

 Not much of an update.  Picked up some new flare for the game room today and yesterday.  First item was a Minecraft Creeper to put beside Steve and a Zombie.  

Additionally, I found a small Hot Wheels Star Wars land speeder.  Lastly I found a really cool and large game room sign.  

I'm going to stop....

 tracking fitness on this blog.   I have done a bit over the years but I have started tracking this now on my personal website.  I think it will keep me more accountable. 

http://mrgibson.com/woMaster.html

Probably going to continue to keep the focus more on cards and games.

This week's game pickup

I know that sports games don't hold their value and can be purchased on the cheap, but I do think I still got a good deal on these three PlayStation 2 games from EA for a total of $7.

Arcade titles in collection

100 Top Arcade games that I have in my collection.  Not in any paticular order.
    Game                 Year   Link                                                                     .
#1  Dig Dug              1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Dig%20Dug
#2  Pac-Man              1980   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Pac-Man
#3  Donkey Kong          1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Donkey%20kong
#4  Smash TV             1990   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Smash
#5  Frogger              1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Frogger
#6  Galaga               1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Galaga
#7  Robotron: 2084       1982   https://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Robotron
#8  BurgerTime           1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Burger
#9  Tapper               1983   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Tapper
#10 Golden Axe           1989   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Golden%20Axe
#11 Space Invaders       1978   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Space%20Invaders
#12 Joust                1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Joust
#13 Ms. Pac-Man          1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Ms.%20Pac-Man
#14 Defender             1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Defender
#15 Spy Hunter           1983   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Spy%20Hunter
#16 Donkey Kong Jr.      1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Donkey%20Kong%20j
#17 Asteroids            1979   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Asteroids
#18 Pole Position        1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Pole%20Position
#19 Stargate             1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Stargate
#20 Galaxian             1979   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Galaxian
#21 Gauntlet             1985   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Gauntlet
#22 Tempest              1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Tempest
#23 Pong                 1972   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Pong
#24 Double Dragon        1987   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Double%20Dragon
#25 Centipede            1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Centipede
#26 Battlezone           1980   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Battlezone
#27 Xevious              1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Xevious
#28 Missile Command      1980   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Missile%20command
#29 Berzerk              1980   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Berzerk
#30 Arkanoid             1986   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Arkanoid
#31 Zaxxon               1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Zaxxon
#32 Q-bert               1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Q-bert
#34 Millipede            1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Millipede
#35 Street Fighter       1987   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Street%20Fighter
#36 Gorf                 1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Gorf
#37 Elevator Action      1983   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Elevator%20Action
#38 Space Fury           1981   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Space Fury
#39 Rally-X              1980   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Rally
#40 Choplifter           1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=choplifter
#41 Popeye               1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Popeye
#42 Gravitar             1982   http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=Gravitar
#43 Turtles
#44 Space Panic
#45 Venture
#46 Pole Position II
#47 Pepper II
#48 Jungle Hunt
#49 Frenzy
#50 Bump n Jump          1982     http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/games_db.php?syst=%20&game=bump
#51 Mappy
#52 720 
#53 Rolling Thunder 
#54 Klax  
#55 Marble Madness
#56 Paperboy             1984                           
#57 Rampage              1986               
#58 Rampart              1990 
#59 RoadBlasters         1987    
#60 Rompers              
#61 The Tower of Druaga  19 
#62 King and Balloon
#63 Mortal Kombat
#64 Super Breakout
#65 Warlords
#66 Black Widow
#67 Asteroids Deluxe
#68 1942
#69 Mario Bros
#70 Ninja Turtles  
#71 Snow Bros
#72 Mortal Kombat II 
#73 Golden Axe II
#74 Altered Beast
#75 Sinistar
#76 Mortal Kombat III 
#78 Vanguard
#79 Polaris
#80 Night Driver
#81 Dodge Em             1979
#82 Crystal Castles
#83 Breakout
#84 Jr. Pac-Man
#85 Marble Madness       1985

Huge weekly pick this week

First, I want to ackknowledge that today is the 18th aniversary of Tracy's Death. Went to the grave with my children with with Tracy.

Items that I picked up for game room over the week, including today:

First on the break down, Dice:
- 7 dice set, hand crafted silver with gold accent
- 2 dice set, hand crafted green onyx

Next, Video game system and games.

- Atari 7800 ProSystem Console. I have been wanting this for a long time.

- Additional 10 Controllers:
- - 4 Atari 2600 paddle controllers.
- - 4 Atari 2600 joystick controllers.
- - 2 Atari 7800 joystick contollers.



- 17 Games including
- - Donkey Kong for Atari 2600 varient A (Coleco)
- - Donkey Kong for Atari 2600 varient B (Atari)
- - Donkey Kong Junior for Atari 2600
- - Jr Pac-Man for 2600
- - Pitfall for 2600
- - Warplock for 2600
- - Frogger for 2600
- - Dig Dug for Atari 7800
- - Pole Position II for Atari 7800

2 more 2600 pickups, 6 total 2600 games over this last week

Today I picked up the horrible, but famous Atari 2600 Pac-man and ET.

On the positive side, I finally got Star Wars: Empire Strikes back, Joust, Freeway, and

Star Voyager. This puts my collection at 118 unique games for the Atari 2600