As another year draws to a close, one can’t help but to reflect on the year gone by. With a record number of visitors hitting the site, we had a heap of highlights in 2016, so dwindling them down to a handful proved to be harder than we thought. Are you ready? Here we go!
We started the year by learning how pinball machines work and how to troubleshoot general problems – a course that was well worth doing!
Getting the grand tour of ZAX Amusements and getting to play the newly released (at the time) Ghostbusters Pro pinball machine was a double highlight!
What better way to spend your birthday than having the awesome Ms. ausretrogamer organising a birthday mystery tour involving escape rooms, USA foods, retrogaming hunting at vintage markets, arcade action and a drive-in movie!
It is always a wonderful surprise when you go on a holiday and find a market that has retrogaming goodies! Carrara Markets delivered the thrill of the hunt buzz we were looking for!
After the birthday mystery tour, it was only fair to repay Ms. ausretrogamer in kind, by surprising her with The Walking Dead Pro pinball machine for her birthday. The look on her face was priceless!
When Marcus Sezonov extended us an invite to his Rosstown Retro Pinball Arcade tournament, we definitely could not pass up the opportunity. With a fantastic pinball collection comprising of classic machines from a variety of manufacturers from around the world, we could not stop flipping the silverball. Oh yeah, Marcus also had an original Japanese Space Invaders cocktail table to satisfy our arcade urge.
Being part of Australia’s biggest gaming event is a privilege. For PAX Aus 2016, our Classic Gaming Area was even bigger and better – more arcade and pinball machines, old school computers and consoles, handhelds from yesteryear and for the first time, a classic gaming museum!
Another PAX Aus 2016 highlight was participating in Seamus Byrne’s Geek Trash or Treasure? Finding Collectibles with Real Value panel in the Gamespot Theatre! We can now say that we popped our public speaking cherry.
Last but not least, meeting Jack Guarnieri at the recent exclusive Melbourne Jersey Jack Pinball event was a huge highlight and one we will not forget in a hurry! Oh yeah, playing the Pat Lawlor designed, Dialed In, was pretty great too!
We can’t wait to see what awesomeness 2017 brings us all! We’ll take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage and hope that you’ll come and visit us again in 2017.
Happy New Year to everyone – we hope it is a happy, healthy, successful and fun one!
LA-based graphic artist and web designer Fernando Reza of Fro Designs has just released 8 new posters in his Mario propaganda poster series, see them all on the 
Ms. ausretrogamer
Whoa, the 
Unkle K / Reset C64
“Skeletor is BACK and there is only one thing he wants for Christmas.”
“Ho-Ho-Ho-Home Alone returns as a retro action-packed arcade game for your holiday cheer! So sit back, relax, stir up some hot cocoa, and watch little McAllister cause some mayhem. Happy Holidays!”
Christmas is always a great time. We associate good times with family and friends, holidays, and obviously the gifts (giving and receiving!).
Thinking back to the 1999 Christmas season, we were still playing our Nintendo 64 quite a lot, but we were saving up frantically for a Sega Dreamcast. Star Wars games featured prominently in December 1999, but after the massive disappointment of The Phantom Menace prequel released earlier that same year, we steered clear of these games as a matter of protest. It was our loss, as some of these new Star Wars games on the 32-bit and 64-bit platforms were absolute crackers! Other notable games that we loved playing around that time were Driver and Soul Reaver on the Playstation.
The good people at 