AUSRETROGAMER

Australia's Retro Gaming and Pinball E-Zine

You are here: Home / Archives for Retro Exploring

Retro Exploring

PAX Aus 2019 was a Classic

By

Wow, PAX Aus 2019 was an absolute blast! What a great 3 days. We just wish it went for longer.

The Classic Gaming area was busy with many attendees coming in and enjoying everything that was on offer; from classic gaming systems, vintage handhelds, to old school arcade and pinball machines. The Australian Pinball Museum display exhibit was a new addition in the pinball section which proved popular due to never before seen items, like the 10 metre bill of material print out from the Fish Tales pinball machine (it cost just under US$1800.00). But wait, that wasn’t all, the display pieces in the console section were yet again getting a lot of attention, especially Shane Battye’s very exotic development kits and prototype systems.

It is always great to get recognition from BIG gaming companies. Thanks PlayStation Australia!


To see attendees enjoying some nostalgia and having fun with their friends and family is exactly why we love putting together the Classic Gaming area every year at PAX Aus.

If you could not attend PAX Aus 2019 or you just want to reminisce, here are our highlights from an action packed three days – make sure you scroll slowly through the photos to take it all in!

On behalf of the PAX Aus Classic Gaming team**, thanks to all who swung by to have a game and say hello. We hope to see you guys in 2020!

PS: Keep an eye out for our Rest of PAX Aus 2019 Highlights post in the coming days!

** PAX Aus Classic Gaming team and contributors: Ausretrogamer, Weird And Retro, Press Play On Tape Podcast, Bartronica, Skott K. & Zax Amusements, Bayside Pinball Club, Mr. Pinball Australia, Australian Pinball Museum, Greg Pell, Cameron Bonde & Chris Van Graas.

Walk-through the Classic Gaming Area

Amazing historical pinball items on show in the Classic Gaming area!

 

Hope to see you all at PAX AUS 2020!

 

Cirque Electriq: The Cirque-Us Is Coming To Melbourne-Town

By

Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq gives arcades and tricky ticket games a new life!

Roll up, roll up to The District Docklands, cause from October 18, the amazing and incredible circus-themed leisure-tainment wonderland, Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq will be in Melbourne town.

Bring your smallfry, bring your largefry! They will have fun things for young and old from the dodgem cars (aka: bumper cars), carousels, interactive XD motion theatres, crazy shakes, bowling, arcade games and of course, pinball! Yes, PINBALL! Oh yeah and prizes, lots and lots of prizes! To say we are excited would be the biggest understatement of the year!

We can’t wait to hit Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq, so we hope to see you guys there!

Let the FUN TIMES begin!

Important Deets:

  • Location: The District, 440 Docklands Drive, Docklands (Melbourne)
  • Opening Hours: Sunday to Thursday 12pm – 10pm, Friday and Saturday 12pm – late
  • Entry Conditions: Strictly Over 18’s from 8pm
  • Telephone: 1300 888 386

source: The District Docklands and Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq

 

Stephanie ‘Hex’ Bendixsen Visits Melbourne

By

While in Melbourne-town for the Melbourne eSports Open, author, presenter and broadcaster extraordinaire, Stephanie ‘Hex’ Benidxsen had a bit of down time to check out the many awesome pop culture sites, gaming establishments and other extremely rad geeky stuff that our great city has to offer!

As Hex says, “Luckily Melbourne is a hub of gaming and pop-culture-related activity” – it sure is! if you haven’t checked out all of these places, then you are missing out!


source: Visit Melbourne via Facebook

 

Games Room Delights: Nintendo_Master1

By

There is something about seeing people’s gaming rooms that invokes our inner voyeurism, in a good way.

We are always fascinated and intrigued of each unique games room setup we see, just like Nintendo_Master1’s – you’ll have to agree (once you check out all of the pics) that it is pretty darn awesome!

Let the drooling begin!

image source: Nintendo_Master1 on Facebook

 

Thrill Of The Chase: Retro Games Hunting In Brisbane

By

The Thrill Of The Chase feels great doesn’t it? That buzz you get never gets old!

A little while ago, we went retro games and vintage hunting in Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, aka: BrisVegas! So what did we find? Well, we found the Woolloongabba Antique Centre & Cafe before it moved and became the Camp Hill Antique Centre.

Luckily Ms Ausretrogamer was on the case (she found this place!), as she dug up and found a heap of gems I would have missed. Rather banging on about it all, we’ll let the photos do the talking. Enjoy!

If you intend on using any of the photos within this feature, please credit them back to this article – thank you.

 

Retro Hunting In Spa Country

By

Ms ausretrogamer and I hit spa country in north western Victoria on a fine winter’s day a few weekends ago.

From the Daylesford Sunday Market to local vintage bazaars and The Amazing Mill Markets in Ballarat and Daylesford, we found vintage goodies that warmed our cockles.

 

Movieland Arcade: A Hit Of Nostalgia In Vancouver

By

Ah Vancouver, the city of many cruise ships and retirees boarding these massive vessels! This post has been a long time coming, but that’s because we’ve been distracted – till now!

Continuing on with cool places we visited while on our North American trip (like the Seattle Pinball Museum, Toy Shack and A Gamer’s Paradise in Vegas), the city of Vancouver delivered its own piece of gaming nostalgia via the Movieland Arcade!

There are some amusement centres that are stuck in a bygone era, a period of time when arcade parlours in the 80s were lined with machines, both of the arcade and pinball kind, checkered linoleum flooring, cheeky signage, an attendants booth for exchanging your notes for coins and of course, the smell. Well, it is safe to say that Movieland Arcade encapsulates this 80s era perfectly.

Situated at the hipster end of Granville Street in central Vancouver, Movieland Arcade cannot be missed – its distinct red tile facade enticing you to go in and experience some real gaming nostalgia. With pinball tables and arcade machines ranging from the 70s to the late 90s, you better exchange your notes for a shed-load of coins as you will want to play them all!

Movieland Arcade reminded us of the arcade joints we used to frequent in the 80s on Swanston Street and Russell Street in the centre of Melbourne. Unlike those arcade joints going the way of the dodo, Vancouver can count itself lucky with a place like the Movieland Arcade.

Whoa, we spot Movieland Arcade across the road!

You definitely can’t miss the distinct facade of this majestic arcade parlour

We better grab some more coins!

Here we go! Hmm, pinball or straight to the arcade machines?

We shall start from the left and work our way to the right..

You have to go slow when you are in here! Too many awesome distractions!

We can’t go past some Neo Geo action

Killer Instinct is next!

Whoa man, haven’t seen a Gauntlet Legends machine in almost 20 years!

Some single racing action on Daytona USA!

Inserting coins now!

Nothing beats some 8P head-to-head racing!

We spy Medieval Madness! Time to destroy some castle!

Needing some gun action, which Area 51 will satisfy

We enjoy gunning down zombies!

Hmm, not sure if these ‘movies’ and that ‘theatre’ are appropriate, but…

OMG, Raiden Fighters! There go all of our coins!

Our shmup senses have gone into overdrive! Get us some more coins!

We spent our last few coins on some Playboy action *wink*

Darn it, the booth attendant must’ve had a toilet break. We’ll be back.

Gone Retro Hunting

By

What does one do on a lazy Sunday afternoon? They go hunting for some old school classic gear at the local vintage market in Brunswick East.

After a few goes on the Daytona USA and Tazmi’s TX-1 arcade machines, we got hunting. So, what did we find you may ask? Take a gander below…

Here we go!

One always starts their hunting by playing some Daytona USA

Then one must take it back a notch to playing the three-screen marvel, TX-1

Wish we could take this one home!

Cockpit is a bit worse for wear, but it’s still functional

Once we exhaust our coins, we get hunting. This is a pretty good start!

Now that is one cool framed movie poster!

The singing budgerigar – with a giant poster inside! Whoa! 

Who you gonna call?

We wonder if we’ll see a The Last Jedi cup in the near future…

Master System games under $15! That is unheard of! *smiles*

Lights, camera, action!

The menacing King Kong Bundy!

Not the VHS tape we were looking for…

Skateboard anyone? Tony Hawk would be proud.

Liberace would’ve loved this phone!

A Fisher Price record player! No way!

Forget the Fisher Price record play, this is what you should play your vinyl on!

Those eyes!!!

Game of Nightmare, anyone?

G.I. Joe! Hang on, Sloth from The Goonies! *mind blown*

Duck Monster? Nah, that’s a P!

Affiliate announcement: Check out StudioPress’ new StudioPress Sites – the world’s first hybrid solution that gives you the ease of an all-in-one website builder with the flexible power of WordPress! Get Your StudioPress Site Now

 

Strange Things Are Afoot At The Foodies Express

By

We were driving along on a sunny Sunday afternoon and out of the blue what did we spot?  An amazing little outdoor arcade outside a Fitzroy convenience store – no way!

Strange things are afoot at the Foodies Express

Shaq Attaq and World Cup Soccer pinball tables, 60-in-1 vertical multicade and Cruis’n USA

Time to play at this outdoor arcade

We even scored some free credits on the Shaq Attaq – excellent!

Slam dunk!

We left credits for the next pinball wizard. That’s the pinball etiquette

Goooooooaaaaalllllll!

He shoots! He scores!

The control deck is inviting

Park and play!

It’s amazing what you’ll find when you go cruis’n

Mario is everywhere!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

PAX Aus Panel: Geek Trash or Treasure? Finding Collectibles with Real Value

By

pax-aus-2016-panel-1For this year’s PAX Aus we had the privilege of participating in the Geek Trash or Treasure: Finding Collectibles With Real Value panel, facilitated by CNET Editor, Seamus Byrne. The panel consisted of yours truly, Weird and Retro’s Stacey Borg and Bethesda Community Manager and mad collector, Noel Wheatley.

Keeping it retro: the panel in action!
pax-aus-2016-panel-2

We discussed why some games, consoles, computers, accessories, trinkets and ‘collectors editions’ become genuinely collectible. We provided helpful tips on where to find treasures and how to work out how much to spend. We also touched on preservation – basically everything you need to know about collecting retro goodies!

If you missed seeing it live, don’t worry – you can watch the recording via GameSpot’s YouTube channel.

a-panel-7(Image from PAX Aus website)