Welcome to Jeff’s Arcade, my personal blog to chronicle my restoration/collection of classic arcade games. I am a self proclaimed computer geek and video game junkie and have been as long as I can remember. I think to best explain these terrible vices in my life, we need to travel back in time…to about 1975.

I remember the day like it was yesterday, my sister and I woke up on Christmas morning and walked into the living room. There, attached to the television was a brown box with two round knobs, a couple of switches and the strangest image I had ever seen on a television set. Turns out, it was a Sears Pong game, in full black & white glory. We played that game like there was no tomorrow.

My parents, unaware of the monster they were creating continued to feed my addiction. In 1979 we received a slightly used Gottlieb Grand Slam pinball machine as another Christmas gift. It was a thing of beauty, with a black glass that would give anyone a severe case of vertigo. Between that, the Pong console and a bumper pool table, we had our own bona fide game room.

Around 1980, arcades were coming all of the rage. Mom joined a bowling league and I would often tag along as the bowling alley had a killer game room. While mom bowled with her team, I’d spend 2 hours playing the latest arcade games like Space Invaders, Asteroids and Battlezone. I’d only occasionally bother her in an attempt to bum more quarters.

It was also around this time that the Atari 2600 was all the rage, and like all the other cool kids, I had to have one. If I had a dollar for every hour spent playing Space Invaders, Pitfall, Adventure, Breakout, and the terrible port of Pac-Man, I’d be retired and living on a tropical island.

In 1981, I picked up my first personal computer, a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. Sure, you could play games on it, but it also introduced me to another feature just as fun…programming. Every few months, I’d pick up a new issue of one of the latest computer magazines that had some programming code in the back. After a few hours of typing, you were supposed to have a functional program. Alas, it never worked that way and you’d spend another two hours tracking down your typing errors. Once the code was finally functional, you’d be greeted with a snowman and 2 or 3 animated snowflakes. 256 byte computing at it’s best.

By this point in my life, I think a conspiracy was developing to actually get me out of the house. As luck would have it, a new arcade was built in a shopping complex not too far from my house. Every Friday and Saturday night we’d be there, in line to play our favorite games like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Track & Field, Front Line, and Jungle King while the cool kids were break dancing out front. We brought quarters, they brought cardboard.

In 1982, I purchased another computer, one I am still kicking myself for selling to this date. I was fearful that all of my arcade time would lead people to think I was actually social. I had saved for months and purchased a Commodore 64, complete with “official” monitor, 5 1/4″ floppy drive and printer. The hours logged playing One on One Basketball, Summer Games, Castle Wolfenstein, Lode Runner, Leaderboard Golf, Zork, and Star League Baseball would have probably been better spent working on homework.

Since 1975, a computer or console game has constantly been running in my house. Pong, Atari 2600, TI 99/4A, Commodore 64, NES, Sega Genesis, Playstation, Gameboy, Gamecube, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360 and more computers than I care to list. I will admit to even owning a Packard Bell once.

The computer fascination, naturally led to an interest in the internet and web site development. I’ve done a number of personal and commercial web sites and for a number of years ran a pretty popular website called thedvdlist.com. I started it when DVD’s first came out as a comprehensive listing off all available and upcoming DVD releases, including screen aspect ratios, sound track formats, actor listings, etc. It started as a static based site and evolved into a fully searchable online database of DVD information. As more and more vendors came online the site wasn’t really necessary anymore and started requiring too much of my time. The site was referenced by a number of other online DVD sites and was even featured in an issue of Forbes magazine.

Soon after thedvdlist.com fizzled I developed jmphillips.net which was basically just a collection of ramblings with no real purpose, other than keeping my html skills sharp. About 4 years ago, I had a chance to pick up a non-working arcade cabinet for free and was once again reminded of the simplicity and fun of the games from the golden era of arcades. Jmphillips.net became the spot to share my restoration attempts and progress with other people. The site soon became entirely arcade focused, thus the shift to the jeffsarcade.net domain name.

As for the classic arcade games,my kids don’t get it, your kids probably don’t get it, but for those of us that grew up in the era, these are some of the greatest games ever made. You might see me online playing GTA IV or Rainbow Six Vegas, but you’re more likely to find me in the basement pumping quarters into Donkey Kong or perfecting the comb method on Track & Field (those that played it back in the day will know exactly what I’m talking about).

P.S. Remember the Grand Slam pinball machine mentioned earlier? I talked to my Dad a number of years ago and asked him what happened to it. He couldn’t recall exactly, but remembered giving it away to someone. I called a number of his friends, one whose son always enjoyed playing it, in hopes of tracking it down. I had no luck.

Dad called a few weeks later as he finally recalled what happened to it. He had some siding and windows replaced and one of the contractors commented on the pinball machine. Dad told him he could have it for free if he was willing to move it out of the basement. He obviously jumped at the opportunity. I remember it being in rough shape the last time I saw it, with flaking back glass and many components not working, but man would I love to have that machine again. So, if you’re a siding and window contractor and got a free Grand Slam Pinball machine, drop me a line!