Translation of the paper article:
Guy from Hilversum driving force behind expo game machines
Mario out of the mothballs
Hilversum, Monday
Those who grew up in the 80s and 90s probably remember them: the first shift of man-tall, strangely beeping game machines with Pac-Man or Space Invaders in them. You could find them in snack bars, café's and arcades. Hi-tech at that time; today an average phone offers more intelligent amusement.
And yet, there is still a small group of fans of these "arcade games".
They will present their treasures next weekend at "Sound & Vision" in Hilversum during the Retro Game Experience.
Driving force behind this exposition is Poppe ten Dolle from Hilversum (34) who also works at Sound & Vision in everyday life. He is the proud owner of 13 game machines. To be precise: computer games, not jukeboxes or (money)gambling machines or pinballs.
"Eight I have in a special room in my house, the gameroom, the rest are stored." He was a kid in the 90s but his love for the machines goes further back. "In my youth there were "modern" games like The Simpsons and Terminator 2, but the old Donkey Kong is my favorite.
The club of collectors is small but tight. "Because it's a niche-hobby you quickly come into contact with collectors from abroad. I really like that everyone is helping each other, it's a friendly scene. And that's great because I am not technical at all."
Ten Dolle enthusiastically explains the difference between "uprights" (standing up machines), sitdownracers (machines where the player is on a bike or in car), woody cabs (cabinets from wood) and candy cabs (out of plastic).
Finding those machines gets harder though."Recently 40 of them were discovered in a warehouse in Belgium. And in England the arcade section of an old cruises ship was emptied. But these huge finds are rare.
We also learn that the Japanese Shigura Miyamoto is Ten Dolle's biggest hero. He conceived legends like Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda and still works in the industry. By the way do should know that Mario was called Jumpman in the first games ? He got the Mario name, as legends tell because of a conflict between Nintendo of America and Mario Segale because they were behind in paying rent for the building. Segale left when they promised to pay very soon and Nintendo eternalized his name.
Films
Several videogame related movies will be shown during the Retro Game Experience and it shows video arcade games and consoles throughout the years.
Ten Dolle: "We have in total about 100 devices that people can really play on"
For those who think this is a great way to get rid of their last guilders: all games are free (to play).
