Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle

General Chat => Arcade Lifestyle => Topic started by: Q*ris on January 07, 2012, 12:11:30 PM

Title: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Q*ris on January 07, 2012, 12:11:30 PM
Maybe I'm gonna get flamed here but searching the web I stumbled on "Gust de Meyer".
I had never heard of him before but he seems to be a Belgian die hard arcade collector (and also vintage video games in general).
He put out an exhibition at the toy museum in Mechelen in 1999 (https://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0008708/museum.htm) and judging from the pictures, the machines displayed there were simply amazing.
Gust sure knows his classics! ...and remember that the pics are at least 13 years old... respect!

If you read this topic, Mr de Meyer, just login and share some more pics from your collection with us (or invite me for a tour, I'm pretty free this weekend ;)).

(https://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0008708/foto11.jpg)


Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: DarthNuno on January 07, 2012, 12:23:34 PM
That Pleiads you can see in your picture is mine, and I'm 99% sure that my Space Wars belonged to him too.
As far as I know, he bought some of their games in the famous game room Sportland at Blankenberge (Belgium). Some of these games have been sold to a collector in NL, where I got my Pleiads and Space Wars (see the road trip (https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=454.0)).

I love such topics... Arcade archeology and history!  :-*
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Q*ris on January 07, 2012, 12:41:29 PM
Haha, excellent!
Awesome to be able to track down the life story of a cab like that.
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: level42 on January 07, 2012, 01:15:29 PM
Yes, the buyer of half that stuff is a member here, Marco.

Ive seen most of it but he has sold on alot of them.
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Thwocker on January 08, 2012, 01:14:26 PM
Yeah, I bought the entire collection from the Toymuseum in Mechelen.
The lot was advertised on marktplaats. Gust only wanted to sell it as a lot,
which scared away most interested parties. The price was rather high at first
as well, but in the end I got a very good deal.

There were about 90 cabinets, lots of junk but also some real gems.
Some of the machines that I kept: Computer Space, Defender, and Sinistar.

I sold about half of the collection directly to Stefan from World of Arcade,
which was a huge mistake - after 5 1/2 years he still owes me money   :evil:

On the bright side though, this mega-buy got me into arcade collecting and
also led me to this site, where I discovered that I'm not the only arcade-loony   ;D

Cheers, Marco

Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Q*ris on January 08, 2012, 03:09:21 PM
Hey, it's a small world.
Thanks a lot for the explanations, Marco.
Gust had some real gems indeed, glad you kept some.
I wonder if he imported some of them (15 years ago!) or if he managed to find everything "locally".
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Blanka on January 08, 2012, 03:26:15 PM
Does the toy museum in Mechelen still have arcade games in their collection?
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Superully on January 08, 2012, 03:31:52 PM
half of the collection to WOL? i wonder what happened to those games ...
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: ckong on January 08, 2012, 07:12:12 PM
Nice story, it's surprising how cabs go from one to another collector. I wonder if sometimes the circle closes and the original owner buys back a cab he once owned.
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: liquidx on January 08, 2012, 08:03:35 PM

A couple of those are in my hands also :)

Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: DarthNuno on January 08, 2012, 08:39:19 PM
A couple of those are in my hands also :)

Which ones? Yeah... I'm curious... but in the name of history please  ::) :P ;)
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Q*ris on January 08, 2012, 10:40:23 PM
OK, seems like everybody is intimate with Mr Gust except me here!  :D
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: liquidx on January 09, 2012, 09:52:22 AM
A couple of those are in my hands also :)

Which ones? Yeah... I'm curious... but in the name of history please  ::) :P ;)

Omega Race and Asteroids.
Also Galaxy Ranger but that one is now in Denmark.

Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Q*ris on January 09, 2012, 12:21:44 PM
Nice choice.
Any idea how he managed to find an Omega Race upright in Belgium in the 90's?
Yes, I'm curious too.  ;)

I just found out some of his writings about video games on the web too (for instance:De socio-culturele betekenis van Pac-Man (http://www.kapingamarangi.be/downloads/pacman.pdf).)

Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: liquidx on January 09, 2012, 12:39:34 PM
Nice choice.
Any idea how he managed to find an Omega Race upright in Belgium in the 90's?
Yes, I'm curious too.  ;)

No idea, but it has the wrong coin door (later generation midway) with UK Pence pricing, so it may have been imported.

Then again, they must have been around here as I got a marquee from OR from a local operator. Also got a Black Widow marquee from there.

Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Q*ris on January 09, 2012, 01:14:08 PM
I definitely decided  to start this hobby too late!  ;)
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Alpha1 on January 09, 2012, 01:16:03 PM
I have some pictures from here when they were all in storage. I will get them online and post them.


 :spaceace:
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Alpha1 on January 09, 2012, 01:18:51 PM
Just to add,

Gust had a lot of 'very cool shit!'
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Q*ris on January 09, 2012, 01:20:34 PM
I have some pictures from here when they were all in storage. I will get them online and post them.
 :spaceace:
Awesome! thanks.
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: level42 on January 09, 2012, 04:44:44 PM
The pre-production Defender with Star Wars artwork ended up at Rav AFAIK.
Title: Re: My new arcade hero: Gust de Meyer
Post by: Thwocker on January 11, 2012, 10:39:52 AM
correct, Gust traded it for the completely overhauled Defender, that's now in my gameroom :)

Cheers,
Marco