#Bosconian arcade cabinet full
#Bosconian arcade cabinet free

After eleven hours and ten minutes of continuous play, and passing through two split screens, he achieved an astonishing score of 6,532,000, beating the previous world record by some 200,000 points:Īnd on Sunday, Jon followed up this attempt with another, where he tried to achieve another single perfect game of Pac-Man on a dedicated cabaret machine.įor me there were many cabinet highlights, but here’s a few that I thought were worthy of our attention here at Arcade Blogger: A full motion Sega Afterburner. On the Saturday, Jon Stoodley was gunning for the marathon world record on the hidden Pac-Man game found on the 20th Anniversary Ms Pac-Man/Galaga arcade cabinet.

The world’s best Pac-Man player was on hand throughout the weekend showcasing his skills. Not a huge lineup this year (the Manchester event seems to get a larger number of machines), but a good dozen or so quality pins were available to play: The machines were busy all day – not so busy that you couldn’t get a game, but just enough of an atmosphere to give an authentic 80s experience: Come opening time, the lights were dimmed, and we had a good arcade feel to the place. I’d like to think the public was able to make connections between some of these cabinets by their design and gameplay. Road Blasters, Marble Madness, Indiana Jones and Road Runner Midway Bosconian, Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian, BurgerTime & Super Pac-Man Williams Defender, Robotron & Moon Patrol Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jnr and Popeye Atari System 1 cabs. This year, James was able to make groups of same-manufacturer games at certain points around the hall: The Nintendo lineup. There was a really good mix of cabinets available to play. The smell is something you don’t forget in a hurry, but it was swiftly dealt with by James and the team, and was back up and running within 45 minutes. I witnessed a flyback in a Midway Bosconian go pop at the event.

He arrives not only with the cabinets, but is also armed with spare parts and a tools, and sets up a temporary workbench to give immediate attention to anything that decides to break down – and of course, there will be casualties throughout the three-day event!Īny machine found to be misbehaving is quickly wheeled away to the repair area, troubleshooted (is that a word?), repaired on the spot, and put back out to play. Having done this for a few years now, James has the process down pat. I took several photos of the general setup before the doors opened to the public to give you an idea of the setup, and what was available to play:

#Bosconian arcade cabinet free

But after that 40 or so core of cabinets, James is given a free rein to choose what else he feels should be available to play. These ‘AAA’ titles should be the staple of any lineup of cabinets. Of course the general public wants to see certain titles out on the floor available to play – Pac-Man, Defender, Space Invaders, Robotron, Asteroids – you get the picture. The lineup of arcade cabinets was particularly impressive. So in July of this year, I made the 3 hour trip up north to Blackpool to check out this year’s event. Owned by James Brindle, RGP provides various services related to video arcade gaming, not least of which is his ability to provide a large amount of cabinets to an event such as Play Expo. Things have changed since the early days, when the collector community pulled together and brought their own arcade cabinets to support these events but as time has gone on, and the events have become more popular and successful, the machines are now provided by one company, Retro Games Party. These annual shows feature a variety of activities including Cosplay, Retro console systems, traders, guest speakers (check out the talk I gave a few years back in Manchester here), multiplayer LAN gaming and of course video arcade machines and pinballs. The Play Expo Events are now a regular fixture of the retro gaming calendar over here in the UK.