The trip to the Midwest Gaming Classic 2007 got off to a great start. On the way up I saw a neighborhood garage sale in Bristol Wisconsin. It was an older neighborhood so I figured I might get lucky, sure enough I scored an Intellivision with box-o-games for $5. I doubt the system works, it looks like hell, but the games were more than worth the price considering they included...

...the extremely rare The Jetsons Ways with Words. The box is pretty flat but the cartridge and overlays are fine. I knew it was a great find even before checking an Intellivision rarity guide. How? For starters, I'd never heard of it which is usually a sign of obscurity. The biggest indicator was the box text "Use with any INTELLIVISION Master Component, Computer Adaptor, & Computer Keyboard." There were only a handful of games made for the short-lived Intellivision computer. Of course, this means at some point that house likely had that system and it was already sold or tossed.

Why does Japan get all the great Nintendo licensed toys and we get practically nothing? And 'no', some crappy Mario Fruit Roll-Ups every other year don't count. What I want are those Wind Waker toys and Nintendo watches.

One vendor had a huge selection of Sega Master System games, most appeared foreign. I keep saying I want to expand my tiny Master System collection but always find something else to buy instead.

At the same table was a collection of Philips Videopac games. This is the first time I'd even heard of this system (or at least the first time I'd seen any games for it).

You have no idea how tempting it was to buy the whole box of "broken stuff". I forced myself to decline.

I have this exact Apple ][ sitting on my desk at work, only much cleaner. I got it as a free gift from another programmer who was moving but couldn't bear to throw it away. Literally, within 30 seconds of taking this picture someone bought it.

My favorite booth to window shop at was one that stocked a ton of import games ("Mad Gear" might have been the name). If I had a fatter gaming budget I'd have a nice collection of import PC Engine CDs.

I have never owned any of the Atari computers but I'd be prone to grab one of these Atari 400s if I had the chance. Don't know where I'd keep it though.. probably would have to go next to that Apple ][. Anyway, I like the compact design and wish the small PC trend took off.

Yeah I remember carrying the "Genistick", what a stupid name. The cool thing about it is that you could play the Genesis with one hand. Later in the day I went a speech by the famous (among nerds) Ben Heck. He talked about a one-handed Xbox 360 controller he made for a soldier wounded in Iraq. He tried to pitch the idea to Microsoft for mass-production but they weren't interested. It's a shame, being able to enjoy a hobby like gaming would certainly lift the spirits of those who lost a limb while serving their country (or any other way I suppose).

The prices on Lynx games bottomed-out. $2 for a sealed game or 6 for $10. Seeing that stack of sealed Jaguar games makes me think they'll be a similar price in another year or two.

I went to the show with a single shopping objective: buy a 3DO. It's the only system from the mid-90s that I don't own and really, really wanted. The going price for the system was $50, slightly cheaper than eBay. The folks at Warp Zone Video Games threw in a sack-o-games for another $20. I can't turn down a generic sack-o-games even if most were lame "edutainment" titles. Madden, Gex, and Need for Speed were included and they're all games I would have hunted down anyway.

There were a lot of contests running throughout the event. A couple were focused on high scores for Tempest 2000. OK, there was a whiff of marketing to it because all the controllers had this dial/paddle modification made specifically for Tempest 2000 that some guy was selling. It was an excellent modification though, made the game feel more like the arcade original.

I spent a good amount of time at the cramped Star Worlds Arcade exhibit. They had a few old game like Domino Man that were new to me.

They also had one of the Nintendo vs. systems. This thing was great. For starters, you could run into with a tractor and not make a dent. It's about the size of a table top game only without the neck strain from constantly looking down. Just playing it for a few minutes bumped it way up on my "arcade machine wish list".

The also had a Neo Geo for people under 4'8". Either that or arcades in Japan have everyone sitting at a very short stool.

The highlight of the exhibits was finally playing a real SuperGrafx. I still can't explain why I want one of these even though it has a grand total of only six games. I guess it's because I'm a huge TurboGrafx fan and always wonder "what if" when I think about the SuperGrafx. Apparently it didn't take off in Japan because consumers there preferred the PC Engine CD. If only the SuperGrafx had a compatible CD attachment the gaming landscape could have evolved in a completely different direction.

Speaking of the PC Engine CD, here's a picture of one. Looks like it suffers from that strange plastic discoloration that old Nintendo systems do.

Last year I wrote about how impressed I was with the Bally Astrocade. Played it again and it was still one of the most fun systems I've tried. I'll say it again, the controller on this system is one of the best designed and makes for innovative game play. With one knob it does what modern controllers try to do with two (think of a directional control + camera stick).

The Japanese equivalent of the Atari 2600, the Atari 2800. Stylistically it more resembles the Atari 7800.

This Atari 830 modem obviously brings the movie Wargames to mind. I've had some old modems in my time but never one in this fashion.

An early system from Nintendo which appears to be a breakout clone. We need more bright orange systems.

There were a couple displays of old ads and posters in the main exhibition area. I could always go for more stuff like this. Here are some good 16-bit era ads, a little Genesis, some TurboGrafx-16, and of course Mortal Kombat II hype.

I know I had one of these flyers and wish I hung on to it. I zoomed in on it because the prices advertised here were actually less than the going rate for used TurboGrafx-16 CD games in the vendor area. The chip games were high but not above these prices, the CD games were another story altogether.