We opened up the homestead for a big family Christmas with parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, boyfriends and girlfriends. Along with presents and a gratuitous amount of food, everyone had a blast down in the arcade. I totally missed a great photo-op as there was a full on Santa Claus outfit with beard that someone dressed up as to pass out presents this year. Next year I'm going to get Santa to pose playing Donkey Kong, Star Wars and a few racers. On to the photos!

 

The Megatouch touch screen games have become a staple in my arcade and are a favorite of everyone. With over 100 games per Megatouch unit, there is a game for everyone to enjoy.

It comes as no surprise then that when I had an opportunity to upgrade one of my Megatouches with a newer game, that I jumped at that chance. The newer game? A Megatouch Force 2008.5. This upgrade features Chug Monkey and many others. The new Kids Club games make this upgrade worth it alone.

I called the guy on Craigslist within an hour of it being posted and it was still available. I arranged to meet this guy at a business after hours for the purchase. With that I grabbed my jacket and was soon out the door on my next road trip. Click here to read about the Megatouch Force road trip.

Friday night. Wife is in bed. My 5 year old wakes up. Its now rounding midnight. Last week I had seen Wreck It Ralph where Q*bert makes an appearance.

I was looking for a good excuse to play after seeing Wreck It Ralph, it gave me the "want to play Q*bert" vibe. This was perfect timing to fire up the basement arcade and get my Q*bert fix. Of course my 5 year old follows me downstairs to get his arcade fix also.

I haven't played Q*bert in quite a long time, so I was expecting a quick game. Just long enough to satisfy that itch. Well, the extra men kept piling on, and the levels kept climbing all on the same original credit. After 45 minutes to an hour, I got the highest score I have ever gotten on Q*bert. That score? An impressive 370,135. And yes, I put my initials DAD on the machine so all my kids know who OWNS that game, figuratively and literally. While putting up this score I rolled level 9 over 5 times. After you get past level 9 then that level just keeps repeating itself.

While I was putting this score on the machine, my 5 year old son was playing VS Super Mario Bros. Afterwards he came up to me and said "You know what would be cool dad? If we got a Wreck It Ralph arcade game." Hmmmm. Out of the mouth of babes.

Unfortunately to have a Wreck It Ralph would require a custom built arcade game. Someday maybe, someday. Until then...let's play some more Q*bert!

My 5 year old boy plays on a coed soccer team. His team this year was undefeated. What is the best way for an entire team of 5 year olds to celebrate? Chuck E.Cheese? No! Have an end of season soccer party down in the Vintage Vault Arcade! Of course the parents got to join in the fun. Several soccer moms even broke out the Atari 2600 for some really old school action. Check out the 60 photo collection of the fun below!

Sometimes...life just happens. Why the lack of updates? That's it. Life. Work, work and more work, kids, sports, the church ministry. These things have been keeping me too busy for updates. I did manage to move the gameroom around to provide more of an open space towards the back and give a better gameroom flow. Even with all those arcade games in the background, my kids still like their PS3, Xbox360 and satelite TV so the rearrangement better suited that area. Personally, I think it looks fantastic. BTW, that couch has a pull out sofa bed in it so kids and adults can sleep in the arcade. C'mon now, you would have been in heaven if you could bring in a sleeping bag and sleep inside a real arcade in the 80's. You know you wanted to. So without ado, I took some nice After Dark pictures where all the colors, neons and glowing marquees really "pop". Enjoy!