Today, after work, I loaded up all my game equipment into my car to display it in my library (see Fig. 1):


Fig. 1: Box o' stuff. Also, enjoy my messy room.

Before pulling out of the driveway, I suddenly remembered that I forgot to bring an integral part of my display: The signs. Cursing myself for my absentmindedness, but praising myself for my fortitude against losing thoughts, I quick ran back inside and prepared them for the journey. Once again, I piled myself into to the car and drove to my destination.


Fig. 2: The library (back entrance).

5 minutes later, I had arrived. Somehow, in the middle of transit, the box which I had hauled everything inside (see Fig. 1) suddenly tore apart on the side. I was now faced with a dilemma. Should I leave my games (unattended) inside the car while I clear everything with the library? Should I bring in the (heavy) box anyways and hope they will be accommodating? Decisions, decisions. I decided to go with the former.

Once inside, I managed to get a hold of a librarian, who opened the display case for me.

Fig. 3: The display case (empty).

I now was able to grab my games back from my car. Nothing was touched (thankfully), although since the box was ripped, I had to make two trips to grab everything that I wanted. But finally, everything was inside, and I could start putting the ideas that were in my head onto a physical plane.

As was to be expected, people started taking notice. Almost as soon as I started to put consoles in, a group of about three boys, aged 13-14, circled around, looking at my collection. One asked, "How old is this stuff?" and proceeded to point to the NES; the Genesis; the Virtual Boy. The other two began digging through my box, naming off each game one by one in wide-eyed excitement: "Oh, cool! Super Mario World! Sweet! It's Street Fighter! OH MAN! Zelda!". They "helped" me get consoles ready and put them inside the case for me. Although, I must say, even if they didn't place things exactly the way I wanted them to, they were pretty nice and knew a lot about the consoles and games I was displaying (even if they confused Castlevania with Grandia, and commented that "your parents must be rich!" ;P ) I actually enjoy little moments like that. Outside of get-togethers and such, there's not really a chance for me to "talk shop" besides on the Internet, so having those little conversations really brought a smile to my face.

Soon after, the children left, and I was left to plan where everything should go. Another librarian, different than the one that helped me, came up and started to look at the consoles I had placed inside so far. She commented that her sister had an Atari 2600 still hooked up to her TV. She said, "The kids will love this!" as she left to do her duties. This made me feel better, because one of the things I was worried about was if the library would find it acceptable that there was a collection of video games inside their building. Video games have always been percieved as a "lesser" art or whathaveyou, so I was glad that I was more or less given an O.K. What really made my day, however, was hearing an older gentleman who was behind me as I was arranging everything, whisper an "Oh, wow..." as he looked at my consoles. He then proceeded to reminisice with his son (?, didn't get a good look at who he was with) about the VCS and the Intellivision. That was what this display was all about, to me. (Another funny thing that happened was that a mother got her fussy baby to stop crying [momentarily] by looking at the display. It works wonders!)

Finally, everything started falling into place. Another thing I was worried about was that the display would not be deep enough to store any consoles, nor have any room for my signs. However, it was deep enough, and I was able to make room for both. After about an half-hour of arranging and re-arranging, this is the end result:

Fig. 4: The display case (full). From top to bottom, left to right: Atari 2600, Nintendo 64, Turbo-Grafx 16, Game And Watch/Pong handhelds, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis (and Nomad), Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom Twin, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Saturn, Intellivision, Sega Dreamcast, Virtual Boy and Microvision (and some assorted Commodore 64 disks for good measure).

About 85% of what I wanted to include inside the display made it in, which made me very happy. Some more close-up shots:


Fig. 5: Atari 2600 and Nintendo 64. The games I included with each system were ones that were more commonly known, plus some of my personal favorites. The Atari has Breakout, Adventure and Kaboom!. The white pieces of paper are my "signs". You probably can't read them, but each individual sheet has specs for each system, plus a list of notable games and facts about the system (i.e. how many sold, retail price, best-selling game, etc.)


Fig. 6: Sega Master System and Genesis (and Nomad).


Fig. 7: Intellivision and Sega Dreamcast.


Fig. 8: Turbo-Grafx 16 and handhelds.


Fig. 9: Famicom Twin and SNES. For the curious, the game inside the FDS drive is Falsion.


Fig. 10: Sega Saturn.


Fig. 11: Microvision and Commodore 64 games (Space Taxi is at its rightful place in the front).


Fig. 12: Virtual Boy. Interestingly enough, this was the 666th picture taken with the camera (according to the counter), proving again that the VB is a tool of the devil.

Overall, I'm glad I got this opportunity, and I have no regrets whatsoever.