Last Tuesday, after getting off work, my carpool buddy asked if I could make a stop at the thrift shop. I had just spent my last $5 on rice, a cucumber, and some carrots for tomorrow’s lunch. I literally had pennies in my pocket, but figured I would stop because there was nothing I was looking for and expected to find.
This thrift shop has been around for over 15 years. The guy running it brings in anything he can make a buck off of. This means that most of the time its random clothing, really bad comics from the 90s, dirty children’s toys, and games missing 1 or 2 of the important pieces. On occasion I have rescued someone else’s junk, polished it up, and made it my own. On this night I was surprised by what I found randomly sitting out in the middle of the show floor on top of an old table.
Before I get to that I need to stress that I’m an old school gamer. I was born in the middle of the 70s, I played the actual Pong machine at a bar, and I’ve witnessed the rise, peak, and fall of arcades. I own more than 20 systems, some game and watches, a bunch of LCD games, etc. Now that I am in my mid thirties I am spending my extra money hunting down things I remember or had played, but never owned.
So here I was, penniless and tired, and when I looked down I saw a Bandai Galaxian color LCD “table top†handheld not only sitting in front of me but active, glowing, and chiming its sweet gaming sounds. I grabbed for it as quickly as I could because I couldn’t believe my luck. The chances of finding a 20 yr old game at a thrift shop has become a rare event. These items have long since been forgotten, destroyed, or repossessed by collectors such as myself. Not only had I found one but it had the 4 C sized batteries in it and the last person to touch it had left it turned on.
There I am in my full business casual attire geeking out to the simple things in life, when my carpool buddy walked over and smiled. Thankfully my friends are as geeky as I am and are able to appreciate such a find. I had been so into the moment that I had not bothered to check the condition of the unit or the price tag. Following a quick suggestion I laughed uncontrollably as the $2.99 price chuckled back, the black sharpie that penned the price curved up at the end in a sort of smile, almost as if it knew that this item would find me and that I would appreciate it for what it was.
I snagged it, quickly, and made sure I wasn’t wearing my emotions on my face. I got back and started to research the unit. So far I have found out that it was Bandai’s version of Bally/Midway's Galaxian arcade game, released around 1980. The unit features a colored LCD, three buttons, 2 modes of difficulty, and an on/off switch. There is a plug for a DC 6 volt, which means I’ll be making a stop at Radio Shack sometime soon. The same game with the box is selling for over $50 on eBay, and I have found a few lists of people who have sold it in the past without the box for $75+.
The game play is very simple, the bugs come out of hibernation, fly down towards your ship, at which point you can move left or right to avoid them and press fire to launch a missile. If you get hit you lose one life, once all the lives are gone its game over. That’s it folks, no 3D graphics, no sprite effects, no next-gen crap here, this is old school challenging gaming that packs a huge fun factor.
Just for a point of reference for those to young to even know what this is or to have had the opportunity to play it, the game measures approximately 4 and ½ inches high by 7 inches wide (at the widest point), by 6 and ½ inches long. The diagonal which rises up to hold the LCD measures approximately 9 inches from the very bottom (under the controls) to the very top of the shell.
I’m feeling entirely too lazy today so I am including 2 shots of the unit and a few photos I found through random Google searches. If I get around to it I’ll try to post a short video of the game play in action.
A special thanks to my carpool buddy for loaning me the $2.99 +tax =P
Finally this funny IRC conversation by one oh-so-much younger than I:
[22:39] <another_world> oo i gotta show you a pic
[22:39] <another_world> lemme grab it off my phone
[22:43] <another_world> **edit** link since removed from my pix account =P
[22:43] <another_world> galaxian table top color lcd game from the 80s
[22:43] <another_world> i got it from a thrift store tonight for 2.99
[22:43] <another_world> and it works perfectly
[22:52] <Costello> lol
[22:52] <Costello> whats this thing
[22:53] <another_world> old school gaming!
[22:54] <Costello> i'm just 23 you know
[22:54] <Costello> old school gaming means game boy (original) for me
[22:54] <Costello> and game gear
[22:54] <Costello> nes/snes even
[22:54] <another_world> lol
This thrift shop has been around for over 15 years. The guy running it brings in anything he can make a buck off of. This means that most of the time its random clothing, really bad comics from the 90s, dirty children’s toys, and games missing 1 or 2 of the important pieces. On occasion I have rescued someone else’s junk, polished it up, and made it my own. On this night I was surprised by what I found randomly sitting out in the middle of the show floor on top of an old table.
Before I get to that I need to stress that I’m an old school gamer. I was born in the middle of the 70s, I played the actual Pong machine at a bar, and I’ve witnessed the rise, peak, and fall of arcades. I own more than 20 systems, some game and watches, a bunch of LCD games, etc. Now that I am in my mid thirties I am spending my extra money hunting down things I remember or had played, but never owned.
So here I was, penniless and tired, and when I looked down I saw a Bandai Galaxian color LCD “table top†handheld not only sitting in front of me but active, glowing, and chiming its sweet gaming sounds. I grabbed for it as quickly as I could because I couldn’t believe my luck. The chances of finding a 20 yr old game at a thrift shop has become a rare event. These items have long since been forgotten, destroyed, or repossessed by collectors such as myself. Not only had I found one but it had the 4 C sized batteries in it and the last person to touch it had left it turned on.
There I am in my full business casual attire geeking out to the simple things in life, when my carpool buddy walked over and smiled. Thankfully my friends are as geeky as I am and are able to appreciate such a find. I had been so into the moment that I had not bothered to check the condition of the unit or the price tag. Following a quick suggestion I laughed uncontrollably as the $2.99 price chuckled back, the black sharpie that penned the price curved up at the end in a sort of smile, almost as if it knew that this item would find me and that I would appreciate it for what it was.
I snagged it, quickly, and made sure I wasn’t wearing my emotions on my face. I got back and started to research the unit. So far I have found out that it was Bandai’s version of Bally/Midway's Galaxian arcade game, released around 1980. The unit features a colored LCD, three buttons, 2 modes of difficulty, and an on/off switch. There is a plug for a DC 6 volt, which means I’ll be making a stop at Radio Shack sometime soon. The same game with the box is selling for over $50 on eBay, and I have found a few lists of people who have sold it in the past without the box for $75+.
The game play is very simple, the bugs come out of hibernation, fly down towards your ship, at which point you can move left or right to avoid them and press fire to launch a missile. If you get hit you lose one life, once all the lives are gone its game over. That’s it folks, no 3D graphics, no sprite effects, no next-gen crap here, this is old school challenging gaming that packs a huge fun factor.
Just for a point of reference for those to young to even know what this is or to have had the opportunity to play it, the game measures approximately 4 and ½ inches high by 7 inches wide (at the widest point), by 6 and ½ inches long. The diagonal which rises up to hold the LCD measures approximately 9 inches from the very bottom (under the controls) to the very top of the shell.
I’m feeling entirely too lazy today so I am including 2 shots of the unit and a few photos I found through random Google searches. If I get around to it I’ll try to post a short video of the game play in action.
A special thanks to my carpool buddy for loaning me the $2.99 +tax =P
Finally this funny IRC conversation by one oh-so-much younger than I:
[22:39] <another_world> oo i gotta show you a pic
[22:39] <another_world> lemme grab it off my phone
[22:43] <another_world> **edit** link since removed from my pix account =P
[22:43] <another_world> galaxian table top color lcd game from the 80s
[22:43] <another_world> i got it from a thrift store tonight for 2.99
[22:43] <another_world> and it works perfectly
[22:52] <Costello> lol
[22:52] <Costello> whats this thing
[22:53] <another_world> old school gaming!
[22:54] <Costello> i'm just 23 you know
[22:54] <Costello> old school gaming means game boy (original) for me
[22:54] <Costello> and game gear
[22:54] <Costello> nes/snes even
[22:54] <another_world> lol
