CCAG 2001 Wrap-Up by Tom Zjaba

Whew!  The show is now done and I have time to relax and look back at what can be considered a successful show!  Jim, Fred and the gang did a wonderful job of putting on a great show that went without any problems.

We were able to meet all the goals that we set for the show and we even far exceeded them!  Our first goal was to double the attendance from the previous show.  CCAG 2000 was a small show that was a good starting point.  We had approximately 35 attendees and about a 15 tables set up.  For CCAG 2001, we wanted to increase those numbers to 70 attendees and 25 tables set up.  Both were exceeded!  We had over 125 attendees and nearly 50 tables set up!  There were a few no shows, but almost everyone who reserved a table, did show up.

The highlight of the show was Jim's Devastator joystick, which saw constant play!  With MAME set up and a selection of about 100 classics, everyone took a turn playing their favorite game.  From Crazy Climber to Gyruss to Centipede, everyone seemed to have a different game they wanted to try.

Another popular pasttime was the two arcade machines that were set up.  While they were not on all day, when they were put on, people were playing them.  Sinistar and Crazy Climber gave everyone some fun arcade enjoyment!  

The reactions to my Memorbilia Museum were very positive and people seemed to enjoy looking at all the different items that were made.  The handhelds were especially popular as some of them had batteries and people were able to play and enjoy them.  I hope to expand the museum even further and was able to add some new items at the show, including a really cool Yar's Revenge Halloween costume!

There also was alot of great computers and consoles set up and everywhere you looked, there were people playing games!  It was great to see all the Ataris, Intellivisions, Ballys and the many computers set up for play!

If you were looking to buy or trade, there was a huge selection of games to choose from!  C's out of the Pittsburgh area brought a huge selection of games for every conceivable system from the Atari to the Sega Saturn and everything in between.  Video Game Connection had a large selection of new and older games, including a big selection of Lynx, Super Nintendo and Genesis games.  My own booth offered thousands of games from Atari to Nintendo, both boxed and loose.  There was also the new Songbird games for the Atari Jaguar and Lynx.

If computers were your thing, there were computer groups and vendors there with stuff for the Atari, Commodore,  Apple and TI computers.  All four were well represented!

Enough talking, here are a ton of pictures of the show!  Take some time to browse through them and see all the great stuff that was at the show!

(Fred, one of the show organizers.)

(All the Songbird games!  A must have for Jaguar and Lynx fans!)

(If you were a Bally fan, then Michael White's table is where you spent a good deal of time!)

(A few of the many computers that were set up!)

(One of the best tables, with Dragon's Lair on the CDi and Diner for the Intellivision set up!  Pictured is John Litva.)

(Everywhere you looked, there were games, systems and more!  John Bibber looks over some games.)

(A look at my Memorbilia Museum.  As you can see, there are the tabletops, some magazines and the stuffed animals.  On the left are the cups and glasses and the board games.)

(Here is a view of the board games.  A complete collection of all the known classic video game board games, including Wizard of Wor and Pooyan!)

(Front view of my table, with my wife on duty.)

(Last picture of my table.  Here are all the loose carts on top and the boxed ones on the bottom. That is Jon Legg in the distance.  He had a half of table full of European released Atari 2600 and Sega Master System games.)

( A few people playing Sinistar.  The cocktail Crazy Climber was right next to it.)

(A large selection of handhelds and games all the way up to the Playstation!  Chuck had many interesting items, including a  Yar's Revenge Halloween costume he traded me, thanks!)

(Mike Gedeon with his ever present beverage!  He was the man on Friday night, handing out refreshments to the hot and tired masses.)

(Another view of Mike's stand.  Note the professional sign.  Also, in the background are the Atari two sided posters that Mike let me display there.)

(If you were looking for handhelds or overseas games, they were plenty to choose from!)

(Wanted to know more about the Tomy Tutor or Mattel Aquarius?  Well, this was the place to be!  How many shows offer entertainment and teach you something at the same time?)

(Glenn Bernasek of the TI Chips User Group)

(Alan Hewston as Pitfall Harry.  This guy is as big a fan of Pitfall as you can get.  From being the first to score a perfect score on Pitfall, to this costume to having vanity plates on his van that read "Pitfall", he is nuts for Pitfall!)

(Matt Teske brought alot of stuff, including a  good selection of memorbilia.  I picked up a Donkey Kong record and a Pacman book to add to my museum! To the right of Matt is Matt Gauslin.  No, this is not the All-Matt table.)

(Did I mention that there were a ton of games and systems for sale?)

(If you wanted a computer or disk drive or monitor, this was the show for you!)

(Ron and Ada Markus of Ramcharged Computers, selling a wide selection of TI items.)

(C's Games out of Pittsburgh set the record for bringing the most items to the show!)

(Another view of C's wide range of games from the classic to the modern!)

Copyright © 1997-2002 Tomorrow's Heroes and Tom Zjaba, Last modified: July 02, 2001.  Used with permission.