Interview: 22 Arcade Machines + 1 House = Awesome Party and Brian Saur

In it’s heyday, arcade gaming had it’s galaxies, and Los Angeles was one of the most magnificent. The games’ communal blue radiation and discordant 8-bit symphonies spilled across the sidewalks, boardwalks, and galleria food courts.

Today these classic machines, arguably the pillars on which the industry was built, have all but disappeared from public view. They have moved from the street into the houses, basements, and living rooms of people like Brian Saur.

Brian has 22 original arcade machines scattered across his house, self maintained and lovingly preserved. Periodically he opens his doors to hold video game parties for friends and family. GearCrave.com was lucky enough to be on the invite list so we sat down to find out more about what motivates someone to turn their family home into Los Angeles’ version of Funspot.

Where did your love for games begin?

I don’t know, I guess I have nostalgic roots as far as gaming is concerned, the stuff I tend to like is stuff I used to like and it evolves from there. I’m open to anything as far as the newest xbox and ps3 games or whatever, but there’s something really neat about older, simplistic stuff….There’s something zen about it, mastering something simple.

What do you mean by “Zen”?

I listen to interviews with the collectors and the phrase I always hear is “easy to learn, difficult to master.” That doesn’t really apply to many games nowadays, but that’s a fairly universal quality in classic games. They’re pretty easy to pick up.

How many stand-up machines do you currently own?

Right now, I have 22, but one of them is not working at all. It needs a board, so I don’t really count that one. So 21 when they’re all working.

How did this all start?

I had a DVD collection that was probably in the 900+ range, which I know is not remarkable as far as collections go. I started collecting in 2000, up through last year. I still have [a few] but I decided to jettison them at some point. I bought Gauntlet about two years ago and then a multicade machine which is essentially an emulator setup on a PC board. Then I got into the real old games. There’s something about emulation that just isn’t quite right. I sold the two multicade machines, one that was custom made with five boards and another that was 48-in-one. I got those and a Pengo and then stopped for six-eight months.

Is there an attraction using original machines as opposed to emulators?

Oh yeah, absolutely. Asteroids is a really big one for me. [some machines] throw a joystick on stuff that isn’t necessarily joystick based. Asteroids is all about the button controls.

What about the screen itself?

Yeah, the vector screen, there’s no real substitute for the original vector monitor. You definitely lose something [with emulation]

Are vector monitors still being manufactured?

They’re no longer manufactured as far as I know so the have to be maintained. I don’t want to say they’re easy to refurbish because that makes it sound like I can do it [and I can't]. As far as the retailers that are out there, the big vector games like Asteroids, Star Wars, and Tempest were so highly produced, there was something like, 40-50,000 Asteroid machines made (something really ridiculous) that it keeps up the supply of monitors.

How do the older machines, such as Asteroids hold up?

I got lucky with that one, it’s in pretty good shape. All I had to do was replace the plastic bezel part. Someone had scratched a gang symbol or something into it. There are a lot of suppliers who make reproduction parts, overlays. Mine is a little fucked up. Asteroids is tricky because you have to remove the control panel and have someone re-silkscreen a new one. But, I don’t really mind the little nicks here and there. There’s a certain authenticity to that, that’s kind of nice too.

Are you interested in the physical history of the machine?

Yeah! Whenever I can I like to know the history of the games. I haven’t receieved a ton of history on the ones that I have, but my Robotron was in a 7-11 for its entire lifetime. There’s a big cigarette burn on the control panel, which I should replace. But, oddly it’s nice that it’s there, I don’t know what it is.

How long have you been hosting Game Nights for Guests?

About year-ish, I think.

How many Game Nights have you had?

Once we started rolling, it was about every three months. So we’ve probably done about four.

What machine gets the most traffic from guests?

Well I have a habit of collecting obscure or weird stuff, same goes for my taste in movies, so a lot of the games I have are ones people haven’t seen before. The ones people know are the ones you would expect. Star Wars, Asteroids, Tempest. Those three get a lot of the attention. People are drawn to Star Wars, that’s why I put it near the front. Hypersports has been getting some play, though. So has Gauntlet.

Is everyone kind to the machines?

I didn’t notice any [abuse], but I was a little concerned about it. There’s this great collector named Peter Hirschberg. He’s amazing, he’s got a ridiculous collection, sixty-some machines. He expanded on his garage and made this huge arcade room. He has game days, he had his first about a month ago and I’ve been emailing him. He’s been trying to get me out there for the next one, which we’re seriously considering doing because it looks like such a phenomenal event. He has been experiencing problems though, after the last game day he had a bunch of machines go down. But, he does all his own maintenance and I don’t do that, so I think that’s the reason he may have a little more trouble than I do. He gets them working and if they get played too much [it can be bad for the machines]. So, I was worried about with my game night but nothing went down. That was pretty cool.

You’re the sole investor here?

Yeah, all me.

No one pays any “club dues?”

No, no, I wouldn’t feel right about that. It’s just about people having a good time.

How did you manage to get all of these games into your house?

I was first really intimidated about moving the machines around. But you realize you can rent an F150 and put a game in there pretty easily. And the other collectors have techniques for moving the games around. I might need a little help getting it into a truck but I got the Asteroids machine out of the cab myself with a trick my friend told me about. You just get an appliance dolly and think about leverage in a different way. [Arcade machines] are all over the place, craigslist, Ebay, they’re a lot easier to find than people think, and a lot more affordable than people would think. It’s just a matter if you want to…commit the space.

And is the care a problem?

You get what you pay for. Some of the machines…the reason I started liquidating dvds is that some [games] were kinda pricey and in good condition. It made sense to shell out for that.

Which one stands out as the personal favorite?

Whew….That’s tough… Well it’s always changing. I’m actually a little bummed because the one maintenance snag we hit before the party was Kick, the clown game with the balloons. That is a really fun game, I don’t know what it is about that one, I really, really like it though. Asteroids is big…Robotron is a lot of fun. I’m all over the place. The prizes of the collection are probably Food Fight and Timber, because those are both pretty rare. They had production numbers under 1500 and both are in good shape. Both I got from the same guy in Santa Maria.

Do you have a preference with regards to home consoles?

I like the new stuff. We’ve been into the Wii a lot. What I’ve seen of the Ps3 and Xbox is impressive, but what we like goes in waves. The Nintendo 64 with Goldeneye, that’s a title we play all the time. Lisa [Brian’s Fiancee] and her son jump in.

Have you ever thought of opening up a classic arcade to the public?

I don’t think I could ever. I think it would change the whole dynamic. I like the way people come over and just play. I don’t want to charge anything. Then there’s outside investors…Nah.

Are there any acquisitions currently in play? Any machines you’re looking for right now?

The two big ones are Q*bert and Paperboy. They’re fairly common but I’m trying to find the right ones. Ones that are close. The collectors have a remarkable patience for waiting for titles to pop up. I’ve had games shipped and it’s kind of expensive. I’ve got a couple more coming. In the next month or two, but Q*bert and Paperboy are high my list to close things out, so to speak.

And then it’s on to Afterburner?

[laughs] Only if I can get a cockpit, yeah.

Thanks for your time, Brian.

No problem.

photo © Artie

If you enjoyed this article subscribe to our RSS Feed.