A lesson in scheduling

Q: What should you NEVER do when you send three 40ish men over to a place called “The National Center For The History Of Electronic Games“?

A: Plan on anything occurring after that.

Today, we met with Eric Wheeler, associate curator for NCHEG at his lab at the Strong National Museum of Play. He had wanted to have some video and stills shot of the lab and exhibit that he could show during his talk. So, Gary and I met the videographer for the event, Mike Hanlon of Hanlon Photographic at the museum. As organizers, we should be there, right? Makes for a good cover.

Eric greeted us at the back door accompanied by Susan Trien, Director of Public Relations and Advertising and we began our visit to the “back rooms” of Strong National Museum. All three of us were speechless on walking into Eric’s lab. Two long walls were filled with shelves and shelves of video games, consoles and systems. We then looked behind and found even more shelves lined with more games and tangible evidence of my long-forgotten childhood. I saw toys and games there I had, some my friends had, and some I’d only seen on TV.

It’s a stunning collection, and I’m so proud I got to see it. Eric’s going to be bringing an exhibit for the lobby, and will be giving a short talk about NYCHEG and what he’s brought right before we let you loose for the break. We stood and talked for a good half hour about the memories we shared of these games despite never having met prior.

And, when you talk about a dream job…not only does he now essentially own EVERY game, lame or cool, from an age past, but NYCHEG is also recording an oral history of electronic gaming directly from the people involved. Eric told me the story of a game called “Utopia” for the Colecovision. This was the first “sim” game and predates SimCity and the like by quite a few years. He then had the opportunity to have the author of this ground-breaking game in the lab to describe his work in the industry. They, of course, took a break and played a game of “Utopia” for a bit. How cool is that?

NYCHEG isn’t just about computer games, but electronic games of all kinds. The ubiquitous “Speak & Spell” was there along with an odd game I dimly remember called “Dark Tower“. I don’t think I ever saw this game in real life, but I do recall (having been playing D&D for about a year at that point) really wanting it!

We then went down to the videotopia exhibit, with a brief stop in the new “American Comic Book Heroes” exhibit, which I highly recommend! Eric dished out some tokens to each of us, and I took some time to playe a game of “Tempest“, my all time favorite.

Unfortunately, though, we had a reporter coming to the Geva and I needed to be the mean Dad who pulled us all out of there against our wills. With much groaning and lamenting, I managed to get everyone out of the building in time for our next appointment.

Thanks so much to Eric Wheeler, Susan Trien and all the folks from Strong for their hospitality! I’ve always been a fan of the Strong Museum. My wife and I, before having our own child, used to borrow other people’s kids just so we could take them there. And, what did I learn about Strong today? It has a preschool in it! The whole museum is the school for the kids. Instead of taking out a book to read, the kids are taken into “Reading Adventure Land” where they read a book. My daughter is SO there!