So long... and thanks for all the fish!

[Bazfish]

So... the post I hoped I would never have to write is here... but the time has come.

After long soul searching, looking at the evidence of this and previous attempts to resurrect the UKVAC and most importantly chatting at length to the guys who turned up at Backfilppers excellent meet, I feel the time has come to call "last orders"on the UKVAC.

Call it the impossible dream, or trying to re invent the wheel... it is more than apparent that we will never be able to get back to (or even close to) the halcyon days. I always thought that it was possible as everyone was still out there and they were just waiting for someone to pick up the baton... but alas no. During the chat at Steve's, other reasons which I never saw were pointed out to me, the main one... time has passed and the "classic" days are done. Agreed, some of us out there still have the "bug", but for the majority, no more. The "classic" scene has had its time.. most of those interested have been and gone, and there are no new faces to replace them... AND NOW TO BE FRANK... even if there were the UKVACs reputation for intolerance along with its core members attitudes (YES, FINALLY POINTING FINGERS!) make it imposable to acquire new members. I need to accept there is a flourishing and growing group already set up (despite their misguided and ridicules love of round footballs and more that 8 colours), ironically formed out of the very intolerance that I believe has finished us off... JUSTICE IS SERVED! It is pointless to go on about the "old days"... I need to accept it is gone and move on!

So, with a heavy heart, I pack my bags and go off to Jamma+ and see if they will accept an old sceptic in their ranks. Anybody interested in the scene... I really hope to see you there... for the rest, you know my number, you are always welcome down here in darkest Devon.

Ending on a high note... UKVAC in its heyday was one of the best times in my life. Lets try and resurrect that under a different flag... but secretly, I will always be UKVAC )

All the best guys!

The Phantom Fish

 

[Macro]

does that mean the meet is off then ?

or is it under the new banner of jamma+ (or whatever)

Bazfish wrote:
> So, with a heavy heart, I pack my bags and go off to Jamma+ and see if they will accept an old sceptic in their ranks. Anybody interested in the scene... I really hope to see you there... for the rest, you know my number, you are always welcome down here in darkest Devon.

__._,_.___
Messages in this topic (2) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

 

[Steve Clark]

Good point, Mike.

I hope not; I'm definitely be up for heading down to Devon for a meet, even
if it is for the UKVAC's wake.

Anyway, having recently acquired a jamma+ unit that's dominating the front
room, I guess I should prod the jamma+ forums a bit too.

Anyone else?

 

[Bazfish]

Hehe... fear not, the meets will always be on!

I have had 6 calls today from old VACers worried that I am throwing in the towel collecting wise. Nothing could be farther from the truth.... its only my attempts to resurrect the VAC that is going. I wanted to recreate not only the social side but also the collecting / techmeet side... it is the latter that seams to be the problem, maybe the old school don't do that kind of thing anymore... been there, done that.

I have a list of 20 or so people who always attended meets, wherever and whenever they were held, they will always get invites whenever I hold a meet, but hopefully you will all be aware as you will be on JAMMA+.... god that sounds weird... gonna take allot of getting used to!

 

[puckman]

I agree with both aka-t and DanP, UKVAC is not dead, it's just dormant!

UKVAC is mostly made up of people who played arcades in the 80's and
most of these people now have a wife, kids and a career which takes up a
lot of time that was previously spend on our hobby. This does not mean
that people no longer care or are interested.

I read every single email/forum post I see for UKVAC and as soon as I
have moved I will hunt down a new PuckMan cab and start collecting and
restoring again! Mind you, in my case it will be JAPVAC

Puckman

Bazfish wrote:
>
> So... the post I hoped I would never have to write is here... but the
> time has come.
>
> After long soul searching, looking at the evidence of this and
> previous attempts to resurrect the UKVAC and most importantly chatting
> at length to the guys who turned up at Backfilppers excellent meet, I
> feel the time has come to call "last orders"on the UKVAC.
>
> Call it the impossible dream, or trying to re invent the wheel... it
> is more than apparent that we will never be able to get back to (or
> even close to) the halcyon days. I always thought that it was possible
> as everyone was still out there and they were just waiting for someone
> to pick up the baton... but alas no. During the chat at Steve's, other
> reasons which I never saw were pointed out to me, the main one... time
> has passed and the "classic" days are done. Agreed, some of us out
> there still have the "bug", but for the majority, no more. The
> "classic" scene has had its time.. most of those interested have been
> and gone, and there are no new faces to replace them... AND NOW TO BE
> FRANK... even if there were the UKVACs reputation for intolerance
> along with its core members attitudes (YES, FINALLY POINTING FINGERS!)
> make it imposable to acquire new members. I need to accept there is a
> flourishing and growing group already set up (despite their misguided
> and ridicules love of round footballs and more that 8 colours),
> ironically formed out of the very intolerance that I believe has
> finished us off... JUSTICE IS SERVED! It is pointless to go on about
> the "old days"... I need to accept it is gone and move on!
>
> So, with a heavy heart, I pack my bags and go off to Jamma+ and see if
> they will accept an old sceptic in their ranks. Anybody interested in
> the scene... I really hope to see you there... for the rest, you know
> my number, you are always welcome down here in darkest Devon.
>
> Ending on a high note... UKVAC in its heyday was one of the best times
> in my life. Lets try and resurrect that under a different flag... but
> secretly, I will always be UKVAC )
>
> All the best guys!
>
> The Phantom Fish
>
>

 

[karlcdoe]

Whatever

I spent all of Sunday afternoon playing my working classics: tempest, indiana jones, Super Don Quixote, ROTJ, Star Wars, Gyruss, Ghosts 'n' Goblins and made a half hearted (and failed) attempt to fix my DOT (but I did discover I had a pile of semi working Tron boards). All this before I even read your post...

Anyway, I don't see any problem with joinging mulitple groups/forums and I never did. I *like* jamma games (always did). Anyway, I also suggest joinging RGVAC that's where I started back in the mid 90's before ukvac and we all know the best source of info and parts is generally the US.

 

--- On Sun, 5/10/08, Bazfish <bazfish@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
From: Bazfish <bazfish@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: [uk-vac] So long... and thanks for all the fish!
To: uk-vac@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, 5 October, 2008, 10:24 AM

So... the post I hoped I would never have to write is here... but the time has
come.

After long soul searching, looking at the evidence of this and previous
attempts to resurrect the UKVAC and most importantly chatting at length to the
guys who turned up at Backfilppers excellent meet, I feel the time has come to
call "last orders"on the UKVAC.

Call it the impossible dream, or trying to re invent the wheel... it is more
than apparent that we will never be able to get back to (or even close to) the
halcyon days. I always thought that it was possible as everyone was still out
there and they were just waiting for someone to pick up the baton... but alas
no. During the chat at Steve's, other reasons which I never saw were pointed
out to me, the main one... time has passed and the "classic" days are
done. Agreed, some of us out there still have the "bug", but for the
majority, no more. The "classic" scene has had its time.. most of
those interested have been and gone, and there are no new faces to replace
them... AND NOW TO BE FRANK... even if there were the UKVACs reputation for
intolerance along with its core members attitudes (YES, FINALLY POINTING
FINGERS!) make it imposable to acquire new members. I need to accept there is a
flourishing and growing group already set up (despite their misguided and
ridicules love of round footballs and more that 8 colours), ironically formed
out of the very intolerance that I believe has finished us off... JUSTICE IS
SERVED! It is pointless to go on about the "old days"... I need to
accept it is gone and move on!

So, with a heavy heart, I pack my bags and go off to Jamma+ and see if they
will accept an old sceptic in their ranks. Anybody interested in the scene... I
really hope to see you there... for the rest, you know my number, you are always
welcome down here in darkest Devon.

Ending on a high note... UKVAC in its heyday was one of the best times in my
life. Lets try and resurrect that under a different flag... but secretly, I will
always be UKVAC )

All the best guys!

The Phantom Fish

 

[stumcd]

> Anyway, I also suggest joinging RGVAC that's where I started back in the
> mid 90's before ukvac and we all know the best source of info and parts is
> generally the US.

Yeah I got a replacement lib for my coffin bank....Customs hit me for a wack though.

--Stu!

__._,_.___
Messages in this topic (7) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

 

[John Bennett]

I'd say it's dormant. I rarely have much to say, only posting a message here
on very rare occasions, so perhaps I'm not helping matters much by being a
lurker.

Most of you probably have no idea who I am as unfortunately I've never had
the opportunity to attend a meet. However, I do enjoy my arcade gaming with
a modest 27 boards in my collection as of right now, and a single generic
Silverline cab, in which the monitor which will no doubt need recapping
soon...

One thing that I often think about is that there are only a finite number of
people who will be interested in what the majority of UKVAC'ers may call
"proper" retro classics, therefore attracting new members with exactly the
same interests as existing members is probably a bit too much to hope for,
especially in such a niche group.

Other than a select few games from the 80s, I myself have more memories of
games like Bells & Whistles, Street Fighter II and NBA Jam, so I'd say that
most of the games which I might consider to be my personal classics would be
from the 90s.

I just barely remember Pac Man, being born in the same year as its release.
I vaguely remember seeing the lovely yellow cabs in several locations in the
early 80s, and my elder sister being a fan of the game. Consequently I
developed an interest in it too, although as a toddler I was more of a
spectator! I had the pleasure of dealing with Macro to obtain the EPROMs
convert my WC90 board into a "Pac90" a couple of years back, as I still love
the game.

It seems a little ironic that this message seems like an introduction
(that's not what I intended), but just because it's quiet, it doesn't mean
that nobody is here!

--

Regards,

Ian

From: uk-vac@yahoogroups.com [mailto:uk-vac@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Gerard vanSchip-Miyama
Sent: 06 October 2008 10:56
To: uk-vac@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [uk-vac] So long... and thanks for all the fish!

I agree with both aka-t and DanP, UKVAC is not dead, it's just dormant!

UKVAC is mostly made up of people who played arcades in the 80's and
most of these people now have a wife, kids and a career which takes up a
lot of time that was previously spend on our hobby. This does not mean
that people no longer care or are interested.

I read every single email/forum post I see for UKVAC and as soon as I
have moved I will hunt down a new PuckMan cab and start collecting and
restoring again! Mind you, in my case it will be JAPVAC

Puckman

Bazfish wrote:
>
> So... the post I hoped I would never have to write is here... but the
> time has come.
>
> After long soul searching, looking at the evidence of this and
> previous attempts to resurrect the UKVAC and most importantly chatting
> at length to the guys who turned up at Backfilppers excellent meet, I
> feel the time has come to call "last orders"on the UKVAC.
>
> Call it the impossible dream, or trying to re invent the wheel... it
> is more than apparent that we will never be able to get back to (or
> even close to) the halcyon days. I always thought that it was possible
> as everyone was still out there and they were just waiting for someone
> to pick up the baton... but alas no. During the chat at Steve's, other
> reasons which I never saw were pointed out to me, the main one... time
> has passed and the "classic" days are done. Agreed, some of us out
> there still have the "bug", but for the majority, no more. The
> "classic" scene has had its time.. most of those interested have been
> and gone, and there are no new faces to replace them... AND NOW TO BE
> FRANK... even if there were the UKVACs reputation for intolerance
> along with its core members attitudes (YES, FINALLY POINTING FINGERS!)
> make it imposable to acquire new members. I need to accept there is a
> flourishing and growing group already set up (despite their misguided
> and ridicules love of round footballs and more that 8 colours),
> ironically formed out of the very intolerance that I believe has
> finished us off... JUSTICE IS SERVED! It is pointless to go on about
> the "old days"... I need to accept it is gone and move on!
>
> So, with a heavy heart, I pack my bags and go off to Jamma+ and see if
> they will accept an old sceptic in their ranks. Anybody interested in
> the scene... I really hope to see you there... for the rest, you know
> my number, you are always welcome down here in darkest Devon.
>
> Ending on a high note... UKVAC in its heyday was one of the best times
> in my life. Lets try and resurrect that under a different flag... but
> secretly, I will always be UKVAC )
>
> All the best guys!
>
> The Phantom Fish
>
>

DATA Imported from archives: originally posted by Ian Court (ian.court@sky.com)

 

[John Bennett]

next meet at kdoes then!

DATA Imported from archives: originally posted by AnDyC (suicide_c@hotmail.com)