Family business.

This weekend we're at the Texas Pinball Festival promoting the "family business," Brett's Classic Home Video Games book series.


We've been attending this event for years (check out these flashbacks from 2009 and 2008), but this time it's in a new, bigger location (the Hilton Anatole). The Trinity Ballroom must be at least as long as a football field, and it's filled with pinball machines as well as arcade video game cabinets, all set on free play. Vendors line the walls, selling a wide array of pinball paraphernalia, such as electronic parts and custom shooter rods. There's even a vendor selling nightlights made out of pinball bumpers! But the best table has games, game-related toys, T-shirts, and, oh yes, all three volumes of Classic Home Video Games books.


Ryan and Katie will be helping Brett man the table through the weekend, but tonight I'm here to check out the action while giving my man a break, too.


Considering the number of old games here, this place feels like a hands-on museum. It's fun to not just see but also play the old wooden pinball cabinets along with games featuring the celebrities of my youth, from Evel Knievel to the Six Million Dollar Man.


It's been interesting to chat with fans who pause at our table, and I've even shaken hands with two celebrities: a champion gamer and the head of a huge gaming group. I had met the game champ at the hall of fame event in Austin, but l didn't know the convention guy. When Ryan saw me talking to him, though, he was impressed. "That guy has 100,000 Twitter followers!"


Even though I'm an outsider, it's still incredible to delve into this gaming world now and then. The flashing lights and all the dings, bonks and pops really envelop you. And of course, it's a blast to watch Ryan and Katie tear up these machines with their great scores.


I may not "play a mean pinball," but I'm super thankful for the chance to once again stretch out my "flipper fingers" and play with the fam.

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Birth announcement.

 The Dubs are proud to announce the arrival of our latest bundle of joy:

Volume 3 of Classic Home Video Games!

 Almost eight months after shipping his manuscript to his publisher, Brett received copies of his latest book.

We should be used to this by now, but wow, is it exciting to see book #3 on the shelf!

Travel rituals.

On our honeymoon, Brett and I went to San Antonio. While there, we found no fewer than eight or nine used bookstores. It was fabulous! We hit the streets with a big ol' map of San Antonio, our trusty Half Price Books bookmark, and names and addresses of stores we'd found in the hotel phonebook.


Now, 17 years later, we continue that ritual, just with an iPhone! I know that as we travel, we will include at least a couple of stops at stores with used books and games. On this trip as we cruised New Braunfels, Brett discovered this place, D-Pad. With its used DVDs and games, it merited two stops before we left town.

Behind the store's shelves was this quirky little arcade. Around the corner from that was a darkened room where some guys were playing games online. (Kinda freaked me out a little to hear—but not see—people shouting orders!)

What's cool about these game stores is that they're usually amenable to taking a stack of flyers advertising Brett's book.

Just another part of vacationing with the Dubs!

In the books.

After work Monday night, Brett and I printed the manuscript for the third volume of his Classic Home Video Games book series. We took a few more photos and burned three CDs to send to his publisher.

From Brett's blog: "Finally, after 2 1/2 years, 166,075 words, 115 photos, 100s of hours of research, and way too many 4- and 5-hour nights of sleep, my 711-page manuscript for Classic Home Video Games, 1989-1990: A Complete Guide to the Neo Geo, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx-16 is ready to put in the mail [Tuesday]."

I'm so proud of Brett for his hard work on this and all of his writing projects! We can't wait until we can get that third book in our hands!

Austin's greatest hits: Game Over and Terra Toys.

We called this trip our "greatest hits tour of Austin." Obviously we all love Austin, and over the years each of us has developed our own favorite haunts. Since we only had two days for this trip, we each listed our priorities, and we tried to do what time permitted.

Brett's first request: Game Over Videogames.

We first visited this store back in 2007 when Brett had a book signing there. Sure enough, the store still carries copies of Brett's book!

Brett was glad to visit the store and pick up material for his next book, and we got there just in time to catch the owner before he left for the day. He and Brett got to talk a little, and the kids and I got to try out the console games and the arcade classics.

After that we honored one of Katie's requests and stopped by Terra Toys. This is one of those super cool toy stores with all kinds of fun gadgets and creative playthings. Katie had conveniently remembered that the store was not far from Game Over, so we popped in.

Next stop: burgers and basketball!

In the mail.

After two years of early mornings, late nights and plenty of hard work, Brett's manuscript is in the mail!

This book will be volume 2, a follow-up to Brett's Classic Home Video Games.

This afternoon we celebrated its completion. Especially after these last few days of photographing games and systems, double-checking the manuscript and printing all those pages, we're all excited to have a break from the deadline crunch ... at least until the publisher returns the proofs!

Separate ways.

While we were in Dallas Friday, Brett was off to Tulsa with a friend of his. Their destination: the Oklahoma Video Game Expo.

For most of Saturday, he and his friend manned a table at the convention, and they had a blast buying, selling and trading classic games and talking to other classic gaming fans. Brett sold more copies of his book, too! His account of the weekend is here.

Meanwhile, the kids and I were trying to sell a house! Early Saturday we got a call that three different people wanted to see it, so we went nuts straightening up. Then we had to plan our escape. Two months ago we could've found a million things to do for the three hours we needed to stay away from the house, but now?

NOW we have a dog! We have a crazy dog! We have a dog who might see prospective buyers as LUNCH!

So Frisco got to go for a ride in my beloved Trail Blazer. Ryan and Katie are old pros at keeping her in the back seat so I can drive safely, but oh, the slobber, hair, general dog smells...

She looks calm here, no? Like a good dog? DON'T BELIEVE THAT SWEET FACE. She was hyper as always, just delighted to be going. She didn't even care where. She was all, "Let's go!"

We went to Nana and Papa's house, and there Frisco got to play with her cousin, Prince. It worked out so well; we walked into their house just in time for lunch! Nana even had a peach pie in the oven. It was awesome! We enjoyed a great visit, and before we knew it, the coast was clear and we could head home again.

And what's even better, Brett was headed home before too long, too!

Just another Saturday at Chez Dub.

After so much traveling, it was nice to be back in our own house!

Ryan played Mario Kart,

Katie checked out the Disney Channel,

and Brett worked on his book.

Later that afternoon, we took a pool break.

And oh, yeah... Did I mention we now have a dog? No?

Meet Frisco!

A needle in the stacks.

Among the esteemed library holdings at
the University of Texas, you will find...

Brett's book!

While on campus today, I took a little stroll into the Perry-Castañeda Library (you know, the one shaped like Texas) to see a certain video game book among its stacks. How cool is that?

(Want your own? It's still available on amazon.com!)

Sure plays a mean pinball.

Thanks to Brett's friend Rick, I can share these great photos from Brett, Ryan and Katie's second day at the Texas Pinball Festival!

One highlight: the book signing. Brett said people went NUTS over the Atari they had set up to draw attention to his book, Classic Home Video Games (still available on Amazon!). He sold some books, handed out a lot of fliers, and met plenty of classic gamers.

Aside from the time spent signing books or eating, Brett, Ryan and Katie played pinball from 10 a.m. to 11:20 p.m.!


(Brett would like to point out that his shirt is making him look fat, but he, in fact, is not that big!)

Brett's account of their long but entertaining day can be found on his blog.

Crazy flipper fingers.

For weeks, Brett and the kids have been looking forward to the Texas Pinball Festival. Last year, I was working the Saturday they headed to Grapevine for this convention, so I was excited to see it all for myself this time around.

It really is amazing to be in this huge room with all of those pinball machines, arcade cabinets and other attractions. (This is a view of about 1/3 of the convention floor.) The games were all set to "free play," so you can just wander from game to game and try them all out!

Ryan and Brett played a bunch of games on this machine. They're true Super Mario Bros. fans!


Katie had some amazing runs on the No Fear machine and this one, Lethal Weapon. She and I also had a blast playing some two-player Galaga on an old table cabinet. Katie also got the DJ to play the Thriller video, so we had fun watching those old dance moves!

Brett has several favorites, including this Twilight Zone machine.

We were both impressed with this Flash Gordon one because it has been so beautifully restored.

Apparently I do NOT have supple wrists because I really, really, really stink at pinball! I did get a kick out of playing some of the older games, though, like this Captain Fantastic (Elton John) wooden machine. The old ones aren't as tricked up as the newer models, and to me, they just play "cleaner."

Among the four of us, the Universal Monsters' Monster Bash would probably be our favorite. If I needed to find one of them, I'd usually run into them here!

Brett, Ryan and Katie were headed back to the festival to spend all day Saturday playing even more pinball (well, except for the two hours that Brett would be signing copies of his book!). I opted out of the day-long marathon, but I'm so glad I could go on Friday night! It was an awesome way to start our...