At first my hand went to a pristine copy of Pole Position. This was one of the few games I actually bought with my own money as a kid and played for hours on end. Of all my Vectrex games, it is the one game my older brother still remembers fondly. Being able to take the portable Vectrex to my divorced dad's house for a weekend visit and turning it on in our dark bedroom at night was a thrilling super power upgrade for those visits. I got pretty damned good at that game, too, if I'm being honest. And the sounds were so good.
Anyway, the vendor had a beautiful boxed copy but I just couldn't justify buying it for $180 even though they go for much more on Ebay. Since I have a Multi-Cart, I have Pole Position and over 100 other games, homebrews and demos ready to go with the flip of the power switch.
But then I saw a boxed version of Star Trek from 1982 for only $35! Well jeez, at that price I couldn't walk away empty handed.
- And that delicious Star Trek logo from the original motion picture days, too!
Then I noticed on the corner of the vendor's table a huge gray bag. At first I found it odd to be sitting there because it blocked the view of some of the games on the table. But then I noticed a logo on the side. Minestorm? The built-in Asteroids clone? Why would...?
I walked around the gray cube and now I was looking at the Vectrex logo professionally printed on the front. And that's when it hit me. This was a bag! A carrying bag, in the similar style as the old Macintosh bags from the 80s. This was amazing!
I asked how much they went for, one hand on my heart and the other on my wallet as I was prepared to say good-bye. "Fifty bucks." That's it??
I instantly bought one, which had to be shipped to my house after the event was over. Fifty bucks? For this kind of quality? I still can't believe it.
- One the left are the "padded walls" which go inside the cubicle bag, seen on the right folded down before construction.
- This is the bag unfolded ready to be put together.
- The padded walls installed. Each side actually has a retaining strap to hold everything in place. Incredibly well-designed and high-quality.
- The back of the bag - every side as a screen-printed logo of some sort.
- Here you see the bag from the front, and my Vectrex on the right sporting it's faux-leather and embroidered-logo dust cover. I decided to just leave the cover on it.
- She's inside there now all warm and cozy.
- Lots of ways to pick this thing up now. Handles everywhere!
- An add for the Multi-cart. I remember thinking at the show, "Why are they advertising the multi-cart on this bag? That's odd."
- I love these pockets, too! No one ever goes somewhere with their vectrex without a cartridge or spare controller. Love it!
It wasn't until after the show that I finally discovered that the man I bought the game and bag from was actually Sean Kelly himself - the same man I'd bought the Multi-Cart from years ago!
In any case, now I have no excuse to not carry my Vectrex to my computer club any month we need some awesome arcade action. I'd only taken it once in the past six years as I was generally terrified to transport the thing. No longer!
Watch out, Klingons. (Wait, are they friends now? It makes no sense.)
You can get your own Vectrex bag here.