Happy Valentines Day!

Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Greg Freres, who currently is displayed on card number 787, from the Superstars of 2014 Collection.  Greg is a skilled artist of the pinball world and you have probably seen his work if you have ever played pinball.  Some of his work includes Medieval Madness, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Elvira. Currently Greg is the Art Director at Stern Pinball where he continues to express his art in the new pinball games.  On October 16, 2004 Greg was inducted into the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame.  

What was the best era for Pinball gaming in your opinion?

Each era of pinball has its own unique highlights but for me the 90’s was the culmination of all elements – art, music, sound, rules, and overall mechanical tricks and gameplay. Having been in the industry since the late seventies it was great to see the growth of the overall experience that pinball had to offer as an entertainment piece.

Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Doc Mack who currently is displayed on card number 483, from the Superstars of 2013 Collection.  Doc is the owner of an arcade in Brookfield, IL called The Galloping Ghost Arcade.   This is not your ordinary arcade of today; Doc has around 500 arcade machines up and running for all to play.  It is the biggest arcade to date in the United States.  You can play old classics such as Galaga and Pac-Man or play some games of today such as The Grid, or Mortal Kombat X.  Doc is also the owner of Galloping Ghosts Productions which is currently working on the arcade game Dark Presence.  His company designs and builds arcade games for other arcades in his area.  Doc is a huge supporter of local and out of state video game events brining his personal machines for people to enjoy and try to break records on.  

Do you remember your first video game / arcade you played and what do you remember about it?

I remember the first day my Dad brought home Pong and playing it for hours and hours.  In the arcades, Asteroids was the first game I ever played.  I remember being amazed to be out of the house playing and able to play video games.

Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Ken Williams, A.K.A “Sushi-X”, who currently is displayed on card number 30, from the Superstars of 2011 Collection.  Ken was on the staff of Electronic Gaming Monthly in the early 1990’s.  In 2006 Ken, along with Terry “Trickman” Minnich, founded the website VGEvo.com which was followed by Retroids.com.  Ken has been and still is a huge supporter of the video game culture and has helped many charitable causes such a “Child’s Play” and “Extra Life”.   Some of Ken’s all-time favorite games include Street Fighter and Bubble Bobble. 

What does it take to be a Video Game Journalist?

Integrity, humility and bravery. At least, that’s what it used to take so you could write about games objectively without political agendas. I’m allergic to political correctness, so I avoid much of the industry today.

Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Eric Tessler who currently is displayed on card number 519, from the Superstars of 2013 Collection.  He is also featured on cards 533, 1493, 2061, 2080, 2226 and 2282.   Eric is the primary supporter of the Walter Day Trading Card project as well as the ICON events held each year in Fairfield, Iowa.  Eric has also supported such documentaries as the “Video Craze” and “The King of Arcades”. Eric is part of a small group of gamers who has reached the Donkey Kong Kill Screen.  He is an avid Arcade collector and restores old arcade games and offers gameplay to people in the area who want to experience the old classics.   Eric’s most recent contribution is the upcoming documentary “No Princess in the Castle”.

Growing up were you team Sega or Nintendo and why?

Team Nintendo, for sure. Most of my friends and family were Nintendo fans, and that was the first real console game system that my parents had bought us. From what I remember from where I grew up, most people preferred Nintendo over Sega.