Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ghost House LSI Hand-held game


Just pulled out my Ghost House, an "LSI" game from 1985, which I bought in Tokyo at the time. This was pre-Nintendo, Sega, etc. It was very exciting to play at the time, but of course, it was completely novel. And the game itself designed so nicely with the relief goblins on each side of the screen whose eyes glow red while playing.

Ran on 2 AA batteries. A little boy goes around zapping ghosts and goblins who try to get him! Woo-hoo!

Monday, July 05, 2010

Pulling out the Japanese toys....




I've started going through my immense Japanese toy collection and pulling a few items to sell. It's like archaeology. I start at the surface---the toys that I have lesser a connection to now, 27 years since I began collecting. Thanks to the internet, I've been able to see others' collections and the accolades they have gotten for their collections. Many were my customers back in the 1980s.

There is a certain flood of sensory memories, revisiting the boxes, the smells, the colors, and the names. Names of robots like Mackerel, Cabarov, Soltic, Ironfoot...all evocative of a chapter in my life when I was going to Japan to find toys like there was no tomorrow.

More to come, as I learn more about the current state of Japanese toy collecting.

I'm starting with my Dougram 1/144 scale collection (above).