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Curt Vendel Donates 8 Rare Games to American Classic Arcade Museum

JOHN MCGRAY • May 22, 1999

Curt Vendel of New York had a dream; to establish a permanent museum dedicated to Atari arcade games. Unfortunately, his dream was not to be and this left him with a problem - what to do with an extensive collection of rare coin-operated games gathering dust in storage. To solve the problem, Curt called Mike Stulir of Back In Time Classic Gaming. Mike connected Curt with Gary Vincent of the American Classic Arcade Museum at Funspot in Weirs, NH, who gladly accepted the donation of 8 rare games to the American Classic Arcade Museum.

With the problem of where to place the games solved, Curt now faced another - how to get eight classic video games to the largest arcade in world three states away.

"No problem," said Mike, "we'll drive 'em."

With the declaration hardly off his tongue, Mike met Curt on Staten Isalnd to prepare for the big move. "I didn't really realize what I was in for," Mike recalls, "Curt had a pretty big collection."

The two hit the road. Their first stop was Curt's new pad north of NYC to drop off some games for his new home arcade, and then on to the green hills of New Hampshire and the American Classic Arcade Museum.

Curt's massive game collection being loaded on the truck.

When Curt and Mike finally arrived, Gary Vincent was anxiously awaiting them with Dave Nelson, ACAM volunteer and holder of many classic arcade game records. Gary had enlisted Dave for help with unloading the games and getting them safely into storage at ACAM.

As the task progressed, and more and more games were tucked away in the workshop, the group's excitement grew. "The shop was like a candy store and we all felt like kids!" Gary later recalled.

At last, the final game - Super Breakout - came off the truck. Among the other games donated were Super Bug, Le Mans, Tank II and Outlaw.

Gary Vincent and Dave Nelson busy unloading the truck at ACAM.

"They couldn't have gone to a better home," says Curt, "and I am very happy to know that they will be played and enjoyed by many people looking to relive old memories, and for a new generation of gamers to experience the treasures of the past and try them for the first time."