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Museum of the Game ®

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For the Arcade and Coin-Op Collecting Community
By the Arcade and Coin-Op Collecting Community

The International Arcade Museum, Museum of the Game, The Killer List of Videogames, Arcadia, VAPS/CAPS, and the IAM Library:

The International Arcade Museum®

The International Arcade Museum® (IAM) of the Museum of the Game™ is the world's largest museum of the art, inventions, and history of the videogame, amusement and coin-operated machine industries. Its coverage includes videogames, pinball, mechanical and electro-mechanical arcade games, slot machines, vending machines, trade stimulators and all other coin-operated devices.

The IAM is focused on providing content and community services relating to these machines, as well as protecting, researching, and disseminating related knowledge and cutting edge educational research. To that end, it has assembled one of the world's leading archives covering the art, entrepreneurs, inventions, and history of the amusement and coin-operated machine industries.

An extensive and growing physical library is one of the key offerings of the IAM. Additionally, over 120,000 pages of educational, research, and entertainment content are available on its web site, including over 100,000 pages of reference content in Acrobat .pdf format, and over 13,000 encyclopedia entries covering coin-operated arcade and amusement machines.

The KLOV®; (Killer List of Videogames) and Museum of the Video Game™, its video-game divisions, have created the authoritative database on coin-operated video-games with over 4,000 entries containing game descriptions, machine photos, trivia, technical data and related information.

The IAM also sponsors the Video Arcade Preservation Society, the leading collectors association of coin-op videogames with over 5,000 Members in 70 Countries who own over 50,000 coin-operated videogames (over 3400 different titles).

The IAM's web site also features a "Machine of the Moment," and hosts message boards where collectors and fans can ask questions and get answers from experts, or buy and sell games, machines and parts.

A key goal of the IAM is to establish a definitive collection of mechanical amusement devices, coin-operated machines and videogames for the enjoyment and education of society as a whole.

One major exhibition of these machines has been held recently (as have a number of smaller events), and the IAM is currently looking for a new permanent exhibition facility. Until we find a facility that will allow us to publically display a higher percentage of our collection, please feel free to visit our ongoing Arcadia™ exhibits in Pasadena or enjoy one of our Penny Arcadia events. Look at our Visit Us in Pasadena page for more information. 'Donations are welcome, particularly of rare and unique machines and videogames dating from the 1880s through the present, as well as of references materials about these inventions.

The KLOV® - The Killer List of Videogames™

The Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) features an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. The KLOV is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum.

The KLOV's online encyclopedia has extensive entries for more than 4,400 machines made from 1971 through the present. Newsweek Magazine called "klov.com, the IMDb [leading database] for players, with titles, photos and dates."

The KLOV's encyclopedia has cabinet, control panel and marquee images, screenshots and even 3D models of the machine in some cases. Entries have machine technical information, a game description, cabinet information, lists cheats, tricks and bugs, discusses conversions and gameplay, lists trivia and fix information and discusses the game's legacy (such as sequels or similar games it inspired). Nearly 1000 entries even have the complete technical manual and schematics available for download.

Entries in the encyclopedia are heavily weighted for classic arcade games: that is, games released during the Golden Age of Arcade Games. But most arcade games have an entry, though entries for newer games tend to be spotty. The more popular a game was, the more extensive the entry is likely to be.

The encyclopedia database is actually a subset of that on the International Arcade Museum's web site, which expands on the videogame entries with an additional 9,000 entries on other types of coin-operated machines such as pinball machines, slot machines, vending, trade stimulators, and scales.

Key features of the KLOV's web site includes a videogame "Machine of the Moment" and a "The Top 100 Videogames" list. The site also hosts message boards where collectors and fans can ask questions and get answers from experts, or buy and sell arcade games and parts. It also publishes news related to arcade games.

Arcadia™

Arcadia™ (including Penny Arcadia™ Video Arcadia™ and Pinball Arcadia™) has produced exhibitions, museum exhibits, and special events since 1982. A limited permanent exhibit is also available for viewing in Pasadena, California. Please see the Penny Arcadia Page for more information.

Video Arcade Preservation Society™ / Classic Arcade Preservation Society™

The Video Arcade Preservation Society™ (VAPS™, a.k.a. CAPS™) is a collector organization and census project for all types of coin-operated entertainment, founded in the 1980's. Please see the VAPS Page for more information.

The International Arcade Museum Library™, Inc.

The International Arcade Museum Library, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation located in Pasadena, California, which makes available physical (non-electronic) reference items for in-person review. It also works to scan and provide reference material online. As member of both the American Library Association and the OCLC, the International Arcade Museum Library, Inc. is currently working to catalog its holdings and to provide access to same online. Furthermore, it manages a small exhibit that is rotated on a regular basis, usually with a selection of machines made between 1880 and 2009. The International Arcade Museum Library, Inc. name is used under license from The International Arcade Museum.

The International Arcade Museum Library ("IAML") is separate from the International Arcade Museum ("IAM"), and operates under a trademark license donated by the IAM. It is dedicated to making available reference material to hobbyists, searchers, and the general public. Resources are extremely limited at this time so currently the library is only able to assist with research requests made in-person.

The International Arcade Museum Library has access to everything in the McLemore Coin-Operated Machine Library, as well as to thousands of other holdings of interest. Additionally, the library has access to electronic research material provided by the International Arcade Museum, as well as to some of its own electronic holdings. Most of these electronic holdings are available here online.

Please see the Library page for more information about our online resources as well as our physical reference library and archive in Pasadena, California.

Our History

1980s:

Long before the Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) offered the full video-game encyclopedia and related products and services it does today, arcade enthusiasts gathered on modem-based dial-up bulletin board systems and CompuServe forums. It was during this era in the mid- 1980s that a master list of coin-operated videogames was slowly built by these enthusiasts.

1991:

This text list became "Coin-Ops A Poppin' - Killer List of Videogames" in 1991. It's first known maintainer was Mike Hughey, and it's second, Jeff Hansen.

Also by 1991, a separate list called 'The definitive arcade video game cheat sheet' was maintained by Jeremy Radlow.

1992:

Jonathan Deitch took over the management of both lists in 1992, which then received frequent updates during his watch. He moved the lists into their first structured database using the database part of the software package Appleworks on an Apple II computer. The KLOV was distributed via BBS systems, as well as via the Internet Usenet group "rec.games.video.arcade," both of which also provided a reference source for updates to the list.

1993:

The list finally passed the 1,000 entry point in March, 1993. At this time, the largest entry had 4 lines of text with a maximum of 75 characters per line.

1994:

In 1994 or 1995, a classic arcade game collector in Minnesota by the name of Brian Johnson volunteered to take on upkeep of the list and became the new "KLOV Keeper," a title used to refer to the maintainer of the KLOV by the Usenet collector community at the time. The KLOV launched as a full brand on or before November 9, 1995. Brian was instrumental in developing the KLOV's web site from a simple list to a full web-based encyclopedia. Brian's efforts included breaking up the list into a complete online encyclopedia with distinct pages for each entry, rewriting all the content, including pictures in as many listings as was possible, and in general creating a user-friendly and searchable website. Visitors could submit suggested changes to Brian, who could then edit any entries by hand.

1999:

In late 1999, the KLOV finally reached 2000 entries. By this time the increasing level of submissions and suggestions was becoming nearly unmanageable for any single person to keep up with, and the work load began to exceed Brian's available time.

2000:

Thus, in January 2000 at the dawn of the new millennium, Greg McLemore (the founder of several famous Internet companies including Toys.com and Pets.com) became the latest KLOV Keeper. Greg is an avid collector of both antique and modern coin-operated machines. His company WebMagic registered the Internet domain name 'KLOV.com' for the site on January 13, 2000, and continues to provide substantial financial support for the KLOV to this day as a chief sponsor.

Community message forums where quickly added to the site, as was a new moderated wiki-style information update system with extensive back-end support to allow multiple people to administer user contributions. Just as before, users contributions were screened before being added, though updates were now tracked and submissions would be automatically tied to the record they belonged to. WebMagic also replaced Brian's Perl and flat file data system with a PHP and full SQL database solution utilizing [[LAMP| LAMP_(software_bundle)]] technology.

At this time the KLOV also further clarified its copyright notices and updated its acceptable use guidelines, which remain liberal to this day. These clarifications were designed to help prevent improper use of KLOV data -- in particular but not exclusively, to prevent mass copying. The growth of [Pay Per Click|Pay_per_click] advertising on the Internet had created a new problem. Poachers began to copy the content of other sites en mass in order to try to profit from their content. This is particularly problematic for sites such as the KLOV's with user generated content, as misdirected visitors are visitors that are unable to submit additions, corrections, and other contributions to the site's encyclopedia. While the new policies were well received by the majority of site visitors, it did cause a bit of a controversy among a very small yet vocal group of suspicious users.

The new user submission system led to a rapid growth in the KLOV, and by the end of 2000, the KLOV's encyclopedia had more than 3000 game entries.

2001:

The following year brought expanded support for handheld mobile devices. After a long beta testing period, version 1.0 of the "KLOV for Palm 7" application was released on May 25, 2001. This 100% free application allowed anyone with a Palm 7 wireless PDA to access KLOV game entries with text and graphics while on the road. This application is no longer maintained since modern cel phones such as the iPhone and Palm Pre can directly display the KLOV's offerings via built in modern web browsers.

Additionally, after receiving well over 100,000 messages, the KLOV's popular message forums were updated in 2001, and the new system, at http://forums.klov.com/, have since received an additional 850,000+ messages to date.

2002:

In December 2002, the International Arcade Museum was formed to expand on work done by the KLOV over the previous two decades. Greg McLemore, the current "KLOV Keeper," becomes the museum's director and WebMagic, which was a key supporter of the KLOV, becomes the chief financial contributor to the International Arcade Museum.

The KLOV officially becomes became part of The International Arcade Museum and 6000 entries covering early coin-operated machines are added to the videogame entries to create the master encyclopedia available on The International Arcade Museum's Web Site.

2003:

The KLOV passed 4000 video-game entries in September 2003, and there were now also 8000 non-videogame entries in the master encyclopedia.

The International Arcade Museum® takes over Penny Arcadia™ and adds Video Arcadia™ and Pinball Arcadia™ to Arcadia™.

2004:

The KLOV focused on adding photos to as many machines as possible that previously had none.

2005:

At the start of 2005, there were nearly 13000 total entries in The International Arcade Museum's online encyclopedia. A key focus continues to be added photos to game records.

An Arcadia™ / Penny Arcadia™ exhibition of over 150 classic machines was held in Pasadena, California in July 2005. Coin operated machine and arcade enthusiasts from around the United States, England, and Australia flew in specifically for this event.

2006:

On January 23, 2006, The International Arcade Museum assumed management of the Video Arcade Preservation Society (VAPS), the leading collector's group and census taker serving the coin-operated video game community. VAPS had already operated for nearly twenty years, and Kevin Ruddy had been the VAPS keeper for the last ten. The VAPS.org web site was also converted to work on the LAMP platform.

Links between the KLOV database and VAPS were created. Each individual game's entry in KLOV began to show a current count of the Video Arcade Preservation Society's (VAPS) current statistics regarding collector ownership of that particular game.

As a result of the VAPS numbers in KLOV entries, those with little knowledge of a game might infer that a game is far more uncommon than it really is. Because of this, a few sellers on eBay quoted KLOV entries only for the VAPS numbers as "proof" of the rarity of a title, potentially misleading suspecting buyers. In response, the KLOV added 'Wanted' VAPS statistics to its game pages and added explanatory text that machines might be uncommon in collections simply because no one wanted them even though they might exist in quantity in dealer's inventories.

2008:

The International Arcade Museum acquired the copyright to the first ten years of Coin Slot Magazine, the leading magazine for collectors of coin operated machines during the 1970s and 1980s. In November 2008, these issues were published on the IAM's web site.

2009:

In 2009, the KLOV's message forums were upgraded and moved to http://forums.arcade-museum.com/ as the forums have sections about all types of coin-operated machines in addition to videogame sections. The old forum URL continues to work as a redirect to the new address.

Also in 2009, the VAPS.org web site was upgraded and moved to http://www.arcade-museum.com/vaps/ in order to enhance features between VAPS and the KLOV. VAPS began to allow Pinball machines to be added to its census project.

In July, 2009, the International Arcade Museum's web site added over 100,000 pages of PDF content from The Music Trade Review as well as Presto Magazine, early music industry publications. These publications cover a full history of the transitional eras from mechanical music to phonographs and jukeboxes and radio. These issues from the 1890s through 1950s originally came from the New York Library system but have been in the Music Box Society International collection for many years. Funding for the scanning itself was provided by NAMM, the leading music trade association. A search engine at was set up for easy research on these pdf files. There are over 40.5 million words/page records in the search engine linking to these Music Trade Review and Presto issues.

2010:

In January, 2010, VAPS began to allow any records in our database to be added to the census project. This made sense as many collectors of coin-operated videogames owned other types of coin-operated machines, and additionally, since the International Arcade Museum's only encyclopedia had contained a large variety of amusement machine types for the previous eight years.

Thank you

We would like to thank everyone that has helped to make The International Arcade Museum and the KLOV everything it is today. In particular:

  • Our Visitors - We would like to thank our countless web site visitors who have provided us with a reason to be here, as well as endless contributions of content that we have used in the development of our web sites.
  • Image Contributors and Editors - Our encyclopedia editors help our web site to improve daily. In 2004, we launched an automated Scoreboard of our Top Image Editors and Top Image Contributors (from 2004 forward)
  • Our Forum Community - Our active members of our message boards help maintain our community and help out the IAM and KLOV in a variety of ways.
  • Greg McLemore -- Greg is the founder and chairman of WebMagic, which provides the financial support to keep everything running here. Upon adopting the KLOV, he expanded it greatly, oversaw a move to a SQL/PHP based data management system, and led a establishing guidelines aimed at allowing the KLOV to continue to grow.
  • Brian Johnson -- Brian was instrumental in developing the KLOV's web site from a simple text list to a full web-based encyclopedia. Brian ran the KLOV for several years (1994/1995 to 2000) and then passed the baton to Greg McLemore and WebMagic. Even then, he still contributed countless hours to the site while his time permitted.
  • The Early KLOV Keepers - Mike Hughey (an early contributor, circa 1992-1993?), Jeremy Radlow (1992), Jonathan Deitch (December 1992 through 1993), and then of course Brian Johnson (mentioned above)
  • The Early VAPS Keepers - Rick Schieve (the 80s), Steve Ozdemir (90-94), and Kevin Ruddy (1995-2005)
  • Jon and Patricia Gresham, who founded Penny Arcadia in 1982 after more than a decade of preparation, without which Arcadia™ and its unique entertainment and education opportunities would not be here.
  • Roger Hilden -- Roger of Crow River Trading (www.crowriver.com) contributed his "Foto-Finder" creation to the International Arcade Museum. This census of coin-operated machines covered by dozens of reference books formed the basis of our database expansion. This expansion added 6,000 older coin-operated machines (machine name, manufacturer, and date) to our existing collection of 4,000 video-game entries. We are now busy adding photos, descriptions, and other information to these additions.
  • Kenny Rubin -- Kenny allowed us to use his descriptions from his book Drop Coin Here for over 300 early machines soon after we expanded our encyclopedia with the early entries.
  • Tom Gustwiller -- Tom has allowed us to use photos from his book For Amusement Only. These photos will soon be added to our encyclopedia entries.
  • RePlay Magazine -- RePlay Magazine has supported us over the years, which we greatly appreciate. They are the leading coin-op and amusement center publication -- highly recommended for anyone in or thinking of getting into a business which utilizes amusement machines.
  • Morphy Auctions -- Morphy Auctions is one of the nations leading auction houses, and the leading one covering high end coin-operated machines. They have been good supporters of both intitutional and collector organizations over the years, and we thank them for their support.
  • Everyone else I may have neglected to list here...

Press Coverage

We have been featured numerous times in both domestic and international television broadcasts, magazines articles (from Games Magazine to Newsweek), and newspaper pieces, though unfortunately our clip file is incomplete.

Newsweek called The Killer List of Videogames the "IMDb [standard reference] for videogames" in their Collecting: Just Add Quarters article]

The Wikipedia on-line encyclopedia has an article about us and calls us "by far the largest database" of coin-op video-game information on the Internet.

Museum Acquisition Guidelines (draft)

The International Arcade Museum has a long-term goal of establishing a permanent, physical museum location where visitors can enjoy and learn about these coin-op treasures.

We have already started to gather specimens of important and fun machines. Additionally, an extensive library collection has already been established.

With coin-operated amusement machines the International Arcade Museum's primary collecting focus, we have developed guidelines that assist us in determining what treasures to add to the collection. In addition to those items that fall into one of the categories listed below, we give priority to machines that represent an uncommon or pioneering approach to design, engineering, marketing or manufacturing; have a noteworthy competitive history; have been highly respected by collectors; or are associated with an important figure in amusement history, entertainment, politics or business. Original machines are preferred over those that have been restored.

Please contact us if you have any contributions that you would like to make, including machines, parts, and especially old catalogs and related literature. Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Return to the main page   |   Contact us at: [email protected]

The International Arcade Museum
530 S. Lake Ave. Ste 450
Pasadena, CA 91101
U.S.A.