It's been a few weeks since our last update so we thought we'd let you all know what we're up to.

Beginning tomorrow and for the next week, we'll be on our first west coast business trip, with 2 very specific goals in mind: 1) Get our Las Vegas storage facility properly inventoried, packaged, and ready to mobilize; and 2) Meet with backers and donors who have items for the museum itself.

To elaborate, you're already aware that our first primary goal was to centralize our collection. The very first step of that goal will begin in earnest tomorrow as we digitally record everything in our Las Vegas storage, which comprises about 20% of our overall inventory. This facility has been "home base" for Classic Gaming Expo and many of our one-of-a-kind and/or very large items reside there. We also pluck parts from this home base for various west coast functions, most recently our exhibit at E3. That "plucking" costs a lot of time and also adds wear and tear to our items as they have been packed up and stashed away usually in a rush. Having real jobs and families far away from Las Vegas has, in the past, made our museum organization a bit of a low priority. We're excited to change that beginning tomorrow. We'll know exactly what we have, we'll have it properly stored and ready to move, and whether we're in Las Vegas, New Jersey, New York or Illinois we'll know exactly how to get to it quickly.

The second goal of this journey is the first "collection run" since forming The Videogame History Museum. In the past, both as individual collectors and together representing Classic Gaming Expo, John, Sean and I have met with many members of videogaming's rich history to secure artifacts -- documents, prototypes, and other museum-worthy items -- to add to the museum that we've exhibited at CGE in the past. Later this week, we'll tour from Vegas through southern California meeting with more of this industry's "alumni", this time representing YOUR Videogame History Museum. This tour will also test our new inventory system and allow us to work out any kinks before heading back east.

One last thing. We haven't forgotten the pledge gifts we promised when you backed us during the Kickstarter drive! We'll be spending a lot of time working out the logistics and will have a delivery plan in place by the time we return next week.

Thank you all again for your time and support. Feel free to contact us anytime at info@vghmuseum.org but know that we'll be in touch again with you soon right here to share our progress.

John, Sean, and Joe

Videogame History Museum

Well, the Kickstarter fundraiser is over, but our work has just begun.

Your support of our Kickstarter campaign was absolutely overwhelming!  Not only did we surpass our goal - we obliterated it!  We can't thank you all enough for your donations and general support.  It confirms something we have believed all along; The time to properly pay tribute to the videogame industry by preserving it's roots for generations to come is now.

Very shortly, we'll be sending out surveys to all who donated and are entitled to one of the rewards.  Please get it back to us as soon as possible so that we can get your swag out to you as soon as it's available.

Please continue to follow our progress at our webpage at www.vghmuseum.org.

We have some specific plans for the website that we hope will both keep you coming back to check-in with us and show off bits and pieces of the museum collection.  Each month, we're planning the following features:

- Artifact Expose

We'll focus on one piece in the collection and offer a bunch of different pictures and an in-depth description of the item and any available stories behind it.

- Franchise Spotlight

In this feature, we'll pick a specific franchise and post pictures of everything we have related to that particular franchise.  For example, our first installment will be Burgertime.  We will show all the different versions of Burgertime from the arcade machine to handheld versions and any Burgertime promotional materials we have.  The key to this feature is that we will ask for your input.  Meaning if you have something related to that month's franchise that we don't have, we want to hear about it!  Send us pictures, tell us the story or of it's not something you're particularly attached to, maybe you'd be willing to donate it to the archive.

- Progress Report

Here we're going to offer a quick and dirty report of what's been going on with the museum project itself in the last month.  Whether it be a report on artifacts we'd secured or our search for a location or further funding, we'll report it here.

Thanks again for your support during this fundraiser.  In closing we'd like to offer a bit of a statistic regarding this specific fundraiser.  While the higher dollar donations are what really pushed us over the top, it's interesting to note that we achieved nearly half of our initial goal by the support of people who pledged $100 or less. This supports what we have said all along and will continue to try and get across to people - every little bit helps!  Please continue to spread the word about the archive.  If you run across an artifact you'd like to contribute or find yourself with a few extra bucks you'd like to donate to a worthy cause, please get in touch with us.

Videogame History Museum

This doesn't happen very often, but I have to admit that when I woke up this morning and checked our Kickstarter project and saw that we had met our goal, my eyes literally welled-up with tears and a chill rolled down my spine!

You guys (and girls) did it! We'd like to share a quick story that we hope will help you understand the feeling we have right now.

At the start of each and every Classic Gaming Expo just before the doors open to the public, the three of us take one last walk-through of the show floor and the museum and just kind of take it all in. We don't really say much to each other - we just look. We see all of it every year, but we still gaze upon what two mom & pop retail store owners and one phone company manager were able to put together. It's really pretty amazing!

The most amazing part about CGE is that what drives us to do it every year is pure and simple passion. It's a lot of work to put on a show like that and it takes a lot of time away from our families and real jobs. There is absolutely zero financial reward for doing it. In fact, not only is there no paycheck for any of us at the end of the show, we each cover our own personal expenses.

This Videogame History Museum project is fueled by that same passion. It's truly heartwarming to see that so many of you not only share that passion with us, but that you see it burning strong enough in us that even in these tough economic times, you've pledged your hard-earned money to help launch the Videogame History Museum.

Kickstarter is just the beginning. The money that we raise here will be spent carefully and wisely to promote awareness of the museum collection and generate more revenue. A project like The Computer History Museum takes-in and spends tens of millions per year. We're many, many years away from being in the same league as they are, but something of that scale is our ultimate goal and it will cost a lot to get there.

Even though we have reached our pre-set goal here on Kickstarter, please continue to donate as you are able. Both Kickstarter and Amazon Payments will be taking a hefty chunk in fees out of what was donated here. Every dollar we receive over the goal will be spent for exactly the same purpose as the first dollar.

Thanks again for your support!



John, Sean & Joe
Directors, Videogame History Museum

We're really starting to hit our stride here the past few days and we wanted to shout out a big "THANK YOU" to all who have pledged their support! A special thanks goes out to all the people who have been promoting this fundraiser through the various websites, blogs, magazine articles and interviews we've done over the past few weeks! The money we raise here on Kickstarter will be spent carefully and wisely to help achieve our ultimate goal of a physical, highly interactive museum dedicated to the preserving the roots of the electronic entertainment industry. You will not be disappointed!

Please continue to get the word out in anyway you can. We're close, but there are only ten days left."

Our sincerest thanks to everyone who has donated already. We’re off to a great start! Just over a 1/3 of the way to our goal in just over a 1/3 of the time passed. In addition we’ve received several direct donations through paypal and the mail.

The exposure has been tremendous with articles on a ton of the videogame news sites and blogs. We even recorded a segment for Time Warner’s NY1 news channel which can be seen here (http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/technology/143637/group-works-to-create-videogame-history-museum)  The outpouring of volunteer assistance has also been amazing! We’ve begun working with a grant writer and a real estate broker to secure some space and additional funding.

Everyone wants this project to succeed and the future looks very bright. If you haven’t yet donated, please consider doing so and not waiting until the last minute. More info to follow and thanks again to everyone who is helping to spread the word and make this a reality.

Sincerely,

John, Sean & Joe