HOT OFF THE PRESS

Story dated March 31, 2005

Hot on the heels of our report on a new pinball magazine for the UK comes details of another publication for fans of coin-op games.

The Coin-op Collector hails from Belgium and is printed in Dutch and French, although it is soon to be available in English too. It is the work of husband and wife team Aeneas and Nikky Verhe along with Carl Jacobs who organises the Collector Fantasies shows in Belgium.

They started the magazine to get more people into the coin-op hobby and to cover the type of games not covered in other media. But Nikky told Pinball News there was a another reason too. "We also wanted to reach the French part of Belgium because these people mostly only speak French - in some parts German - and as a Belgian mag we are able to provide this."

Nikky and Aeneas started collecting pinballs about six years ago and ran into the usual problem of having too many games and not enough space. Despite that, they continued collecting not only pinball but other coin-operated games and worked with the Dutch Pinball Association before starting their own website, www.flippers.be

They decided to create a printed magazine because not everyone has a computer and they found people still like to receive a physical product to read wherever is most convenient.

They aim to publish the magazine four times a year. The 21-page first issue is out now and features a report from the ATEI show, a review of The Sopranos, the story of the Outrun 2 racing game, in memoriam Ed Krynski, the story of pinball and the history of arcade games along with classified adverts.

The second is due to be released at the Collector Fantasy show in April and will include the story of Jurassic Park the video game, a review of Belgium's Stern and Sega importer, a review of a pinball and amusement game arcade in Holland and a couple of pinball contests.

So who is the publication aimed at? Nikky told us: "the Coin-op Collector is aimed at anyone who speaks dutch or french and loves any coin operated game... so if you're kinda nostalgic, crazy about silver balls, coins and so on, join us, write us, call us."

You can do that at the magazine's website or meet them at Collector Fantasies. See our Diary section for full details of that show.

 

 

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