So I ran into a big problem: I kept buying more NES carts and I had no place to put them. When I literally ran out of room for more on the shelf, I realized I needed a new shelf. But where? I really ran out of wall space, I don't want to store any, and every cubic inch is taken up. That is, except for behind the Garage Door! While not an ideal spot, and clearly not a whole lot of space, it actually worked out far better than I expected. I am now up to 183 carts, and I will have room to reach 200. I will probably (sadly) stop after that. There's just no more room.

I mean, I can't even get the entire bar in the shot!

V17.0 arrives with more Mainfest Destiny in mind. With the creation of the new Dodger Wall in the garage, most (but never all) of the Dodger gear is gone, which resulted in a major re-sorting of one of the walls. Likewise, 3 large shelves were added to show off a total of 42 NES carts. I decided to get fancy and create a little Mario Kart track on one of the new shelves, complete with a smaller, built-in trash can for bottle caps and corks.

This new version feels a lot more organized and spacious! I'm also up to 155 Carts!

I comtemplated just taking the bar to like 15.5, but naw, let's go to 16.0!

I ordered some wall art and took the Barcade all the way to the door. I doubt I can take it any further, but I also think I've said that before. In addition to the cool boxed art, I knabbed 8 tin marquees that can be plucked right off the wall and swapped for the one on the booth itself. Pretty neat. Modular!

I also invested in a little NES player that works pretty well, but it grips the cartridges REALLY HARD. I have to be careful with it. Maybe it will loosen in time. I also only have room for 1 more cartridge, and I would like it to be Lemmings, but Lemmings seems to be rather expensive on eBay. I can wait ... maybe.

I don't know where to go from here ... I guess I'll just have a beer.

Time to take it to 15! Some rearraging allowed for the creation of the new Figure Shelf. And yes, I opened a $250 Link Action Figure that I had in storage for 15 years to complete the shelf. Why? Cuz it looked stupid in the box and I wasn't actually gonna sell it ever, so screw it. The addition of the shelf caused a chain reaction, both good and bad. Good: I now have room for about 10 more NES Carts because those spots were taken up by figures (see below). Plus, I got to resort some other glassware to clean things up around the bar. Bad: The LA sign had to move, and it took an Alesmith sign's spot. Luckily, I found some room for those things. TBD if the Alesmith sign stays there cuz we might hit it, and it's edges are sharp.

I also need to fill that void up behind the booth. TBD on what that will be. Probably can't do a neon light.

Time to take it to 15! Some rearraging allowed for the creation of the new Figure Shelf. And yes, I opened a $250 Link Action Figure that I had in storage for 15 years to complete the shelf. Why? Cuz it looked stupid in the box and I wasn't actually gonna sell it ever, so screw it. The addition of the shelf caused a chain reaction, both good and bad. Good: I now have room for about 10 more NES Carts because those spots were taken up by figures (see below). Plus, I got to resort some other glassware to clean things up around the bar. Bad: The LA sign had to move, and it took an Alesmith sign's spot. Luckily, I found some room for those things. TBD if the Alesmith sign stays there cuz we might hit it, and it's edges are sharp.

I also need to fill that void up behind the booth. TBD on what that will be. Probably can't do a neon light.

It has been a while since I was able to give a solid update, mostly because the updates are getting to be tiny and not extremely impactful. However, there have been enough smaller ones to move that number up. There was an original 14.0 version back in March, but I forgot exactly what it was all about, so let's just skip to 14.5 and all the new things going on!

There are two new shelves! There's a tiny one hidden on the far left by the stools which now has a velcro wall for remotes and houses Wiimotes and a ton of Wii/Gamecube games. Plus, it hides all the cords and cables for the bar and most of the lights. The second one is on the far right and far more obvious. Bomberman (also new) lives there, along with 20 new NES Carts! The NES Carts have all been reorganized as well. I got room for about 5-10 more. There are a few out there I know I need to finally buy.

Smaller upgrades include some new Alesmith signage, a new (hidden) shelf for the iPad, which is connected to the TV for mirroring/streaming. The giant Metroid on the top right is scary, and across the booth is some new Castlevania art. I also got a cool Burgertime stand, and dug out some Pac Man toys for display. I have no idea what I will have to do to this thing to get it to 15.0. I feel like it needs to be epic.

Let's take it up a notch! There have been a bunch of minor upgrades here and there, such as various new glasses, a few toys, new beers, and improvements to the Barcade Booth, but the addition of new Smart Lights in the lamps convinced me that it was time to go to v13.5. The new smart lights are just as colorful as the striplights that have been in the bar for literally years, and they are controlled with an App. Being that it is getting into the Christmas season, here's the Barcade on Christmas Lights mode. They slowly alternate between red, green, and blue without causing siezures!

There isn't actually a new picture for v13.0 because it honestly looks exactly the same.

But what is totally rad is that the Barcade Booth got a Touchscreen Monitor, and therefore a brand new CPU. So freakin' cool. Now games, movies, and music are just a tap away! Also, the bonus speaker (hidden behind Mario and Bowser) got an extension cord on it so it can be moved elsewhere to provide more booming sounds. We felt these two awesome features took it up a whole number.

Oh, and the adjustment to the Barcade Booth also lets the new disco lights beam better without getting in your eyes. Maybe I'll post a pic of that later.

Sadness ended with me having to spend money, which of course resulted in an upgrade. The TV in the corner died (well, the HDMI stopped working, which is more or less the same), so I had to buy a new one. Got a great deal on a 24" Smart TV, so the TV in the corner is now BIGGER and SMARTER! Also, a trip to a less-than-friendly used video game store helped me finish off my NES collection (for now). A few tweeks here and there brought the Barcade up another digit.

I'm thinking about getting a custom sign made. Could be part of a future upgrade.

This upgrade took a bit longer cuz I was visiting game stores and eBay, but the official entry is in January 2020. I managed to make a few adjustments to the bar just to get one more inch of wall space. Turns out a minor tweek made a major difference! All I did was bumpt the original bar from v1.0 up a bit more with some extra legs, move the mini fridge over an inch, and then was able to add a new shelf full of NES carts was added! Mark my words, I'll fill these shelves (then probably make another). This change also let me get better access to the 'utility shelf' where the WiiU, Switch Dock, DVD Player, and HDMI Switcher are located.

Also, I finally took a picture of the bar in Lounge Mode. For the late-night drinkers.

Might I offer you some advice? Forget everything you think you know. Just when I thought this thing was done, it's not. The Bar gets a new monitor IN the bar! That's freakin' mind blowing, if you ask me. Mirros off of the Barcade Booth, so it is like an extension of the Booth and can use SNES controllers. Various art upgrades and some reshuffling puts things in place. Also note the little "puck lights" around the bar (two above the chalkboard). There are a few above the arcade booths. I didn't have a picture of the bar in its now "Lounge Mode", but I'll get one eventually.

There's also an important new shelf on the left side of the bar which holds a ton of NES carts. This would become my new addiction going forward because ... well, next entry please.

The upgrades are not as obvious because there's just no more room. Another sound system upgrade, Barcade Booth gets a new blue skin, and a Robit! You can see the new shelves on the left which were added in v9.0. Had to get new white tiles. There's more glasses on the right wall.

Most importantly of all: Meet the Robit! He's on wheels, and wants you to play some board games or air hockey! He pops right out of the Booth! It's like a little game caddy. I wish he had a motor...

The mini arcade is added! There are six of them, and yes, they all work! I also added some better shelving, more internal wiring to make things fancier, but I don't have pictures of all that stuff. Sorry. Those lab glasses look pretty cool in the bottom right!

I don't remember what took the Barcade to v8.0, but I'm sure it was all internal stuff. At some point, I added a Roku, got new speakers, and then added lights behind the Barcade Booth. There's also a few more crazy things on the walls as stuff got shuffled around.

With no place left to go outward, the only place to go was inward. The Barcade gets a cool ledge above the TV, a few more lights, and an ice machine! Also, the Barcade Booth gets its second skin, but that one's gone too now. It also got a pull-out keyboard and inner shelving. The original bar gets its own inner-shelving for a BluRay player, Nintendo WiiU, wine rack, and water. Water? Lame. There's a ton of little things in this upgrade as well, but I don't remember them all.

Let there be lights! The Barcade glows now, gtes two very cool lamps built into it, and it has a lot of cool Nintendo art. This is surely when the theme of Barcade took hold. The Barcade Booth also lost its Viking Bunny skin and is going to have an SCP Arcade skin. Also: Doritos!

Someone help me. A Christmas idea turns into a Christmas miracle as The Barcade gets ... another wall. Growing out of control, the Barcade swallows up a window, gets a better lamp, gets a new light, and the Barcade Booth gets a skin! That skin will be removed later. Gross.

Also note that this is when the Barcade got its name, as shown on the chalkboard.

The beginning of the end of my sanity. The obession grows as the new Barcade Booth is added. It's still there (granted, its had a new paint job and loaded with extras). Barcade v4.0 would remain this way for a while until the crazy idea above was hatched.

Time to put the Arcade in Barcade! Granted, this was another prototype for making my own arcade booth. This was not the right way to go, and this 'really heavy box' has since been destroyed.

The Barcade gets real with a TV! Holy crap! And a really cool light too. So cool. The chairs were part of v2.0, and I'm still using them! I'm sitting on one of them right now, actually. Hey look! It's Vin Scully!

Now that we got all this room, its time to expand! Barcade v1.5 was not meant to last for the rug was placed for a reason. Now the 'bar' is real. Nacho helps supervise this addition. He is pleased.

Welp, we moved into a house. Now there is room to grow! The Barcade was called The Lab for now, but that was because we didn't know what was coming. There are now cheeseballs, a blender, and coffee?

It took us a while, but we finally got some real booze at the bar. The idea was that you would pull the 'bar' out when it was time to be used. That idea did not last long.

After digging the mini fridge out of storage, the bar was reorganized to be something greater. The idea was growing, but space was limited. Hey! A keg!