Meet the collectors - #6 - Fred (update)

It is time for another episode of Meet the Collectors. We are once again traveling to France, where we meet Nintendo collector Fred.

I already posted some pictures of Fred's collection yesterday, but he has just sent some more recent pictures. So here's an update, with the promised interview.

The core of Fred's interest is Game & Watch. But that is not all. There is more. A lot more. His collection includes many of the older Nintendo games and toys. There is so much to see here, your eyes are not sure where to look.

So, let's go meet Fred.

"My name is Frederic, I'm 42 and I live in the south-eastern part of France, near Nîmes."

"I am passionate about Game & Watch and Nintendo, but I also collect motor bikes (I have a dozen Japanese motorcycles) and French and German cars from the period 1960-80."

"Back in 1982, when I was 11 years old, I received a Game & Watch Donkey Kong as a Christmas present. This was the only Game & Watch that I had at the time, and I played it for hours and hours on end!"

Nintendo Copilas - part 3 (コピラス, 1971)

In two previous posts on this blog, the 1971 Nintendo Copilas (コピラス) photocopier was introduced and its use demonstrated.

This machine was sold at a then revolutionary price of only ¥9,800, barely providing a profit margin on the hardware. Like many printer companies these days - that practically give away printers in order to make handsome profits on the ink cartridges - Nintendo also intended to make most of the money on providing a continuous supply of paper and developing agent to the Copilas users.

The initial standard Copilas machine was produced in quite large numbers, so finding one these days is not very difficult (various follow-up models were created that are much rarer). However, finding original supplies needed to run it is much more difficult now. These were either used back then or discarded. So, I was happy when I was able to add some of these to my collection a little while ago.

Nintendo Copilas photo sensitive paper

The photo sensitive paper (感光紙) was sold in two standard sizes: B4 and B5.

Meet the collectors - #5 - Sander Slootweg

After meeting some great collectors from around the world - from France to Australia and Japan, we continue our Meet the collectors series. This time I did not have to travel far, as the collector we visit today lives quite close from me; in fact, at biking distance.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow Dutch collector Sander Slootweg, who gave me a tour around his game room. As we will see, Sander's collection spans many interests, including - most definitely - a love for Nintendo and Gunpei Yokoi in particular.

This is going to be long post, but I am sure it will be well worth the read, as Sander's collection is nothing short of amazing.

Sander and his pride and joy: a full Game & Watch collection, beautifully displayed

Sander's game room is a mix of arcade machines, carefully arranged display cabinets brimful with collectables and great wall decorations. The special lighting arrangements and overall attention to detail give his room a museum-like quality.

Nintendo Popeye Trump cards - San.o Popeye Ramen sales promotion (early 1960s)

A lesser known chapter in the history of Nintendo is their period as producer of packaged food.

In the early 1960s, Nintendo was part of a three-company consortium that was called San'ō syokuhin (サンオー食品株式会社). The other two members in the consortium were the University of Kyoto and the Omikenshi Company.

Nintendo had set up this consortium as a response to the tremendous success of Cup Noodle, the instant noodle dish invented by the Japanese firm Nissin in 1958. The Nintendo led consortium's purpose was to take a piece of the growing market for convenience food. In order to do this, they developed a new product: instant rice. They would later also produce instant noodles (ramen).

The San.o products did not become a big success (lore has it that they did not taste very well) and because of the very nature of these perishable goods, very limited evidence of them remains today.

Original envelop that was used to send the sweepstake prize

Recently I did find one of their sales promotions. This promotion was an effort to boost sales for San.o Popeye Ramen (ポパイ ラーメン). Apparently, a prize draw was held for customers of this brand of ramen, with the lucky winners receiving a pack of playing cards.

With Nintendo involvement in the San.o consortium, it was almost inevitable that the sales promotion would use one of Nintendo's own products, which at this time were still predominately playing cards.