b"A Gamers Paradisein South OrangeChris Donnells basement museum chronicles decades of electronic gamingBY DONNY LEVITA collection of Colecomini arcade games.S outh Orange resident Chris Donnellhome gaming. His personal gaming history harkens is comfortably seated on his basementback to the Unisonic Tournament 2000, which pre-couch next to his familys brand newdates Atari. My sister and I would play that all the eight-week-old brindle-colored pug.time [growing up], he says.Yoshi is crashed out next to Chris,So what does one do with over 40 years of gam-whileutteringafewsatisfiedpuging experience? You acquire artifacts and found a sounds that alternate between snor- video game museum in your houses basement, of ing and sighing.course. Theres some differing naming conventions Shes named after a genderless dinosaur, saysbetween my son and myself, but technically we vot-Chris, when asked how the pugs name came about.ed and consider it Game Park at the South Orange Thats part of the toadstool kingdom from the Su- Video Game Museum, explains Chris, who sports per Mario series of games. theaproposSilverballMuseumArcadesweatshirt Normally,onewouldsimplydelightatthefrom the Asbury Park boardwalk venue. (Lets call it random, quirky reference to a beloved video gameGP@SOVGM for short.)wovenintothepopcultureZeitgeist.Butthen,To be clear, the GP@SOVGM isnt open to the Chris can boast expertise in almost all video gamegeneral public. In addition to limitations due to the nomenclature. pandemic, the museum is a labor of loveand ob-You probably have some sort of inkling by nowsessionthat has become a focal point for the Don-that Chris is not your ordinary enthusiast. Off thenells friends and neighbors. In the future, that could topofhishead,helltellyouthattheFairchildpossiblychangeshouldyoushowupwithabeerChris Donnell with his family's eight-week-old pug, Channel F was the first cartridge-based console foroffering from Four City Brewing Company in Or- Yoshi.12/ matters magazine / holiday 2020"