BIO no longer. Having established an already-
impressive games room, Chris’ mind
turned to the hallway that feeds into his
retro den. “A flooring company approached
me for some flooring for the game room,”
he explains. “The thought of stripping the
room alone was giving me nightmares. So
I thought, let’s do a really cool entrance to
the room, and went to work.” Being a dab
hand at DIY, Chris created the lobby himself.
“I stripped the area back, filled and sanded
walls, painted, installed new lights, new
units and the amazing high gloss Marvel
floor.” It took him weeks four weeks, and
now he can showcase a unique entrance
that has as much character and love as the
main games room itself.
Along with select items from his
collection, Chris regularly posts pictures of
his gaming lobby and more. Any tips for
securing a legion of fans such as he has?
“Just engage with your followers and be
yourself,” he says, “plus always reply to
questions and comments, and get a shot
that looks good. Most importantly – keep it
fun!” Wise words indeed Chris.Having grown up in the Eighties, Chris
retains a love for the ZX Spectrum, his first
ever gaming machine. “But I love all games
and formats, to be honest. Some other
favourites would be Turtles In Time on the
Super Nintendo, Sega Rally for the Saturn
and Super Breakout on the Atari 2600.”
Chris’ wide variety in gaming taste reflects
his collecting habits. There’s no focus on a
complete collection for a particular system,
just the thrilling search for retro goodies. “I
love the hunt,” he grins, “and literally pick
up what I can. I love music, listening and
creating, so I pick up some amazing retro
audio equipment. Keyboards, MiniDisc
recorders, tape players. I even found a Korg
Vocoder once. I never know what I’ll find.”
Today, uncovering retro treasure at thrift
stores and car boots is getting harder all
the time. Yet Chris is living proof that it
can still produce dividends. “The key is to
get up early,” he grins, “and coffee. You
have to do the grind, some weeks nothing,
then you get really good weeks. And dig.
Look everywhere. It’s amazing what can
be found.” But we’ll keep you in suspenseT
his month’s collector is Chris
McCallum, born in Edinburgh
and now retro collecting from
the Emerald Isle. The highlight
of Chris’ collection is not a particular item,
but a certain area in which his collection
resides. Confused? We’ll explain more in
a bit. “I started to pick up a few consoles
and computers in the late Nineties when
I was still living with my parents,” starts
Chris, who has an impressive 22,000
followers on Instagram alone. “And I got
some great pickups such as boxed ZX81s
and Atari Lynx.” As with many of us, life
took over, however, and when it was time
to leave the family home, the fledgling
collection had to go.
ATARI XL
“Found in an electrical
recycling yard, no connectors or
anything. Randomly found a power
supply for it a car boot sale years
later, and it works!”
PAID: €1*NAME:
Chris McCallumLOCATION:
IrelandFAVOURITE GAME:
Knight LoreFAVOURITE SYSTEM:
ZX SpectrumESTIMATED VALUE:
€23,000This months retro handyman has a games room with a twist
RETRO LOBBYIST
*For the power supplyREADERS TAKE US THROUGH THE RETRO KEYHOLE
COLLECTOR’S CORNER
108 | RETRO GAMERKNIGHT
LORE
Chris is a big fan of the isometric
adventure game. “My favourite
game. Maximum nostalgia!”
he smiles.
PAID: €10FAIRCHILD
CHANNEL F
“A more obscure console, I
love it because of its history. First
console with a microprocessor,
and first to use carts.”
PAID: €150