My DVR just picked up one of those American Pickers recycle shows called Gaming Gold and it shows Mike’s place. Not sure if all of the original show is in there, but it shows the headless EK and Kiss backglasses. Looks like it’s running again on History channel midnight Sunday/Monday if you want to try to grab it. It’s labeled S18:E140.

There are excerpts from other shows. Another guy with pinball machines, once again all the focus is on a working EK that he sold for $1200 bundled with an old mechanical pin. The robot collector guy excerpt is from a fairly recent show I remember seeing, he has a nice collection of pinballs as well, which are never discussed.

How far back? I always think of Battlebots as the original show from way back, it was fun to watch, of course it was a new thing, but it seemed to be semi legitimate. As in, the robots really battled it out win and the teams were made of real people who really made them. I tried watching one of the newer shows and it seemed all wrong. Seemed completely made-up, dumbed-down, and scripted, as fake as can be. I realize they need to make entertainment that people want to watch, but that’s not for me.