Pin & Button Collection

I never specifically collected pins or buttons, but I still ended up with quite a few. Although only a handful are related to video games or franchises associated with toys, I thought it would be fun to share some photos of them. This isn't my whole collection as I opted to leave out some, like political buttons and one promoting beer (a Spuds MacKenzie button), since this blog is meant for all ages, and there are likely others I don't have in my button/pin box and can't recall what they are. Also, a few have already appeared on the blog, such as the Star Wars and Batman buttons. The photos are grouped in themes and some pins are still sealed in plastic. One more note, I've not been to all the locations featured on the buttons, as some are souvenirs from places my parents visited.

Video Games

I acquired all of these for free from my former job working on a video game database. A few may have been packaged with games while the rest were handed out at conventions or included with press materials. Unfortunately, the SimCity pin yellowed over time.

Disney

The Disney buttons might all have been purchased or acquired at the theme parks. Two of the pins at the bottom right were handed out at the entry gate during one of Disney World's anniversaries, the 15th I believe. I'm not sure what The Disney Fair is, but that's one big button.

Characters

Here are buttons representing Star Wars, Batman, Smurfs, Sesame Street, The Flintstones, and Peanuts. That Ewok button has flashing red lights for eyes but I cannot find the type of batteries it uses, plus the insides are corroded and wires need to be soldered to repair it. I know I own a second one that I haven't looked inside of yet, perhaps that one is in better shape, but probably not.

NASA

All three of these buttons were likely purchased at the Kennedy Space Center in the fall of 1986. The one in the upper right is from the 21st space shuttle mission, dubbed STS-51-J, that deployed satellites for the Department of Defense. I think the space shuttle pin might actually be a tie tack, but tie tacks are pins too.

Locations

I've been to many of the spots featured on these buttons. Bullet Hill School was built in 1762 and is a historic site in the town I grew up in, it's not a school I attended. I'm not sure what the pin that looks a bit like the Phoenix, AZ flag is. I thought it might represent Phoenix but it has something else on it, maybe an airplane. What is World Fest '99? I don't know. The Internet tells me that World Fest is America's largest international festival. I'm sure it was my parents that went to Silver Dollar City and bought those buttons. The only reason the Ontario button is on its own is because I took that photo in May and the others in February. It's a recent acquisition from an estate sale, though I have been to Ontario a few times.. 

Sports

As some of you know, I grew up in Connecticut and so I'm primarily a fan of teams from the Northeast. I've also lived in Arizona and many of the Diamondbacks buttons and pins were purchased by my mother because she likes them. I did attend the first Diamondbacks game in 1998, the 2011 MLB All-Star Game, and Super Bowl 30 fan events, not the actual Super Bowl game, and have the pins representing those. Many of the random team pins are from cities one or both of my parents visited or they passed through airports in those cities and purchased a button as a gift. Unfortunately, I've never been to the Olympics, though I do have two Lake Placid buttons and five pins, most recently a 2024 Paris pin I got for free from my Internet provider. 

Everything Else

Some of these, like "Born to Shop" and the others in that photo, as well as Bananarama and probably the 1983 "Reach for a Rainbow Today" button from Russ, originally belonged to my sister. Space Jam could have gone in the sports group above, though it is a movie so I paired with with Bio-Dome, a movie I've never seen. Gainfield is a school I attended and I don't know what the 29th anniversary button is for, however, based on the colors I believe it is Caldor, a store that turned 29 in 1980.

While the red-eyed, demonic-like Ewok button is great, and I'm sure I liked the ice show, I don't remember it. I'd say my favorite buttons tend to be associated with fond memories, or at least things I still sort of remember. I can recall visiting the Bronx Zoo with my grandmother, watching Sha Na Na on TV with my family, and experiencing Epcot Center for the first time. Those three buttons stand out, as does the NASA Challenger button, which is probably my favorite overall, even though it is a sad memory. My sister and I stayed home from school to watch the shuttle launch on television, and what happened that day is not something you ever forget.

EA Sports Vol. 2, Issue 1

This is a 20-page magazine from EA Sports that I believe was distributed as an insert with an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. I also own Vol. 1, Issue 1 which has lower quality paper and Michael Jordan on the cover, but I chose to scan this one instead because it is football-centric and this is Super Bowl weekend. Although John Madden is EA's primary football guy and this issue features some John Madden Football articles, the issue's cover is not of John Madden but of Bill Walsh, who endorsed EA's first college football video game. I am including every page of the magazine, including ads, though you can find the same ads in the Electronic Arts albums posted back in 2017. However, I provide slightly larger article pages than I previously did in the past, and I matched the ads to that size as well, so these are bigger than my other ad scans.

As I said, it's Super Bowl weekend and at this time of year I do often put together a video or blog post with a score prediction, which is really just a complete guess as I'm not an expert and I don't analyze anything. Last year I picked the wrong winner in a game that went into overtime. Two years ago I was a single point off from guessing the exact score between these same teams. Philadelphia makes its second Super Bowl appearance in the last three years and Kansas City returns for the fifth time in the last six years, and is going for a three-peat! I did pick against KC last year and maybe I should learn from my mistakes but I'm leaning toward the Eagles pulling out the win. Either way, I'm expecting a close, high-scoring game, and I'll go with the same score I guessed two years ago but with a different outcome: 38-34 Philadelphia.

Joe Montana Quarterbacks Another Super Game (Sega Visions - Winter 1990/91)

This Sega Visions article is about signing Joe Montana to endorse -- and assist in the development of -- Sega's football video game for the Genesis. In addition to that, I'm adding the Sega Visions review, Sega football ads that can also be found on Facebook and Google Photos, and my annual Super Bowl prediction which I sometimes post about here or sometimes only mention in a "Let's Play" video on YouTube. While I'm not a football expert by any means and am only taking a final score guess for fun, I was actually only off by a point in last year's post (Kenner's Starting Lineup). I have mentioned Joe Montana games in a few other posts previously, and I opted to go with a Montana post here because of the Super Bowl matchup. Montana is, of course, one of the greatest 49ers players and one of the best quarterbacks of all-time. However, late in his career he played for the Kansas City Chiefs as well and appeared on multiple Sega video game covers in the Chiefs uniform.

Sega Visions - April/May 1991

In the early issues of Sega Visions the reviews read more like overviews than an actual review. You won't find much in the way of opinion as Sega was simply promoting Genesis games, its own and those of the third-party publishers, and it avoided being negative. Eventually it did start rating games on a numerical scale. I lightened the green background on this scan which is somewhat difficult to read in the actual magazine with black print against a dark green page.

Sega Ads

Super Bowl LVIII

This year the Chiefs haven't looked like the Super Bowl champions they were in the previous season but they still have the best QB in the NFL which is why they are in the big game yet again. The 49ers have a young QB with less than two years of NFL experience but a good defense and the better all-around team. I'm going to lean toward the better team over the better QB and predict a 31-20 49ers victory.