Your coffee table is about to become astounding, and you don’t even know it yet. The world has been blessed with many great pop-up books over the decades, creating a quasi-AR-before-AR like state – however, to my knowledge none have yet to feature arcade gaming greats from Sega. Well, the time for that is now, thanks to a new Kickstarter.
Publisher, Read-Only Memory (who specialise in books about retro gaming) has launched a campaign for a pop-up book that is all about Sega arcade machines. It is to be named SEGA Arcade: Pop-Up History and has been created as a full collaboration with Sega towers. Most machines featured come from the man himself, Yu Suzuki: Hang-On, Space Harrier, After Burner and Out Run, with the outlier being 1987’s Thunder Blade (although that was also developed in-house at Sega).
Besides from the slick paper-powered 3D models themselves, each spread will be accompanied by close-ups of the artwork, schematics, as well as a historical blurb written by Keith Stuart (who is a gaming writer for The Guardian). Additionally, the pop-ups have been crafted by paper engineer, Helen Friel while the illustrations are by Kam Tang, who is a commercial artist.
With 27 days still to go, I would be surprised if this Kickstarter wasn’t somehow funded. The overall goal is £40,000, however, over £21,000 has already been raised by 529 backers. If you’re after one yourself, a pledge for the book will set you back £35. There were some cheaper early bird specials, but these are all but gone, sadly. If you decide to take the plunge, though, the Kickstarter version will feature a silver foil cover that is deep-embossed. If it does go to print after the campaign, the cover will be printed and flat, unlike the content within.
If this is your jam and you’re a keen coffee table owner, the Kickstarter can be found here.
