¢ALL MICRO SHOW 8 - 12th November 1994¢¢A Report by Kevin Cooke¢¢¢ AMS time again! Along with my brother, dad and two friends, we started the long journey up to Stafford. As usual, the trip was thoroughly uncomfortable, mainly due to the fact that the back seat of our car isn't really meant to take three people over such a long distance!¢¢ We did decide to stop off at a well-known hamburger chain just before our turn-off from the motorway, but it had to be one of the worst "meals" I've ever had. Not only would they not except our "buy one - get one free" vouchers, but the meal was lukewarm, in miserable portions and tasted pretty bad! The day certainly hadn't started off very well, but at least the best was still to come.¢¢ We seemed to find the showground much more easily than the year before. OK, this could have been something to do with the fact that we took the wrong turning off of the motorway last year, but I'll refrain from making a judgement!¢¢ It was raining when we got there (as usual) and the only place we could find to park was in a puddle of mud (also as usual!). For a change though, we hadn't bought advance tickets, but by the time we got there (11:30am) the queue was virtually non-existent. Anyway, I know you're not interested in my gibberish, so I'll tell you what the actual show was like.¢¢ Well, just by looking at the show guide, you could see that there were less exhibitors this year. The show guide revealed only five Atari 8-bit exhibitors waiting for my custom - however, things were a little better than they first appeared.¢¢ First of all, I visited the DGS stand. Here, there were a wide range of new and second-hand software for sale, not to mention Dean's Atari 8-bit Newspaper. Richard Gore was also on the stand selling his products, and there were some really good pieces of software to pick-up. I stopped briefly to say "Hello" to Dean and Richard but, unfortunately, I didn't get to stop here for very long.¢¢ My next stop had to be with the Page 6 stand. Again, there were some real bargains to be had (e.g. cassettes at 50p each) and back issues of their magazine, although there didn't seem to be anything too much different from what they normally sell. However, it was still a stand that you couldn't go past without being tempted by something - I couldn't anyway!¢¢ Next, I noticed a stand for the Atari which wasn't on the show guide - Gralin International (I think that's who they were!). They appeared to be trying to sell the rest of their stock and seemed to be doing it very well. How does a pack of 4 APX programs for 25p strike you? Or how about Desert Falcon on ROM for 2 pounds? Or a Stereo Sound Upgrade for 15 pounds? As you can see, unbeatable value!¢¢ Next I was off to Micro Discount (Derek Fern). I had made out a large list of everything I wanted from them but was shocked when the man serving me told me that they had sold out of most of it! Obviously someone had been doing quite well - I couldn't even get a copy of their new T34-Tank Battle game!¢¢ Another surprise was that on Derek Fern's stand was none-other than ANG software, all the way from the Netherlands! Again, some absolute bargains were available here. How does any disk for 3 pounds sound? Even the Brundles! Yep, I was one of the people who rushed to buy it last year for 15 pounds! This was the stand where I spent the most money - how could I resist such prices?¢¢ LACE (London Atari Computer Enthusiasts) were also exhibiting at the show. As well as a selection of disks (without packaging and instructins) for 75p each, they were also selling many budget cassettes for an equally cheap price. Overall, another excellent stand.¢¢ Finally were TWAUG (Tyne and Wear Atari User Group). They not only had an excellent offer on budget cassettes (something like 5 cassettes for a ridiculously low price of 1 pound), but they also had PD disks to order and various other programs for sale. TWAUG seemed to be making a very tidy profit and so they deserved to! Value-for-money indeed!¢¢ Overall, I felt that the day was a success. There seemed to be more people attending than at AMS7, but I'm sure that they could still do with more, so if you didn't go this year, you should seriously think about attending next year. The bargains that I found weren't "one-offs" - they were available all over the place if you looked. Add to the Atari-Specific stalls the general computer and electronic suppliers and you really could save a lot of money.¢¢ I thought that the day was great and I'll definitely be going next year - I hope to see you there as well!¢
