Help Rob Mack Bring Classic Games to Life

Hello, my name is Rob Mack! I am an Instructional Assistant at Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis, IN, where I help teach English as a New Language. This school year is my third; I am also back in school myself to finish my degree and become a fully-fledged teacher. It can be hectic, but I'm making it work!

This year, I decided to start an extracurricular club called the DC Hawks Retro Video Game Club. This is the first club I've ever tried to start, and the goal is to teach the kids about the pop culture, history, technology, and business practices of the late 20th century--doing so by using classic video games as a teaching tool. I want to demonstrate to the kids how technology has evolved and changed by allowing them to experience classic video games, from their home console debut in the 1970's until the turn of the century. Unfortunately, school funding is tight (what else is new, right?); while I have some classic consoles, as well as a Switch loaded with many classic Nintendo games, I wanted to expand the reach to include various consoles and systems from manufacturers like Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and Sony; the big players from the 70's to the 90's. My aim is to provide as authentic an experience as possible for the kids, and to that end, I would like to acquire an Atari 2600+ along with some controllers and games; a single-board computer called Raspberry Pi 4 and the assorted hardware, which will enable me to build a multi-system console using software called RetroPie so I can feature PlayStation, Saturn, Nintendo 64, and Dreamcast games; and controllers made by 8bitdo that will stand in for Genesis/Saturn controllers, as well as PS1/N64/Dreamcast. I won't be able to fully replicate the exact interfaces, but with these items, I can come darn close!

I'm asking for a total donation of $850 to cover expenses, taxes, and shipping for all the materials I need. For now, I plan on starting with the classic consoles I do own (I have an NES Mini Classic and an SNES Mini Classic), but ultimately, the plan is to take the club "through the years," so to speak, starting with the Atari 2600 and ending with Sega Dreamcast, which in my opinion marked the end of the "classic" era of video games.

Your donation will allow me to get the club going and help me meet my goals both with introducing the students to classic video games and teaching them the pop history behind the machines that made the last few decades of the 20th century great!

On behalf of the DC Hawks Retro Video Game Club, thank you for reading! We really appreciate it.