Classic Gaming Expo Distinguished Guest:
BOB POLARO

Bob Polaro got his start in programming with Adam Systems, where he developed various accounting packages for the Data General Nova II computer in the 1970's. He then joined Commodore, where he created the programs Baseball, Stock Portfolio and Blackjack for the Commodore Pet computer.

Having an affinity for games, Polaro hooked up with Atari, where he was responsible for the 400/800 computer games Lemonade Stand, Hangman and Mugwump as well as reference titles such as States And Capitals and Biorhythm.

The fun really began, however, when he started working on Atari 2600 games. Defender was his most notable masterpiece, although others like RealSports Volleyball, Desert Falcon, SprintMaster and Road Runner were excellent titles in their own right. He briefly worked for Activision in the mid-1980's, where he developed the 2600 version of Rampage for the company.

Soon thereafter he founded BOBCO, where he programmed several geography software pieces for the Commodore 64 and Apple II computers. In the early 1990's he was back to working on videogames. While at THQ, he was the lead designer of Bass Masters Classic for the Super Nintendo and assisted in the Sega Genesis translation as well. He designed Arcade Video redemption and online games for Arcade Planet.

Later he worked at Santa Cruz Games to develop a plug and play joystick game for Spider-man 2. You can find the game at retail stores. Just look for the joystick that has the Spider-man head on it. He then went on to web page design with BOBCO and Websitesforyou.net for realtors and small businesses.