Super Chexx, Robotron, and now Asteroids Deluxe

All free or super cheap deals that have come up on Craigslist in the last month or so. This particular listing was for an estate sale in Franklin, IN, about 20 minutes south of Indianapolis right off 65. I didn’t see the ad until three or four hours after it was published, so I figured the games were already snatched up. Here was the listing;

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19 8-4
WHOLE HOUSEHOLD – COMMERCIAL SEWING MACHINE,FURNITURE, HOUSEHOLD DISHES, CHRISTMAS ITEMS, ….CLOWNS AND OTHER COLLECTIBLES AND MUCH MUCH MORE
2 OLD COIN OPERATED ARCADE GAMES (NEED WORK)
1000′S OF ITEMS…..

I went back and forth but decided to get up early on a Saturday for the second arcade related trip in a row. I figured at least, it would make a good post, even if they were gone.

Sure enough, when I arrived at this barn nestled behind a house, there were two games up in the loft of a barn – an Asteroids Deluxe and an Enigma II by Gameplan.

The Asteroids Deluxe had been sold, the asking price was $100 each which was a great price. The Asteroids was in great condition, looked like it had been sitting there and not been operated forever. The Enigma II has about zero value (Some sort of Space Invaders style game), and I have enough projects to keep me busy without having to part out or try to sell a low demand game. I think they would have sold it for less, the signs said offer something.

The two arcades had been sitting in this barn upstairs, on the edge of the stairwell, for over 20 years. The brother had gotten them for the kids to play, but the ladies selling them knew nothing about them, not even if they worked. The Gameplan turned on, I didn’t try the Asteroids Deluxe since it was sold, I figured best not to mess with it at all.

Pretty cool little story, and another couple of games unearthed probably due to the economic times.

You're reading Asteroids Deluxe in a Franklin, IN barn for $100 is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

Unprecedented economy = Collector’s market

In the morning there was a complete free Ms. Pac-man upright on Craigslist in Chicago, and not a minute or two later an Omega Race cocktail was listed for $90. A cocktail cabinet itself runs more than that, and I know someone close to me that is looking for cockpit and cocktail Omega Race PCBs (If you know someone who has a small lot of them non working, let me know). Here is the Craigslist text for both of these Chicago goodies respectively;

THIS MACHINE IS WORKING FINE, NEEDS A LIL WORK ON THE OUT SIDE BUT WORKS GREAT, STANDARD MS.PAC-MAN,ORIGINAL PARTS, THE MACHINE IS FROM 1986 SO IT SHOW SINGS OF USE. If you wish to come pick it up you will need a big vehicle please contact me at 1-630-802-5064

I didn’t see this initially. I guess that the voicebox was clogged within minutes. And the Omega Race post. Chris emailed on it, but didn’t hear back. If you were the lucky person to pick up this working Omega Race in Elgin, IL give us a shout.

Video Arcade Game “Omega Race” Cocktail type model. Video needs work but the system itself works. Includes a parts and operating manual.

The Jr. Pac-man in Nashville, IN

Originally I had started to write this post because there was a Mappy style Jr. Pac-man in Nashville, TN. No wait. That is Nashville, IN. The listing was for a large lot of 10 games for $1100. I couldn’t tell from the photos whether the Jr. Pac was a Mappy conversion or not and the game was a little beat – it needed a bath about as bad a Joaquin Phoenix.

I saw the listing come up on my feed, they looked mostly like 90′s and fighting games so I was surprised to see the Jr. Pac-man sitting there. For 10 games, that is a pretty good price, especially if he is really asking somewhere around $150 for the Junior. He doesn’t indicate whether he’d sell them individually, but my guess is he might have to whether he wants to or not.

Originally I thought it might be hard to find a taker for games in this lot size which include Operation Wolf and Tekken. They were all medium demand games except the Ms. Pac-man, and possibly the Golden Tee. (Neo Geo Samaria Showdown, Neo Geo Strikers, 1945) But in the time I got in touch with the guy he had someone heading over to look at the games within 15 minutes. The games were sold an hour later!

All is well. I didn’t need another Mappy style cabinet, at least that is what I keep telling myself I am still trying to hunt down the individual who purchased the lot to see if I can keep that Jr. Pac-man in Indiana. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen one for sale in Indiana, let alone so close. I had to make a note.

2 Hours – 13 Arcade games sold in the midwest

Great prices and the games all changed hands in a short period of time. Too much of an anomaly to not mention. If you picked up the Ms. Pac-man or the lot of games from Nashville, IN give me a shout, and oh – congratulations.

Anyone participated in some fashion with multiple Craigslist ads in such a short period of time? What was the result?

Update – September 18, 2009
Looks like Scott in Trafalgar (SGBlade) picked up that Jr. Pac-man out of Nashville, along with those other cabinets. Nice job. Scott has an impressive collection. I would be interested to pop by and check out your gameroom at some point. Drop me a line.

You're reading Crazy day for arcade games on Craigslist is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

The story on scoring these three pinball machines

Last night was the first night since Sunday were I was able to come home, free from class and consulting work that I had the whole night ahead of me. It’s so refreshing to just have an opportunity to do whatever, those opportunities are few and far between. We rarely get fast food, but my wife wanted to try the new Roastburger from Arby’s. We were gone for about a half hour and when I sat back down to blog, do homework, or whatever I took a look at my feeds.

In that half hour someone had posted an ad on Craigslist selling three pinball machines for $50 each, including a Hyperball. Here is the ad;

This was so weird, because I had never heard of Hyperball until about three weeks ago. There was some conversation in the live chat with another collector on Coinopspace (Video of the gameplay) about how unique the gameplay was, and here one popped up for dirt cheap in Indianapolis.

Convincing myself the pinballs were gone

Seeing that the ad had been online for only a half hour I emailed the guy, anxious and excited that I might have a chance to get these games. Then the waiting game. The unique excitement is one of the great things about this hobby.l Sure enough, five minutes later he called back. Within ten minutes I had arranged a truck and was headed out the door to Broad Ripple area in Indianapolis.

Indianapolis is home to a pretty decent collection of pinball collectors. It seems like lately a lot of them have been downsizing their collections but I knew one of them must have spotted this ad. The whole way up, I figured one of them got a hold of the owner, made some other offer and I was going to make the long trek up to the north side of the city and have nothing to show for it.

But, I was lucky. All three of the pinballs were still there, looking glorious. The photo below will take you to a small gallery of photos that I took during the dis-assembly.

I know a little bit more about the games after chatting with the previous owner while we took them apart. Seems as though he bought them at auction quite a few years ago, I assume locally here in Indianapolis. He told me that he and his partner played them after a long day running their computer startup to blow off some steam. He said after that he went into the family printing business, which I believe he stated was 23 years ago. He said the two Stern’s don’t completely work and said that he had intentions of getting them fixed. His children would always ask when, but he never got around to it. His son is now a junior in college.

So that mean that he has owned these pins anywhere from 17-23 years. I am guessing based on some of the wear I am seeing it is on the lesser side. But regardless, he’s owned them for a long time, maybe since around 1988. He was downsizing the house and didn’t want to take them with him. The house was probably built somewhere in the mid 50′s, which meant that the steps were steep and narrow so getting them out on a hot night was no easy task.

After about 2:30 hours of work, I had everything loaded up in the truck, which you see in the photos above. It was tight, I had one head sitting with padding on top of the body, and all of the glass sitting up in the cab with me. I hung out the window with that tiny bit of space for the 25 minute drive home.

What now? Do I add three pins to my collection?

Not likely. I am still an arcade guy and I don’t have the space for three pinballs. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I am thinking about what to do with the two Stern’s.

I had been passively investigating the different machines in hopes of adding one pinball to my collection and my thought right now is that I am going to keep the Hyperball. It might be perfect for me. As I read more on the history, it seems like it was meant as more of a video game theme than your standard pinball, and I just love the plexi backlit red playfield and the rapid fire nature of the game. Not to mention, it is apparently the one that is closest to being fully working, if not ready to roll. But I have yet to play it, and wonder if it will hold the interest for a long time or not.

Originally when I saw the ad I thought for sure each of these pinballs, being solid state, would be worth as much as $500. They may be, but from what I can tell the Hyperball, even though a touch rare at a production run of 4,500 units, would be hard pressed to command a $500 price tag.

But, I don’t have time to tinker around with the other two and get them running. Drop me a line if these are your ‘dream’ pinball machines and leave a story or two in the comments.

You're reading Holee Crap! I got 3 Pinball Machines for $50 each is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

“I tried to take my old Atari Xenophobe down to my safety deposit box but they wouldn’t let me put it in. I told them, what do I need a box for if I can’t store my gold in it? They told me that my game wasn’t gold, that in fact it was only worth a hundred bucks or so and that I should turn it into media unit to store my Chicago “Love Songs” CD’s.”

Imma gonna auction my arcade game on Craigslist

“That’s what I told them”, the shifty man continued.

“You mean auction your game on eBay?” the bank teller asked.

“No, I’m going to take a silent auction on my gold brick on that Craigslist auction website”.

“Sir, I definitely think you are thinking of eBay” the teller continued.

“Quack! —Quack! Quack!”

“Sir, please don’t *quack* at me”, as the man began to bite the side of the arcade cabinet and mumble something about quickest way to get gold fillings.

Subsequently the bank teller called the police where the man and his arcade machine were taken into custody.

Here is the posted article talking more about the man who confused Craigslist for eBay and then tried to sell a pile of wood for thousands of dollars, golden dollars! Quack Quack.

THIS IS AN SEALED BID EMAIL AUCTION. EMAIL YOUR BEST OFFER FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS AND THE HIGHEST BID WILL WIN.

Looking to sell my full sized Xenophobe game. This is a unique game because of the monitor setup on top of a neck which I haven’t seen in another game, the three player scrolling screen, colorful graphics and challenging gameplay. The body is also in good yet not perfect condition. All three joysticks and buttons work great. The marquee is in good working order, front glass in great shape, control panel is a little faded but not terrible. There are a couple of small tears in the control panel overlay near the center but nothing that big. Will show by appointment. I have a minimum reserve price below which the game will not sell. Other than that, email your highest bid!

In a related story, a new study shows that 1 out of 5 men who have particle board poisoning know less than five adjectives. Common adjectives in this deficiency are good, great, good good, great oh and did I say good?

April 2nd, 2009
Funny day. Out of the blue this other day the original poster / owner of this Xenophobe dropped me a line. He said he enjoyed my post. Turns out he wasn’t just a one off guy, but a big pinball collector in my home town of Grand Rapids.

He told me that he picked up the Xenophobe at auction for $50 and got it up and running for another $10. The ad only lasted a day on Craigslist it ended up on eBay and sold for $350.

This idea of a ‘Craigslist’ auction is so outlandish and deceitful that it doesn’t surprise me that the game made it to eBay. That is what eBay is for, auctions. But it doesn’t matter, unless that game is a Star Wars cockpit or something tremendously valuable your everyday collector is going to steer far away from an ad like that, if not flag it. eBay’s the ultimate equalizer.

You're reading Grand Rapids man confuses Xenophobe for solid gold brick is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.