Rockford, MI - A Rockford Michigan man today confused his classic Xenophobe arcade game for a solid gold brick.

“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.”

(more…)

Not sure if this one has hit many arcade game collector’s radars or not, probably because this Craigslist listing was filed under games / toys which is not as typical. For $200 you can get yourself a working Pengo if you are in Northern Michigan. (more…)

About two weeks ago an old EM Flip Flop pinball game came up on Craigslist for $100. Tempting to me, but I have enough going on that I didn’t need any more projects and I didn’t pursue this pinball. Sounds like it wouldn’t have mattered, about 30 people contacted the seller but someone I know ended up with it. (more…)

Ha ha. This just came back on Craigslist. I was hoping it would, I missed writing about it the first time around.

The original arcade of Donkey Kong from 1981. Needs some work, but could be worth thousands$$$! Call Brad

$1,000’s you say. Well shoot, time to round up muther and head over there in the pickup to make some moolah. (more…)

Pinball machines come up for sale more frequently on Indianapolis Craigslist than arcade games, but rarely do pinballs sell for $100. (Except for the Aspen pinball from last week.)

One mile south of marion county fair grounds.everthing goes couch chairs tables tools kenwood stero eqp. camping eqp boating eqp full size pinball nice first 100.00 gets it. a little bit of everthing. Calls wellcome.

(more…)

Short post, can’t resist when one of my favorite games come up for sale nearby on Craigslist.

Best offer takes it - i have a 80s pengo machine by sega. i was told it needs a new transformer to make it work. perfect for someone who knows a little about repair. Selling for the top offer - please email me if you have questions.

(more…)

Finding a dedicated Jr. Pac-man is a difficult proposition, but a couple of times a year you will see one come up for sale on one of the many typical gaming outlets, either RGVAC, Klov or BYOAC, or the more traditional outlets like Craigslist or ebay. Jr. Pac-man’s come up for sale so in-frequently, and it is my favorite game, that I get excited anytime I see one for sale anywhere in the US.

Friday a listing came out on Craigslist in Phoenix Arizona for a “dedicated” Jr. Pac-man. It’s hard to tell by the photo in the listing if the Jr. Pac-man is a converted Mappy, or a factory original. The sideart is hidden, but on one side at least either part or all of the Mappy sideart is showing. This machine is definitely a converted Mappy, unless the Jr. Pac-man sideart was meticulously pulled away with the Mappy artwork in tact underneath. You can tell that it is Mappy artwork because of the red border.

Three freestanding arcade games two needs repaired, one working. Pac-man Jr. and kick boxing and ? Asking or $600 (Will not seperate, must pick up) Leave a message if you call and someone will call you back at 623/566-4503. Thank you.

$600 for the lot of games, may or may not be a good deal. It kind of depends on whether you value the other two games or not. The Kung Fu game isn’t worth crap, looks like it is in a painted over Williams Defender cabinet. Is that a Tutankam to the left? That has some value so the lot of them are probably worth about $500 seeing as the Jr. Pac-man even in a Mappy cabinet is probably worth about $300 plus.

Here’s hoping I can get the serial number for my Jr. Pac-man registry if it is a dedicated unit and not a Mappy conversion.

Update July 30th, 2008
I figured that this Mappy / Jr. Pac-man in Arizona was long gone. But lo and behold, the ad for the three arcade game lot comes back up on Craigslist, and funny enough, the guy is now asking for $625.00, more money than in March. Ha.

It was about 11:30 last night, and I checked my feeds for Craigslist. As anyone who hunts Craigslist for classic arcade games knows, and I have experienced this first hand with my Ms. Pac-man win in Michigan, 99% of the time it’s junk and spammers but that 1% of the arcade findings are a great deal, and then it all comes down to timing.

Somehow I totally missed a post for northern Indianapolis at about 1:10 (I can’t remember what I was doing other than working at that time of day);

Moving and must sell many items. Antiques include; Armoire, buffet, secretary, marbletop end table, marbletop corner table, marbletop hall piece, carved walnut pedestal and Louis side chair. Reproduction queen ann desk, chippendale bench, and federal table. Old Pac Mac arcade table, needs repair. Do not want to download all the photos. Please call to set appointment to see if you are interested. Location NW side if Indy between Carmel and Zionsville.

I emailed late last night, figuring some other collector or worse in Indianapolis got to the pac-man cocktail first. Sure enough, it was gone. (more…)

A Depth Charge classic arcade machine came up for sale yesterday on Craigslist in Kentwood, MI.

“This is an old full size arcade Depth Charge video game. It is fully functional and ready to use. asking $225. 616-538-6060″

I didn’t have any familiarity with this game, so I went and checked it out on Klov. Depth Charge looks like a cool old machine, (check out the photo below) made in 1977, so five years after Pong debuted, but I thought it was interesting that Depth Charge has some sideart. I see a lot of these 70’s machines that have the wood grain sides, that was probably a style choice at the time, or maybe an artwork production choice, I don’t know.

Depth Charge was made by UPL, who I didn’t think I had heard of. I scanned through the list of classic games that they produced, the only one I recognized was Carnival.

I know if I had limitless space, a game like Depth Charge would be appealing to me. I don’t know the history of this game on Craigslist, but it looks as if it is in a office space, or an auction house. Either way, I can’t believe that the owner really knows it’s value or historical significance. I am sure the entertainment value on this game is minimal based on the age, but to preserve a classic arcade of this age has some interest to me.

There are also some economics involved. Surely there weren’t many Depth Charge machines made, and there probably aren’t that many left. But have the larger populous of collectors heard of this game, or want it in their collection? Probably not. Will they get $225 for this Depth Charge? Possibly depending on condition. The fact that the game works it huge. But more than likely they will not get the full asking price, and the person that buys the game may or may not be a collector with a passion. But if you look at the supply and demand of games for collectors, there are some funny trends. Not all rare games are collectible because of the quantities produced. But the larger the quantities, the greater the availability driving the prices down. But that is neither here nor there.

If the Depth Charge is still available when I visit Michigan later this month, I may go and take a look at it. I don’t have the room, but I would like to at least experience it, because it is a rare find, especially for Craigslist.