So I went to a coin op arcade auction

[Bubba McBubba]

Through a long and bizarre chain of events I won't go into here, I stumbled into a warehouse auction of arcade games and related machinery yesterday. 

It was a pretty surreal experience: a warehouse full of old and new arcade games of all types, pinball, token dispensers, kiddie rides, skeeball and everything in between.  There were even these human-sized plaster ghost figures that I guess may have been part of a mini golf set-up (all I know is they were creepy as fuck sitting there on top of the warehouse office. 

I admit I was hoping to see some sort of amazing (and still working) video game from my youth.  They had a Ms. Pac Man and a Donkey Kong, and I would take either one except I already have my dream machine (Centipede, in a cocktail cabinet) and I don't have much more room for anything else.  I also saw an Asteroids Deluxe machine, but I know the vector graphic monitors in those blow up frequently, and pretty much literally, and are damn near irreplaceable.  They also had the 1984 Atari skateboarding game 720, which I have also heard of, but never seen in person before.

Just stayed long enough to see what was up for auction and soak up the weird vibe.  The auctioneer was on a wireless headset, and had a cloud of seemingly long-unwashed individuals around him.  The air reeked of cigarette smoke and desperation.  Guess this was my first brush with carnies outside of a county fair.

If anybody is interested, the place I went to apparently does these every so many months.  The site for yesterday's auction is here

[dirk]

So how much were the video games going for?  I would love to have something like 720, but never knew what the price was so I never pursued it.

[Cockney Rebel]

If they had the Mars Attack pinball machine and we missed it I may just have to go outside and kick a dog.

[Bubba McBubba]

So how much were the video games going for?  I would love to have something like 720, but never knew what the price was so I never pursued it.

Y'know, I kinda wish I had stayed until they auctioned off that or the Kong of Ms. Pac Man machines.  According to the very-in-the-know person who directed me to the auction, most of the buyers want those new newer, environmental games where you're driving, waterskiing, goat fisting, what-have-you and the seat moves as your characters does.  Those older arcade games are not as much in demand.

Just from my own limited experience, I would expect to pay $500 - $100 for a game of that vintage and in working order.  If it is something unbelievably rare and/or of additional complexity (i.e. a vector graphic game like "Battlezone" or "Tempest", an environmental cabinet like some versions of Star Wars or Discs of Tron, or the hen's-teeth-rare games like I Robot), I would expect to drop several grand.  At an auction like the one I went to yesterday, I'm guessing the 720 went for only $300-$500, if anybody bought it at all.  Way too many of the people were far more interested in these new, grey-market coin ops that have the boards for 6 different games in them, or those on-the-bar-counter game machines.

As for myself, I would be tempted to drop a grand for a working cabinet of certain games.  Not sure why I'm so hung up on it, but I really really really want to play the coin op Marble Madness, even if it is for one last time.  And I would be willing to spend between $1000-$1500 for a working Pinbot pinball machine (my wife's favorite game).

[Bubba McBubba]

So how much were the video games going for?  I would love to have something like 720, but never knew what the price was so I never pursued it.

They did not, but they did have X-files and South Park pinball machines that I haven't even heard of before (but then, I don't really care for pinball).

[Juliana]

I think Four and Kwij went to a regular auction of arcade stuff in Hamilton a few years ago.
I've seen a few things herea and there on Auctionzip.com

[Dan]

Old school video games are awesome, but their playability/desirability is usually pretty low. Like, it's awesome to play for 20 minutes, but then I'm bored and move on. Still, I wish I had a house with a basement where I could buy those and then display them.

This weekend I went to the Museum of the Moving Image here in NYC and they had an exhibit called "Behind the Screen" which then went into a lot of different sub-categories. One of them was "interacting with the screen" or something like that, and of course they had old-school Nintendo and Genesis and such. I thought to myself, "hey, I own something that's in a museum! Awesome!"
There was some girl sitting there playing Super Mario Brothers so I didn't get a chance to really check it out, but I knew enough already.

[Kwyjibo]

I think Four and Kwij went to a regular auction of arcade stuff in Hamilton a few years ago.
I've seen a few things herea and there on Auctionzip.com

We were going to go, he got there first and called it off, they didn't have what he was looking for.

[Doug]

Skate Or Die!

[Fourthisto]

We were going to go, he got there first and called it off, they didn't have what he was looking for.

Ah yes, I remember that one. They mostly had carnival-style games, or stuff that Kings Island would sell off when they got new ticket-providing games in, or something. The cool thing was that the guys from Arcade Legacy/Legends were there, so it was neat to see them in action.

Back then (and to this day, truthfully), I really wanted a tabletop Pac-Man/Galaga combo, and they didn't have one. They did have a sit down tabletop Arachnoid, but the glass was in horrible condition and I didn't feel like plunking down dough for something I'd have to really fix up.

[Fourthisto]

Skate Or Die!

Di-di-di-die! Damn. Now I have that theme song stuck in my head. Thanks dude!

[Chris]

If they had the Mars Attack pinball machine and we missed it I may just have to go outside and kick a dog.

Attack From Mars or Revenge from Mars?

Attack:


or Revenge:


Personally, I would love a working "Taxi".

[Cockney Rebel]

If they had the Mars Attack pinball machine and we missed it I may just have to go outside and kick a dog.

Attack From Mars or Revenge

The top one

[Bubba McBubba]

Personally, I would love a working "Taxi".

Do you mean "Crazy Taxi", or a different game?  Just asking because they had a "Crazy Taxi" at the auction.  I've never played the game before, but people I know wanted one bad until the bidding went way beyond what they could afford.

[MissKitty]

Crazy Taxi was a really fun game to play. I can see why your friend wanted one bad.