So, what's inside?
i guess it's time to reveal - but first the story behind the deal!
more than three months ago, bruno posted a
le bon coin space wars ad on the forum. space wars are already damn rare in europe, but this one was a version noone had ever seen before - a spanish version created by sonic. although i'm a huge fan of the original cab design, the artwork on the spanish version simply rocks! i was thrilled from the first moment i laid my eyes on that cab, but of course there was a downside to it: it was located in freaking southern france, in perpignan to be more precise, almost 1200 kilometers from my place. because of that, a roadtrip was out of the question. i got in touch with the seller nevertheless, but was told that the cab had been sold to someone else already, so i quickly forgot about the game (did i really?). move forward two months ... a few days before christmas the ad popped up again on "le bon coin". once again i contacted the seller and asked what had happened. obviously the original buyer did not pick up the cab, so i immediately seized the chance to grab it the second time around. there was only one problem: how the heck should i get the game up here to germany?
i got in touch with kevin "hatster" from southern france who's a good friend of
dave the deliveryman (the guy who transported the 20+ nos monitors around europe) and asked if he would be heading up north anytime soon. the answer was YES! dave had planned a trip to england in late january / early february, so i asked christophe (the space wars seller) if it would be ok for him to keep the game until then and he agreed - he even agreed on a lower price
.
some days later, when i got back from a relaxing day in the sauna, i read about the closing and the cab sellout of the arcade barn in the uk!
although i was sad to read that such a great arcade had to close down, i also saw the opportunity to get some more games i was looking for. i would probably not have gone for them if i hadn't known that dave was going to get some games from the arcade barn for kevin anyway and therefore i asked him if he had enough space in his van to squeeze in a few more games besides the space wars. once again, the answer was YES!
my initial plan was to ask rav if i could have the games stored at his place for a later personal pickup, but i also asked dave if it would be possible to transport the games directly to my place in germany. i guess three times a charm, his answer was YES!
after a week on the road, it is finally time to open up dave's van (one more note in advance: the robby roto on the left is not for me)
as i've said before, there are no pictures of the actual unloading process because noone was around to take pics (well, who is at 10 o'clock in the morning on a weekday?). therefore, here's game number two already at its (current) location inside a storage. ladies and gentlemen, may i present to you ...
here are those two games side by side - isn't it a wonderful sight?
but we're not done yet because there's another game in dave's van which needs to be unloaded!
to further my atari system 2 collection (which already consists of paperboy and championship sprint) i got myself an APB - All Points Bulletin. and because i didn't want the cabinet to stand around at by itself in the storage
, i put it right next to my space invaders
my austrian friend alex got himself a dedicated frogger in pretty good nick (with a willis cpo installed) which of course i will store for him until a later personal pickup!
all the games are working (or at least they were before they were hauled all across europe) - it's "only" a matter of cosmetics now (and a gameroom
)!
i have to thank dave and especially kevin for arranging the pickup / delivery and for all those live updates i received during dave's way up north to england and down south again to germany! this deal would not have bene possible without you!!!