Author Topic: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?  (Read 54066 times)

Superully

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #105 on: May 30, 2011, 05:23:56 PM »
don't know the story of alpha's sw cockpit!

as for the old guy: i've sent him letters, emails and called him: he told me that our expectations (price-wise) differ way too much to EVER expect to come to an agreement. ask toralf aka time pilot how difficult it is negotiating with that guy. i might call him again at some point in the future, the problem is that his son is running the business now and he's even worse than his father :-\
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

TimePilot

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #106 on: May 31, 2011, 03:53:58 AM »
yes, ully has right. this old dude is very very hard to handle. if have buy the paperboy from him, but it was a badly action with him and the price is insane. i think the other cabs you were find in 2030 at his warehouse, they don´t want sell them really...

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #107 on: May 31, 2011, 09:55:21 AM »
Insane........I mean if he at least would be wanting to sell them for those prices you'd expect him to advertise them somewhere instead of keeping them....

On the other hand....this may be a nice raid in 2021  ;D ;D ;D

Superully

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #108 on: May 31, 2011, 10:14:58 AM »
Insane........I mean if he at least would be wanting to sell them for those prices you'd expect him to advertise them somewhere instead of keeping them....

i think an offer of 250 - 300 euros for an untested gauntlet is not too bad or insulting, but he wants to have at least triple that amount. as for the super sprint: he thinks that one is worth no less than 1000 euros (or even more). he kept telling me that he paid 4000 marks back in the days for it.
i also offered him 250 for the untested asteroids (and 50 bucks for the completely hacked missile command which is merely a shell) - but of course he declined.

what is your take on those prices?
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

level42

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #109 on: May 31, 2011, 10:37:58 AM »
I say you are right and he is nuts.

He probably DID pay 4000 DM for that Sprint back in the day, not an unusual price for an imported game to my ears.
But if you think that it's still worth half the value (4000dm is about 2000 Euro right ?) after about 30 years....he's nuts.

He'll probably never sell them during his lifetime....can't be long, keep an eye on the local paper for the ad of "gone" people ;) ;) ;)

Q*ris

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #110 on: May 31, 2011, 10:47:50 AM »
what is your take on those prices?
Totally decent offers for untested games imho.
We should take turns and call him at least twice a year with the same offers until he "open the gates" (or completely loose it ;)).

level42

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #111 on: February 14, 2012, 07:16:54 PM »
So....is the owner uhm......did he change his mind yet ? ;)

Superully

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #112 on: February 14, 2012, 09:02:53 PM »
don't know, but i've been talking with toralf recently about contacting him again. there's been interested in two of his cabs ... but the way he talked the last time he still thinks he's sitting on a goldmine. might be true for the pinballs, but we know that most videogames are NOT!
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

Muerto

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #113 on: February 14, 2012, 09:30:48 PM »
haha, totally forgot about this thread!
I´m still in for the Gauntlet, but not the Missile Command, 2 is enough  ;) ;D
So instead ill take the PP1 and PP2 ;D

Alpha1

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #114 on: February 15, 2012, 01:24:37 AM »
Get me a pinball list  ;D

Superully

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #115 on: March 03, 2012, 06:32:23 PM »

1 1/2 years after my first visit, i returned to "the warehouse with the gold nuggets inside" (at least that's what the owner thinks)! however, in the meantime his son has taken over the business (with the father still crawling around in the background ;)) and he's much easier to talk to. while he still thinks he has tons of gold stored away in the warehouse, he is open for offers and seems to be at least willing to sell some of his stuff! this time around, i was not alone though, i met up with toralf "time pilot" who was there on a mission of his own - but more on that later!



my first order of business was to check out the tehkan world cup for an arcade friend of mine. the game is still there (who would have thought otherwise?), although much dustier than the last time i was there!



dust is not a problem, age is, so the big question is: is the game working? let's plug it in :arrow:



sideart is still present, but the rest of the art is missing. i'm afraid getting replacements / NOS artwork will be impossible here. it's a shame, because the game is fun indeed (but the trackball's bearings definitely need to be replaced)!



i love the "stadium bezel" around the monitor!



here's what the game is supposed to look like with artwork attached :arrow:



the owner also showed us a room i hadn't seen the last time i was there. it was their repair room and in it there were also a couple of cocktail tables, the nicest of which are those dedicated asteroids machines!



the main purpose of my visit though was the super sprint! i wanted to find out more about the condition of the game (didn't have that much time on my first visit), whether it is working or not and if we might be able to come together on a price which would make both of us happy!



so we plugged the game in, coin door lights came on (at least two out of three), we could hear the fan, but we waited and waited for a picture to appear on the screen - nothing! we added credits to find out if it played blind, but nothing happened. he told me that the game had been in operation until ten years ago when they pulled it from location and it was working back then. the operator was 99% sure it was still working, well, he had to realize that 99% is not 100%!

we started talking business and i told him his father had told me two years that he wanted 200 for a non-working game and 500 for a working one. his reply was something like "this is not A game, this is THE game", because this is the one in which he sunk tons of money, so basically a lot of childhood memories involved here. i made him an offer for the game as-is, but he refused and said he wanted to have his technician have a look at it first! whatever ... :evil:



everything else was still there as well, for example the two gauntlet machines (one with tall sideart)!



this time around i also decided to do the pinball guys a favor and take more pictures of the machines, so here you go :arrow:





because most of the pinballs are cramped together in the middle of the warehouse without an aisle to walk in between, i asked the owner if i could set up one of the ladders leaning on the walls to get some nice shots "from above". even i have to admit, that sight was absolutely impressive! :o :o :o







in the background, you can see toralf on the ladder i had set up and the warehouse operator on the right



Get me a pinball list  ;D

if anyone isinterested in a list of available pinballs, send me a pm with your email address (or an email directly) and i'll forward to a pdf document i received from the seller. please do not try to contact the operator without going through me, ok?



but the operator not only has pinballs and video games stored away in his warehouse, but also some really nice jukeboxes!







check out the amazing light effects of this seeburg mardi gras! :shock:



while i think that most jukeboxes are pretty ugly, i have been chasing one particular model over the course of the last few months - a seeburg smc1 disco. i love everything about that machine: the design, the colors, the light effects, the controls, just everything! it's a machine from 1978, so it would fit perfectly in my (arcade) collecting period. i almost bought one a couple of weeks ago on ebay germany, it was listed pretty cheap, but it was not working and i'm still somewhat afraid of the electronic and mechanical stuff inside a jukebox. this is something completely different from a videogame!

why am i telling you all this, you might be wondering. well, while the operator showed us around the warehouse we entered a long hallway and guess what was standing there, as if it had been waiting for me: a seeburg smc1 disco! i had never seen one in person before (just videos of it), so i asked the seller if he could plug it in for me - which he did! are you ready for some amazing photos of that beauty? :-*







unfortunately, we couldn't try out this fully-loaded jukebox (because there was something wrong with one of the locks and we didn't have german marks to add credits). later, we found two more machines in another room in the cellar, but the one we opened up didn't have any records inside. nevertheless, i know now what i really really want! 8) ;D

here's a picture of the one we opened up. right now, for me this is like watching someone do sudoku: i just can't comprehend what's going on there! :D



let's turn our attention to toralf's mission, because he didn't travel all the way down here from northern germany just for the fun of it. his eyes were on the missile command! he had been in contact with the seller before asking about that particular machine. the last time i was there a hand-written note on the glass bezel said it had been converted to something else!



as it turned out, the operator's brother is a software developer and he had put a computer and a tft monitor inside to test one of his games :evil:! most of the original parts are gone, the control panel has been hacked, but this is one of toralf's arcade grails, he got it for cheap and he has almost all the parts to convert it back, so he went for it. this is going to be a lot of work, but well worth it. one more classic saved!!!



time to haul the machine out



a proud toralf next to his grail!



as always (or least: often), toralf was accompanied by his 71-year old dad and for the first time in his life, he operated a digital camera to take this final photo of some crazy arcade guys who - once again - travelled hundreds of kilometers for some 30+ year old video games to relive nostalgic childhood memories :P. i think he did a great job with the photo!



and then we rode off into the sunset ... :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

Q*ris

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #116 on: March 03, 2012, 08:19:48 PM »
Excellent! thanks for this detailed report Ully... please stop showing pics of cool jukeboxes, I don't want to get hooked on these machines, arcades are space consuming enough!  ;D

ataritoobin

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #117 on: March 03, 2012, 08:33:32 PM »

my first order of business was to check out the tehkan world cup for an arcade friend of mine. the game is still there (who would have thought otherwise?), although much dustier than the last time i was there!

...

sideart is still present, but the rest of the art is missing. i'm afraid getting replacements / NOS artwork will be impossible here. it's a shame, because the game is fun indeed (but the trackball's bearings definitely need to be replaced)!


I think there's a NOS CP overlay on Yahoo! Japan Auctions...let me see if I can find the link.

EDIT: Here it is: http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/149529988 Only the 2P side

If you're interested I can put a bid in through a proxy service but there will be added fees + shipping.  Maybe one of our members in Japan would be able to bid for you?
« Last Edit: March 03, 2012, 08:57:32 PM by ataritoobin »

TimePilot

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #118 on: March 03, 2012, 09:01:24 PM »
Hey Ully, very nice story and pics!!! now i have a new personally avatar, thanks dude...   :lol: ;)

First, I'm good back home, and my dad + grail too. ;D

Many thanks for the (short) fun time. man, that's such a shame that we meet not so often, this must be change... :-\

Hope anybody here can take any of the other cabs, this must be safe!!!
« Last Edit: March 03, 2012, 09:12:33 PM by TimePilot »

Superully

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Re: Warehouse Visit(s) - anyone up for some dedicated games?
« Reply #119 on: March 03, 2012, 09:40:04 PM »
Excellent! thanks for this detailed report Ully... please stop showing pics of cool jukeboxes, I don't want to get hooked on these machines, arcades are space consuming enough!  ;D

;D the good thing about jukeboxes (at least for me) is that you don't need more than one. once you've found your favorite model (which i think i have), you're fine and can return to buying video games again! :D

I think there's a NOS CP overlay on Yahoo! Japan Auctions...let me see if I can find the link.
EDIT: Here it is: http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/149529988 Only the 2P side
If you're interested I can put a bid in through a proxy service but there will be added fees + shipping.  Maybe one of our members in Japan would be able to bid for you?

so cool, thx man, unfortunately only the 2P side, but this shows that that stuff still is out there. if this was a complete set, i might even go for it, just to have it over here and pass it on to the guy who takes the cocktail table! do we have any japanese speaking guys here who cold ask the seller if more art is available?
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!