Author Topic: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab  (Read 7370 times)

Chuckie egg

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My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« on: August 29, 2014, 08:12:55 AM »
Hi guys,
As some of you already know I have been looking for a sheriff Arcade machine for quite sometime. Now this is a very rare Arcade machine and I've only ever seen a few pictures on the Internet,but earlier this year someone got in contact with me about a sheriff cocktail machine they have but is broken and wondered if I could help fix it.
I went, I saw,i fixed and tried to buy this machine but that was never going to happen because it had been in the family for 25 years.
That was okay because I was just happy to help fix this rare & classic machine by Nintendo.
Then I found a collector in Europe who is the owner of the Dragons Lair forum (darthnuno) Bruno and asked if he would sell his as it was my grail game.
At first he was not interested but after a few months he made me a offer I could not resist but on one condition,I would have to come and get it from his place in Belgium.
No hesitation I jumped at the chance and a trip was organised for the weekend just gone the 23rd of august.
I travelled with my good friend Mark Who is my competitor at my local car boot sales so it was great to have him on board as he made a great navigator using the old fashioned maps we managed to find some really good boot sales in Luxembourg and France.
We left at 7 AM Saturday morning and arrived at 7 PM that same day .
It was a really long journey, being my first time on the wrong side of the road we made good time.
So we arrived at Bruno's house which was in the middle of the country, and first impressions was where is the arcade because if you look at the pictures it just looks so small from the outside but inside it was absolutely massive.
I had seen the pictures of his arcade but never expected to see the best Arcade Room I've ever seen in my life. As you walk through the door the first thing you notice is Computer Space ,Pong and Star Wars cockpit .
I can tell you I was so tired I had been drinking caffeine all day long but I hadn't come this far just to go to sleep I wanted to see as much as I could this evening of the fantastic Arcade.
His wife kindly brought us pizzas and we chatted lots played lots and I managed to interview him which you can find on the 10p arcade podcast .
But of course the main reason why I was here was to pick up sheriff, I can tell you I was not disappointed this machine was pretty much immaculate for its age and rarity .
I was totally blown away and just so happy to see my grail cab waiting for me to pick it up and take it back home.
So with gaming and lots of chatting we went back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep.
I couldn't sleep at all,i had so much caffeine in my body and I was just so excited I think I got about four hours sleep.
So next morning we arrived at Brunos house 7 AM to pick up sheriff and to make our way back home.
I travelled just under 900 miles that day it was an epic journey, & one I would happily do again.
Bruno said to me that I was the right person to buy that cab because I have travelled so far. The last thing he wanted was to pallet the machine up and send it away only to maybe get broken on route. He knew how much I wanted that game and was more than happy to let me have it.
I just wanna say a huge thanks to Bruno for giving me the opportunity to buy this machine and a huge thanks for this hospitality and his wife for the tea and pizza.
Next time I come back I will bring more friends and when ever you are in the UK you're more than welcome to stay at mine.
So enjoy the pictures








Went to our first car boot in Belgium


Arrived at the lair










Chuckie egg

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2014, 08:15:18 AM »



















Chuckie egg

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2014, 08:18:49 AM »






First time I've seen a red radar scope DK
Amazing












Bruno was very good at this game





Chuckie egg

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2014, 08:25:02 AM »
 

























Good reading material








Got the game back safely to my games room




Tyrem

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2014, 08:55:53 AM »
really nice pics, great catch! :)
for a second I thought you are about to pick up brunos DL... :D i was shocked! :D :D :D
Looking for Dragons Lair 1 or 2, Space Ace, Double Dragon, Robotron and yeah... a Shinobi would be cool, too!

synonym9

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2014, 08:59:22 AM »
WOW....what an impressive collection.

The Sheriff looks awesome!
I have a dream....that one day....all members of forum are the same....no matter how long ago they have joined, how many games they own or how many posts they wrote ;)

Q*ris

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2014, 10:31:29 AM »
 :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
I missed your visit buddy, really couldn't make it, sorry…
Next time you're in Belgium...  ::) ::) ::)

Tyrem

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #7 on: August 29, 2014, 03:51:05 PM »
:spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
I missed your visit buddy, really couldn't make it, sorry…
Next time you're in Belgium...  ::) ::) ::)

make sure you are right on time this sunday. ;)
Looking for Dragons Lair 1 or 2, Space Ace, Double Dragon, Robotron and yeah... a Shinobi would be cool, too!

Chuckie egg

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #8 on: August 29, 2014, 10:39:42 PM »
:spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
I missed your visit buddy, really couldn't make it, sorry…
Next time you're in Belgium...  ::) ::) ::)

Next year Chris for sure
I really enjoyed it
As I said to bruno
I will bring a few lads from Ukvac with me ok
Cheers buddy

ckong

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #9 on: August 31, 2014, 02:26:23 PM »
Nice report. and thanks for the great pictures, Bruno's gameroom impresses me every time I see it.  But ... why do you think that you are driving on the wrong side of the road?  :)

Chuckie egg

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2014, 08:18:58 PM »
Lol yea
Cus I got it wrong every time
Had few near misses but got to grips in the end.
The roads were clear and drivers were responsible.
I enjoyed the drive very much

DarthNuno

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2014, 10:33:22 PM »
Here's few picture I've done :













 ;)

Wil2000

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Re: My road trip to the dragons lair for my grail cab
« Reply #12 on: September 01, 2014, 10:18:28 AM »
really nice pics, great catch! :)
for a second I thought you are about to pick up brunos DL... :D i was shocked! :D :D :D
Same thought for me, it took me a minute to understand that you spoke about the Sheriff cab  ;D
And by the way, you showed a very nice row of cabs, I love it!