As a child of the 80’s I played any arcade game I came in contact with. It didn’t matter what it was – if  I had a quarter in my pocket and the time to play it, my hands were steeled and ready to mash buttons to fight the onslaught of galaxy invaders, wild animals, cartoonish gremlins, or hulking brutes.  Sure, I had my favorites along the way, but generally speaking, I was indifferent to which glowing cabinet ate my money as long as it delivered a challenge.

Growing up and studying art and design has truly made me appreciate the visual aesthetics of things in this world. While I certainly enjoy playing arcade games, I have found through my collecting experiences that I actually enjoy the hobby more than the games themselves. What does that mean, you ask? Well, the hunt is certainly thrilling, but when it comes to placing games in my permanent collection or selling games to a buyer I enjoy the restoration process the most.

It all started when I raided an operator’s basement back in April, 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not one to normally score the awesome Craigslist deals. I don’t get updates sent to my phone, I have a normal 8-5 job so I can’t leave to get deals at the drop of the hat, and lastly, I live farther outside metro Atlanta than most. Therefore, I was almost certain I had already missed out on a deal I saw first thing this morning and was reluctant to even send off an email. The ad was for four different items – one Williams Flash pinball machine, two counter top touch-screens, and one bartop Playchoice 10, for $300 each or all 4 for $1000. The ad clearly stated that the monitor worked, but there no games came up on the screen. The owner suggested that the power supply needed to be replaced.

I’ve had a bartop playchoice 10 before, but that wasn’t what I was interested in. I was actually interested in what came with the PC10. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s nice whenever the games come to YOU. I was contacted last week by a gentleman who had previously purchased games from a former operator I had dealt with in the past. He was looking to get rid of his collection because he was moving to a smaller house and need to downsize. Granted, the lot didn’t consist of many “classics”, but still not an entirely bad collection. My favorite part of the deal was that all the games but one were working! I also got a few circuit boards and NEO cartridges in to boot! Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve documented what’s in my game room these days. I used to post whenever I added a new game, but somewhere along the way I got too busy to do this for each game.

Here’s my current lineup: Read the rest of this entry »

I suppose over a year-long wait is suspenseful enough, so perhaps it may be time to update you on how the “Warehouse Raid That Wasn’t” finally turned out:

If you haven’t seen the video walkthrough of the warehouse, I suggest you take a peek. There was literally tons of stuff being stored there. Although the warehouse contained primarily redemption games, there were plenty of other cool items as well. Highights include the original Billybob’s signage, original restaurant booths, a photo booth, skeeball mahines, a bunch of video games, and of course – the full Rock-a-fire show including animatronics, sets, and sound equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

I attended my first Super Auctions this past weekend. I was very pleased to be able to attend and that it happened to be only a twenty-five minute drive for me. This was the first auction I have been able to attend since I became aware of their existence. The last auction held in the Atlanta area was last February (’10), but it just so happened that there was a severe ice storm and I didn’t want to risk a catastrophic car wreck just to bid on some crappy games.  I was very excited to be able to attend.

The auction was held at Cherokee Music, which despite the name, is actually an amusement company that sells Jukeboxes (where it got the name from originally), arcade games, and pinball machines along with the random neon sign or two directly to the public. One of my old operator contacts told me that back in the day Cherokee Music Read the rest of this entry »

This is a project I have been working on for essentially two years now. It was one of those, “I’ll get to it when I can” type of projects. It seemed that there was always something more pressing to attend to in line ahead of the game. As you can see, when I got the game, it had been converted to Twin Cobra. The boardset worked, so I was able to get a little coin for that by selling it on KLOV. Unfortunately, the cabinet was going to need some major work to get restored. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been lucky enough to have had an opportunity to participate in several warehouse raids in the short amount of time that I’ve been collecting arcade games. Warehouse raids are always exciting and exhilirating. Pulling up to the driveway of a building filled with untold treasures always makes the heart flutter. Actually getting inside, turning the corner of rows and rows of games is even more thrilling. However, sometimes, things are too good to be true.

Here, is a tale of one such “too good to be true” warehouse… Read the rest of this entry »

I just watched the movie for the first time the other night (sacriledge, I know) whilst recapping a monitor. Wouldn’t you know it, the next day I saw this awesome cartoon on a blog I read. After playing a fully working Tron in a friend’s gameroom, I am on the hunt. That blacklight is just too pretty and the gameplay is too fun.