Arcade Auction!

Cherokee Music hosted an auction this Saturday. This was the first auction I actively participated in, and I learned a lot. First, I learned never to bid on stuff that I don't know the value of. 

I thought it was crazy to let a really nice Joust go for $450, so I bid $500. After fees and taxes, the final price was $600. Not bad, but not great, especially since I have no room for it.

Second, I learned that the best deals happen late in the day, after the crowd thins out. I picked up this Gottlieb "300" for $60 (after fees):

A good friend of mine was also interested in it, but he was a pal and didn't bid against me.

The second half of the auction was for items in the warehouse that weren't powered up for preview, so there were some good deals. I picked up this "Area 51: Site 4" for $240, and a junked "Area 51 / Max Force" for $12:

The junked game was my best deal for the day, because the boards and hard drive worked! I'm planning to try the monitor tonight, and if it works I'll put it in the Site 4 next to it. 

One gut-wrenching thing did happen to me, which leads to lesson #3: don't rent trucks from Home Depot to haul games. I got a beautiful "Primal Rage" in a minty cabinet for about $350. But even with 2 guys helping me unload it, we dropped it off the truck ramps:

The boards and monitor came through unscathed, so it's not a total loss. I'll probably try to repair the cabinet at some point. Very fun game.

Speaking of gut-wrenching, look at this stack of pinball backglasses:

I'm surprised that this wasn't in the auction, and I wish I'd offered the owner something for it.

More than 30 pins were auctioned off. Here are approximate final prices after fees/taxes (assuming cash sales) - thanks to Ken for hammer prices and notes, and Eric for adding more notes on condition (bb = buyback, in orange):

• Fish Tales 1 - $1380, nice but didn't power up
• Fish Tales 2 - $1680, this one had a wild touch up on one side, for the fade, and a few broken plastics
• Bugs Bunny - $2100,  a stunner
• Scared Stiff - $2500 (bb), looked ok, weak up kick, LEDs
• AFM - $2600 (bb), faded 3 sides, needs ramps
• Fun House - $1700 (bb) eyes didn't work, and the vuk was weak, faded cabinet, LEDs
• LotR - $3000, left flipper dead, and a lil chunk out of the ring hole
• Austin Powers - $1560, didnt see it playing
• WCS94 - $1440, will be nice after a shop job
• Slugfest - $600, bat was dead
• Maverick - $870, upper left part of DMD had issues
• FirePower 2 - $390, blown out playfield
• EarthShaker - $960 backglass was ready to peel at bottom left
• Mousin Around - $600, lots of wear near flippers
• Nascar - $1800, nice - good deal at that price
• Getaway - $870
• Rollergames - $600, pretty clean
• Mario Andretti - $1800, touched up front, siezed up flipper
• Party Zone - $720, DMD was out
• Striker Xtreme - $600
• Hollywood Heat - $300, working and decent
• Rescue 911 - $690
• Haunted House - $720, not working
• Shaq - $500 (bb)
• Dale Jr - $2000 (bb)
• Black Rose - $750, never saw this working
• Royal Rumble WWF -$600
• Comet - $240, clean, but sat there and hummed 
• Cyclone - $1000 (bb), wavy mylar
• Amazing Spider Man - $720, worn backglass, one missing insert
• Playboy - $ (bb)
• 8 Ball - $1200, worked well
• Kiss - $3000, looked pretty clean, think cabinet was repainted
• Dolly Parton - $625 (bb)
• Nugent - $650 (bb)
• Grand Prix - $360
• Rack em up - $120
• Dealer Choice - Pass (no bids)
• Lucky Ace - Pass (no bids)
• High Speed - $90 & $150, together they will make an ok machine
• 300 - $60, some flaking at bottom of BG, nice playfield and cab, not tested so may not work

A few more lessons I learned (hey, you've read this far)...

• Huge games go cheap; nobody wants them
• Keep your cell charged so you can look stuff up, and so your wife can reach you