Acarde Machines
in Help Wanted!
Hey I dont post here to often, and when I do its usually for help. So my deal this time is that Ive meet a guy looking to sell his arcade company, and he may be taking the arcade machines to auction off. I might go with him to this auction. So what I wanted to know is, are there certian arcade machines that I should keep an eye out for, and buy off of him or bid on other peoples arcades if the price is good? What should I be looking for?
Comments
Bad Buttons
Bad Joysticks
Rough CPO
Do you want a dedicated cab? If you don't care, you can get a cheap 6 button JAMMA cab that will play a TON of games. Lots of people go the Neo Geo route too, and that is a great way to get into cabs.
As a beginner, I would stay away from cabs with monitor or harness issues. Some fixes are easier than others, but those aren't really things you'll want to mess with on your very first cab.
Pay more for original dedicated machines than on conversions. An arcade machine that plays Pac-Man does not make it a Pac-Man cab, and the price should reflect that.
Good luck, and have fun!
Make sure he provides a key to the cabinet. Believe it or not, I've seen a guy rage on YouTube that he bought an arcade from someone and he didn't make sure a key was provided.
I'd also like to stress that you should stay away from cabinets with monitor issues.
Have the seller open up the cabinet and walk you through everything. You can tell a lot about the condition, care, quality, honesty of the seller, etc. by how people talk about their merchandise. Ask plenty of questions...
Also, like cosmicjim said, your offer can be influenced by what purpose you want the machine for. If it's fun, it depends on the game (and/or the nostalgia associated with it) and "fun:cost" ratio, so to speak. If you're wanting it to collect and possibly resell, then, if its possible, research what the cabinets that interest you are worth before you make an offer.
Hopefully this helps... I'm not that experienced, I only own one cabinet, but this is just from my experience.
Make sure he provides a key to the cabinet. Believe it or not, I've seen a guy rage on YouTube that he bought an arcade from someone and he didn't make sure a key was provided.
Yeah, I had to drill out the lock on an Aerotable and it SUCKS! I know I've seen videos where it looks easy, but it was a huge pain in the ass. Some cabs have a back access panel that you can unscrew and then remove the lock from the inside by unscrewing it, but you're better off not having to rely on that.
Excellent point for sure.
Hey I dont post here to often, and when I do its usually for help.
Hey I dont post here to often, and when I do its usually for help.
Lol, read it in his voice.
Recap-ing a monitor is not hard, at all. I did a DK machine a couple years ago, and supposedly the monitors used by Nintendo are one of the bigger pains in the ass to work on.
My main criteria would be:
(1) cabinet integrity. Like Mark said, cabinet CPO's are easy to deal with, but the overall cabinet needs to be in good shape... also, open it up and check for bugs/rodents...
(2) game functionality. Play the game for a little while and make sure nothing glitches. I almost bought a Phoenix cabinet last year (looks like a great deal), but there were all kinds of glitches that I suspect might have been bit rot.
(3) dead monitor. a totally dead monitor would be a challenge to trouble shoot. But if the monitor turns on then jailbars, poor v/h-hold, stretching/collapse are all easily fixed with cap kit.
http://www.arcade-classics.com/price_guide.html
...now I think some of these prices are pretty low, at least in the Portland/Seattle area, but I agree with a lot of them.
Try to stay away from cabs with major problems, because they will more than likely sit in your garage until you can't take it anymore, then you'll sell it for super cheap just to get rid of it! There are a lot of collectors and ops looking for classics like Galaga, Donkey Kong, Centipede, etc, as well as old vector games like Star Wars and Tempest. I would stay away from shit like Big Buck Hunter and Rush The Rock, games like that.
...and of course, buy anything Nintendo! Those are my favorite.
As far as valuable pieces, Major Havoc, Tron, Discs of Tron, Dragon's Lair. Basically the stuff you never find at auction. :-)
It doesn't cover every title (I think they say they have about 4400), but you might want to check out http://www.arcade-museum.com/ . But be warned that there are definitely some titles that just aren't listed, even some big names.
They are a place that has members put in what titles they own, want, are for sale, etc. Then they consolodate all of that into easier to read format. For example, here is what it says about APB ( http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=6795 ), paraphrased:
General about the Killer List Of Video Games website:
There are 7819 members, 4797 who have submitted their collections, totalling 77822 submitted machines, and 4345 unique titles.
APB:
The game is considered Very Common. 65 members own this game.
Of these, 61 are original dedicated machines, 2 are loose circuit boards.
7 Members have one for sale.
17 Members want to buy.
Game ranks 29 out of 100 in popularity, based on ownership records.
Game ranks 34 out of 100 in popularity, based on census want lists.
NOTE: Ownership of MAME's and other ROM's don't count.
There is a lot of other info about the cabinet (such as the abililty to download the user manual for selected titles), but I felt that this was the stuf that was more geared towards what you want.
So, nothing about price, but it does at least give you the statistics, including estimating rarity) of ownership among people in this particular database. And obviously, it only works as well as the members make it work, just like Nintendo Age.
Are there any rare cabinets that I should look out for if there condition is good?
Polybius
I would say pinball machines of any kind are worth $$$. Other than that marvel vs games. Stuff like daytona or seated racing games. I would be partial to area 51 and any street fighter. The classics are always good such as Pac-Man and Mario.
Pinball machines are dead on $$$.
edit: Please find me a Gottlied 1992 Super Mario Bros pinball machine.