Buying Arcade Classics?

spock123 writes "I grew up in the 80s and spent most of my time playing the old arcade classics (Pacman, Galaga, Asteroids, DigDug, etc). Now I feel a sudden urge to own one of these guys - but I can't figure out where and how to buy them. =Do the SlashDot readers know about companies selling 80's arcade machines? Where's the best place to buy? Recommendations, links and experiences are welcome."

heh

[Anonymous Coward]

i used to work at a arcade service place. i remember these high school kids we caught once getting in our dumpster. the boss got really mad. the kids didn't get anything. the boss had us start smashing all the stuff we threw out. we even busted up stuff which was still good or easily fixable sometimes. we put bashed in pinball games and video games out there just to piss off those kids. i remember having to bash in a practically new "star trek" pinball game. didnt want to but we had to (company policy now). it was kinda funny because the management didnt give a shit and thought destroying shit was good. i remember when we had to dump some excess cleaners and oils into the toilet. we probably dumped at least 15 gallons of oil containing PCBs into the toilets when i was there. haha the "enviro freaks" would be pissed if they knew that.

Advice from a VAPS member.

[Anonymous Coward]

Start off with VAPS (http://www.vaps.org/), the Video Arcade Preservation Society.

Do *NOT* ask those members if you can buy their equipment. But rather, talk to them to gain advice. Many will let you visit, and play their games...

Buying arcade games is not for the faint of heart. You need to be comfortable with taking apart a TV set, 'cause the monitors are usually internally open, exposed, with lots of high-power sources lying around.

You should be comfortable working with hardware. You should know how to solder, how to fix/repair electronics... Knowing how to troubleshoot an electrical circuit is useful...

Transporting arcade games is a logistical nightmare. You will need a truck. You will need friends. Good friends. Lots of them. You will discover, very quickly, just how good those friends are. And how strong. Games typically weigh on the order of 200-300 lbs.

Plan on blowing $100 or more for a good appliance dolly up front. Something with stair-climbers and straps. The sort of thing you use for hauling around a full-size refrigerator.

Be careful about laying games down on their back, coffin-style. Sometimes things are not as well attached as they should be. (Had a CRT like that once...)

Now, you are ready to start shopping.

Check your local paper for auctions in the classifieds. I've found video-game auctions being held locally (or nearby at any rate) at a frequency of about once a year, and acquired most of my games through them. Several for under $50. (Yes, the truck rental to move them home cost me more than that.) One thing to watch out for at auctions: Sometimes the bidding gets hot, and you lose all track of what something is worth. I've walked away from auctions before, when I've said hey, what the hell, this is far too much money for that...

Periodically, there are major video game auctions held around the country. You can try to track those down too.

Alternatively, try online sales. rec.games.video.arcade.marketplace is a good place to start...

Just one thing: Try to examine the product before you buy. I've seen games that were absolute crap, that had been stored outside, with monitors that were completely burned in (to the point that the phosphorus had come off the inside of the monitor), yet they were still listed as "good". Needless to say, one look and I said no thanks.

Also, check the controls. Check everything you can. Try to see whats broken. Besides, it's fun to play the games...

And yes, MAME is a lot easier to deal with...

Arcade info

[Craig Maloney]

• Check rec.games.video.arcade for arcade auctions near you, and advice on how to deal with operators
• Check in your yellow pages for a place that sells arcade machines
• Go to an arcade and talk to the operators there. Some are cool, but most aren't. Find out if they have machines for sale.

Hope this helps!

Go into a bar

[unitron]

Go into a bar. Look at the jukebox. There should be sticker on it somewhere with the name, address, and phone number of whatever company provides, stocks, and services said jukebox. Talk to them. They probably handled arcade games back in the day, might have something gathering dust in the warehouse, might be a source for parts or a source for names and addresses of sources for parts (make sure they understand you aren't going into the same business as them, that it's just a machine or two for personal use), might know another jukebox company in the next county over with something in the back room, etc.

Or they might be a bunch of jerks and tell you to buzz off. Won't know 'til you ask.

Video classics with a 5 year warrenty

[Useless]

check out TNT Pinball [tntpinball.com]. They have a ton of games,in all sorts of enclosures (mmmm, outrun cockpit...). they also come with a warrenty. They are a bit expencive though, in comparison to ebay and the like.

Dreamcast solution

[Diamon]

Sorry I can't provide better linkage but the filtering proxy server at work isn't letting me track down a link to a JAMMA arcade cabinet, but you could get one and combine it with an adapter from http://www.arcadegames.net/topsecretdcsarcadepage. htm, and a Sega Dreamcast, and the Namco greatest hits GD-ROM and get I believe all the games you listed. Throw in the Sega Smash pack and get Altered Beast, Sonic and some other goodies.

Re:Video classics with a 5 year warrenty

[gmhowell]

Good bunch. I bought two games from them about two years ago. Okay to talk to, helped me with a minor repair during their massive Xmas rush last year. CHEAP delivery. $100 for two machines (one was a 16 foot skeeball machine) about 3 hours from Philly.

Yeah, the prices were a bit nuts. But I believe I got what I paid for.

Advice from (another) VAPS member.

[gmhowell]

I've not had any luck with the 'local' papers. But going to the nearest large city (Wash. DC, in my case) is much better.

I would try going to a few auctions, and purposely underbidding on some stuff to get a feel for how they work.

Beware eBay. You will spend as much (or more) as from a company like TNT, and get a much dicier product.

I'll second your advice about being able to solder. If you always get a cold joint, get some practice.

Yes, MAME can be easier, but the ROMs are probably not legal for you to have unless you have the game. In which case, why would you want MAME?? I thought about building a MAME-cab, but decided against it. MAME is best for trying a game to see if the game is really as good as you remembered.

But remember that you have an 'investment' for life. Go to your local arcade, and check out how they are abused, and they keep on running. Once your machine is up and going, it takes very little to keep it in good shape.

Re:mame

[gmhowell]

Mame has a time and place where it is appropriate. IMNSHO:

When deciding whether or not to buy a game. Mame can give you a general feel for the gameplay and appearance. Of course, without the ROM file, THIS IS ILLEGAL.

Mame can also serve as motivation to finish that cabinet resto.

Finally, there are some cabs that you will never find, or be able to restore, or that are truly out of reach (Star Wars cabs come to mind).

Mame is to the real thing as masturbation/blow-up-dolls are to the real thing.

(Again, I don't discount the work done on MAME. It is truly an amazing emulator. It just isn't a replacement for a cab)

Re:Auction Sites

[gmhowell]

I could deal with the shipping prices. My problem when I was looking at the auction sites was that the prices were so high, especially for stuff that has no warranty.

I have created a FAQ just to answer that question.

[AtariDatacenter]

How to Buy an Arcade Game [galstar.com] gives you a good start on purchasing an arcade game. I wrote the FAQ because I got so tired of answering people's questions in my mailbox about how to get ahold of one, or how to find one. There's a lot more to it, and I'm currently writing a book [galstar.com] (MS Word format, sorry) all about collecting classic arcade games.

MAME and ROMs

[Stavr0]

I believe it would be simplest to buy a defective arcade game, open up and rip out the board containing the ROMS, and leave the big box there. That way you become legally licensed to run the emulated MAME version of that game.
---

If you are in the UK...

[pastie]

...then check out Arcade Heaven (http://www.arcadeheaven.co.uk), which has a shop in Maidstone, Kent. I haven't bought anything from them personally, but I have heard lots of good stuff about them, and they guarantee their machines, boards etc for 3 months.

I bought a 4-player Gauntlet machine a while ago (not from the above), but I can't remember where from... :( *sound of memory fading in old age*

[Disclaimer : I'm in no way affiliated with Arcade Heaven, etc etc]

I collect the old games myself.

[Judg3]

The way I got into it was a local arcade was going out of business, I picked up an upright Top Gun machine for 300$, not to shabby. I found 2 really helpful sites out there. One is Namco Game Search [namcoarcade.com] and there is also US Amusement [usamusement.com] which not only auctions of arcade games, but Pinball machine, pool tables, and other misc stuff. (Pachinko anyone?) The beauty of collecting arcade games is literally the low cost. There are *ALOT* of games out there for under 1000$ USD. I ran out of space (and Im single in a 3 bedroom house) so I seem to land incredible deals now all the time =\. Have fun.

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Re:Dreamcast solution

[pallex]

Managed to find a nanny filter thing which can deal with https:\\www.safeweb.com yet?

AMEN!

[Jagasian]

I love Mame! I have it installed on all of my PCs, but I also own actual classic arcade PCBs (too poor to own full cabinets). For some of the core games that Mame emulates, it does a really good job, but the emulation is never perfect... true fans that have spent 1000s of hours on a pac-man machine or a Street Fighter II machine will be able to "feel" the difference. The slight timing differences, the slight color problems, the off-ness of the sound emulation. The masturbation analogy is a really good one. You can have fun playing Mame, but its shy of the realy thing.

Re:Auction Sites

[-=OmegaMan=-]

The problem with auction sites is, most of the sales are going to be faaaaaar away from you (at least, too far to drive) and shipping on a 200+ pound cabinet ain't friggin cheap.

Auction Sites

[CryoStasis]

Try auctoin sites like EBay and Yahoo! they have misc. stuff like that on there sometimes. You can also look in thrift stores they are bound to have something like that lying around :-)

Abuse the Money-Hungry

[skuzzlebutt]

When I was a yungin' we used to go to the local skid row bars on payday and offer them cash for their old arcade games...if business was slow, sometimes they'd bite.
A friend of mine used to keep Track and Field in the back of his truck under a tarp, go to a friends house and run an extension cord out to it.

Moral:...um...I don't think there is one.

We lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt

Here are a few links

[V_M_Smith]

try Video connection [videoconnect.com], Flippers.com [flippers.com]. There are tons more out there if you search on Google [google.com]

Tips...

[no_such_user]

You should check out The Arcade Video Game Price Guide [gameroommagazine.com] which looks like will be released 7/15/01. I've seen the author's collection, and if that's any indication, this book should be a handy tool.

Some tips:

When looking for games, I've found that the highest priced ones were located in smaller stores in upscale suburbs. These are usually better maintained, but you'll end up spending three or four times as much than if you bought one, with maybe some small blemishes, from a warehouse or distributor.

If you're buying from a dealer or warehouse, a non-working game is usually a good sign that it's difficult to fix. If the pros haven't taken the time to fix it, it usually means that the bad part is difficult to find. Don't count it out though - you might be able to find parts on eBay or via the newsgroups.

Try your local bowling alleys, bars, etc. Don't expect these establishments to give up games just because they're older -- people still pump quarters into older games. However, someplace going out of business might give you a good deal just so they don't have to deal with a big beast of a game.

Look for auctions.

Buy a soldering iron.

Learn about CRTs.

Find a strong friend with a van or truck.

Buy a huge handtruck... like the giant UPS ones, maybe bigger.

Most imporantly: read rec.games.video.arcade.* [google.com] and associated FAQs. These are priceless

Good luck!

superauctions

[krismon]

I buy my cabinets at one of the many auctions that come through town, with most of the sellers and buyers being professionals(people with commercial arcades to fill) but sometimes you find a gem here and there, that you might want to fight them for. There were several Ms. Pacmans there at the last auction in town, Missle command, tempest, and some others too.. there was a good mix of old and new. www.superauctions.com [superauctions.com] seems to tour the US fairly regularly...

There is also a lot of information (FAQ's) about buying arcade machines from auctions and other places at www.spies.com/arcade/info [spies.com]

Twitch Games

[bstrahm]

Ok, I was drivning down the road one day at lunch with a co-worker. We saw this store and did a U-Turn (probabally illegal) and walked in. It is a store that retrofits all of the old 80's games, they had them all... Doing a search I found www.twitchgames.com... however the DNS does not seem to be resolving now YMMV.

our very own rob

[kfs27]

http://cmdrtaco.net/cabinet/ [cmdrtaco.net]

Rob Malda has a few of his own and has built a mame machine, and also built the cabinet himself.

It looks very nice and he has it kind of well documented with links to the places to get any plans and other stuff you may need. have fun
-----
Kenny Sabarese
Left Ear Music
AIM: kfs27
irc.openprojects.net #windowmaker

mame

[ryants]

I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but I say build your own MAME cabinet.

I think (but I could be wrong) finding and buying the original cabinets is going to be pretty hard and expensive.

Ryan T. Sammartino

i've helped a friend with his

[niall111]

NBA Jam isn't exactly 80's I guess, but we got it for 1200$ CDN. There is a HUGE warehouse in Nova Scotia, Canada. The owner was a friend of a friend who let 3 of us come in and have a look around. I still get goosebumps thinking about all the stuff they have in there. I'm quite certain these types of warehouses are all around. Ebay is cluttered with the machines, as well as the Jamma boards. It's not a hard hobby to get in to at all. I can't really compile all the links, etc. that he has into this post, but if you're really interested in getting into this, email me. There's lots of cool stuff to learn about them.