I have transcended dorkiness

[davidbrit2]

I have a new coin collection. No, not currency. It's a binder with 40 distinct, freshly mounted arcade tokens. And ten of them are different variations and dates of Chuck E. Cheese tokens. Has anybody else done this? Reassure me that I'm not clinically insane (or at least not for this reason).

It's kind of weird looking through these tokens from arcades that closed years ago, and wondering how they got into circulation at the other local places I frequent.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Out of the darkness, and into the dorkness! :evil:

Actually, I've got a few tokens myself, but nothing that elaborate. I'd love nothing more than a bagful of old Aladdin's Castle or Games R Us tokens. I loved those places back when they were around here, and it'd be dandy to have just a little reminder.

[portnoyd]

Wow.

I'm a 100% pure dork.. and.... I'm astonished.

Well done. :D

dave

[davidbrit2]

Wow.

I'm a 100% pure dork.. and.... I'm astonished.

Well done. :D


He he. Thanks. If this thing gets big enough, maybe I'll do some scans of the weirder items and make a web page. And perhaps launch a campaign to have everyone mail me a token and a brief description of where it came from. That could have interesting potential...

[Ed Oscuro]

I've got an old style (well, I noticed it was older than all the other tokens, sometime before 1994) Aladdin's Castle token...somewhere...

I must say that's pretty cool though! Get some pics up :D

[Half Japanese]

That reminds me of Tips n' Tricks "token of the month" feature they do (or maybe they don't do it anymore, haven't got T&T in a few months)....but on a whole new level. Hey, you might be on to something. I'll send some your way if I run into them, but all of the arcades around here now have gone to those annoying cards...

[davidbrit2]

I'll send some your way if I run into them, but all of the arcades around here now have gone to those annoying cards...

Yeah, I even jokingly commented about collecting Gameworks cards while I was buying the storage pages. Heh.

And give me a few minutes to find out how well my scanner works for getting good token pictures...

[Chunky]

i lost and auction 2 weeks ago for 250 diff arcade tokens for like 20 bucks, i was about to do this too, that or i was gonna glue them to my arcade cab.

[GamecubeFreek]

I collect Gameworks cards which is easy because I can spend all of the money and still have it. I had thought about collecting tokens, but that is like 25 cents that I could be spending! I need better self control...

[davidbrit2]

http://www2.gvsu.edu/~brittedg/photos/tokens/aladdin.jpg
NICE.

Hey Joe, want to give me some web space to build a token showcase? ;-)

EDIT: The school web server is down. DAMN IT. When it stops being down, you'll see a picture up there.

[djbeatmongrel]

awesome and dorky at the same time. thats awesome and i wish you the best of luck. :)

[Oobgarm]

Y'know, I've got a little red Aladdin's Castle velvet-like pouch full of those tokens. Plus a roll of them in a Namco wrapper.

[Half Japanese]

That remnds me...I've got a green "token holder" around here somewhere with Pac Man and the Namco logo on it from a Cyberspace (I think that was the name, it's since closed down) arcade I got several years ago. If you do put them on a site eventuallly, how about a "mouseover" of the reverse side for those that have different backs? Just a thought, and one that would save headaches with layout, space and whatnot.

[davidbrit2]

That would work except for the fact that I suck at HTML worse than I suck at Soul Calibur 2. ;-) I was considering putting the obverse on the left, and the reverse on the right in a sort of "panoramic" image, but that would probably be crummy looking enough that I'd go insane and pull out my little HTML book.

[Ed Oscuro]

http://www2.gvsu.edu/~brittedg/photos/tokens/aladdin.jpg[/img]
NICE.

Hey Joe, want to give me some web space to build a token showcase? ;-)


Hey, that's the exact same kind I've got. Nice indeed :)

[davidbrit2]

Yeah, I've got about 2 or 3 of them sitting around, and I'm not quite sure where they came from. They don't look like they'd be close enough to Craig's Cruisers, Putters, or Kahunaville tokens to be compatible. I've got a few other weird ones that I'll have to scan and see if anybody can identify them.

[tynstar]

I don't feel like such a dork anymore. Thanks!!

[ClubNinja]

Wow, a great topic that I can't believe I missed the first time. While it takes a back seat to my other collections, I collect arcade tokens too! In fact, just last weekend I was thrilled to purchase two Sega City tokens from a flea market coin dealer for 10 cents each. I've even been scouting out binders lately for the collection. Scary, ain't it? PM me - we should start trading tokens via mail ;)

[jhd7]

Not dorky at all... in fact, I'll bet if you visit coin-op newsgroups or boards, you'll find token collecting to be quite common.

[TheSmirk]

Ahhhhh....thats not too dorky, I've been collecting tokens from my arcade travels or a good many years now.

BUT, I don't have a binder or anything for them, THATS just dorky :D

[davidbrit2]

Ahhhhh....thats not too dorky, I've been collecting tokens from my arcade travels or a good many years now.

BUT, I don't have a binder or anything for them, THATS just dorky :D

And don't you forget it. ;-)

[rbudrick]

Damn,

What an intersting twistonm two hobbies. Too bad there will never be (unless someone here makes one) a guide to collect these...

Congrats. Do keep us updated, please. Folks, can we help him out?

-Rob

[autobotracing]

Y'know, I've got a little red Aladdin's Castle velvet-like pouch full of those tokens. Plus a roll of them in a Namco wrapper.

I got one of those too,I got it by winning 2nd place in a hydro thunder contest at alladins castle.

[Ed Oscuro]

Not dorky at all... in fact, I'll bet if you visit coin-op newsgroups or boards, you'll find token collecting to be quite common.

Darn right, this is just part of what falls under the category of "exonumia" (old fashioned store redemption tokens, transit tokens, medals, and yes, arcade tokens). It's actually got a good representation on eBay, look:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?query=arcade&catref=C3&socolumnlayout=3&lotr=1&from=R2&sacategory=3452&BasicSearch=

100 arcade tokens for $6.50...hmm...you'll be making your money back, easy :)

[Ze_ro]

I have a handful of tokens from local arcades that have since gone out of business. I certainly wouldn't call it a collection though, since I only have most of them because I never got around to using them.

--Zero

[TheRedEye]

I know for a fact that I've been to an arcade token collection web page. It even had the rollover effect to flip the coin over.

[Pantechnicon]

Not dorky. And if I were to point a finger at you for this then three more would definitely be pointing back at me.

The last time I took my kids to Chuck E. Cheese before we left the house I grabbed a handful of tokens we had leftover from our previous visit to the Rat's Castle. Looking closer at these things, it occurred to me that one of these tokens was from way back in 1988. So I took it and placed it alongside a 2003 and started pointing out the differences to my wife. You'd think that after eight happy years of marriage she wouldn't be surprised by this sort of thing but she just looked at me in that way O_O .

Kept that `88 token, of course.

[davidbrit2]

I have a handful of tokens from local arcades that have since gone out of business. I certainly wouldn't call it a collection though, since I only have most of them because I never got around to using them.

--Zero

I've got a confession. That's how mine appeared. ;-)

[Schenley]

You guys might want to check this out. It ends in 2 hours, though!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3273458651&category=3512

[davidbrit2]

Neat. But I'm a cheap ass. ;-) I find a good way of getting weird tokens is to check the ones you get in your $5 pile at the arcade. There are some odd ones in circulation.