Arcade Auction Results -- 04/30/2005 OKC

[Flack]

They say no one owns only one arcade game; you just own your FIRST game. Once the fever hits you there's no turning back. One of the most economical ways of satisfying that hunger for huge cabinets is by attending video arcade game auctions. Sometimes you can find some really good deals, and sometimes ... well, this can happen.

The auction I attended today kind of fell apart right in front of my eyes. For starters very few buyers showed up, which meant not a lot of auction action was taking place. On top of that, a lot of the people there had no idea what the value of games was, which meant people were bidding $100 on Frogger machines that had $500 reserves on them. To top the whole thing off, the auctioneer got frustrated due to the lack of bidding and bidders and at one point called the auction off. Later he said he would only auction items if you went up to him and expressed an interest. This was around halfway through the auction, with over two dozen games left plus a dozen pool tables and several other vending machines. The entire thing was a disaster. I think all the classic games were "buybacks" (the seller bought them back from the auction company by outbidding regular bidders) and most of the non-classics didn't sell due to low bids. In other words, not a lot of games changed hands today.

Regardless of the bad results, I always have a good time looking at classic games, taking pictures and talking to people. Here are the pictures I took today.

Prices listed at the end of the post.



I knew it was going to be a day when I pulled up and saw this pile of smashed cabinets sitting in the driveway. Ouch!



Hey, one of those could have been my next MAME Cabinet!



Four pinball machines, including the Last Action Hero and Playboy.



One of the many Area 51 cabs for sale next to a 4-in-1 Arcade Classics cabinet (Frogger/Donkey Kong/Galaga/Ms. Pac-Man).



Area 51, bowling, Golden Tee, Sunset Riders, 4 player TMNT.



Two MAME cabinets, a super nice Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, and three Ms. Pac-Man (men?).



Two Froggers, three Ms. Pac-Men, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong.



MAME Cabinet, 4-in-1, not sure, Defender, 4-in-1, Galaga, three Froggers.



Dead parts machines.



Space Invaders cocktail.



Print Club cabinets (the ones that take your pictures).



Future MAME Cabinets!



Dead cabs.



More dead cabs.



NFL Blitz 99, TMNT, Deer Hunter, and another Blitz.



Neo Geo, Golden Tee, Neo Geo, Mortal Kombat II, Golden Tee, Blitz 99.



Neo Geo (2 slot), Golden Tee, Neo Geo (4 slot)



I think that's Lethal Enforcers and Power Drift 2 in the middle there next to the Golden Tee 2K cab.



Some older games. Snow Bros, Golden Axe, and ... something.



The most offensive cabinet conversion of all time, the never-popular Star Wars to TMNT conversion, flanked by Street Fighter and Tetris.



Tetris, Shinobi, and Neo Geo.



Capcom Bowling, World Series, and Area 51.



A jeep coin op ride I thought about buying for my kid.



GP Rider, Power Drift 2, more golf.



More of the same.



A little self-portrait in an empty crane machine.



A really sharp looking MAME Cabinet.



The same MAME Cabinet from the front, next to another 4-in-1.

The following prices were noted by Arin "Witchboard" Morris of the Oklahoma Arcade Collectors mailing list. Remember, "buyback" means that the seller or the auction company bought the game back and the game never changed hands.

Dedicated Metal Slug X - $350
Lethal Enforcers - $300
Ridge Racer 2 - $200 (buyback)
Golden Tee 2K - $250 (buyback)
Tekken 3 - $250
Neo Geo 1 slot in a two-slot cab - $200
Golden Tee Fore! 2004 - $700
Neo Geo 4 Slot? - $200 (buyback)
Mortal Kombat II - $350
Golden Tee 2K - $300 (buyback)
Blitz 99 - $350
Trophy Hunting Bear & Moose - $600
Blitz - $275
Sunset Riders - $200 (buyback)
Golden Tee ’98 - $400 (buyback)
Area 51 - $300
Golden Tee ’99 - $200
Martial Champion - $200
Blitz 99 - $300 (buyback)
Area 51 - $200
Mame Cab - $600
Mame Cab - $500
Donkey Kong - $300 (buyback)
Dig Dug - $200 (buyback)
Ms. Pacman - $400 (buyback)
Ms. Pacman - $300 (buyback)
Ms. Pacman - $500 (buyback)
Frogger - $100 (buyback)
4 in 1 Cab x3 - $500 choice (buyback)
Galaga - $750

Pins

Last Action Hero - $800
Motordome - $400
Playboy 35th Anniversary - $600
Secret Service - $450
Spring Break Project Pin - $150

Games that were either not offered as auction items or didn’t sell.

Die Hard
Radikal Bikers
TMNT
World Class Bowling Deluxe
4 in 1 Cab
GP Rider
Power Drift
Hippodrome
Snow Bros.
Golden Axe
Atomic Punk
Street Fighter
TMNT Turtles in Time
Tetris
Shinobi
1 Slot Neo-Geo
Capcom Bowling
World Series The Season
Maximum Force
MAME cab
Air Raid
Defender
Frogger
Several Parts Machines

[SuperGunGuru]

Ughhh that poor star wars cab Did they mess up the sideart or maybe they left it alone thinking Vader looked close enough to Shredder

[Hovoc]

wow, i really need to hit one of these up sometime, quite a few cabs on my want list there.

sad that super auctions doesnt have anything listed anyplace theats remotely near me.

[tholly]

hmmm...a crappy auction

that sounds like yesterdays New Jersey Super Auction

hopefully its just the time of year, and later in the year the auctions will have more items and less people that dont know what they are doing

[imanerd0011]

I honestly can't believe you guys think that an auction like that was crap. It looks AWESOME to me!!! I guess that is because I have never been to one before, so pretty much anything would impress me.
I wish that the auctions websites could put up a list of the games that were going to be auctioned off, so you knew what (and how much) was gonna be there. They give a really vague description of what the auction is going to be like.
I definatley will go to one of the Superauctions/US Amusements (that are in NJ) this summer!!!

[Flack]

I honestly can't believe you guys think that an auction like that was crap. It looks AWESOME to me!!! I guess that is because I have never been to one before, so pretty much anything would impress me.
I wish that the auctions websites could put up a list of the games that were going to be auctioned off, so you knew what (and how much) was gonna be there. They give a really vague description of what the auction is going to be like.
I definatley will go to one of the Superauctions/US Amusements (that are in NJ) this summer!!!

The reason they don't put up a list of what's going to be for sale is usually they don't know! Most of these auctions run off of consignment sales, which means that people bring in the games that are for sale the day before or sometimes the morning of!

As far as the auction sucking, I know the pictures look pretty cool but it's like this. Let's say Mr. X brings a perfect Galaga machine to the auction and is planning on getting $1,000 for it. So here come me and you and we're like man, that machine rules! So I start bidding at $100 and you go $200 and then all of a sudden Mr. X bids $300. So I go $400, you go $500, and Mr. X goes $600. At most of these auctions, sellers are allowed to bid on their own games. The thing is, you and I don't know that Mr. X is the game's owner (or might not even see him bidding!). So that's why I said this one sucked ... here me and you are trying to win this game for a "good" price when basically there's a "reserve" that we aren't aware of.

A lot of it also is the local market. I know that a generic jamma game goes for between $100 and $150 around here, so when you go to an auction and people are bidding $300 for them, you know you're not going to go home with a good deal.

[Gapporin]

Man, that Space Invaders cocktail looks nice...was it sold at all? How much did it go for?

[tholly]

Man, that Space Invaders cocktail looks nice...was it sold at all? How much did it go for?

i dont know about the price at the OKC Auction, but at the Cherry Hill, NJ auction, that same cocktail with no sound or picture working went for somewhere around $150-200

[Flack]

Man, that Space Invaders cocktail looks nice...was it sold at all? How much did it go for?

They never got to it. I think that the warehouse where the auction was is also used as a workshop for fixing games, so it might have been one that was there being fixed and not for sale. But yeah, it caught my eye too.