A funny story... Craig's List and the X'Eye

[fishsandwich]

The Nice Redneck and the dirty X'Eye

Greetings, all.

I like to get on Craig's List and look for stuff to buy (and laugh at weird people... I admit it.)

I got a nice Gameboy SP package for my father real cheap, and I almost bought a REALLY nice NGPC lot until some sneaky DP'er beat me to it (bastard!)

My partner's 40th birthday approaches, and he and his brother LOVE karaoke. I thought I'd buy him his own karaoke machine for his birthday so he could sing at home.

I went to Craig's List and found one listing in my area. The ad said...

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Karaoke machine and music - $50

Used karoke machine by jvc with 30+ cds in good shape works good


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A JVC karoke machine? Sounded like an X'Eye to me (Genesis & Sega CD clone, all-in-one.) The guy lives in a suburb not too far from where I work, so I e-mailed him. He replied that night and gave me his phone number.

I called him Sunday night.

"Hi, I was calling about the karaoke machine?"

<heavy Southern redneck drawl> "Yeah it's still for sale $50 and it's yours"

"You said it's in good shape? What does it look like? It's made by JVC?"

"Yeah I think. Lemmie look its right here in a box with some other shit." (Rustling and coughing and dogs barking in background) "Yeah here it is says JVC x-eye like eyeball on it. It comes with a microphone and a lot of other stuff."

"Is anything wrong with it? Why are you getting rid of it?"

"My girlfriend bought it at a flea market but it only plays through the TV set. She wants one of those there things with a speaker or something. I don't know. I hate that karaoke shit but this one is good if you gotta TV set. It comes with a bunch of music. She didn't like the music much but you might like it." <that's not word for word, but it went something like that>

"What kind of music is it?"

"It's a bunch of stuff. It comes in big cases. I don't recognize any of it."

BINGO.

We talk a few minutes more (he's actually kind of nice and personable for a redneck... reminds me of my brother) and it turns out he works construction just a few blocks from my office. He offers to drop off the box at my office at lunch.

We met around 1:00 yesterday... he told me to look out for a Ford F150 around 1:00 or so, and I did. You couldn't miss it. It was one of those LONG-ass trucks with a huge cab and an extended bed. He could barely navigate in the parking lot.

I went out to his truck to meet him. He had to park at the end of the parking lot just to have a space for his big-ass truck. Roy (his name is Roy) was a very skinny guy in his 40's wearing a Nascar hat. He was covered with dust, smelled like sweat and gawd-awful cigarette smoke, and had a long brown and grey ponytail that extended down past his ass. He greeted me with a classic "howdy" and pulled the box out of the back seat of the truck and laid it on the ground for me to look at. The box was one of those big plastic storage bins. It was so heavy I had to help him get it to the ground.

Inside was a dirty-looking X'Eye and at least 30 CD games.

There were NO music CD's. His girlfriend had been trying to sing along with Sonic CD and Lunar and was irritated that she didn't know the words and that the words didn't come up on the screen like they did at what I can only presume to be her favorite honky-tonk on the edge of a tobacco field next to a trailer park. Try to imagine that if you will.

Roy the Redneck was actually a really, really nice guy. He had a genuinely nice personality and grinned like a fool the whole time (he did have all his teeth, contary to earlier predictions.)

There was no way to test the machine, but the games seemed to be in excellent shape. I could see a few broken and cracked cases in the mix, but these are Sega CD cases we're talking about... they break if jostled (not as bad as PAL Dreamcast games, but still fragile.)

"I swear it works great." Roy said and looked very sincere.

I told him I'd give him $100 for it all. He looked like I'd offered him a kidney or maybe a trip to Wrestlemania.

He helped me drag the box to my car and load it in the back. I gave himn $100 in $20's and he pumped my hand vigorously. We parted ways, both very happy.

It was a long, long day at work. I REALLY wanted to go home and check out the system and games. I had seen a Lunar in there and I wanted to see what else I had, but I really wanted that X'Eye to work... my Genny/Sega CD set-up is pretty sad and has a lot of interferance.

I finally got home around 9:00 (I had promised a friend I'd go walking after work and then go to dinner) so I had to wait until then to dig through my box of stuff.

The games are in great shape. A few busted cases, but very nice shape overall. There's Shining Force CD, TWO Lords of Thunder, Lunar 2, TWO Lunar 1's, NBA Jam, SoulStar, TWO Thunderstrikes, Mortal Kombat, Pitfall, and a bunch of FMV games (gawd they suck!)

The X'Eye is rough-looking and squeaks when you open and close the CD door, but it plays great. Very LOUD and assertive opening screen music, not at all like that funky stuff than plays on the Sega CD screen. It loads games MUCH faster than my old Sega CD unit. I haven't tried the karaoke part yet. Anyone know if you can use Armor-All on an X'Eye?

I'm keeping the X'Eye and some of the games and selling the extras (I already have a few of these games in my own collection.) I am still planning on buying my partner a karaoke machine, but he doesn't get the X'Eye.

Thanks, Roy. You were a nice guy.








z

[Sylentwulf]

Wow, nice story and then seeing that photo is like a swift kick in the balls. I was expecting a lot dirtier, and a lot broken..er... stuff than what's in that pic. Nice friggin haul

[anagrama]

His girlfriend had been trying to sing along with Sonic CD and Lunar and was irritated that she didn't know the words

Aw man, that's fantastic!
Congrats on the score, I'd guess it kinda makes up for missing out on the NGPC bundle

[Damaramu]

Holy shit, what a steal. And I mean it too.

I love my X'Eye. It's a sexy little thing, with it's heavy duty spring lid and all.

But those games....you are one lucky SOB.

[tylerwillis]

Nicely done. Wonder if Roy went home and talked about the sucker that bought that crappy karaoke machine? Good thing ya'll both went home happy.

[Aussie2B]

Awesome story and find. :) That was really nice of you to offer $100 when it seems like he wasn't even sure if you'd pay $50.

[Captain Wrong]

That's awesome. I love stories like that (and people posting a REAL find for a change. )

[DDCecil]

This thread reminds me of when a family of country folk brought in a Sega CD and a HUGE lot of games (around 40!) to my dad's store back in 1998. They had Lunar, Popful Mail (w/ Strategy Guide), and a bunch of games I had never even heard of back at the time. I think they bought a PSX w/ some sports games with the credit they received.

[Trevor Belmont]

What an awesome story; what great finds, too.

There were NO music CD's. His girlfriend had been trying to sing along with Sonic CD and Lunar and was irritated that she didn't know the words and that the words didn't come up on the screen like they did at what I can only presume to be her favorite honky-tonk on the edge of a tobacco field next to a trailer park. Try to imagine that if you will.

I obviously have no idea what this girl looks like, but to see the "WTF" look of confusion on her face as Lords of Thunder or something like that pops onto the screen and her expecting to sing along would've been priceless.

[nik]

Awsome find! I'll be looking forward to your tradelist!

[Jorpho]

There were NO music CD's. His girlfriend had been trying to sing along with Sonic CD and Lunar and was irritated that she didn't know the words and that the words didn't come up on the screen like they did at what I can only presume to be her favorite honky-tonk on the edge of a tobacco field next to a trailer park. Try to imagine that if you will.

I obviously have no idea what this girl looks like, but to see the "WTF" look of confusion on her face as Lords of Thunder or something like that pops onto the screen and her expecting to sing along would've been priceless.

I can only imagine what would have happened with Popful Mail. Or Sonic CD. Or better yet, a Japanese version of Sonic CD!

[ClubNinja]

That's awesome. I love stories like that (and people posting a REAL find for a change. )

Oh. You mean as opposed to 98% of those sporting gigantic pictures found in every finds thread since 2001?

[Ed Oscuro]

Some people have absolutely horrible taste in music...oh, the shame.

[yuppicide]

That's an awesome story. That's pretty funny about the Rednecks. I would have bought the unit in a heartbeat if I were you as well.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Man,that was a Great Read...

Congrats!!!

[fishsandwich]

I would like to add that my story was in no way meant to disparage, degrade, or belittle rednecks in general. One of my brothers is a HUGE redneck, some of my friends are quasi-rednecks, and I used to be something of a redneck myself in my earlier years.

Roy was a very nice man. I got someting that I wanted, he got something he wanted. We both ended up happy.

That being said, I would have loved to have seen the look on his girlfriend's face (I'm thinking bleach-blond hair, heavy tan, gold nugget and turquoise jewelery, Camaro or Firebird, Winston Lights, Budweiser) after she booted up her fancy Karaoke machine and tried to sing along with INXS: Make My Video or Chuck Rock ("Rock" music, you see.)

"Roy, how in the hell does this here thing work? I can't see the words and that man won't shut up and let me sing!"





z

[Captain Wrong]

That's awesome. I love stories like that (and people posting a REAL find for a change. )

Oh. You mean as opposed to 98% of those sporting gigantic pictures found in every finds thread since 2001?

Naah, I mean as opposed to people who think crappy TRU clearance games are finds.

Plus the pic doesn't bust the page width. I like that.

[ClubNinja]

That's awesome. I love stories like that (and people posting a REAL find for a change. )

Oh. You mean as opposed to 98% of those sporting gigantic pictures found in every finds thread since 2001?

Naah, I mean as opposed to people who think crappy TRU clearance games are finds.

Oh. So you mean 98% of the reported "finds" then.

[legov8]

WOW, that's a very nice karaoke machine.

[tholly]

nice story about an awesome find....congrats