I bought my first "real" arcade machine today!

[Mattiekrome]

Well 2 actually. I was able to make it down to the Metrolina Expo this morning for the SUPER AUCTIONS thing goin on. Never been to one before, so I didn't really know what to expect. I was going mainly for pinball machines, and "maybe" a cabinet in good shape to strip down and make into a MAME cab.

When I first got there, I made my rounds over the entire building making notes of what I was going to keep my eyes on. I ended up with a list of of 4 neon signs, a "lot" of 5 pinball translite/backglass, a megatouch 5000 bartop, a few pins, and a pile of potential MAME cabinet canidates.

I ended up with a "Knights of The Round" 3 player standup and a "Solitare Challenge" standup. I was looking for a cab in great shape for my MAME conversion, and the "Knights" fit the bill. At $25, ya cant go wrong. Bonus, it has a 25" screen in awesome shape! I just ended up grabbing the solitare game because it was there and just needed to be bought. The auctioneer looked me right in the eye and my hand involuntarily flew up. Got it for $10.

Other highlights:

Original dedicated Super Punch Out cabinet (dual monitor) and in great shape too... $45

The auctioneer actually paying someone $1 to buy a pool table. It wasn't in too bad of shape either. I would have taken it myself, but just didn't have the room.

The auctioneer not getting a bid on a "lot" of 9 left over standup machines (4 fully working!)... They finally sold for 10$ when the auctioneer laid a $5 bill on one of their CP's.

Virtua Racing 2 seater sitdown (great condition) - $70

Daytona USA sitdown (1 seater, good shape, monitor a little washed out) - $225

Night driver sitdown, nearly perfect - $25

Demonshift, HUGE game. One of those ones with like a 40" projection screen on it and a seperate CP about 5' away from the screen : $30

Jet Grind Radio slot machine, brand new (w/LCD screen) : $60

Full size standup coke machine : $200

8' steel top bar w/ 2 keg taps : $100

And an FYI to anyone who is planning on going to one of these auctions for the first time. Dont put all your $ on the first line of games they sell. By the end of the day, I could have had an original Ultimate MK3 in killer condition for $60, another 3 player "Rampage" standup in better shape than mine for $20, and many many other fully working machines for between $10 - $25. It would have been possible to open a small arcade for less than $500 bucks, wish I had more space!
b

[boatofcar]

Those are both sweet. Was this at a SuperAuction?

[Poofta!]

these prices... they are mind boggling... boggling!!!! its boggled!!!@!@#!

[Atari 5200]

where was this?

[Mianrtcv]

Nice finds. I'm not too jealous... Then again I have no room or $$$, but still.

[diskoboy]

Jet Grind Radio slot machine!!?? Sweet!

Pic please!

[Mattiekrome]

Those are both sweet. Was this at a SuperAuction?

Yeah it was SuperAuction. My first VG auction, and I am contemplating selling our house and buying a new one with a basement so I can start collecting/restoring standups. I didn't know that games could be had for such a price...

Dammit

I didn't see it sell. If I had, it would be in my garage right now

where was this?

Charlotte, NC. They do shows all over the US though. Their upcoming calender is below...

http://www.superauctions.com/launch/cal/index.html

Jet Grind Radio slot machine!!?? Sweet!

Pic please!

Doh, I said Jet Grind, I meant to say Jet Set... I didnt take any pics (I regret it now), but I didn't feel like being "that weird guy" taking pictures of everything... Here is a google shot of it... (that box in the upper right corner is the LCD. Never saw a slot/pachislo machine with an LCD before)



http://stealthhome.stores.yahoo.net/jetsetradio.html

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Flack]

I didnt take any pics (I regret it now), but I didn't feel like being "that weird guy" taking pictures of everything...

Actually, SuperAuction's policy is that there are to be NO pictures of any kind taken at the auction site. If they catch you they will ask you to stop and/or leave. I was asked to stop taking pictures of arcade cabinets with my cell phone. When I asked why I was told, "because them's the rules." When I asked someone else in charge they told me it's because they would have to get permission from all the game owners to take their pictures or pictures of their cabinets. That sounds like a bullshit reason to me, but I'm not sure why they would care?

[Candycab]

Actually, SuperAuction's policy is that there are to be NO pictures of any kind taken at the auction site. If they catch you they will ask you to stop and/or leave. I was asked to stop taking pictures of arcade cabinets with my cell phone. When I asked why I was told, "because them's the rules." When I asked someone else in charge they told me it's because they would have to get permission from all the game owners to take their pictures or pictures of their cabinets. That sounds like a bullshit reason to me, but I'm not sure why they would care?

Yeah that definitly sounds pretty lame, depending on where the auction is held you could probably tell them to go pound sand and there isnt much they could do about it, someplace like a county fairground etc where even after renting a hall its still considered a public space.

[20eyes]

Superauctions are great, you can get some sweet deals there. I picked up a dead aliens for $25 and a dead hang on for $50 at the milwaukee auction. I'm upset that i passed on the operation wolf though...
Aliens needed a fuse and one cap on the monitor now fully working, and i got a nice working monitor in the hang on. I freind of mine than went down with got a fully working naomi system for $100!
Ditto on the first row. if you can hold out for the last row thats where the real deals are, lots of cabs under $25 there.
They do have some dumb rules though, no hands inside the machines etc.

[Flack]

The key to SuperAuctions is going early for the preview time. At one I attended, I saw a Q*Bert cabinet that wouldn't power up at all or anything. The front was open and when I looked inside it was empty. Later, during the actual auction, the auctioneer said, "I don't know why this isn't working, but I saw it working this morning." He saw a gutted cabinet working? Please. They'll say anything during the auction portion to get bids. It's on you, as the buyer, to have checked out the game in advance.

From what I understand, the reason they don't want people inside the games before the auction is that you could "sabotage" a game (pull a wire or something) so that the game doesn't fire up and then no one else would bid and you could get it for cheap.

I agree with the front row stuff, they really front load their auctions with all the classics and at your first auction it may be a little disheartening to see games going for $500-$1,000, but as you guys have said, wait it out. By the time you get to row 3 you start seeing lots of games for between $100-$200, and if you can stick it out for 5-6 hours, there are lots of sub-$100 games. And, like you also saw, near the end there are lots of cabs for $10, $5, or less, which is why I gawk every time someone mentions paying $200+ for a cab to MAME ...

[diskoboy]

Thar JSR machine is pretty sweet! Does it have the music from the original game?

I wan't one now.

[bigdaddychester]

DANG!! I wish I'd known about this, I was in Concord all weekend for the dirt races over at Lowes Motor Speedway. Of course it would have been tough strapping something like that to the roof of my Intrepid....

[Mattiekrome]

Sweet. All that cheap stuff and you ended up with that Solitaire Challenge machine heh. Still really awesome

Yeah I had missed out on a couple other auctions that I had my eye on, so I was to the point that I just wanted to take something home with me (heh, reminds me of my college days)... This was about 10 minutes before they started selling uprights for real cheap

From what I understand, the reason they don't want people inside the games before the auction is that you could "sabotage" a game (pull a wire or something) so that the game doesn't fire up and then no one else would bid and you could get it for cheap.

Yeah, same rule goes for some of the auto sales I had been to in the past. There are some pretty shady people out there when it comes to that kind of stuff.

Thar JSR machine is pretty sweet! Does it have the music from the original game?

I wan't one now.

I never got within ear shot of the slot machines. I was only about 20 feet away, but it was so noisy in there all you could hear was the auctioneer over the PA system. But yeah, if it had the original tracks on from JGR on there, that would be worth it alone

DANG!! I wish I'd known about this, I was in Concord all weekend for the dirt races over at Lowes Motor Speedway. Of course it would have been tough strapping something like that to the roof of my Intrepid....

They will be coming back to Charlotte in September of this year. Thats when I'll pick up a poker machine for my wifeys dad, a bartop (megatouch), and hopefully a dedicated SFII, MKII, or something along those same lines.