American Amusement Auctions - April 23rd Westbend, wi

[Franklin]

Glad I left early. The auctions seem done as a means for collectors to pick stuff up. The past two years I don't recall buying anything. Craigslist, eBay, klov, word of mouth are all better ways to pick stuff up these days (in better condition and for less).

The last several auctions have been little to pick from, or the same 4-5 guys buying back their own and each others stuff. I'm pretty sure that's what happened with the crystal castles and 720. The ops/resellers compare notes and make side deals to avoid the fees. Not griping, just observing.

I only go to hang out and chat now.

 

[Atlas100]

This was my first auction. First off, I met a LOT of nice people there. That made it enjoyable. Always awesome to meet others with a passion for arcade games.

The auction itself was terrible. I must have counted a dozen times where they did the 'fake bids' trick. It went something like this: "500, 525... 500, 525... do I hear 525... OK 550, do I have 550... 575, 600... 575, 600.... OK 625... (five second pause...) OK, somebody give me a number. Do I have 100? 100, 125..."

I had actually read about them doing this from somebody here on KLOV, so I was waiting for it. I saw a couple of guys get screwed on this tactic. One guy paid over $500 for a redemption game that nobody else wanted because he didn't know any better. I felt bad for him.

The event was terribly organized and the place was filthy. I got in my car at the end of the auction and noticed one knee of my jeans was black with dirt. I kneeled down ONCE to look under a pinball machine...

It was an echo-ey nightmare trying to hear the guy through that $5 speaker/megaphone. This made it tough to follow sometimes.

There weren't a lot of classic games. Some of these were already mentioned, but here is a small list of games I remember. I didn't follow every price.

Joust - nice shape (not working as far as I knew)
Two Galagas - One looked like it had a new cabinet and went for $300 something.
Indiana Jones
Roadblasters - (didn't stick around to see it auctioned off)
Crystal Castles - GREAT shape and very good sideart (skipped by auctioners because it was "loaded on wrong truck?")
720 - pretty rough shape (skipped by auctioners)
Pole Position Cockpit - (skipped by auctioners due to a "bad rom")
Stargate - missing original bezel - didn't seem to work?
Star Wars - no side art with odd 'patches' on side of unit.
Multicade - 25" screen

As was mentioned, they skipped all of the games that most people were excited for. The worst part was how they skipped it. They just didn't say anything and then moved to the next game.

I was waiting for the 720, Crystal Castles and the PP cockpit. Had they said they weren't auctioning them off AT THE START, I would have left before the 720 AND bid on other games earlier. Instead I waited around for nothing and missed out on a couple I would have bought. (DID I mention it was poorly organized?) It was frustrating.

Tons of driving games went for CHEAP - including larger ones. If I had a bigger truck there I would have grabbed a few. Lots of redemption stuff. Almost grabbed a claw machine or two. At the end they were going for dirt cheap.

They had 10 or so pinball machines. I can't remember every price:

South park $1700-1800?
Monopoly - $2000
Ripley's Believe it or not
Sopranos - $2500
Attack from Mars - over 3 grand
World POker tour
Atari Superman - $1100 - cabinet and backglass were in amazing shape
A couple older pins went for around $500. One was "re-auctioned" at the end, which is total crap.

If I hadn't met so many nice people, I probably would have been more unhappy. I got out with my machine early on purpose. Even that was a struggle. It was so disorganized.

Overall I really enjoyed myself. I just think I might try driving to another state for a different auction house instead. These guys are crooks.

I also think it hurt that they did it Easter weekend. Who knows? Maybe they would have had better turnout on a different weekend.

 

[john2654]

Got there late, but scored a shooting game that I have wanted. Got Maximum Force for $300 + all the crazy fees.

Here are some pics of the auction and my game...

 

[john2654]

A couple more quick pics...

 

[Rrcade]

Not only this auction but to some extent at old SuperAuctions as well-lots of buy backs.
I just can't understand this, 90 percent of those attending are collectors/klov/public and the rest are operators that NEVER get what they want for their stuff so they buy it back.
Now why do they bother hauling these games to these auctions knowing that nobody other than another operator is gonna pay over 1000.00 for a coin pusher,etc.? Why not just keep all that stuff at there warehouse and call the other operators and see if they want to buy the stuff. They should only bring stuff that they know will sell for a fair price and if they feel the need to bring some huge brand new redemption games put a Reserve price on them so everyone's time isn't wasted, come on do they Really think we don't know what a buy back is?
They've been doing this for years they know what sells and what doesn't.

 

[NipRing]

Got there late, but scored a shooting game that I have wanted. Got Maximum Force for $300 + all the crazy fees.

Here are some pics of the auction and my game...

That must have been you and your wife taking it out of the line up when my friend and I were looking at the bezel. We were talking about the similarities to a Carnevil cab. Everything work good with it when you got it home?

 

[NipRing]

Also, that Superman pin...it was nice...but not $1100 nice. That was at $500-600 pin at best. I guess its whatever somebody is willing to pay though.

 

[KillerKades]

Pole Position Cockpit - (skipped by auctioners due to a "bad rom")

I was really waiting around for this one, but after the Crystal Castles and the 720 "passes" I just said fuck it and left as I had this feeling it would happen to the Pole Position as well. That is after they were going toward it and then decided to move to another part of the row. So glad I left and didn't wait around.

It's the same old shit just with a different auction company name. Do they really think we do not know who the operators/owners of the games are? You stand by and watch them bid on their own stuff just to drive the prices up. Once you see them nod and bid, just quit. Let them buy their shit back. They are not even discreet about it. You even see them in a sense "running" the auction. They tap on the game next to the one currently being auctioned telling the ones behind to "plug the next one in". Meanwhile standing with their stack of yellow sheets for their items.

Again, just dissapointing.

 

[Schusler]

Also, that Superman pin...it was nice...but not $1100 nice. That was at $500-600 pin at best. I guess its whatever somebody is willing to pay though.

I can see it going for that much. The best Atari pin that was made (I know, not saying much!) And also one of the best early "superhero theme" SS pins out there. If it truly had a no-wear playfield and beautiful BG - I can easily see it going for that much....

 

[ripondan]

The Superman pin had issues. I only saw it powered up for a short time. I noticed the pop bumpers were dead, no sound, the backglass looked nice when not lit, but when it was lit up it was faded out. The guy that sold it came up to the guy and was showing him all of the issues it had. The buyer had a discussion with Shawn and told him "That's bullshit". Don't know the whole story but thats not the first time I seen someone pissed off like that.

 

[Darth Vader]

The Superman pin had issues. I only saw it powered up for a short time. I noticed the pop bumpers were dead, no sound, the backglass looked nice when not lit, but when it was lit up it was faded out. The guy that sold it came up to the guy and was showing him all of the issues it had. The buyer had a discussion with Shawn and told him "That's bullshit". Don't know the whole story but thats not the first time I seen someone pissed off like that.

That is the risk you take buying at one of these auctions. You need to go into a purchase KNOWING there will be repairs needed to whatever you buy. The problem is people get caught up in the bidding process and overpay for a piece of crap. I'll gladly pay a fair price for a machine I know is in good shape (and I get to check out EVERYTHING on the inside of it). I don't feel sorry for anyone that pays too much for things at these auctions. You need to EXPECT issues with whatever you buy at an auction and NOT overpay to begin with!!

 

[john2654]

That must have been you and your wife taking it out of the line up when my friend and I were looking at the bezel. We were talking about the similarities to a Carnevil cab. Everything work good with it when you got it home?

Yeah, that was my lady. It's still laying on it's back in the back of a truck. Not leaving Milwaukee till Monday so I won't get to mess with it till then = the longest weekend ever.

 

[Schusler]

The Superman pin had issues. I only saw it powered up for a short time. I noticed the pop bumpers were dead, no sound, the backglass looked nice when not lit, but when it was lit up it was faded out. The guy that sold it came up to the guy and was showing him all of the issues it had. The buyer had a discussion with Shawn and told him "That's bullshit". Don't know the whole story but thats not the first time I seen someone pissed off like that.

Wow! Thanks for the details!

 

[Vectorman]

Also, that Superman pin...it was nice...but not $1100 nice. That was at $500-600 pin at best. I guess its whatever somebody is willing to pay though.

I watched this and I think this was a case of someone getting tricked on the fake bids scam. They pretended they had a staring bid of $1000, then immediately acted like someone bid 1050, then started calling for $1100 and acting like "hey, if you're interested, I'm about to let it sell for 1050 - you better bid eleven hundred or you'll lose it...."

And I watched the guy who bought it reluctantly bid $1100. I was interested in the pin for my museum, so I was watching things pretty closely and I would bet $100 they had NO bidder at 1000 or 1050. I felt sorry for the guy they duped. He probably would have had it for about $700 otherwise.

They got lots of guys on this scam this auction. The poor guy who bought the Tetris for $100 (sorry if you're a member here.) But they got you. No big deal though - the board is practically worth $100 anyway.

 

[Vectorman]

I was really waiting around for this one, but after the Crystal Castles and the 720 "passes" I just said fuck it and left as I had this feeling it would happen to the Pole Position as well. That is after they were going toward it and then decided to move to another part of the row. So glad I left and didn't wait around.

I'll tell you what happened with the Pole Position. I ended up with it, but not through the auction. It was one of the pieces I really wanted for my museum. I have one in there now, but it isn't nearly as nice as that one that was at this auction.

They finally got to the Pole position, but it came up with a couple of RAM errors (what a shock). They gave the typical "it was working yesterday" response. Which in the case of a Pole Position could actually be true.

Anyway, it was clearly brought by the "kingpin amusements" guy because he said to skip it. I said "no, I'm interested". He said, "yeah, well what are you going to offer?" I said, "well, gee, it's a broken pole position cockpit...i'd probably start at $100" He took his pen, wrote "PASS" on the label and said, "Well, let's just pass on it and then we don't have to argue about it" and he walked away disgusted.

So later at the end they did decide to auction it, I went up to $220, but the king pin guy clearly wasn't going to let go of it so I stopped. I asked him in line what he wanted for it, he said $250, and so I just gave him $250 cash and bought it. Strange.

The Kingpin guy was clearly dejected and having a TERRIBLE day. he had brought a ton (20-30 pieces or more? I saw his consignment sheet) of high-dollar (relatively) stuff and I would guess he bought back 90% of it. Like the Time Crisis 3. I really wanted that and was thinking of going up to $1000-1300 for it (still a steal I know). Well when they got to it kingpin started it at $1000 and they ended the bid within 10 seconds, so I just let it go. It was clear kingpin knew it wasn't going to go for what he wanted so he was just speeding things along....and I appreciate it.

I asked Kingpin why he brought all this stuff to the auction? It seemed like nobody here had the slightest interest in high-dollar redemption and video games. He said he took the same type of stuff to the last mesquite auction and got $1000 more per piece for it. He said that there hadn't been an auction in WI for well over a year (not true) and so he wasn't sure how this one would go (true). Are there still operators looking for redemption equipment? Are there still operators looking for anything? Everywhere I go operators are devastated with low collections and accounts closing left and right. But maybe somewhere someone's still making money.

I agree with an earlier poster that this was the slowest auction I've ever been to.

They were SO disorganized and just plain lazy it seems. I mean they were acting downright lethargic. And it was like too much of a bother to even plug stuff in at the end. It was like they needed a nap and just didn't really care about the auction anymore...."oh this stuff isn't plugged in...well, does anybody want it? oh, let's just skip it..." Hilarious. I sure am glad I didn't consign anything.

 

[Vectorman]

The massive frustrations that I had was there were two games that I was planning on bidding on. Crystal Castles and 720. After an hour and a half we get to the crystal castles and they just skip it. They wrote pass on the tag. A number of people were asking what happened. Heard a few stories both which I think are likely but regardless if you wanted to not sell the damn game you could have written pass on the tag an hour and a hlaf ago. So fast forward another hour+ and we get to the 720...and the SAME BULLSHIT. THey pass it and a few others. No explanation, and like I said people were wheeling shit out already why not take it out or write not for sale on the damn thing. Honestly probably for the best. 720 needed a lot of work, and had board issues, I don't need another project but meh...

I was pissed about this too. The Crystal Castles is the one I wanted most. I would like to know what happened. Early in the auction, Troy and I shared notes and discussed what each of us was interested in. Not colluding - we still went head to head on a couple of games, but just out of courtesy in case one of us didn't care about something, we could back off as both of us generally will bid on anything if the price is right.

I told Troy that the thing I wanted most was the Crystal Castles, and he said he had no interest. Then they skipped it with the lame "duh, I guess we put that game on the wrong truck?" excuse, which made no sense.

Then as I was pulling away from the building after loading up, I saw a Crystal Castles on Troy's trailer. I have a lot of respect for Troy, so I'm sure there's a very good explanation for this. But I would be interested in hearing it. Who knows...maybe it wasn't even the same one. But it did catch my attention.

I wasn't really looking, so I didn't even bother looking to see if he had the 720 on his trailer. I doubt it - that thing was SORRY....I don't think there was a part on it that wasn't trashed. Even the glass monitor bezel was scratched to heck. But they did "PASS" it in a similar way. I even asked for an explanation and they ignored me like I wasn't even there (not unusual...they generally do).

 

[Magog]

I was pissed about this too. The Crystal Castles is the one I wanted most. I would like to know what happened. Early in the auction, Troy and I shared notes and discussed what each of us was interested in. Not colluding - we still went head to head on a couple of games, but just out of courtesy in case one of us didn't care about something, we could back off as both of us generally will bid on anything if the price is right.

I told Troy that the thing I wanted most was the Crystal Castles, and he said he had no interest. Then they skipped it with the lame "duh, I guess we put that game on the wrong truck?" excuse, which made no sense.

Then as I was pulling away from the building after loading up, I saw a Crystal Castles on Troy's trailer. I have a lot of respect for Troy, so I'm sure there's a very good explanation for this. But I would be interested in hearing it. Who knows...maybe it wasn't even the same one. But it did catch my attention.

I wasn't really looking, so I didn't even bother looking to see if he had the 720 on his trailer. I doubt it - that thing was SORRY....I don't think there was a part on it that wasn't trashed. Even the glass monitor bezel was scratched to heck. But they did "PASS" it in a similar way. I even asked for an explanation and they ignored me like I wasn't even there (not unusual...they generally do).

That explains the "can't tell ya" I got...Congrats Troy!

As much as I would have liked it, it seems there was enough interest in it to make it expensive and really am out of room.

The 720 was as sorry as they get, but I would have taken a shot at it had it of been cheap enough. I am glad they passed on it though, after getting to play it recently, as much as I loved it as a kid I think I have moved on from it being a "grail" to me. Glad the way things worked out for me...although still a bit raw with the "auctions" folk.

I don't know if it just that I am noticing more, or if they really are getting worse and worse each year.

 

[MtZRcade]

I was pissed about this too. The Crystal Castles is the one I wanted most. I would like to know what happened. Early in the auction, Troy and I shared notes and discussed what each of us was interested in. Not colluding - we still went head to head on a couple of games, but just out of courtesy in case one of us didn't care about something, we could back off as both of us generally will bid on anything if the price is right.

I told Troy that the thing I wanted most was the Crystal Castles, and he said he had no interest. Then they skipped it with the lame "duh, I guess we put that game on the wrong truck?" excuse, which made no sense.

Then as I was pulling away from the building after loading up, I saw a Crystal Castles on Troy's trailer. I have a lot of respect for Troy, so I'm sure there's a very good explanation for this. But I would be interested in hearing it. Who knows...maybe it wasn't even the same one. But it did catch my attention.

I wasn't really looking, so I didn't even bother looking to see if he had the 720 on his trailer. I doubt it - that thing was SORRY....I don't think there was a part on it that wasn't trashed. Even the glass monitor bezel was scratched to heck. But they did "PASS" it in a similar way. I even asked for an explanation and they ignored me like I wasn't even there (not unusual...they generally do).

Lets see were to start on this. On the Crystal Castles, I never said i wasnt interested in it, i said that i wouldnt bid against you on it, and i didnt. The game was bought by my partner Bill, and was loaded on his trailer, not mine. Although we are partners in the gaming items, we dont ask each other to make deals, we both know enough to make a deal without the others "permission". I did not tell Bill about our conversation, and in hindsight, im glad i didnt. I said that i needed the Tunnel hunt, which you said that was fine since i wouldnt go against you on the crystal castles. However, later on you come up to me and tell me that you will have to bid on it since you didnt hav eone of them, and only one person bid against me on the Tunnel Hunt, and that was you John, I would have won the game at the 50.00 that i opened it up for had you not bid, and your bidding cost me and additional 132.50 plus fees. So when Bill told me he struck a deal on the Crsytal Castles, all i could think of was karma. He told me about the deal while the bidding was going on for the world poker tour pin, which was only a couple games after tunnel hunt.

I did not buy the 720, it was sold to another operator for 250.00 prior to the bidding getting down to it

 

[Magog]

Lets see were to start on this. On the Crystal Castles, I never said i wasnt interested in it, i said that i wouldnt bid against you on it, and i didnt. The game was bought by my partner Bill, and was loaded on his trailer, not mine. Although we are partners in the gaming items, we dont ask each other to make deals, we both know enough to make a deal without the others "permission". I did not tell Bill about our conversation, and in hindsight, im glad i didnt. I said that i needed the Tunnel hunt, which you said that was fine since i wouldnt go against you on the crystal castles. However, later on you come up to me and tell me that you will have to bid on it since you didnt hav eone of them, and only one person bid against me on the Tunnel Hunt, and that was you John, I would have won the game at the 50.00 that i opened it up for had you not bid, and your bidding cost me and additional 132.50 plus fees. So when Bill told me he struck a deal on the Crsytal Castles, all i could think of was karma. He told me about the deal while the bidding was going on for the world poker tour pin, which was only a couple games after tunnel hunt.

I did not buy the 720, it was sold to another operator for 250.00 prior to the bidding getting down to it

Out of curiosity what did your partner grab the Crystal Castles for?

And someone really paid $250.00 for that 720? I am amazed, as it was pretty rough top to bottom and the board was resetting.

 

[Schusler]

Troy, do you have any pics of that Tunnel Hunt? Never saw one of these BITD!