arcade storage wars, well kinda....

Mylstar

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Last week at my storage unit the manager comes up to me and says there is a unit across from mine that has some arcade games in it and it'll be up for auction on Friday the 28th. All he said was one had Atari on it. Of course my curiosity is up so I make an entry on my iPhone to remind me to head over there on the 28th at 2:00 pm.....

Auction day arrives and I get there early and hang out in my parts storage unit. Next thing I know there are about 50 people outside waiting for the lock to be cut on the arcade unit.
Here it is.....the moment of truth.....what can be inside.............door opens.........

Pole Position
Twin cobra in a centipede style cab
Galaga.
Thats it. No boxes, furniture, junk. Just 3 cabinets.

All look pretty beat and all were in the very back corner of a 10 x 15 so it was hard to see condition or if they are complete. I decide not to bid on them.

Auction starts. $20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 150, 200, 250, 275, 300....
going once, twice, sold for $300. Poor guy.

I'm sure these will be on my local craigslist soon.
 
jeeze... makes me nervous, got to make sure im all paid up myself! :)
and it makes me feel really bad for that guy... ugh too bad. he must have gotten notice of some sort, you'd hope.
 
Ouch...300 bones for junk. Hope the Galaga works. If its in nice shape, he could possibly get 300 to cover the cost.

I am getting into Storage auctions. Of course, I am hoping to find games.

Yeah, I know, good luck with that!
 
I think the renter took all his other stuff out and left the games since he didn't want to deal with them.
 
the problem is that whenever an arcade game shows up on cl or somewhere for sale it usually has a price tag of like $1,500. so people think thats the market. i showed someone my $200 afterburner and they said "wow thats cool, must have costed you $2,000 tho right?"


people that arent in the know like we are think you need to lay out well over a grand to put a working nice looking arcade game in their den
 
Last week at my storage unit the manager comes up to me and says there is a unit across from mine that has some arcade games in it and it'll be up for auction on Friday the 28th. All he said was one had Atari on it. Of course my curiosity is up so I make an entry on my iPhone to remind me to head over there on the 28th at 2:00 pm.....

Auction day arrives and I get there early and hang out in my parts storage unit. Next thing I know there are about 50 people outside waiting for the lock to be cut on the arcade unit.
Here it is.....the moment of truth.....what can be inside.............door opens.........

Pole Position
Twin cobra in a centipede style cab
Galaga.
Thats it. No boxes, furniture, junk. Just 3 cabinets.

All look pretty beat and all were in the very back corner of a 10 x 15 so it was hard to see condition or if they are complete. I decide not to bid on them.

Auction starts. $20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 150, 200, 250, 275, 300....
going once, twice, sold for $300. Poor guy.

I'm sure these will be on my local craigslist soon.

Speaking about storage wars did Barry or Dave bid on them? Sounds like the area they hit up on the T.V. series?
 
assuming they're complete, $300 for all three isn't too bad. however, both galaga and pole position are pretty problematic, so hopefully he made out all right...
 
jeeze... makes me nervous, got to make sure im all paid up myself! :)
and it makes me feel really bad for that guy... ugh too bad. he must have gotten notice of some sort, you'd hope.

The storage places have to give plenty of notice (I think at least 90 days in most places). The thing is that sometimes people let their contact info go stale. When that happens, the storage place calls and mails all day long and you never hear a thing.

With that kind of 'out of site, out of mind' thing, it's probably best to put notes on your calendar or something to make sure you're still getting the bills!
 
I've been to a number of storage unit auctions, mostly because my parents and my cousin buy a storage unit to try and make a few bucks off what's inside so I end up helping out. One time I went with them I knew in advance there would some games for sale in one. I knew it wasn't a great sign when the auctioneers announced one unit had been paid on so it wasn't up for bids anymore, but at least one person asked if the games were still available. I cringed knowing others were there just for the games. Anyway when we got to look at the unit, it ended up being a House of the Dead (I think number 2 but can't recall for sure) and a complete 3 linked machine setup of "The Grid." Normally you can't even go inside a unit before auction, but being there was nothing inside they let us in. Of course the machines were locked up tight so I had no way to know anything about how complete they were. I remember shaking my head as the price went over $1,000 for the unit. Now if the games all worked then you could argue it's a great buy, but I wasn't wiling to gamble that much things maybe being missing let alone just broken.
 
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