Delivery Truck Just Arrived from Colorado!

CaptainHendry

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Donor 2015-2016
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Delivery truck just showed up! What could it be?

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They put it on a roller dolly for me so I could wheel it into the garage:

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Unwrapped and ready for inspection:

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It's in pretty solid shape. There is damage to one front corner but the rest looks great. And best of all, it works! Plugged it in and played a game but the screen was a bit dim.

Peering inside, I could see about an inch of dust on the monitor overlay. Opened it up and it looks really unscathed inside, just some cobwebs and dust to vacuum out. I cleaned off the monitor (which has the correct overlay on it) and now it looks much better.

The only thing missing: Someone has removed the fluorescent backdrop. This game is designed like Asteroids Deluxe, with a wrap-around backdrop, a blacklight and a mirror to superimpose everything. I still have the mirror and the blacklight (dead but there), just no backdrop. Seller didn't know the game was supposed to have one until I sent him a picture.

So, if anyone has a lead on one or any suggestion for where to look, please pm me. The game is still fun without it but it's not the full experience.
 

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Looks just like the one on CL, but that one is still listed!
http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/vgm/5577232256.html

That's the one (but I got a better price).


Yeah, that's the art but it's supposed to be printed with fluorescent ink so it glows.

Are my spacial skills going bad or is the box on the truck half the size of the cabinet?

Your spatial skills are intact. That was just a box they had to move out of the way to get to the game.
 
Pretty sure that is the same one. I called on that ad less than 20 min after the CL listing went up and never heard back from them, so I'm curious how the deal came together.

Very cool game, congrats!

It was a real saga. I called about 2 days after it went up. Called maybe 3-4 times the first day but "Trish" (the person whose name was in the ad) never answered.

Next day I tried again and maybe the 2nd time someone answered the phone. It was a female friend of Trish who told me she had left her phone behind a couple days ago but was supposed to come get it later. She told me, "Try back in a couple hours and she should have her phone back by then." So I did. I called a couple hours later and no answer. Then a couple hours after that...no answer. Maybe once more after that.

Day 3 was more of the same except no one answered. Since I'd been told to call I think I tried 4 times throughout the day. No answer.

Finally, day 4, I was ready to give up. I called once more on a Sat. morning and Trish answered! All she could tell me was to call the actual owner because she didn't know anything about the game. She did give me his number which felt like progress. I finally got the owner on the phone and asked about the condition. He was a nice guy. We agreed on a price and I asked him how I should pay.

Well, he had no PayPal account so I had to mail him a check. I sent out a check first thing the next morning by priority mail. 3 days later it hadn't arrived. 5 days later it hadn't arrived and USPS tracking showed it leaving my home town and then nothing...no distribution center, no sign it had left California at all. I called and reported it lost. They promised to expedite a search which would take 2-3 days. A day later, with no update on the tracking I decided to cancel the check. I wrote a new check and sent it FedEx overnight the next morning.

Later that day the check arrived...the first one that I had canceled and reported lost. Suddenly the online tracking showed about 6 updates that hadn't been there before. The seller tore up my useless check while I was on the phone.

The next day he got my 2nd check and deposited it, but he wanted to wait until it cleared before letting shippers pick up the game. I thought that was very reasonable since he doesn't know me...My bank showed the money was gone that same day. It took his bank 7 days to clear the money because of the holiday weekend.

That was 9-10 days ago, I think. The whole process took more than 3 weeks. The one saving grace was that the seller was a genuinely nice guy, a bit older than me I think. We talked so often on the phone we started talking about our kids and work and everything else. He needed the money to help him buy a used car so he and his wife could work the same shift and be able to see each other a bit more. I liked him a lot.

So that's how it came together...remember you asked :)
 
Great story and score, man. Congrats! Can you tell me about the shipping experience, cost, etc.? I have pondered doing the same thing but haven't any experience having a game shipped. I'd be curious to hear how you arranged it, etc. thanks in advance.
 
Great story and score, man. Congrats! Can you tell me about the shipping experience, cost, etc.? I have pondered doing the same thing but haven't any experience having a game shipped. I'd be curious to hear how you arranged it, etc. thanks in advance.

This is my 3rd time shipping a game. The last two I just called Michelle Bianchi at Precision Transportation Inc. I'd seen her recommended and the seller of one of the games had used her before. Her # is 877-432-2646 or direct at 630-352-3312.

Anyway, shipping the Solar Quest from Colorado to me here in CA was about $350. It took 8 days. The advantage of using PTI is that the seller doesn't have to do anything except be there for pick up. No need to wrap or pallet the game. No need to deliver it to an outbound shipping center. The drivers pick up the game from inside the home or wherever, wrap it and get it in the truck. Then they deliver it to your door (or garage) and unwrap it.

I had a cabaret shipped from Colorado last year using another shipper. The price was cheaper (about $250). However, the seller had to wrap and pallet the game and deliver it to the shipping center (they charged me $35 I think). Very few Craigslist sellers are going to be able or willing to do that for you. Also, I had to drive about 30 minutes to their nearest facility to pick it up. Delivery to my door would have added about $75 to the price.

Others may have alternate recommendations but I've had two good experiences with PTI.
 
This is my 3rd time shipping a game. The last two I just called Michelle Bianchi at Precision Transportation Inc. I'd seen her recommended and the seller of one of the games had used her before. Her # is 877-432-2646 or direct at 630-352-3312....

Thanks for the feedback. I think I spoke with Michelle a little while ago after seeing her name in a thread too. Great to hear the buyer's perspective too! Spendy but for the right game, and the fact that they will take care of palleting, etc., I can see that making sense for sure.
 
So that's how it came together...remember you asked :)

Thanks! That answers a lot of questions. Frustrating on my end that the seller (or the Trish person the seller asked to take calls for them) was a flake who never checked or returned messages... but then again I already knew that! I called immediately the first day, then later that day, and then the next morning and left messages but never heard a thing. I suppose that comes with the territory with craigslist, it's a crapshoot sometimes. As I said, frustrating but certainly not your fault. I'm glad a forum member got this awesome game, congrats!
 
Regarding the blacklight art:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=336936

I did this about a year ago for a friend. I believe he was looking into copying the art with florescent bl ink. I can check in with him where he's at. Copying the piece itself wasn't hard on the card-stock, it's the printing that'll be fun. If he figured out a good way to do that, I'm sure we could probably get one over your way.

Also, Solar Quest is easily one of my favorite vectors. I was always told it was good, but I'm honestly surprised HOW good the game actually is.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I think I spoke with Michelle a little while ago after seeing her name in a thread too. Great to hear the buyer's perspective too! Spendy but for the right game, and the fact that they will take care of palleting, etc., I can see that making sense for sure.

Yeah, I was going to say...it's a lot of money. I mean, you can buy entire games for $400. I wouldn't ever do this for an Asteroids or Ms. PacMan or even a Tempest or a Star Wars. Those games are going to pop up locally sooner or later because there are a lot of them out there. But for something like Solar Quest where they don't seem to show up very often I think it's worth it.

Thanks! That answers a lot of questions. Frustrating on my end that the seller (or the Trish person the seller asked to take calls for them) was a flake who never checked or returned messages... but then again I already knew that! I called immediately the first day, then later that day, and then the next morning and left messages but never heard a thing. I suppose that comes with the territory with craigslist, it's a crapshoot sometimes. As I said, frustrating but certainly not your fault. I'm glad a forum member got this awesome game, congrats!

Yeah, it was a mess. I just got lucky that the friend answered the phone that one time. Otherwise I would have given up on Trish a lot sooner. Thanks for being so cool about it.

Nice pickup! You don't see those very often, or at least I don't.

Thanks! I've been looking for 4 months. There was one on ebay back in March for $600 but it was a) not working, b) filthy and c) in South Carolina. It sold in about 24 hours. This one was working, clean and 1,500 miles closer so it seemed like a real bargain.
 
Regarding the blacklight art:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=336936

I did this about a year ago for a friend. I believe he was looking into copying the art with florescent bl ink. I can check in with him where he's at. Copying the piece itself wasn't hard on the card-stock, it's the printing that'll be fun. If he figured out a good way to do that, I'm sure we could probably get one over your way.

Also, Solar Quest is easily one of my favorite vectors. I was always told it was good, but I'm honestly surprised HOW good the game actually is.

I was going to PM you about that very thread. I would love to learn if your friend had any luck.

Don't know if you ever saw the thread where Phoenix Arcade was looking at doing a repro of the Asteroids Deluxe backdrop. In the end it was cost prohibitive. This piece is much smaller which should make it easier, but it uses the same fluorescent inks which I guess makes it a real printing challenge.

I'm willing to invest something in getting it done. I'm sure someone could sell a couple dozen of these, enough to make a short run worth the effort. There are about 30 owners on VAPS.

The game is really great. Asteroids and Star Castle were always my favorites as a kid and this feels like an evolution of those with elements of Space War and Robotron thrown in. I love the feel and the sound is great. Really a fan of Cinematronics overall. They (and Vectorbeam) made some great stuff.
 
Don't know if you ever saw the thread where Phoenix Arcade was looking at doing a repro of the Asteroids Deluxe backdrop. In the end it was cost prohibitive. This piece is much smaller which should make it easier, but it uses the same fluorescent inks which I guess makes it a real printing challenge.

You know what I'd consider doing in your shoes is printing it out with just regular inks, and then just going over some areas with these guys:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/381276417896?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

Something like Asteroids Deluxe is way too complex to color the fluorescent ink by hand and have it look anything close to the original, but the backdrop for SQ is way simpler. Color some areas with a green pen, others with orange/red, and you're good to go. It may or may not work but it would be worth a shot and I doubt it would cost a ton to find out.
 
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