First game you bought and when

Space Invaders, roughly 2009-2010? Paid $180 for it, it's the only one I've still got after 5-6 cross-country moves in the past 10 years. I posted this in my own intro thread but cool story:

Wasn't sure if the seller would help load and it was on a visit to my parents' place, so I had my dad help guide it in as I got it into the truck. He asked the seller where the game had come from, and they'd gotten it from the pizza place near the mall in town when it closed in '08. Said pizza place had it since the game was new.

Turns out, from '79 until I was born in '83, my parents used to grab a roll of quarters, go to the mall, and afterward - go to the same pizza place for a slice. My dad had the high score on this very SI consistently during that time period.

Every time I talked about moving, he'd always ask if I was keeping that SI. :D
 
Space Invaders, roughly 2009-2010? Paid $180 for it, it's the only one I've still got after 5-6 cross-country moves in the past 10 years. I posted this in my own intro thread but cool story:

Wasn't sure if the seller would help load and it was on a visit to my parents' place, so I had my dad help guide it in as I got it into the truck. He asked the seller where the game had come from, and they'd gotten it from the pizza place near the mall in town when it closed in '08. Said pizza place had it since the game was new.

Turns out, from '79 until I was born in '83, my parents used to grab a roll of quarters, go to the mall, and afterward - go to the same pizza place for a slice. My dad had the high score on this very SI consistently during that time period.

Every time I talked about moving, he'd always ask if I was keeping that SI. :D

ha, that is a great story.
 
A Pac Man cocktail table in Myrtle Beach SC about 5 yrs ago. It was barely working, had been converted to a Ms Pac Man w/switcher. The wood in the pedestal was a bit rotted out and there were a few little dents in the corners. Other than that the cab was fine. The joystick shafts had been worn down to an hourglass profile with rotten shock mounts/'grommets' that were permanently bonded to the shafts. I've restored it back to a plain vanilla Pac Man now with the original Electrohome monitor working fine (can't believe I ever considered an LCD- I was new, sorry) and a new topglass from Phoenix. It's almost perfect. The only flaw now that gnaws at me (just a bit) is that I got some new CPOs that say Namco on them rather than Midway- in hindsight, I should have kept the original CPOs as they were in pretty good shape.
 
Summer of 1986 I Bought a Joust Upright for $250 from the Aladan's Castle in the Decatur, IL mall. Still have it of course.

I had to choose between Joust, Robotron and a Track and Field 4player cocktail with riser. All were $250.

David
 
Summer of 1986 I Bought a Joust Upright for $250 from the Aladan's Castle in the Decatur, IL mall. Still have it of course.

I had to choose between Joust, Robotron and a Track and Field 4player cocktail with riser. All were $250.

David
The good old days, now each machine is the price of a cheap beater.
 
Donkey Kong, Jr., out of a classified ad in Fort Walton Beach, FL, 1995 or so, for $35. Needed a $10 cap kit to get back to full working order, and the cab was in A- shape. Traded it in 2001 for an Asteroids Deluxe that I still own.
 
Back in 2009 I purchased this generic cab with a 2 slot Neo Geo board from an operator who took it out of a business for $275 as I asked him what he was doing with it while he pulled it out.
I remember printing the marquee cards and side art on my printer!
I also remember selling it because one of the buttons wasn't working months later lmao
 

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June 1985 I won a live auction for a working Gravitar for $45 but then when we came back to get it and the guy running the auction said it had sold to someone else mistakenly so they let me choose from a few others including Joust, Defender, and something I can't remember. The Defender was the nicest looking one so I bought it for $25. Guess they didn't think we were coming back to get the Gravitar. I was only 14 and thrilled to have a real arcade machine in my house. I sold it the next year for $120 to buy a nice stereo. Then as an adult I got back into the arcade games with the purchase of a Zaxxon in June 1996 for $200.
 
September of 1983 i bought a working taito space invaders cocktail table for $50.00 and kept it for a couple of years, after that was an upright Eagle for $100.00 and kept on going, Asteroids upright, astro blaster cocktail, that was it for a couple of years 1985 I bought a donkey kong upright for $250.00 and still have it today
 

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Strider for $95 at a Super Auction in 1999. Fully working.

Scott C.
 
It's cool to see how everyone popped their cherry.

In 2016 I was following an eBay ad for a working Mario Bros (widebody), and I think it started at $400. I eventually picked it up from a warehouse in Valencia for $630, as it had been bid up (from some members here). It was an 8/10. Previous owner said her deceased father bought it for the warehouse workers long ago. I think he may have gotten it from the local Six Flags.

I've only had to do a cap kit and restore the control panel.
 
March 2010, picked up a Galaga cabinet that was Jamma-tized and running a 2002 Seoul JAMMA Galaga pcb. I paid $600. It was another 7 years till I picked up my next cabinet which was a fully working GORF for $300. I didn't want to have an arcade and wanted to just have a MAME machine that did it all, but now I have around 26 games all running original hardware :X
 
December 2019, bought a working but tired old Pac Man cocktail for $500 off of Facebook Marketplace. I'd been wanting one for a LONG TIME, and just so happened to be perusing the ads RIGHT when it was posted and was the very first person to respond and the seller was cool enough to put everyone else off that responded after I did until I'd looked at it and decided whether or not I wanted it. It's as original as one can be after all this time, board and cabinet serial match, still has an Electrohome G07, no freeplay or multipac or credit button installed outside the cabinet, either unlock the coin door to add credits with the button or drop a quarter in the slot as God intended. My kids love it as much as I do, it gets played daily, and I wouldn't part with it for love or money.
 
Xybots circa 2015... got it thinking that I might just open an arcade and had to start somewhere gathering games. Local pickup only option on eBay, got it from right around the corner for like 275 bucks. No one else even bid. Had never heard of xybots but now I love the game. Interesting cabinet. All original in good working order. Main issue was the front corner of the cabinet was broken off cuz the weird shape of the cabinet lends itself to such issues, also had to rebuild the joysticks. Man I miss that machine
 
October 2019 I bought an Operation Thunderbolt in great shape for $260. It came with 2 spare guns, and an extra glass marquee. My wife made me sell it last year which my kids and I regret. We are buying another one tomorrow and the kids are thrilled.
 
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