Games we see less & less

Umm...does it really count if the games are hard to find today if they were low-production and hard to find back-in-the-day?
 
Berzerk said:
There is no shortage of anything in America. Everything was over produced and still is. Pick your item.
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No one is claiming that certain titles are now extinct or that you can't find stuff, but there has been a significant decline in availability of even some of the common titles in recent years and the rarer titles seem to rarely show up outside of the collecting community. Many titles are finding 'permanent' homes in collections, but many more are parted every day (or lost to flood, fire, termites, etc.) so for games where less than a couple thousand were produced 30+ years ago the declining numbers matter.

While I haven't always looked at CL the entire time I've been in the hobby, I have noticed a significant decline in the number of arcade games (excluding multis) in general. Even in medium sized cities like Tampa and Orlando I simply see far fewer listings for non-multi'd games these days compared to even just five or six years ago.

Umm...does it really count if the games are hard to find today if they were low-production and hard to find back-in-the-day?
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As everything because less common, the rare stuff simply gets rarer. I'm not sure why that would or would not count :p
 
There is a significant group of people in this hobby that think, "looking far and wide" and "I tried really hard to find a game" is skimming Craigslist, Ebay, and the FS posts in forums like KLOV. So yeah, if you do everything through those channels only, your viewpoint is going to be skewed.
 
TimothyC said:
No one is claiming that certain titles are now extinct or that you can't find stuff, but there has been a significant decline in availability of even some of the common titles in recent years and the rarer titles seem to rarely show up outside of the collecting community. Many titles are finding 'permanent' homes in collections, but many more are parted every day (or lost to flood, fire, termites, etc.) so for games where less than a couple thousand were produced 30+ years ago the declining numbers matter.

While I haven't always looked at CL the entire time I've been in the hobby, I have noticed a significant decline in the number of arcade games (excluding multis) in general. Even in medium sized cities like Tampa and Orlando I simply see far fewer listings for non-multi'd games these days compared to even just five or six years ago.



As everything because less common, the rare stuff simply gets rarer. I'm not sure why that would or would not count :p
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I got a friend near Orlando who is looking to get one or two arcade machines
 
Oh, so a game that was rare in 1990 is now more rarer-er in 2015. Thanks for clearing that up for me. :)

I thought the original question asked which common games have become disproportionately more difficult to find, not all games are harder to find now because the majority of the operator's warehouses have been cleaned out.

Back in 2000 and 2001 there were six game auctions a year at the Orlando fairgrounds. We're lucky to see one a year now-a-days.

Look at the posting history here and at RGP and RGVAC for the number of auction-results posts. The number of posts has dropped dramatically. It took several years for all of us old-timers to clean out the bulk of the operators' warehouses, but we finally got it done. :)
 
rdudding said:
I thought the original question asked which common games have become disproportionately more difficult to find, not all games are harder to find now because the majority of the operator's warehouses have been cleaned out.
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Well if your going that route Missile Command falls into that category in the Philly area.
 
A friend of mine works for a local op. He said that whenever they run across an older machine, they just pull the monitor out if its working and scrap the cabinet and boards. If the monitor is dead they scrap the whole thing.

After I picked my jaw up off the floor from hearing this act of blasphemy, I reminded him that I am a collector and please call me to pick up your "garbage".

He said all they really deal with anymore is megatouch's and they haven't dealt with any "real" games in years.
 
R-Type seems to be hard to find for sale? I know if mine ever breaks down and becomes unrepairable I still won't be getting rid of mine. Worst case scenario I would MAME it (it would still be dedicated to R-Type only) or throw an Xbox360/R-Type Dimensions/and a new HD LCD.... Hopefully that never happens and parts will be available for a long time. In fact, I plan on collecting a complete original spare parts kit for it over time so that when/if it breaks down, I have a working part on standby (It's my childhood favorite arcade game and I want to keep it in original working condition forever - if possible)
 
Awittig said:
A friend of mine works for a local op. He said that whenever they run across an older machine, they just pull the monitor out if its working and scrap the cabinet and boards. If the monitor is dead they scrap the whole thing.

After I picked my jaw up off the floor from hearing this act of blasphemy, I reminded him that I am a collector and please call me to pick up your "garbage".

He said all they really deal with anymore is megatouch's and they haven't dealt with any "real" games in years.
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i have over 100 games in my collection and i thought i have seen it all until a couple weeks ago for many reasons. first games in the last year or so have been a very slow find and second there is alot of junk out there and no real games, BUT and this is the BUT that i received an email from a guy working for the oil companies in the north slope of alaska and he lives here in mt. he has some games that he wants to get rid of so i wait for some pictures a week and a half ago when he returns home and there is a few games left. (i say some left.... he hauled to the dump 14 games two months ago i find out later and yes i am stalling on the titles) most would cry if i said what he threw away but i will let you imagine when you find out what i hauled back last weekend. all games were 95% or better complete and no water damage and besides dirty in very good shape. i loaded my trailer full with a few titles that aren't so grand but good shape like tetris, turbo, etc., but the main haul was games that personally got me excited and they were star trek captains chair, asteroids, burgertime, qbert, tron cabaret..... i was excited before i headed out on the 700 mile trip to get them and after seeing them i was even more excited... i would have never guessed i would still find that many good titles and complete and some working in one place... now the next thing i am not going to tell is the PRICE. i get an email saying just make an offer (boy do i hate when people can't price their own shit and its usually because its too high priced) so i reluctantly made an offer (it was low but not crazy low) and i get an email back from him that started with "NO" but contined with "thats too much money how about ???" i said hell yes. it was just crazy from beginning to end because after talking i found out i know his brother and tried to buy games from him in my home town but his brother was asking 4 time retail for junk and this brother almost pays me to take the games. ;);)
 
Atari BW raster, Orbit. This game is worth more in buttons than any game from the silver age
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