How do you guys do it?

[pacman71]

pointless ramble

I rarely find deals... I did find a project EDOT and bought it for 100 bucks...but it was basically the only great deal I have only landed. I pulled an empty cabinet out of the garbage once. It also smelled like garbage.

In order to stay in the hobby I look for semi good deals on multiple machines... I buy 1 for myself and maybe one to flip. I am learning to work on these with some semi local help and the good people here on KLOV...

My arcade money stays separate from all other money... I basically hold back 100-200 buck for the hobby each month... When I see something I want worse than something I have I sell what I have. Many people spend more on cigarettes or alcohol in a month.

There is no justifying this hobby. I have heard it many times from people wiser than me. This stuff will ultimately be worthless and broken....you do it for the fun. Hunting them down, fixing them, and to a lesser extent playing them.

Why do people attend sporting events? Talk about spending money. Pay 50 bucks to park....300 on tickets... 100 bucks on refreshments. At the end of the night your ears are ringing, and your rushing to your car to get out fast and you have nothing to show for it but a sore ass and indigestion. Oh yeah...your best seat is watching it on a 50 inch LED TV where you can see it all, pause, and stay away from everyone who has the swine flu.

Don't be jealous just figure out where the games belong in your priorities list... Do what you like...life is too damn short to be worried. You've made it this far. If in the short term you run into trouble financially sell your games.... you can always find another. You may make a hundy or two selling it, or you may take a small loss if your desperate.

"Stick with this hobby long enough and it won't be about the money anymore it will be about the space in your house."

 

[p1899m]

I've been collecting about 10 years now but a large part of my collection grew in a very short time. About a year. I don't make a lot of money. For me it was mostly luck and timing. I had a few grand saved up for nothing particular. Then I got side work for a few months straight so I was basically getting double my pay for that period of time. It helps that there are a lot of games in CA. On top of this CA had a nice boom due to the dot coms. Then that bubble burst followed by the crumbling housing market. A lot of the people that moved to CA for tech jobs couldn't afford to keep their homes or continue living in CA. They sure as hell didn't want to drag a 300lb game with them to another state. For a while there people were literally giving games away left and right. Or selling them for next to nothing. All this made it pretty easy to grow a large collection pretty cheap. My most expensive game was a grand. Cheapest was free. Bought at least 10 working games for $50 each. Probably paid between 100 and 250 a piece for the majority. There were a few I bought in the 300 range and one for $500.

 

[pacman71]

"My wife and I make bank compared to a lot of people."

What do you consider 'making bank' - how much is 'bank' to you?

I used to think bank was 75,000 between my wife and I when I was young and silly. Now I know that it doesn't come close. Even if we both made double that it still wouldn't be "bank".

I need some bailout money.. my arcade is failing. I think a billion would cover it... Okay 500 million.. Why is it that 500 million sounds like a small number?

 

[DLP]

I guess I could honestly say I'm jealous and confused and want answers.

Jealous - here's why:
I see guys that have been in this hobby half or less the time I've been in this hobby and they have a shit pot load of games and pins. Not junk or umpopular games but collectable and popular. Now long time collectors hell yes I can see that but am amazed at the new/newer members and how fast they've acquired games.

Confused - here's why:
I've been in the hobby for a mere (almost) 4 years. I have literally had a total of 15 games so far. I am now down to 9 and almost all have been restored. My wife and I make bank compared to a lot of people. We don't live outside of our means. We eat at home at leasts 5 times a week. Yes we have the "normal" bills such as house payment (which is very doable, two vehicle payments (very doable) and we don't owe anything to credit cards. Even with what we have for money theres no way in hell I can go out and spend the kind of money some of you guys do. I can "generally" only squeeze in a couple hundy to swing a deal. I don't spend money on anything else and luckliy I married a woman who is VERY frugal.



Here's what I do know:
Deals come along on arcades and in no time a person can have a room full - but not of popular titles unless you are extremely lucky. Not everyone pays $1200 for a Donkey Kong lol. However pinball machines are freaking expensive and while a good deal may come along that good deal is still a great deal of money.

Do you people make so much freakin money you can afford to do this or
are you guys living hand to mouth to just to be able to buy all this crap?
Seriously I'd like to know.

Simple.... credit card.

 

[shertz]

For all of those that "make bank", please let me know how so I can make bank too. Making banks has been a life long dream of mine for some time.

I don't make a lot of money either but when I started in this hobby over 10 years ago, I was still living with my parents AND I had two jobs just to support this habbit. I've been very lucky with most sellers letting me make 'payments' on games especially high end ones that fetch a lot of coin. Now that I'm married and live in my own house, my buying habbits has slowed down a lot. I know have about 90 games in my collection so there's not too much more left out there I need to get.

 

[IvanTT]

This hobby is not expensive at all.

You want expensive, buy a boat and start tournament fishing offshore ... money goes FAST.

You could get into antique aviation too that is a real expensive hobby. For the most part I have to agree this is the cheapest hobby I've been into in years though my income has taken a big hit this past couple of years too.

 

[wildwest3163]

I try to make my other hobbies (and this one) pay for thierself. Im always on the lookout. I have plenty of time on my hands to shop around, and it seems that I look at 10 games for every one I bring home, not only the keepers, but the ones to make cash on.
I have some nice games, some that need some cosmetic work that I havent got to yet, but the most expensive piece in my collection, including the Coke Machines, Jukebox and pool table, is the Dart board, which set me back $275 at the Orlando auction.
I dont have fully restored games, but thier not junk either, probably 6-7/10. I get them looking nice and playing right, but I have them to be played. I dont want to cring everytime someones kids touches one

on the other side of the coin, havent bought anything in the last couple months because the $250-300 per month I set aside for the hobby has been going for parts/restoration supplies for the games already in the room. It goes quick

 

[yzrider926]

My wife and I have good jobs and fortunately are young in our careers so our income will increase in the future. We are not loaded by any means but we make enough to pay all of our essential bills every month, (Car, House, etc.) and we pay our CC's off every month, and still have some cash to put towards things. Other then our house payment and car we don't carry any excessive debt that we are responsible for each month. I don't have a lot of games, but the ones I have purchased are in nice condition and were not on the cheap end, but I did pay fair prices for them. I don't buy stuff just because its a good deal, I only buy stuff I want. I am actually selling stuff off now, I will admit I bought some stuff on a whim, but due to space and such I need to sell it to get what I really want.

As far as cabs go I am content for now given the amount of space I have for games, and I need to scale back my spending on this hobby for now. I want to add one more pin to my collection and I will then be done for at least a few years. I will stick to just picking up PCB's I want, since all of my cabs are JAMMA and I have the few dedicated cabs that I really wanted.

 

[cleverlyj]

i used to go through a lot of games (i.e. getting them and getting rid of them) but i have changed my viewpoint from getting anything i see for a reasonable price to only getting games i'm actually interested in owning and keeping in the collection. i prefer to get games cheap and fix 'em up but if it's a grail or hard to find game i'm willing to spend the extra money for a quality piece. unfortunately space limits me right now, so i won't be getting anything else till i get a bigger house.

 

[armi0024]

Obviously it's time for a bigger house then I am just lucky I convinced my wife to let us have a cocktail and an upright in our 1+ bed apartment in Honolulu.... I owe her many back rubs now...

(We also have a 10 month old and a dog in this 1+ bedroom)

 

[Grey]

If it makes you feel better your arcade is better than my arcade which consists soley of the one game I own in my garage.

 

[taylormadelv]

There is no justifying this hobby. I have heard it many times from people wiser than me. This stuff will ultimately be worthless and broken....you do it for the fun. Hunting them down, fixing them, and to a lesser extent playing them.

Quote of the day, except I think playing the games is more important than hunting them down/fixing them.

 

[EthanB]

Best way to build up your collection?

Get a dedicated arcade hauler with a liftgate. That way, you can show up and be johnny on the spot when a free or next to free (<$100) game shows up on CL. Telling the seller you can be there in 15 minutes or so and can haul it away yourself makes YOU the preferred buyer, even if others are offering more $$.

Since my hauler is a stakebody flatbed, I've also used it for yard work (topsoil, leaves, branches), transporting my lawn mower, bringing home large purchases (gas grille) and lending out to others when moving. It's kind of frivolous, but it has come in quite handy.

And just like some of my games, I bought it knowing that it needed a new motor. I replaced the motor myself and saved even more $$$.

Because of this truck, my garage is full and I'd have to sell some stuff before I acquire any more!

 

[cleverlyj]

or even if you don't have a truck with a liftgate, something that will fit at least one fullsize game works. i always email a general "i can be there now, have a truck and will pay in cash and move myself" type of email, usually works well.

 

[armi0024]

Or just build your own custom trailer specifically designed for a game, let's say, a Spyhunter cockpit...and find one in Georgia(when you live in MN) that will trade for a Rygar pcb, then get on USHIP, bid on lots of shipping contracts, get the trip paid for and then some, drive 50 hours with only a few hours of sleep, and woohoo, you are crazy video game crack addict... Picture the trailer is below.

(oh and the only way I pulled this trailer off...I have tear drop camper top with AC that swaps off and is actually much smaller. The wife was tolerable when she found out that while pregnant and going to rock festivals in OK, she would have ac and a real mattress lol)

 

[straws]

I have never paid more than $450 for a game, adn that was my FIRST game. Sicne then, I have not paid more than $250 ever. Once you learn to fix, or swap parts from ebay, you tend to seek the broken games.

I have made one bulk deal, and in that deal I paid for 10 arcade games and a Playboy Pinball, a grand total of $1000. In the haul was donkey kong, 2 froggers, dig dug, joust, pacman, and a few others. I sold what I did not want, and made bank.

So in reply, learn to fix or swap parts, and buy in bulk. The bulk factor is key. When you see an ad, always ask if they have more games, and buy them all for a lump sum.

Good luck.

 

[DreamTR]

A lot of this just depends on what people consider "making good money" and how finances are set.

A lot of people don't put money into 401K
A lot of people don't have savings accounts
A lot of people saved a lot of money and decided they wanted to buy a lot of stuff
Some people have very low house/car/apartment rent or own their own home or live with parents
Some just have a good job and this hobby IS their expendable income.

On my end, I've acquired about 16,000 console games and have around 140 or so arcade and pinball machines. Most of this was acquired because A: My rent on my apartment/house was ALWAYS way less than what I made. That's the key. You're throwing money away on that type of stuff. My rent in Los Angeles was $900 a month, but I took home 4 times that a month from work, AND I have been buying/selling on eBay for years.

Supplemental income to support a hobby/lifestyle where you can make a few bucks and get what you want without digging into "life" stuff is key.

Of course I acquired most of my arcade stuff when I moved to Tennessee and instead of buying console stuff, it just went to arcade items...

I also had an AMAZING job here until the company went under, and besides my mortgage payment I shared with my wife, I had enough money for a nice Williams pinball machine each MONTH left over.

You don't need to MAKE a ton of money, you just have to have cheaper bills to begin with. Money for bills if you want a crazy buying lifestyle need to be about 15%, not this 35-50% being the "norm", that's how people end up being screwed when they are out of work.

 

[ScumBum]

Sell crack .... get some hoes and become a pimp ......its really easy to make extra money to spend on arcade games .

 

[PrairieDillo]

What I did

I don't find this hobby expensive at all. I just decided to sell one collection to build another. For example I sold a Neo Geo CD and a Neo Geo AES and got about 7/800 back. I only put $200 into my Neo Geo 4 slot from Auction. A hundred in 1 isn't that much either.

I've been ebaying my console collection for arcade funds.

It's really an issue of space and time to restore. Finding machines has been a trick especially when you live around a number of known collectors and everyone will jump on a deal. I typically ping Craigslist 4 times a day.