I have wanted to own my own arcade game since watching Silver Spoons as a kid in the 80's. First chance was in '93. I was at a Salvation Army thrift store and there just happened to be a working Karate Champ sitting there for $75.00. It was 10 minutes till they closed and I only had 45. in cash on me. They wouldn't take less or allow me to give them the $45 and come back tomorrow with the rest. I left and rushed back the next morning with $75.00 and got there aboult a half hour after they opened. I was told they sold it to someone about 10 minutes after they opened.
The second attempt was in about '98. I was browsing a completely different thrift store and buried in the back was, lo and behold, a Karate Champ. They wanted a hundred for it, it worked , and I talked them into $80 for it. Didn't have enough on me, went to the bank, came back but was too late and they closed for the day. Came back the next day but it was sold. One day I'll have to buy a Karate Champ for no other reason than to prove to myself that I can successfully purchase a damn Karate Champ machine.
Third times a charm. Owned a Street Fighter 2 I bought from an arcade in town that routinely sells their games after they make x amount of money for the owner. Made a deal to put it in a gaming shop someone I knew owned. He kept trying to buy it off me but I wouldn't sell. He routinely tried to sabotage it making anything so that I would want to unload it on him. Before I could get it out of his shop, he moved in the middle of the night to escape creditors, oweing the landlord back rent and basically running off with my game.
No, hopefully fourth is. Trying it again. Just bought two old black and white monitor Atai games. Sprint 1 and Steeplechase. Hoefully this will be a successful start in collecting the arcade portion of my childhood.