how many arcade game POSERS do you know??

[Ghostlyguy]

Me. J/K

Friends mostly. They realize that they have no space!

I have had one dude once email me if I could help him find a Food Fight. I located one close by to him. Emailed him back.. never heard from him again...

 

[Robomayhem]

Yea I have had four different dudes tell me they would like to have a Pole Position, and only one has came through. Though he didn't give me cash, he brought me a Ms. Pacman that played blind for a trade - couldn't pass that one up.

 

[jumblejunkie]

I think once people bite the bullet and get one, they get the fever and see what its all about!

 

[vintagegamer]

your not too far away from me (newark DE) and i wouldnt mind being on your call list when you decide to get rid of something. how much is said mrs pac man?

It's in the fs section chief

 

[Tonym]

i sent you a pm but it didnt show up in my sent box. didju get it?

 

[Black Matrix]

Well, I've had a few somewhat posery situations. The first is a cab that was given to me. A very nice guy I knew (who would probably be considered a friend), said he loved UN Squadron. Fast forward about 200 bucks of trading and ebaying later, and I have basically built a dedicated UN Squadron for the guy built out of the cab. I price the guy the game for 350. Considering the work and the condition its in, I figure its a deal. No sale as of yet. In the guys defense, he doesn't make that much in his job, and it was the holidays, so he may come through eventually.
The second was a best friend that I priced a mostly restored Galaga to for 700. I know, its a little high for a Galaga, but this was post restored, played perfect. I think I had about 3-4 hundred in parts/repairs and restoration parts. If I hadn't gotten the game so cheap at an auction, it would have been more than 700. As of yet, no money. And the guy absolutely loves the game.
And lastly, I suppose that I am a bit of the posery variety. I have tried to purchase a few pieces from various friends in the collector ring. But since we are all collectors, I have seldom been able to make a purchase. Either we can't come to terms or don't agree on the value of the others pieces, so we never end up making a deal.

 

[sosage]

Sometimes "I wish I had" is either a subtle way of someone not into your hobby complimenting your stuff or a way to keep the immediate conversation feed and healthy. Not so much a legit request or lame social posing.

If someone is serious about me finding them something, they tend to follow through after the moment.

 

[super8man]

That's an excellent point. In the end, I just post sexy pictures and videos of people having fun playing my pinball machines on my facebook page. They know where to find me and now I know where the best forum is to steer them to.

 

[VectorJunkie]

i sent you a pm but it didnt show up in my sent box. didju get it?

They won't unless you select the option to keep a copy.

 

[tigerstyle]

People love to play them, but maintenace scares them away. I work in IT, with some of the most amazingly skilled people, but they all think i'm sort of electronic god because I rebuilt a mk cab or that I can fix my games.

 

[vintagegamer]

People love to play them, but maintenace scares them away. I work in IT, with some of the most amazingly skilled people, but they all think i'm sort of electronic god because I rebuilt a mk cab or that I can fix my games.

I really think that's a piece of it. I sent a picture of one of the PCBs to a friend once who's in the IT realm, and has built his own PCs. I think it freaked even him out, simply because you can't just go to newegg or BB and score yourself a new ASUS Ms Pac board. LOL.

 

[SeanMcL]

I've received that "I can't believe your wife let you this" comment a couple of times, obviously from beat down weasels who could never have anything cool.

When I hear that, I either reply "Well, I don't have a parent-child relationship with my wife" or " I can't believe your wife won't let you".

 

[jawhn]

... "Well, I don't have a parent-child relationship with my wife" ...

The winning quote, right there.

 

[DanoND]

I've picked up a few games for people, but it's always money up front or no deal. Few people actually want one of these things. The idea is cool. That's it.

I've known at least 3 guys who picked up either a Pac or Ms Pac after screaming that they JUST HAD to have one, and a few weeks later regretted it. Game was cooler when they were 10. Now I prefix any "I want a Pac/MsPac" with "No you don't!".

 

[jcterzin]

lol. Nice. Way to back out of your dreams. You dont want a viper anyways. You want a Lotus Espirit

I did that to a friend who has a large car collection. I told him "when your ready to sell one of the vipers let me know!" well he did and needless to say no viper darn wife...

 

[kerri369]

my new year's resolution was to stop entertaining people when it comes to buying/selling games! in my line of work i know a lot of people and at least once a week someone is trying to sell or buy a game and 99% of the time it's alot of "tire kicking" so now my response is "check klov,ebay or craigs list! you'll find 'em there"

 

[WadeLanham]

I had to post this bc it's just 2 dang funny. I have a handful of people who know I have machines, and whenever I show them a new one that has come in, or one that I have gotten up and running, they ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS say to me "well when you are ready to let this one go [or another game I have], make sure you let me know!!!"

Funnily enough, the Ms Pac I currently have for sale is one of those games. I have told those exact people that it is up for sale and, those people are holding back on buying now. One of them provided a reason that was just simply hilarious (although they were serious when they were telling it to me).

Do you have these people circling your arcade, telling you that when you are ready to part with one they should be number 1 on the contact list, and then when you DO give them the opp, they bail?

I wouldn't call it being a poser, I'd call it being optimistic. Everyone wants to get first dibs. Sometimes when you go to sell, one of them will come through, but mostly they just want the option. Buying games is largely about timing for me. So I don't hold it against anyone if they call dibs and then pass when the time comes.

Wade

 

[modessitt]

When I saw the title of this thread, I assumed you referred to "POSERS" as people who claim to have been experts at the game "back in the day" and then suck at it.

Like recently when I went on a service call to fix a Stargate cocktail. One of the owner's employees met me at the house. Once he sees the game, he's like, "Aw man, it's on now. I used to kick this game's ass back in the day!" So I fix it, tell him to go ahead and play so we can make sure everything is working (and I hate playing Stargate). He starts playing, loses all 3 ships on the first level, and doesn't even beat the factory high score of 4000...

 

[WadeLanham]

Sometimes "I wish I had" is either a subtle way of someone not into your hobby complimenting your stuff or a way to keep the immediate conversation feed and healthy. Not so much a legit request or lame social posing.

If someone is serious about me finding them something, they tend to follow through after the moment.

+1!

Wade

 

[30FathomDave]

Pretty much any time someone sees my game room, they say something like "This is so cool! I'd love to have a _____ machine. I played that game all the time as a kid!"

Then I tell them that I could probably locate one for them for under $300, and they get excited and ask me to do that.

Then I find the game (usually a Ms Pac-Man, Galaga, Arkanoid, etc), tell them about it, and nothing happens.

It doesn't make me mad or anything. I understand. $300 is a lot of money, and for most people, an arcade game is a weird thing to actually have in your house. A lot of people like the idea of it, but won't actually pull the trigger if the opportunity comes up.

Sometimes "I wish I had" is either a subtle way of someone not into your hobby complimenting your stuff or a way to keep the immediate conversation feed and healthy. Not so much a legit request or lame social posing.

Great point. I never really thought about it that way, but that makes a lot of sense.