Oh lord, I fear that most of my purchases are gonna have the exact same story.
Neo Geo MVS2-Mini, went to an arcade auction and was specifically looking for two things. A Cruis'n World and an Asteroids. They did not have a Cruis'n World, and while it had numerous Asteroids I got a cold shoulder once I saw a couple other items. One was a Hydro Thunder which was in good condition but had a cracked marquee, and the other were two MVS-2 Minis which I had never seen before and thought they were the cutest little fuckers. I only played Neo Geo a couple times in the arcades, usually I just played the home ports and stuff. Plus the size was just right. So I got the crappier of the two which had a 1 slot board, a ghetto ass marquee and no CPO. I've since put in a proper MVS-2 in it and got a new marquee and CPO from Szabo. It briefly led to a MVS cart collection addiction to which luckily I got most of the ones I wanted before the insane prices.
Cruis'n World. So at that same auction I started bidding on the Hydro Thunder, however lost on a bidding war. I think I was outbid at 500, which I could have gone higher but I decided to hold back. It was immediately put on sale on craigslist for over 1 grand. So I rage bought a Cruis'n World off of Ebay from what turned out to be an alternate account of Bill Burger (this will become important later on in the story). Cruis'n World is my favorite arcade game, my father and I would go and play it quite a bit back in the day when it came out and was in Arcades (and pretty much was always in arcades as long as they were around down here). He was also sick at the time so I wanted to surprise him. So I had to negotiate with the seller, and the transaction went smoothly. The core price itself wasn't so bad but it was in California and I of course wasn't so I had to negotiate with Beltman which put me at spending quite a bit more than the going rate for a Cruis'n World. However actually getting it picked up was a bit of a nightmare as Mr. Burger has a thing about answering his phone, and if you ask him questions. Well just check out the negative feedback thread to get an idea. But Beltman were finally able to get a hold of him and dropped the game off to me. Outside of being dirty and needing recalibration the game was in good working condition. My dad played it quite a bit before passing away later that summer. The last game I will let go as it were.
Next up was a Blockade, which showed up on Let Go before that merged with some other website. I had never heard of the game before, but it looked interesting from a historical perspective. That too was a weird experience because I met this chick who led me to this shack that had it in there. Like she didn't "own it" but was selling it on behalf of her uncle or something. Felt super shady. She also showed me a Golden Axe that had its coin box axed in, and as she was talking about it a spider the size of my fist came down on the marquee. I got out of there with the Blockade, and I'm not sure if it was a legit sale. Anyway it wasn't working and its been on my backlog ever since.
The next two games I got as sort of a package deal. A Sol Divide in a Dynamo HS-1 and a Soul Edge in a Dragon's Lair 2 cabinet. I was just there to get the Sol Divide as... I had never heard of it, it looked interesting and the price is right. The dude tries really hard to sell me the Soul Edge. I took it too and while it was a basket case, the Dynamo was in good condition and while Sol Divide was just ok, I've used the cab for many other games since.
Cobra Gunship. Again, never heard of this game, the cab looked cool and there was little information and no gameplay footage online. This was uncharted territory, I had to have it. Game worked pretty well, unfortunately I damaged the side art while moving it as a rookie mistake (the vehicle I moved it in worked well for everything but it unfortunately). And yeah, pretty cab. Gameplay though is ehhhhhhhh
Silent Scope. This one I did play a couple of times and thought it was the coolest fucking shit when it was around and the price was extremely right. Worked perfectly, perfect monitor all good. Learned though that the gun assembly is ungodly large which means it's a permanent fixture in my garage.
Figureheads. Saw this shit on KLOV, had no idea what it was but was extremely curious. Price was right so I bought it. It was some weird multiplayer action game that needs to be networked either to another machine or another network to work. Right now the can has Left 4 Dead Arcade in it, as that is playable.
Neo Geo Candy. Accidently won this POS from captains. I got the 4 slot fixed later but I need the rest sandblasted, so right now it's in pieces.
Rad Mobile, I had never heard about or played this game before. Saw and played it at an auction and won for a good price. Later on while working on it the cab door would slip out of my hand and crush two of my toes. The nail on one hasnt grown back right either.
At the same auction I was in a corner and a game kept plummeting in price. 50, 50 any takers? So I raised my hand and won. It was a Demolish Fist in a Radical Bikers cab. While the monitor has been tortured the rest of the cab and the game were in great condition. I tried to remove the paint to restore the original and oh man that was a mistake. Demolish Fist it remains then
Asteroids. By this point I was getting annoyed at my lack of luck, and I think vectors are the coolest shit ever but I struck out on (at this point) 2 Omega Races and numerous Asteroids in bidding wars. So I just went on Craigslist and bought a partially working one. Unfortunately I've had it in storage the entire time as I don't want to move the beast.
Next up was a chewlix being sold on this forum. I misread the price and raced out half a day to Chicago and low balled the klover to his face. Luckily I had the right amount of money on me to make up for my stupidity. It is now allegedly a multi ringedge. Allegdely.
Next up was an auction. Another one of the games I was fond of was Outrun. And they had an Outrun Mini in shitty condition. I had to have it. Right now it is my most played Arcade game as it's always time for Outrun
At the same auction I bought a Beach Head 2000, which was designed by satan. I hate it. But it is now up and running. Except for the monitor. Very cool. I had seen it before in the Arcades, but never played it. I was much smarter in my youth.
Later on full covid was in swing so the local auction was online only. I was mainly bidding on a cool Pong clone table sold by a forum member, which I lost and it was flipped for way too much. Very cool. But I also threw a little bit of money down on a SPECIAL criminal Investigators. I had never heard of this game, no one else bid on it and I was hoping I'd lose. I didnt. This was by far the easiest arcade machine I've ever had to move. I threw it in storage, a year and a half later I moved it out. Found out that the monitor was perfect, the game worked just that something was wrong with the controls. It's on my to do list
Next up was a Raiden Fighters Jet I saw on Craigslist. Like the last of the Craigslists deals. Big fan of the Raiden games and the price was right. Also it looked smaller than in the pictures admit was actually a converted MK cab. I also wanted a cab in could swap boards in for vertical play like I do with my Dynamo so sometimes it's a Bitkit
Next up was a Defender. I had also been looking for a Cocktail, and at the next auction were Defender cocktails. One in superb physical condition with an ok monitor. And the other in alright condition but a great monitor. Of the classics I always liked the William's games the best so I ended up winning the one with the better monitor. Awesome grab, my second most played arcade game.
And finally some upright megatouch. Another one nonone bid on, I won it for 25 bucks. Worked perfectly and I had it at my brothers for awhile so he could play it. Actually the first megatouch I ever played. Somehow three dead bugs exist between the crt and the touchscreen glass and it bothers me to no end as getting rid of them would be a massive pain in the ass
