AppleAmusements
New member
Hi all, let me introduce myself I am new in the last few days. I have a been a gamer since the 1970's and probably more than any other generation "grew up" with video games- my age bracket represents the very first year computers were put in public schools in earnest and I was at the age where I saw most classic games to the very end of the arcade era coincide with the years kids like me would spend the most time and money in arcades. I had a dad that was 'cool' with video games and we'd go often to lots of different arcades. I got the Atari 2600 the Christmas it came out (THANKS to my parents for that one though I suspect my dad wanted it too heheh) and my love of gaming continued through all of the classics - Commodore 64 and Amiga, text adventures on the Apple II, Vic 20's, and of course the Windows era stuff where I built most of my own machines and then stocked them full of classics (Anyone know that ARCHON is in a TERRIFIC remake right now and available for Windows machines?).
Anyway I LOVE video games and it just dawned on me I might finally be at the point where I could get away with getting 1 or 2 (yeah right I want like 50) for the house.
The past week has been a bit of a bummer though. This site is great and the classifieds here, SUPER. BUT even people I know FROM here are selling what even my noob eyes perceive as way overpriced stuff on most every site except the CL stuff which gets snapped up in literally minutes. Someone for example (NO NAMES) is elling a converted Simpsons that is obviously ex-arcade, 2 player, and in a rather unattractive cabinet for about TWICE what a great 4 player original should go for. They want like $1200 for this monstrosity. Now I know the market will bear what it will bear but how long have prices been this high? Or are we in an average market right now? Seems to me with the economy being talked about so much we would be in a buyer's market for a luxury like an arcade machine. Considering the 1-2 punch of terrific home consoles and MAME's rising popularity over the last decade I would have thought these machines would be at rock bottom prices. Of course the one's I want like Dragon's Lair and the classics are going to be more but I am just floored by the prices I've seen
What Do you folks think? Are prices cheap right now, average, or as I suspect a seller's market? Is there a particular time of year that prices peak and/or valley? Thoughts?
Anyway I LOVE video games and it just dawned on me I might finally be at the point where I could get away with getting 1 or 2 (yeah right I want like 50) for the house.
The past week has been a bit of a bummer though. This site is great and the classifieds here, SUPER. BUT even people I know FROM here are selling what even my noob eyes perceive as way overpriced stuff on most every site except the CL stuff which gets snapped up in literally minutes. Someone for example (NO NAMES) is elling a converted Simpsons that is obviously ex-arcade, 2 player, and in a rather unattractive cabinet for about TWICE what a great 4 player original should go for. They want like $1200 for this monstrosity. Now I know the market will bear what it will bear but how long have prices been this high? Or are we in an average market right now? Seems to me with the economy being talked about so much we would be in a buyer's market for a luxury like an arcade machine. Considering the 1-2 punch of terrific home consoles and MAME's rising popularity over the last decade I would have thought these machines would be at rock bottom prices. Of course the one's I want like Dragon's Lair and the classics are going to be more but I am just floored by the prices I've seen
What Do you folks think? Are prices cheap right now, average, or as I suspect a seller's market? Is there a particular time of year that prices peak and/or valley? Thoughts?



