Dual PlayChoice 10 of Crushing Death
Pulling a dual monitor PlayChoice 10 out of a location in downtown San Francisco. I have the machine tilted back on a hand truck, and I am walking it backwards out the door. My wife and previous owner are on the inside of the store, pushing it.
The wheels on the truck get stuck on the door jam, and I have to tilt it back up, so I tell them to stop pushing so I can reorient myself.
The PlayChoice 10 tilts back upright, then suddenly starts tipping back over.
"Stop pushing!"
It keeps lurching over me.
"Stop Pushing!"
It's not stopping.
"STOP PUSHING!"
It comes crashing down on top of me. I just toss my hand up to catch it and barely keep myself from winding up sandwiched between myself and the concrete. The thumb on the hand keeping the machine off of me snaps back and dislocates. I get the handtruck to roll out of the jam, somehow, and it levels back out. I have to hold the machine with my other arm while I quickly whip my injured hand out to snap my thumb back in place.
My wife and the previous owner come out all smiles, "That went easier than we thought it would!"
They had no clue they almost crushed me.
Babality
I drove about 3 to 4 hours out to a warehouse to pick up a super cheap Mortal Kombat II project. My wife was due to give birth next week, but we saw it as our last arcade adventure before the kid comes.
We pick up the game just fine, but 20 minutes into the drive back and I blow a tire on the freeway. It's 90+ degrees in September, and as we are sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck, she starts having contractions!
...
Luckily, it was a false alarm. Braxton hicks. But I thought I was going to have a baby on the side of the Fresno highway.
Mario Bros. Crush
I was helping a friend move his wide Mario Bros. out of his house, through the front door, for CAX one year. He's on the handtruck, moving forward, and I am on the outside helping lift/guide the cab over the front steps.
One of my hands grabs a hold of the front board of the cabinet base as we go over the front door jam. The next moment, the board is in my hand and in the air, and my friend is yelling from underneath the Mario Bros, which is now laying on top of him.
The Cursed Tales From the Crypt
The last time I brought games to Pin-A-GoGo, I was loading up a friend's Tales From the Crypt pinball machine. I was super stressed, because I was responsible for a truck of about 20-30 games, and on this stop I was loading up about 5-6 machines.
The procedure for folding up a machine, for people in my circle ... that is ..., is you bring the head down. Strap the head to the body. Then take the back legs off, ease it down, lay it on its back, then remove the front legs. At that point, Bob's your uncle, grab a hand truck and wheel that bitch out!
In my rush and nervousness, I forgot the "Strap the head to the body" part for this game. I removed the back legs, eased it down, then stood it on its back. The head comes crashing down and smacks a wall!
Luckily, the game wasn't damaged. But it knocked a huge hole in the dry wall. My ego and pride were more bruised than anything else, and I would constantly have to hear about this incident throughout the show.
This game, we would soon realize, was cursed.
Pin-A-GoGo ends, and it's time to start packing games up. A buddy in our group tends to get plastered at almost any time of the day, and at this time he was especially drunk. He went over to the exact same Tales From the Crypt and proceeded to help us pack it up.
Unlocked the head.
Put the head down.
Unbolted the back leg bolts.
Removed the back legs.
Set it down.
Tilted the machine back.
WHAM! CRACK!
He did the same exact thing I had done loading the machine, and had forgotten to strap the head down. This time, however, there were no walls to protect the head. It went all the way back and snapped loose. It wound up requiring wood work to fix.
In the end, he meant well. I was distracted by stress ... and he was drunk. We both learned lessons that trip.
Also, obviously, the owner of Tales From the Crypt never let us borrow his machine again.
