Lost the thrill.

spanks_4

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So some of you have asked me recently why I have sold off a ton of games. About 3-4 months ago I had 24 games and 3 pins. I am now down to 8 games and 2 pins. Hopefully by the end of the week I will minus a few more games and a pin. I lost the reason why I was in this hobby and didn't have a want to be in it anymore. I will get down to my few grails and probably call it quits. I figure sooner or later those will probably go also and all that will be left is a memory of when I was happy with this crap.

Anyone else ever get like this? I can say though it is nice being able to see the color of the walls again though.
 
Sometimes I feel the same way. It's like "Why do I even have all these games if I don't even play them that much?". I think it's just because I want more room in the garage. If I had plenty of room for just the games, it would be easier to justify keeping them around.

You start out buying a game you really like, then you find some other games to buy cheap that you never really intended to own, and you start taking up space in the house/garage.
 
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FreeeSpanks.jpg



gonna miss ya, if you decide to leave us.
 
I can understand it though.
I wish I had more room and would be able to own more then just my 4 machines.
But I'm sure when I would have more room and more machines then what?

Problem is that it just isn't the same as it was like 25 years ago, the real thrill is gone and it's owning the cabs that becomes more an obsession.

So with my 4 cabinets I still have dreams and that keeps it alive for me, if i would have more I think I quit one day as well and maybe start over again in the future.
 
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You know,
I guess its like any hobby - you cant do it forever. Im sure 1 day Ill get to a point where I could use the money and space for something else. Like so much in life - prioritys change.
Fortunately for me im enjoying building the new arcade space and cant wait til I get it together. from there Ill restore my machines 1 by 1. when thats done - who knows. Im just enjoying this while I can. Im sure you did too spanks.
Good luck with your new endevours and enjoy all the extra cash!!
 
I get that feeling as well but I still like the challenge of restoring them I think that's what keeps me going. That and I'm still learning a lot about electronics that I would otherwise never learn. The new skills I acquire and the thrill of finally completing a project still get me a sens of satisfaction that I don't think any other hobby could provide for me. At least with this hobby I can actually use the final product instead of just looking at it or letting it collect dust on a shelf or in a box.
 
You can get burnt out on any hobby. One major problem I see with this one is the enormous amount to space it takes. If you just have 2 or 3 games, you can always work them into a spare room or den. When you get much over that number, they pretty much need their own space. When you get over about 10, you are basically committing a basement or large spare room to that and nothing else except for maybe a bar.

I can see it getting out of control pretty easy now that games are cheap. A lot of guys with high numbers of games seem to be keeping separate storage locations.

Add all that stuff up, and I can definitely see this hobby starting to wear on you. I had to kind of cap myself to less than 10 games because of the space I had to work with. My suggestion is to keep a few games you love and also have one multi-game. Once you take a break from it, the hassles will be forgotten and the passion will come back.
 
So some of you have asked me recently why I have sold off a ton of games. About 3-4 months ago I had 24 games and 3 pins. I am now down to 8 games and 2 pins. Hopefully by the end of the week I will minus a few more games and a pin. I lost the reason why I was in this hobby and didn't have a want to be in it anymore. I will get down to my few grails and probably call it quits. I figure sooner or later those will probably go also and all that will be left is a memory of when I was happy with this crap.

Anyone else ever get like this? I can say though it is nice being able to see the color of the walls again though.


I feel like this everytime I buy a game. There's the thrill of getting it and the nightmare of loading & unloading. As soon as I get it in the gameroom that feeling goes away and all I can do is look around and smile. I can't imagine ever getting rid of my machines. I enjoy working on them and get a sense of satisfaction when I've completed a project.
 
I think that's the problem with this hobby sometimes. You get the "bug" to buy buy buy... Then all of a sudden you can't move in your garage and your game room is full... That being said Spanks... Just figure out the games that actually make you happy, sell the rest and then enjoy playing your favorites... Maybe even make one of them a multicade.

I'm on the fence right now... I have six in the basement... Out of room... and three in the garage I want in the game room... All are restored so deciding on how to make it happen is becoming a problem.

Just remember, it's just a hobby.

Bill
 
spanks im about there i have finally gotten my collection to where i want it and i am now bored. i havent played a game since cax. i may start to sell off some of my personal games but i am not quite there yet. maybe in a few months i have other hobbies that could use some love for sure. there will always be games out there you found them once so if you want them again its not like you cant find them.
 
I can't say that I've ever felt like hanging it up and selling them off. Although I have been frustrated at times waiting to get a game fixed. I think what keeps me going with the hobby is seeing the joy on the faces of the people who play them at my parties. Kids and adults alike, even some people who you never thought would play; sometimes fighting over a game(Sea Wolf and Captain Kid at my last party). I can't say that someday I won't change my mind and have different interests, though. I'd like to save them for my kids; at least see if they're into them and may want to carry on the hobby when I'm gone.
 
I hate to hear your quieting. I enjoy the hunt but when you have that or those holy grails you've always wanted then wheres the challenge. But for me I have to agree its the smile of some little kid that never seen alladins castle or remembers those Friday or Saturday nights and goes to my game room and says this is better than gatti land or chuckie cheese and it also keeps my kids home where I can keep an eye on them. One last for what its worth it gives the wife something to complain about if I quite who knows what she would ride my ass about then it could be worse.
 
Spanks makes this post probably 4 times a year :) like a manic depressive type I think!

Woe is me, the world is ending, I hate everything i'm selling it all and moving to idaho!

Just messin with ya spanks, but you gotta see it.
 
Anyone else ever get like this?

You need to have multiple hobbies. For the next 3 months here's what I will be doing...
http://www.mainelights.org :D

I did sell off games for the past 5 or 6 years(went from 30 to 5) before the current round of madness though. We had kids and when they were "little little" I just couldn't devote any time to the hobby and didn't see the need for keeping the games.

That changed earlier this year when my then 8 year old asked whey we got rid of all the cool games we used to have? :D So now we're back up to... uh... I don't even know how many and the fun is back.

It's a stage... you'll be back. :beerchug:
 
I know exactly how he feels. I collected comics for 30 years, to the extreme of picking up 35 titles a month in the 80s. In the early 90s I went my separate ways with the new books, but continued collecting old books, searching for that elusive one that was missing from my collection. around 2002 I was sitting on about 25k books, I realized that it had been several years since Id actually read one, that the thrill of collecting was gone. All that was left was the search. I thought about it for about a year, and the next few years proceeded to sell them off. Down to under 1000 now

Course, I just transfered the search from comics to games:eek:
 
I know exactly how he feels. I collected comics for 30 years, to the extreme of picking up 35 titles a month in the 80s. In the early 90s I went my separate ways with the new books, but continued collecting old books, searching for that elusive one that was missing from my collection. around 2002 I was sitting on about 25k books, I realized that it had been several years since Id actually read one, that the thrill of collecting was gone. All that was left was the search. I thought about it for about a year, and the next few years proceeded to sell them off. Down to under 1000 now

Course, I just transfered the search from comics to games:eek:

What titles you got left? I'm in the quest for collecting Amazing Spider-man titles in the 100s and earlier!
 
I have grown out of a hobby before and can't say I won't get tired of having arcades in the future. I did love collecting atari 2600 games at one time, and had hundreds of them and had to fill in all the holes in the collection. Sitting on quite a few games worth hundreds of dollars and just having them collect dust isn't the best hobby. I switched to arcades and have sold off most of the atari games (making money on them in most cases) and put most of the money into arcade machines.

I am not sure what I will get into next, but I won't be sad if I ever grow out of games.
 
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