Most difficult/challenging machines to move…

ToddK

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When moving arcade machines, there's always a few that stick out in my mind that are the most difficult or annoying/challenging to move , curious what everyone's thoughts are on this and what experiences anybody's had with moving some of these amazing machines over the years I would assume this excludes cockpits because we all know those are not easy to move by yourself unless on wheels

My two most difficult machines to move by yourself are:

720.. just an awkward, top-heavy Cabinet to maneuver with the pedestal base

Spy hunter. this upright is almost too tall for its own good …hard to get it to lean back by yourself to wheel it on a dolly.
 
Any of the Mortal Kombat series, if you have to climb any stairs.

Even with the monitor removed, it's a heavy-ass cab. I can hump most bare cabs up a couple of flights by myself if I remove all the heavy bits. But not an MK. It's still a 2-man job.
 
4 player Atari XO football is very awkward. You have to put it on its side where the control panel is on the ground and strap the game to a dolly to move it up and downstairs.
 
Battlezone is not particularly hard to move--not for an Atari cabinet anyway, which always seem to be extra heavy--but I usually forget how much taller it is than other cabinets. I have banged it into a soffit in my basement more times than I care to admit.

Most difficult one I've ever moved is a Star Trek captain's chair. You excluded cockpits, but this one comes apart into two pieces, neither of them particularly heavy... but that just leaves you with two oddly-shaped things mounted to much bigger square bases, with breakable 40-year-old plastic on nearly every surface. You can't really strap them to a dolly like you can a nice big boxy game, and carrying them is a nerve-wracking experience because you can't really find many good places to grip them, and even if you do it feels like you're going to pull the game out of the base if you aren't careful. Even scooching it across the floor to a new spot is a major pain in the ass because there's really no place to push on.
 
And here I thought you were talking about selling games..

I'll say that Asteroids Deluxe is a bit of a PITA because the top is bigger than the base. It's not really any heavier than any other but the dimensional weight kills too.
 
EASILY the most difficult cabinet, and still to this day the ONLY cabinet I've not been able to lift from a laying position on my own...

(and look at that, the very cabinet I'm referring to is the 4th photo when searching...)

HOME1.jpg
 
The 4 player Cyberball isn't hard provided ideal conditions because it's on casters, but it's not super stable so it can get pretty tippy on bumpy or non-smooth surfaces. It's also so tall with the header installed that it's tricky to get through a doorway as the casters go over the threshold.

I'd also say my dynamo photon air hockey table was quite hard to get up to the 2nd story of my gameroom, and then back down when I decided I wanted it downstairs. 4 people, stair railing removed, awkward to get into stairway, super tight squeeze at the top and the bottom, and just doggone heavy. I don't think this is what you mean by difficult to move but it's such a comical memory for me that I just couldn't help myself... After all, at one point at the top of the stairs, one guy was forced to sit on the toilet with the end of the air hockey table on his lap!
 
Hard Drivin' !! That thing is big and heavy. I removed the seat and cut the base off to make it into my basement. That monitor has to be removed unless you want to be a hero.
Hard Movin' for the win
 
I have only moved about 30 cabinets, so don't have a lot to pull from, but so far Golden tee has been the worse.
 
Any of the Mortal Kombat series, if you have to climb any stairs.

Even with the monitor removed, it's a heavy-ass cab. I can hump most bare cabs up a couple of flights by myself if I remove all the heavy bits. But not an MK. It's still a 2-man job.
My immeadiate thought was any Midway Fighter/Sports game from the 90s+. I've passed on nice cabs simply because I'm in my 40s and just one look makes my back tweak.
 
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