khabbi
New member
My epic trip: FL to MD to pick up a Dedicated Major Havoc!
Well, I finally have the time to post my game pickup story that I purchased from Joe (Enjoyvelvet's) in Mt. Rainier, Maryland, from what was an epic trip to pick up my #1 grail of all time, a mint condition (ahem, my opinion, thank you) Major Havoc! I'll use this thread to tell the story of what was an epic trip of almost 2,000 miles round trip and over 36 hours of driving between me and a friend over 3 days.. all for a grail.
I must mention that I had a personal family thing to take care of up in Maryland also which involved helping a family member, so this was an easy trip in the long run to do. I will keep that personal, however. It was as quick as picking something up to return to Florida, so it was perfect.
Several weeks ago Joe posted a thread asking if Major Havoc came in a 720 looking cabinet and posted one of the most lucky finds I've ever seen (I'll let him tell the story but he came across a Dedicated MH cab while looking at another game that was listed on Craigslist).. When I saw his discovery I PM'd him to let him know if he managed to get the game I would be interested in buying, as I had been looking around for another color vector and wanted a MH. I was considering a MH conversion cab that eXidy had, but I really wanted a dedicated if at all possible. Joe did manage to score the dedicated MH and PM'd me that he had it and told me what he was asking, which I found to be a fair price (sorry, gonna keep that private).. so I told him I'd take it- but we had to figure out how to get this game to me w/o risking any damage to the cab since it was so nice.
After much thinking and a call to a (very) good friend of mine who has helped me numerous times and happens to appreciate the hobby, we decided to make the epic voyage up to Maryland to pick the game up in person so we could give this one the red carpet treatment and guarantee the preservation and care that this game deserves during a long distance move. I called Joe and let him know we'd be up in a few weeks, and he agreed to hold it for me until we could make the trip.
Joe was great to deal with and made this whole transaction easy for me, I must have been sent 50+ pictures of the game as well as over 4 videos of the game from every angle and perspective. He worked with me in every respect, and even sat on the game for a few weeks until I could get the trip and money worked out. A totally cool thing to do, even though he didn't have to with this game. I was also the first to PM him about the game, and he stuck to giving me first dibs on it instead of turning this into a bidding war. This is the integrity that I wish all sellers had of anything they had for sale. Props to Joe for being an outstanding KLOVer and Seller.
Fast forward a few weeks to last thursday.. I worked a full day and travelled up to Jacksonville that night to meet up with the friend that was going to help me make the trip, a short 3.5 hour trip to jax. The next day I helped my friend out at work so he could finish early and start the trip up to Maryland, and at about 3pm we started our trip from St. Augustine (where his work is), which is an hour south of Jax..
We headed up I-95 until we reached the South of the Border exit in South Carolina at about 9:30pm.. for those that don't know what that is, it's an old tourist trap exit with lots of flash and lights, kind of like a mini-vegas looking area that's all part of "south of the border". It's pretty run down now, but in it's heyday it was pretty cool. We snapped a few pics, hit the head, and noticed that there was an "arcade" within all of the buildings. We went in to check it out and it was as disappointing as most arcades are now days.. they had no classics, and two "class of '81's", one was not functional and the other was a dim red with no other color displayed on the monitor, along with a fishtales pinball and a mixture of some non-exciting 90's games. All of them were in a serious state of disarray and obviously not maintained in the very least. We decided to hit the road and continue on our way
Here's some pics we took at "south of the border" ...
Well, I finally have the time to post my game pickup story that I purchased from Joe (Enjoyvelvet's) in Mt. Rainier, Maryland, from what was an epic trip to pick up my #1 grail of all time, a mint condition (ahem, my opinion, thank you) Major Havoc! I'll use this thread to tell the story of what was an epic trip of almost 2,000 miles round trip and over 36 hours of driving between me and a friend over 3 days.. all for a grail.
I must mention that I had a personal family thing to take care of up in Maryland also which involved helping a family member, so this was an easy trip in the long run to do. I will keep that personal, however. It was as quick as picking something up to return to Florida, so it was perfect.
Several weeks ago Joe posted a thread asking if Major Havoc came in a 720 looking cabinet and posted one of the most lucky finds I've ever seen (I'll let him tell the story but he came across a Dedicated MH cab while looking at another game that was listed on Craigslist).. When I saw his discovery I PM'd him to let him know if he managed to get the game I would be interested in buying, as I had been looking around for another color vector and wanted a MH. I was considering a MH conversion cab that eXidy had, but I really wanted a dedicated if at all possible. Joe did manage to score the dedicated MH and PM'd me that he had it and told me what he was asking, which I found to be a fair price (sorry, gonna keep that private).. so I told him I'd take it- but we had to figure out how to get this game to me w/o risking any damage to the cab since it was so nice.
After much thinking and a call to a (very) good friend of mine who has helped me numerous times and happens to appreciate the hobby, we decided to make the epic voyage up to Maryland to pick the game up in person so we could give this one the red carpet treatment and guarantee the preservation and care that this game deserves during a long distance move. I called Joe and let him know we'd be up in a few weeks, and he agreed to hold it for me until we could make the trip.
Joe was great to deal with and made this whole transaction easy for me, I must have been sent 50+ pictures of the game as well as over 4 videos of the game from every angle and perspective. He worked with me in every respect, and even sat on the game for a few weeks until I could get the trip and money worked out. A totally cool thing to do, even though he didn't have to with this game. I was also the first to PM him about the game, and he stuck to giving me first dibs on it instead of turning this into a bidding war. This is the integrity that I wish all sellers had of anything they had for sale. Props to Joe for being an outstanding KLOVer and Seller.
Fast forward a few weeks to last thursday.. I worked a full day and travelled up to Jacksonville that night to meet up with the friend that was going to help me make the trip, a short 3.5 hour trip to jax. The next day I helped my friend out at work so he could finish early and start the trip up to Maryland, and at about 3pm we started our trip from St. Augustine (where his work is), which is an hour south of Jax..
We headed up I-95 until we reached the South of the Border exit in South Carolina at about 9:30pm.. for those that don't know what that is, it's an old tourist trap exit with lots of flash and lights, kind of like a mini-vegas looking area that's all part of "south of the border". It's pretty run down now, but in it's heyday it was pretty cool. We snapped a few pics, hit the head, and noticed that there was an "arcade" within all of the buildings. We went in to check it out and it was as disappointing as most arcades are now days.. they had no classics, and two "class of '81's", one was not functional and the other was a dim red with no other color displayed on the monitor, along with a fishtales pinball and a mixture of some non-exciting 90's games. All of them were in a serious state of disarray and obviously not maintained in the very least. We decided to hit the road and continue on our way
Here's some pics we took at "south of the border" ...
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