SFBA Arcade/pinball/jukebox swap meet ?

ArcRevival

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I have been thinking of organizing an arcade swap meet. Would be cool if people brought stuff to sell or just came and bought stuff. I just wonder how many people would show up. Would people pay to get in ? Pay for a space to sell ? Not sure it could work. Thoughts ?
 
If it was like once a month, or more likely for me once a quarter, I could see wanting to make the trip and haul some stuff (and cash) down.
 
Sounds pretty cool. Once a quarter sounds more realistic for me as well. I don't really have arcade games to sell but plenty of parts and gaming related stuff I'm sure some guys would find desirable and/or useful.

As far as venue and cost to get something like that going, I have no idea.

Dave, you could even setup a monitor service station for people's cap kit and rejuvenation needs. ;)
 
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Ya, i am thinking maybe a couple times a year. Let me look into it a little further. People could haul full cabs but parts would be the big attraction.

Would you pay $5 to get in ? Even $10 ? Would you pay $15 to $25 to sell ?

Obviously a lot of details to work out but I will see if I can come up with something.

Thinking maybe one in the late Spring and one in the Fall.
 
Ya, i am thinking maybe a couple times a year. Let me look into it a little further. People could haul full cabs but parts would be the big attraction.

Would you pay $5 to get in ? Even $10 ? Would you pay $15 to $25 to sell ?

Obviously a lot of details to work out but I will see if I can come up with something.

Thinking maybe one in the late Spring and one in the Fall.

I would pay $5 to get in if there were enough "vendors." I'd for sure pay to get in for the first one to see how it pans out. $15-$25 to sell sounds fair enough, but for me personally, probably wouldn't be worth it since I don't have a ton of parts or games to sell. But I can't speak for other guys who have large collections and numerous items at their disposal.

Twice a year sounds gravy. Gives guys time to plan ahead and wouldn't be too much stress on you to have to plan too often.

Would you open it up to Socal guys who may be interested if willing to make the trip? Though travel cost would probably be a turnoff. Just wondering how large this could get. Also, what location/venue were you thinking?

Just one constructive criticism: What would be the draw other than being able to hang out with other collectors and maybe buy/sell a few items? It's much more cost effective and convenient to take a picture and post in the FS section here or on CL. Just playing devil's advocate here.
 
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I guess the draw would be that you could actually see what you are buying in person ? And hang out and just never know what someone might be selling. Good question.

I hate personally hate packing things and shipping. Other communities have swap meets so why not ours is what I am thinking. Cal Extreme is huge now so I think we have the base to support it. Maybe we do an auction too ? Lots of possibilities if people are interested.
 
I guess the draw would be that you could actually see what you are buying in person ? And hang out and just never know what someone might be selling. Good question.

I hate personally hate packing things and shipping. Other communities have swap meets so why not ours is what I am thinking. Cal Extreme is huge now so I think we have the base to support it. Maybe we do an auction too ? Lots of possibilities if people are interested.

Good answer.

To be completely honest, I would probably be a attendee and would really go just to see all you guys and hang out since we don't get many opportunities to do so.

I'm honestly surprised that more guys don't sell stuff at CAX though not sure of the cost to have a table. There's only the usual 3-4 arcade parts vendors like Mylstar, Pete (forget his last name, but I think he said the last CAX would be his last time selling stuff), etc.

I don't know Mylstar personally, but have bought an item from him before and he's good people. But from my understanding, he has a warehouse full of parts, but he only lists like a small percentage on his site and rarely posts here. Even when he comes to CAX, it doesn't seem like he brings much. Not knocking his business, just saying I'd be curious to see what else he has to offer without having to ask for a specific part. This swap meet would maybe be a draw for someone like him who doesn't want to have to catalog and take pictures of everything? I don't know. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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I would love to see something like this happen. I used to frequent the oakland swapmeet often about 10 years ago. I loved hunting for gems.

I think that it's going to be difficult making this happen. Arcade equipment is heavy/large or small and very delicate. It's really hard to get a bunch of vendors out to sell enough stuff to making this interesting.

I hope you do get a bunch of guys to come out for such a thing however... I just see it as a good idea but an uphill battle.
 
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Cool idea.....

.....I like it!

You could probably just pre-arrange an area at a local fairgrounds type swap meet.

There is a pretty big one near me in Roseville, CA (using this one as reference), Denio's Farmers Market & Swap Meet.

If people go as individual the booth area is $35/day or $49/weekend. I could see if there were in interested you could probably pre-register a larger area and if sellers split a booth you would be looking at $25/weekend or $17.50 for a Saturday only type deal.

Link: http://www.denios.org/weekend-reservations
Main site: http://www.denios.org/index.php

I think buyers only pay $3 to park, then walk in for free.

It's pretty much all outdoors - but they might have some indoor stuff available, too. BTW, I know someone that does computer programming for the Roseville location (my father), so might be able to get a deal there, too :)

Twice a year would be sweet, maybe even consider different locations (once per year at each). Probably consider 2-3 months before and after CAX to spread it out, too.

One location in the Sunnyvale/Santa Clara/Bay Area, the other in Roseville ;)

-Subscribed to this thread, looks like fun!

-GackAttack
 
Swap Meet

We had actually discussed doing that here at Juanups place awhile back but we never went through with it. We were just going to have a corkboard with list of parts for sale from anyone that came and contact info while everyone hangs out and plays games.
 
Agreed, thats probably the best way to do it...

I'd be totally down, but its sounds like it will be hard to coordinate and get buy-in... I'd prefer Kalan's less formal approach... or like we see "repair parties" from the east coast...
 
I'm in...

I love the idea!
Swap meet / Repair parties...
Meeting 2 to 4 times a year would be just fine.

Dave,
Were you thinking of admission fees, booth fees or both? (I don't think that money is the issue for most of us - just want to make sure that enough people show up to cover the costs of holding a meet)
Are you thinking of this for NorCal or trying to also include SoCal - where would be the event location?

...Anyhow, this sounds like fun!
 
Just to throw it out there... if kept more informal (and cheap/free) and because my guess is the turnout wouldn't justify an expensive venue...

I was thinking of having a klov-invited arcade party at my place in the next few months... I'm a little north for some of you in the south bay (i'm 25 minutes north of the golden gate bridge), but i could host a "repair party" or swap meet here... i have my little arcade for players, a fair amount of space in backyard and/or driveway for people to set up tables/booths/boxes of crap to sell... only limitation would be indoor space for full games, so weather would have to be good (though there is lots of cover in the backyard)

Just throwing it out there, unless you're set on a rented venue
gwarble
 
Bumping this, i hope my last post didn't derail any hopes of doing this

Otherwise i'll drop this; i'm planning an arcade party for march or april, open invite for anyone to hang out/play games and/or bring parts/games to sell/trade/let others play...

I may also make a post in the norCal group thing, probably once i finalize plans/date more, but i'm looking for feedback

I'm in Novato, half hour north of San Fran, so SFBA and sacramento area folks are in a reasonable driving distance...

-gwarble
 
Thanks for the bump. I never would have seen this.

This could potentially be a nice set up for someone in my situation. I have a box or two of misc. used parts and a few project/empty cabs that I am not motivated to list normally (or motivated anymore to work on), that I'd consider bringing to a specialized swap meet like this.

I'm sure there is an empty parking lot or warehouse *somewhere* in the Bay Area that we can use for a dry run.
 
Just to throw it out there... if kept more informal (and cheap/free) and because my guess is the turnout wouldn't justify an expensive venue...

I was thinking of having a klov-invited arcade party at my place in the next few months... I'm a little north for some of you in the south bay (i'm 25 minutes north of the golden gate bridge), but i could host a "repair party" or swap meet here... i have my little arcade for players, a fair amount of space in backyard and/or driveway for people to set up tables/booths/boxes of crap to sell... only limitation would be indoor space for full games, so weather would have to be good (though there is lots of cover in the backyard)

Just throwing it out there, unless you're set on a rented venue
gwarble

In case anyone's interested:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=2387875#post2387875
 
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