Simpsons 4P cab $100 - Chicago burbs - not mine

Nope. I would be killed (by my wife) if I even LOOKED at another cab right now. Still got cocktails I'm working on, and that's the last of it for a while.
 
I just bought this. I'm going to restore it back to its former glory of course. And I can use the 13" monitor in another restoration job.

The seller told me a very odd story. He said that he got this from a Chuck E Cheese that was going out of business. Apparently a buddy called him and said "you've got to get over here...the chuck e cheese is going out of business and getting rid of all their games".

So he went over and saw the simpsons that was being disposed of...it was working 100%. The manager asked him "Do you want it?" He said "Yes". Then the manager found the keys for it, opened it up, removed the back door, grabbed a hammer, smashed the tube, smashed the board, and then said, "Still want it?" This guy said "uh.....yeah.....I guess so....." and the manager let him take it.

I've never heard of anything happening like this. But I believe him. (I believe everyone until I'm given reason not to).

So that is (part of) the reason it now has a 13" monitor. Not sure why he didn't just buy a 25" to replace the original....I didn't ask.

Have any of you heard similar Chuck E Cheese stories? I wonder if that former Chuck E Cheese manager is a KLOV member?

John
 
oh you guys would flinch at what goes on at a CEC Game enhancement....

I could tell some stories....my most recent one involved the demise of a MINT Qix/Space Invaders silver anniversary.. :(

And no i wasnt the one responsible for destroying it, but I knew what was going to happen to it as I unplugged it and wheeled it twoards the dumpsters.......
 
Gawd, that's awful! Eff him for destroying a perfectly good game. The guy shoulda taken the hammer and threw it at the manager's car rear window while driving away! :p

Kudos to Vectorman for the restoration you're going to do. :)
 
Last edited:
Actually I have heard this about Chuck E Cheese as well. The one by my house has a Nascar Pinball, and the wife loves it. I went and asked the manager what they do with old games when they are getting rid of them, (to see if I could get dibs) and he told me he has to take them to the dumpster and destroy them, and take pictures and send them to corporate as proof of the game being destroyed. When I asked why, the manager said he didn't really know why they had to destroy them, as he knew they could still sell them and make some of their money back, or at least give them to employees or collectors. All I could say what what a shame and shake my head, and he agreed with me.
 
It's sad that a corporation founded by none other than Atari's Nolan Bushnell destroys old games rather than selling them to people that want them. I guess they never learned from the E.T. fiasco.
 
Actually I have heard this about Chuck E Cheese as well. The one by my house has a Nascar Pinball, and the wife loves it. I went and asked the manager what they do with old games when they are getting rid of them, (to see if I could get dibs) and he told me he has to take them to the dumpster and destroy them, and take pictures and send them to corporate as proof of the game being destroyed. When I asked why, the manager said he didn't really know why they had to destroy them, as he knew they could still sell them and make some of their money back, or at least give them to employees or collectors. All I could say what what a shame and shake my head, and he agreed with me.

Simple answer is "TAXES"

They can write off the games value when it's destroyed. I've seen it in various industries. My brother had to do this with car parts also.

When I worked at Capcom, they closed the arcade division one day. I happened to not be in that office that day but I heard stories of hammers on racks and racks of CPS2 and Naomi boards. I used to hang out in the arcade side when Kobozono wasn't around. He's what you'd get when you cross a Nazi with the Japanese... He trusted no one. When they destroyed the inventory, he didn't give any of it away, He took hammers and wire cutters to destroy housings and PCBs... What he couldn't destroy was hauled away to a total trash compactor style disposal company.

I shed a tear at just the story... I was glad I wasn't in the office that day.
 
From what I understood CEC doesnt want to deal with the logistics of transporting hundreds of games a year back to the warehouse and then organizing the sale of them...some of the games and ries go back to Topeka for refurb...others do not...not exactly sure on what dictates a game going to refurb vs getting scrapped..

Oh and trickman...CEC is NOT asscociated with Nolan Bushnell or Atari or Chuck E Cheese of the past. There was a similar concept called Showbiz Pizza Place back in the 80's.....Chuck E Cheese had financial problems so Showbiz bought them out and then used the Chuck E cheese name and characters on all there stores in the 90's...
 
Last edited:
From what I understood CEC doesnt want to deal with the logistics of transporting hundreds of games a year back to the warehouse and then organizing the sale of them...some of the games and ries go back to Topeka for refurb...others do not...not exactly sure on what dictates a game going to refurb vs getting scrapped..

Oh and trickman...CEC is NOT asscociated with Nolan Bushnell or Atari or Chuck E Cheese of the past. There was a similar concept called Showbiz Pizza Place back in the 80's.....Chuck E Cheese had financial problems so Showbiz bought them out and then used the Chuck E cheese name and characters on all there stores in the 90's...

Ah, thanks for the clarity.

...and Prairied1ll0, I hate hearing those stories. I know they're true but I still think there could have been alternatives. I understand they go for the easy...tax write-off. Doesn't make it any more settling for people that strive to preserve this stuff, though.

Oh, and what years did you work at Capcom? I was in the industry from '91 - '02.
 
Back
Top Bottom