The Games That Got Away - Tell your stories!

TimePiloteer

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We all like to brag about the successful finds, the awesome craigslist scores.

But what about the ones that got away? The ones you missed that you keep thinking about for years after. "What if I just offered $50 bucks more?", "What if I had checked my email that morning?"

This is your chance to get it off your chest and free yourself.

After all, isn't life just a series of missed arcades?
 
Here's mine. I got a call from a friend about a game at a garage sale. I went to look at it, it was a Gaplus in a converted Stern Cabinet. No picture, but could hear the game come up. Cabinet was solid. They wanted $50.00. I had just picked up a galaxian cocktail the night before that needed work. I also was unsure of the value, in a converted cab and all. I asked how firm they were on the price. The lady's friend reminded her that it was the first day so they said firm. I told them I might come back. Later that day I was kicking myself for being cheap, and went back the next morning. Someone had bought it the day before. I would have loaded it in my truck when I was there on Friday, but I got cheap, I was trying to get it for $40.00. I was also somewhat hew to the hobby, but that's really not an excuse for being cheap and stupid...
 
Here's mine. I got a call from a friend about a game at a garage sale. I went to look at it, it was a Gaplus in a converted Stern Cabinet. No picture, but could hear the game come up. Cabinet was solid. They wanted $50.00. I had just picked up a galaxian cocktail the night before that needed work. I also was unsure of the value, in a converted cab and all. I asked how firm they were on the price. The lady's friend reminded her that it was the first day so they said firm. I told them I might come back. Later that day I was kicking myself for being cheap, and went back the next morning. Someone had bought it the day before. I would have loaded it in my truck when I was there on Friday, but I got cheap, I was trying to get it for $40.00. I was also somewhat hew to the hobby, but that's really not an excuse for being cheap and stupid...

I think I may know what happened to that arcade...how far are you from grand blanc MI?
 
Burgertime...I responded to an ad for a Burgertime that was working and in really good shape. The seller was going thru a divorce and it had to go. I wrote himea check for $250 and said I would pick up the next day with my truck. I get a call from him that night and said the wife had sold it while he was out. He returned the check and apologized. Morale of the story, be ready to see the deal thru on the spot. Burgertime has been my most wanted ever since falling thru.
 
Here's one:

The $100 non-working Asteroids, cab in fantastic shape, I just KNOW I can fix it easy. It wasn't in any of my craigslist alerts because the only text was "Asteroids", no "arcade", no "game", no other term. Randomly tried a plain search for "Asteroids" and it popped up! Emailed the guy, reply back "It just sold 5 minutes ago".
 
i've got too many stories and 98% of them are either:

1. i can't drop what i'm doing at work and leave NOW
2. no immediately-available vehicle for transport

in the DC area, decent deals rarely last more than half-a-day, and many times only a matter of a few hours :(
 
Not a great one but Nintendo Vs dual cab for $100. The cab was shot, but the games were Volleyball and Soccer. Posted on Friday I called on Monday and was already taken to the dump. Should have grabbed it for boards and monitors. was 5 minutes from my house. Ouch.
 
Recently,... a battlezone and a nice pinball for $200 each. A local shop Doc Pinball beat me to them.
The ones I think about the most... a working color side art Bud Tapper and Tempest table that needed monitor repair for $100 each. I was 2nd in line.
 
Not a great one but Nintendo Vs dual cab for $100. The cab was shot, but the games were Volleyball and Soccer. Posted on Friday I called on Monday and was already taken to the dump. Should have grabbed it for boards and monitors. was 5 minutes from my house. Ouch.

Similar dump story. About 5 mins away from me was a Gold Medalist converted to a MAME system. Seller was getting rid of the cabinet but trying to sell off just the MAME hardware. Ad was up for a few weeks while I contemplated getting just the cab to convert it to a Gauntlet. When I reached out, he had taken the cabinet to the dump already, and just had the hardware left.

Another one: A Super Man cabinet, had been in a rec room in a church 5 minutes away from me. They were reclaiming space and just giving away the thing for free. I was on a business trip for that whole week, and they couldn't wait. Had someone else there that night to get it. No stairs, 5 minutes away, probably would have been the easiest haul ever. Dang it!
 
Environmental Discs of Tron

Back in the late '90s I had a friend who owned a comic book store, and he got his op to bring in an EDOT. He knew it was my favorite and offered to get me a deal on it for $350. I passed on it because I lived in an apartment at the time and knew I'd never be able to fit in through the doors.
 
I think im dealing with one right now on KLOV just look up Lode Runner. I made a full price offer and havent heard anything back. Its been 5 days and the ad has not been updated as sold.
 
Clean, working Qbert for $800. I was first to call but after posting it one of the seller's buddies decided he wanted it. Seller traded it to his buddy for a pinball machine. He was nice about it but that one hurt.
 
I was first to respond on a CL post for 10 games.
Nothing terribly rare, but a solid list of games.
Pac Man
Mrs. Pac Man
Galaga
Operation Wolf
Pole Position
Defender
Asteroids
Centipede
Arcanoid
And a Multicade

Agreed on a price over the phone and committed the deal to me.
Told me repeatedly the games were mine and he was so happy they were going to a good home.
Even agreed on a day to pick them up and got the guy to pull the CL ad, which he did.
Unfortunately he couldn't do the deal that day and needed to wait until the upcoming weekend.
Spoke with him several times on the phone that week and still have a very large string of text messages from him. Spoke sever times that week and he kept telling me how awesome it was that they were going to someone who would appreciate and take care of them. Long story short the day before I went to pick them up he sent me a text message telling me that his brother is buying all the games for his kids and that he hopes I understand because family is family. Spoke to him again on the phone and he told me that if things changed he would let me know. Ive since reached out to the guy a couple of times to see if things fell through with his brother which at first nothing had happened but he said he would keep me posted. Tried again a few months ago and no response. Not even a confirmation that his brother did pick them up.

This situation was about as frustrating as having a girl walk out on you mid oral......
 
I think im dealing with one right now on KLOV just look up Lode Runner. I made a full price offer and havent heard anything back. Its been 5 days and the ad has not been updated as sold.

yeah dedicated lode runner should be on 80% of every collectors holy grail of grail's list.

everyone played that game as an 80's child!

to own the actual arcade game is rare AF and to have it dedicated and $400?!

at that point, the S&H costs are just added fluff to the charm of it!
 
oh man Baroda, MI is super far away! closer to Chicago, IL than Flint, MI!

Anyways Baroda to Grand Blanc (aka: richie rich Flint) is about 200 miles (3 hours) one-way drive.

Yeah I was lazy and didn't feel like pulling up a map. Anyways, there's a Gaplus in a stern cab at sweet water grill in Grand blanc
 
Several years ago when I was very new to the hobby, I was looking to buy anything and everything I could and that I could afford. I came across a CL ad several states away that claimed to be selling several storage lockers full of old games that belonged to a "lifelong collector". There was a thread on a FB group or something that mentioned this listing that a ton of people were talking about and said they had emailed the seller and nobody had heard back. By the time I got to the ad it had been like 3 days so I was like what the heck, I'll send one too. So I sent an email asking what they'd take for the entire lot. Unbelievably that afternoon I got a response. It turned out to be the collection of this lady's mom who had passed several years prior. She didn't know anything specifically about the games she said other than the titles and said that "most of them were working the last she remembered." She said she had an offer of $2000 from a guy sight unseen for everything which is the same situation I would have been in. I asked her for a list of games and although I can't remember all of them this was the majority

QBert,
OutRun,
Pac,
MsPac,
BabyPac,
Battlezone,
Pole Position,
Pong,
Jungle King,
Asteroids,
Revenge from Mars,
"a few more pinballs",
Burgertime,
Galaga,
Popeye,
Tron,
Robotron,

She also said she had a "ton" of "board things", stools, parts, etc. She even said she had a ton of vinyl she'd throw in. So i offered her $4000 for everything and she initially agreed. I was stoked whether or not it would have turned out ok was another story, and I was set to rent a huge UHaul and make the 8 hour drive. So literally hours before I left, she called and said she wanted $5500 and everything was mine. I told her the most I could do was $4500 and she said she couldn't do it. In the end she ended up selling everything and admitted she wished she would have just not been greedy and took my offer because it was a pita dealing with the whole thing. Looking back I wish she would have too or maybe I should have just figured it out?!
 
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Was at an auction and they had some nice skeeball games go for $200- $300 each. Was pretty sick about that, but didn't have a way to get one home.
 
dude's a liar. got a bigger offer.

Long story short the day before I went to pick them up he sent me a text message telling me that his brother is buying all the games for his kids and that he hopes I understand because family is family. Spoke to him again on the phone and he told me that if things changed he would let me know. Ive since reached out to the guy a couple of times to see if things fell through with his brother which at first nothing had happened but he said he would keep me posted. Tried again a few months ago and no response. Not even a confirmation that his brother did pick them up.
 
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