At least two stories, one old one new... Found the retired operator who supplied the actual classics I played locally 40 years ago, and he still had a couple hundred of them packed away for decades in an old warehouse. These were literally the actual games I myself had played at my favorite pizza joint, movie theater, bowling alley, skating rink, etc in my hometown when I was a teenager. He took me in to see them, I tagged several I wanted, we shook on it, but it was winter and the inactive building had been blocked by plowed snow banks. He said I'd just have to wait until spring when the snow was gone, which I did and started calling him weekly..., but he always had some reason we'd have to wait a bit longer. The last time I called, by some incredible coincidence he was at the warehouse, as his wife told me. So I rushed down there only to find him watching the games all being loaded onto a tractor trailer. He had just sold everything to someone else. I was stunned, because I had been in steady contact with him, offered to pay ahead of time, and he seemed like a genuinely good guy. He wouldn't explain what happened, and just said to ask the new owned if he'd sell me the meager few I wanted. There were duplicates of most if not all, Tempest, Galaga, BattleZone, PacMan, Centipede, Space Invaders, Gyruss, Flash pinball... But alas, the new guy replied with the equivalent of "Get lost." Felt like it was all a set-up to intentionally wound me for life..., before I had any found any of those titles elsewhere, didn't know if I ever would, and I'd had months to savor the thought that I'd found my whole dream collection all at once along with the actual buttons my 13-year-old fingers had tapped away at... (sigh)
New story just happened the day before yesterday. Found immaculate, fully working, all original Asteroids Deluxe cocktail table on eBay. Had been hardly touched in same homeowner's game room for nearly 30 years, located less than an hour drive away from me, bidding starts at 399, still no bids the morning of the end date, and it's got "Make an offer". So, like an average human living in a capitalist society, my first offer is low, 350, figuring I can always bid that night when the auction's ending around 9pm. Big mistake. Decades using eBay and I was still too dumb to realize that any accepted offer would end the auction early. Around noon, the seller sends me a very nice counter-offer of 399, which I would've very happily accepted if only I knew about it, but I was out doing my workin'-stiff day job without a computer on hand and thinking I had until 9pm to get back to it. I checked-in about 6pm and the heartbreak hit... They had ended the auction and sold it to the first bidder for 399. ARRGH..., could've just bid instead of making a stupid offer..., although if I couldn't stare at my computer all day and the seller seems to have offered to a bidder, might not've mattered. I keep telling myself it's no big deal, I've had a stand-up Asteroids Deluxe for years, but man, it's way harder to stop grieving than it should be... (sigh)
