The year behind...the year ahead...the hobby and you

Fatsquatch

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The year behind...the year ahead...the hobby and you

2009: This was quite an interesting year for me as a collector. Having grown somewhat bored with the lineup in my arcade (which hadn't changed too much over the last few years), I finally put my longstanding fears aside about pinball ownership and traded some games for a couple of tables (Frankenstein and Freddy). I was quite afraid that I would regret getting rid of the cabs that I let go (Star Wars, Joust, Xenophobe, Operation Wolf, Dragon's Lair), but so far, so good. If I had any regret, it would be over the loss of the Joust, but that's extremely minimal at best. I'm quite infatuated with both pins, and still play them regularly -- something that wasn't happening with the aforementioned vids at all.

This was also the year that I sold my dedicated Double Dragon (the 2nd game I ever bought), and picked up a Toobin'. I don't miss the Double D at all, and unfortunately, the Toobin' hasn't proven to be the popular hit that I thought it would. My baby girl finds its controls too difficult, my wife has had ZERO interest in even trying it, and at our last party, it went pretty much ignored during the entire 5-hour event. Seems I'm the only one who likes it, which is fine, but damn...that 2-player mode is so much fun. Bummer, that.

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2010: This year, I will definitely be focusing on expanding my meager pin collection. There are still 2 or 3 vids I would like to collect, but the desire for those definitely takes a backseat to the pin side of my collecting ambitions. And the fact of the matter is, I will need to sell vids in order to raise money/make room for any new tables. While that wasn't much of a problem in 2009, I've now pretty much whittled my collection down to the absolute MUST-HAVES.

Looks like some tough choices will have to be made this year. (Man, it would be so nice to have a dedicated building of Hirschbergian proportions.)

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So what about you guys?
 
2009: This was my first year in the hobby. I picked up a Frogger conversion during the summer and later got a dedicated Swimmer and Time Soldiers conversion. Pretty much, I jumped on any game that I came across. This year, I have been a little wary about working on the electronics of games and have definitely shied away from buying non-working games. Did my first capkit, though. Also replaced a bad pot on Frogger's monitor chassis. Worked out awesome and now I have a nice, crisp monitor.

2010: I am going to be more specific on which games I purchase this year. I'd like to get a horizontal Jamma machine for sure, a Klax is possible. Getting a cocktail game would be nice as well. Also, I am going to be more ambitious about working on games now; I'd like to pick up a cheap non-working game and get it working.

Maybe, just maybe I will get a Vector or Electromechanical game.
 
2010: I am going to be more specific on which games I purchase this year.

This is one of the first bits of advice I like to give to folks just getting into the hobby.

When you first get the collecting fever, it's easy to spend a lot of time, money and energy on whatever games you can find -- only to wish later on that you had been more dialed in to what you really wanted to collect.

Good show!
 
I thought this was worth repeating!

this yeah i want to work on doing some full restorations! awesome! alotta good resto threads on here to work from! say pacman and centipede?
 
started last year with a job and a broken centipede cocktail. ended up enemployed soon after, traded that for an old stripped atari cab to MAME and picked up a couple cabs and a cocktail pin. this year i am going to keep my eyes glued to craigslist for deals, and pick up some shitty jamma cabs at auction hopefully to build some MAME cabs for friends. also might try and scratch build a pac man. would like to find a job soon.
 
Jeez.. a year is such a short timespan....

2009:
Too much Pac/Ms.Pac/Jr.pac for starters ;)
video games seemed to revolve around Williams hardware
Learned to love MIPS M4K
Q*bert just rules...seriously..

2010:
Finish mylstar FPGA, Q*Bert continues to rule
Get back to messing with vector CRTs at first opportunity
Buy a Spartan 6 dev board
Finally get my bombjack cabinet operational
Do some more with this http://www.jrok.com/hardware/zsf/
Get another vertical JAMMA cab
Buy a Space Duel, Gravitar or Black Widow
Make friends with someone who has a really good woodshop

- James
 
Good topic.

2009-
This was my 4th year in the hobby. I finally have let go of the 100 game list that I used to have of all the things I wanted. I realized I didn't want store games in a warehouse or anywhere but my arcade bar or my arcade garage. It hit me when I spent a lot of time, money, and effort converting my RoadBlasters into a Marble Madness and played it for a total of like 15 minutes and realizing I never really liked the game.

I measured my arcades for how many games I could fit (~30) and made a top 30 list. I still check out craigs and ebay, but I'm able to ignore the games I have no interest in, even if they're $100 and 5 minutes down the road.

Acquired 9 new games in 2009, best were a $500 working Star Wars and 3 SF Rush the Rocks for $830.

2010 goals-
restore 1 game a month (7 to go)
obtain PacMan and Addams Family pin (already have deals in place)
convert all my cds and lps to digital, and parlay the dough into Tempest, Mat Mania, and a Kung Fu Master
sell RoadBlasters, Karate Champ, and my enormo-Mame
 
2009:

- added my first vector games to the line up (Star Wars and Asteroids Deluxe)
- shipped my first games (see vectors above)
- used stencils to paint a game for the first time


2010:
- find a Tron locally that can get the full restore treatment
- restore Galaga
- restore Gyruss
- build a Jamma test rig
- buy my first pin
 
This is one of the first bits of advice I like to give to folks just getting into the hobby.

When you first get the collecting fever, it's easy to spend a lot of time, money and energy on whatever games you can find -- only to wish later on that you had been more dialed in to what you really wanted to collect.

Good show!

2010: I am going to be more specific on which games I purchase this year. I'd like to get a horizontal Jamma machine for sure, a Klax is possible. Getting a cocktail game would be nice as well. Also, I am going to be more ambitious about working on games now; I'd like to pick up a cheap non-working game and get it working.
worth repeating!
 
2009: I bought a bunch of games, then had to sell most of them. I ended the year keeping DK, Tempest, and High Speed while adding Paperboy about a month ago. I have more garage space now, and that is really nice.

2010: I have a Pole Position that I need to get working. I have all of the parts, but haven't had time to test if they work. Atari Football and Altered Beast need to be traded for something I will play more often. I need to play Paperboy and Pole Position for a while to decide if they will be traded as well.

Most of all, I need to not buy anything until my finances get better. I need to learn a little impulse control.
 
2009: Went from having just a handful of games in the "dine-cade" at the old house, to attending the Seattle show and deciding that it was time to get serious about upgrading to a house with a big gameroom, to actually getting that gameroom, to my big Christmas haul. It was a very good year. :)

2010: Turn the gameroom from a shop with games in it, to a room that has the full arcade ambiance. Add to the collection to the point where when we have parties, I will feel fairly confident that most everyone will be able to find a game they enjoy playing. Do some significant restorations. Attempt to instill a love for the classics in my kids (so they're not always playing the jamma "continue" type games on the mame cab). Perhaps build a horizontal mame and at some point, deconvert my centipede mame and transfer the mameness into a less classic (vert) cab.

I'm sure it's overly ambitious - that's my nature. I always overestimate what I can get done!

And my approach from the start of my collecting has been to only get games that I'm confident I'll keep. Only possible exception: super mario bros. But that one may just get converted into a dedicated D2K anyway. :)
 
2009:
Went from 24 vids/3 pins to 8 vids/2 pins

2010:
Plan on selling a couple more vids and getting a few more pins.
Restore all of the games starting with my Williams Flash which is currently
completely torn down and in need of painting and reassembly.

MID 2010:
Possibly sell all vids, and make a mame. Game over and fill the space with
pins!
 
2009: Found the remaining games I always wanted which were Donkey Kong, Tapper, Sinistar, and Berzerk. Also began the process of building a multigame for the bar.

2010: Consolidation and reorganization year. Main priority will be to get the Berzerk and Multi fully working. Decide whether to sell the Asteroids UR or CT. Decide whether to keep Tempest CT. Put the Multi in the bar and sell Multipede.
 
2009: Fixed some boards for folks. Fixed some boards. Also fixed some boards.

2010: Fix some boards. Ask people if they need boards fixed. Fix them. After that, fix some boards.

Oh, and finish ONE (1) damn project other than fixing a board! :p
 
2009- Have had a SMB for about 6 years and it has sat in my garage most of the time not being played. With 2009 came the big house with the nice basement so I decided to dust off the smb and add some friend. Ended up getting 18 games this summer(the arcade bug got me good), most of which needed minor work and some need harder stuff I have not done yet. Had lots of fun fixing them up though. I hope I can finish them soon because I want to play them and buy more hehehe. Best find was a working megatouch at a flea market for $10 (guy thought it was a pay tv from a motel)


2010- Sell some games that are not as much fun as I thought they would be, any new games will be in good working condition
 
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2009 -
- Acquired Warlords cocktail :)
- Sold Star Wars upright #2, replaced it with:
- Acquired Star Wars upright #3.
- Sold Star Wars upright #3, replaced it with:
- Acquired 25" Major Havoc 720 :) (see http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=116646 )

2010 -
- Complete Warlords restoration - needs CPOs replaced. Replace top glass? Need to decide.
- Complete SWCP restoration - needs cabinet work and electrical re-assembly
- Complete Major Havoc 720 conversion - cabinet work, monitor work
 
2009:

- Got into the hobby in February on an impulse barter for DK.
- Joined KLOV and met a lot of cool guys.
- Acquired DK Jr., Mario Bros WB, and Vs. Unisystem.
- Went to my first CAX and had a blast.
- Acquired and sold DK3.

Thanks to everyone who made my first year in this great hobby a memorable one.

2010:

With the baby coming in less than a month, like Paul (pcolson), I have to be less of an impulsive buyer and be more mindful of our finances. I think I've made progress in that I haven't acquired any more games and sold the last game I got. If I were to get any games this year, it would be a non-Nintendo game that has nostalgic value to me. So a dedicated SFII:WW or 4-player TMNT would be ideal. I'm looking forward to CAX again. :)
 
2009:
sold a majority of my collection since it was back in storage after I converted my gameroom into a studio apartment so my dad could live there.
Kept maybe 10 vids and 1 pin (twilight Zone). I also wanted to focus all my energy into my parts business and started sorting through the thousands of parts I have last December.
I have in my office: Reactor, Dragon Spirit, Robotron, Bubbles, and Tempest.

2010:
No more game collecting. Sort, catalog, inventory and list all my parts on the site.
 
2009
Major cab project was my full Gottlieb Count-Down restoration/mod
Painted and added several circuits to the garage
Picked up a Sea Devil EM game
Picked up two IREM Madonna candy cabs

2010
Tear down and rebuild both IREM cabinets
Finish emulation projects (dedicated Daphne, and MAME machine)
Finish at least one more major project, either the Sea Devil or I, Robot
Host a proper arcade party.
 
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