**Update** Buying a new house with machines in it.

Seems that a guy buying a million dollar house wouldn't have trouble finding cash for games and pins.

Shit houses in our neighborhood sell for 1.2 million and up.
These are modest homes. Houses in the bay area are crazy expensive.
 
Here is the best picture of the basement area where the arcade will be. You can see the GT and also the Spider-Man pin way in the back.

I don't take possession until July 25 so it will be a while before I can post full arcade pics. Hopefully I'll have even a few more machines by then.

That's no basement.. that's a hotel lobby!
 
2,000 square foot basement.


....drools uncontrollably.....

You guys need a roommate? I could live in half of your basement. :D
 
I'm surprised the seller didn't put all the stuff in storage that he didn't want to go with the house. I'm putting my house for sale June first. I already moved 80% of my stuff in storage. That includes 10 arcades, galaxy 1 full size dart board, pool table and foosball table. There is no way that I would let the buyer have my games.
That pool table you posted in the picture looks exactly what I have. Except mine has gray felt.
 
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I'm surprised the seller didn't put all the stuff in storage that he didn't want to go with the house. I'm putting my house for sale June first. I already moved 80% of my stuff in storage. That includes 10 arcades, galaxy 1 full size dart board, pool table and foosball table. There is no way that I would let the buyer have my games.
That pool table you posted in the picture looks exactly what I have. Except mine has gray felt.

He is in his 70's and is willing to let them go. I'm in my 30's and not willing to let any of mine go currently. I will be purchasing a foosball table as that is my favorite bar game.

Not in January.

The area I live in is much more tolerable in January than other areas of South Dakota. It is regularly in the 50s and sometimes in the 60s in January. Of course, it is more regularly in single digits...
 
I've seen so much bragging on this site that I know mine isn't outlandish. What I like is that people are so supportive of the bragging. Everyone feeling happy for others instead of jealousy (well maybe just a bit) is one of the most awesome parts of this forum. I can't wait to post pics of my actual arcade. Maybe I can start to compete with what all of you have.

Being jealous of someone else ultimately never did a thing for me. Good for you that you can buy a million dollar house, someone needs to, it seems like they don't build the normal ones anymore.

I bought my house 5 or 6 years ago for $72,000. They are currently building a "from the 450s" subdivision 50 yards from my house.

Also, you might not realize that $6K can go a really long way in stocking a gameroom, as most video games sell for under $400. Also, at the same time, realize that they will break and you will need to learn to fix them at least at the most basic level.
 
If anyone ever expresses any jealousy, explain to them that medical school is hard (I see that you're a physician). If you're in your 30s, you're probably just making real cash for the first time in your life seeing that med school also takes a long time to complete and becoming a doctor involves a few years of work where you are paid little. If you have loans to manage, it's even harder. Plus you get raped on malpractice insurance costs.

You made a wise investment buying a home like that right now with interest rates in the toilet and a profession that will always be in high demand. I'm very happy for you! I love seeing success!

As for Spiderman and Golden Tee ... Spiderman is a classic pin. It isn't going anywhere south in value. I've been collecting this stuff for 20 years now. If I thought it could be a dog, I'd warn you. Its not :).

If you plan on boosting your pin totals and don't like Spiderman, you'll have an easy time trading it later. If you do like it, you'll have one of the best games ever made :). It's a rare win-win situation. If you want a great return, offer up a pin for vid trade ... im sure you'd make out in the deal seeing that a lot of people don't like trading a Pinball machine for video games.

I'd be all over that deal at $6K though I am not a fan of any Golden Tee :) (I'm pretending that something like a restored Defender is thrown into the deal). It's hard for me to put a price on one since most of the ones I see for sale in that $500 - $700 price range sit for a while. They're everywhere around here.
 
The Spiderman pin I would definitely get, fair market I would say around $5500. The Golden Tee looks like a conversion to me, personally I would hold out for a dedicated cab, ultimately with a GT Complete board ...
 
I would pay 6. Sure it's not ideal but you're not moving games. I'll be blunt I think the smart money is in pins. Due to crts dying solid arcades will either become crazy expensive or too hard to maintain. Plus I don't think kids dig arcades as much. If ps3 didn't get them then their iPhone did. My oldest basically shows no interest, but games constantly. Anyway...you could probably sell golden tee for $300 and someone local would snag it. If it's not what you dig or is janky. The stern pins hold their valuE for the most part. You're only sorta overpaying if you exclude shipping costs. Had you ordered the same machines.
 
The Golden Tee is the sort of thing that while not desirable in a collectible sense you can easily wring several hundred dollars of gameplay out of it in a year or two.
 
If anyone ever expresses any jealousy, explain to them that medical school is hard (I see that you're a physician). If you're in your 30s, you're probably just making real cash for the first time in your life seeing that med school also takes a long time to complete and becoming a doctor involves a few years of work where you are paid little. If you have loans to manage, it's even harder. Plus you get raped on malpractice insurance costs.

You made a wise investment buying a home like that right now with interest rates in the toilet and a profession that will always be in high demand. I'm very happy for you! I love seeing success!

As for Spiderman and Golden Tee ... Spiderman is a classic pin. It isn't going anywhere south in value. I've been collecting this stuff for 20 years now. If I thought it could be a dog, I'd warn you. Its not :).

If you plan on boosting your pin totals and don't like Spiderman, you'll have an easy time trading it later. If you do like it, you'll have one of the best games ever made :). It's a rare win-win situation. If you want a great return, offer up a pin for vid trade ... im sure you'd make out in the deal seeing that a lot of people don't like trading a Pinball machine for video games.

I'd be all over that deal at $6K though I am not a fan of any Golden Tee :) (I'm pretending that something like a restored Defender is thrown into the deal). It's hard for me to put a price on one since most of the ones I see for sale in that $500 - $700 price range sit for a while. They're everywhere around here.

Ah, that explains buying a million dollar house in your 30's. That's a pretty unusual thing.

I bought my first house (worth maybe 170K now) when I was 26 and single and I got some major attitude about my age from some of my neighbors. It was pretty unpleasant; some of them really talked down to me.

So OP, I congratulate you on what will be an awesome arcade basement! Take lots of pictures when it's filled up with games and share them with us and we'll all live vicariously through you! :)
 
To be clear, I want both machines. It is not a Golden Tee Complete but it will still bring a lot of fun. All of my friends love Golden Tee, even the ones that aren't that into arcades otherwise (why am I even friends with them?). I am not enough of a pinball snob/connoisseur to really care what is a good one or not. I just know that I want more of them and this one happens to be located in my future basement already. Someday I may be running out of room and need to get rid of something and at that time I'll evaluate what machines I want to get rid of. But currently, I am just trying to get anything I might want if it is locally available and not stupidly overpriced.

I plan on offering him $6000 firm and then be willing to walk away if he says no. That is what I did with the house and got it. He hasn't called me at this point but hopefully we'll get a chance to talk before he moves them out.

I am a 36 year old physician with 5 kids and I have been out of residency for 3.5 years. It may be slightly pathetic but this house is being purchased with some minor assistance from my wealthy parents. I am responsible for the vast majority but most doctors at my point cannot afford a house like this.

Thank you again for all of the helpful, encouraging and entertaining responses.
 
To be clear, I want both machines. It is not a Golden Tee Complete but it will still bring a lot of fun. All of my friends love Golden Tee, even the ones that aren't that into arcades otherwise (why am I even friends with them?). I am not enough of a pinball snob/connoisseur to really care what is a good one or not. I just know that I want more of them and this one happens to be located in my future basement already. Someday I may be running out of room and need to get rid of something and at that time I'll evaluate what machines I want to get rid of. But currently, I am just trying to get anything I might want if it is locally available and not stupidly overpriced.

I plan on offering him $6000 firm and then be willing to walk away if he says no. That is what I did with the house and got it. He hasn't called me at this point but hopefully we'll get a chance to talk before he moves them out.

I am a 36 year old physician with 5 kids and I have been out of residency for 3.5 years. It may be slightly pathetic but this house is being purchased with some minor assistance from my wealthy parents. I am responsible for the vast majority but most doctors at my point cannot afford a house like this.

Thank you again for all of the helpful, encouraging and entertaining responses.

It's not pathetic at all. That's a serious profession you've earned, and nobody should feel guilty about their family being able to help them in life.

Spider-Man is an upper echelon pin. Like, fan-fucking-tastic game.

I skipped from page 2 to this post because I wanted to tell you how awesome a game it is. But, at $6k, it had better be a minty game.

I think $4600 for the pair is a good start.
 
Buying a new house with machines in it.

The area I live in is much more tolerable in January than other areas of South Dakota. It is regularly in the 50s and sometimes in the 60s in January. Of course, it is more regularly in single digits...


Average temp in rapid city for Jan is 22 degrees. That's even colder than Boston.

Of course in Boston, this is what $1m buys you:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1463840211.331503.jpg

Trade offs....always trade offs.
 
Average temp in rapid city for Jan is 22 degrees. That's even colder than Boston.

Of course in Boston, this is what $1m buys you:

View attachment 269028

Trade offs....always trade offs.

I didn't say it was a heat wave in January but compared to many other places in South Dakota, it is warmer in the winter. I live in the Black Hills area that gets chinook winds out of Canada and has temperatures more similar to Denver, CO whereas the rest of the state gets temps more similar to Minneapolis, MN.
Average January highs in:
Rapid City (Black Hills): 38
Spearfish (Black Hills): 40
Sturgis (Black Hills): 38
Denver, CO: 43

For places not in the Black Hills:
Sioux Falls: 26
Brookings: 23
Mitchell: 26
Vermillion: 31 (further South than any of the other mentioned cities except Denver)
Minneapolis, MN 24

Also, according to what I found, the average January high in Boston is 36. However, I don't think it gets as cold there as it does in South Dakota. It is obviously more moderate as the average January low for Rapid City is 11 and for Boston is 22.
 
I didn't say it was a heat wave in January but compared to many other places in South Dakota, it is warmer in the winter. I live in the Black Hills area that gets chinook winds out of Canada and has temperatures more similar to Denver, CO whereas the rest of the state gets temps more similar to Minneapolis, MN.

Average January highs in:

Rapid City (Black Hills): 38

Spearfish (Black Hills): 40

Sturgis (Black Hills): 38

Denver, CO: 43



For places not in the Black Hills:

Sioux Falls: 26

Brookings: 23

Mitchell: 26

Vermillion: 31 (further South than any of the other mentioned cities except Denver)

Minneapolis, MN 24



Also, according to what I found, the average January high in Boston is 36. However, I don't think it gets as cold there as it does in South Dakota. It is obviously more moderate as the average January low for Rapid City is 11 and for Boston is 22.


Agreed. Compared to Alaska both places are balmy.

I was talking about average temps not average highs. I wish our average was 38 in January!!
 
I would say offer 5K for the pair. If he doesn't bite, just say no thanks. You would be better off with the Spider man Vault edition. Spider man is a cool enough pin, but I think Simpsons Pinball party is better and it only goes for 3500-4500. And like another poster already said, you can get better pins for 5K.....Addams family, Theater of Magic. Avengers Hulk LE, X-Men Magneto LE, Star Wars DE, or Tales from the Crypt to name a few that's around 5K or less.
 
Average temp in rapid city for Jan is 22 degrees. That's even colder than Boston.

Of course in Boston, this is what $1m buys you:

View attachment 269028

I see 4 electric meters. Thats not really a bad price for a 4 unit rental property throughout much of the country. It'd be 6 grand a month in rent with all 4 occupied here, and I'm not in a high-fallutin' area.
 
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