well traveled video & pinball games (11,186 & 12,604 miles)

joemagiera

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well traveled video & pinball games (11,186 & 12,604 miles)

Several years ago, I wanted to get an Exterminator video game (the cabinet is way cool). I found one in Seattle and had it shipped to me. The guy who owned it told me he picked it up in Norway when he was stationed there in the military. The game was originally made in the Chicago area (Gottlieb/Mylstar/Premier). I've since sold it to a guy out in the Boston area. So it went something like this:

originally manufactured, Chicago, Il to Oslo, Norway 4,044 miles,
Oslo to Seattle 4,558 miles,
Seattle to Chicago, 1733 miles,
Chicago to Boston, 851 miles.

I used this site to get the miles: http://www.geobytes.com/CityDistanceTool.htm?loadpage
The site says it's a "as the crow flies" distance, so the actually mileage was higher. But at a minimum, that game traveled 11,186 miles. Plus whatever other intermediate destinations it had along the way (I doubt it went straight from the manufacturer to Oslo, Norway). And the game was in great condition (at least when it left me).

I also re-imported a Revenge From Mars pinball game from Japan, so that went something like this:

Originally manufactured, Chicago, Il to Tokyo, Japan, 6,302 miles,
Tokyo, Japan to Chicago, 6,302,
Total of 12,604 miles.

Heck, I've never even been to Oslo or Tokyo. Maybe I need to make up a t-shirt, "my pinball game went to Tokyo and all I got was this lousy t-shirt".

So, any of you have any well traveled games?
 
I HAD a Donkey Kong that followed along during much of my military career.
Hawaii to California to Tennessee to Spain to Florida to Guam to California to Florida to Minnesota.
Not sure how many miles that is but it's a lot.
 
I HAD a Donkey Kong that followed along during much of my military career.
Hawaii to California to Tennessee to Spain to Florida to Guam to California to Florida to Minnesota.
Not sure how many miles that is but it's a lot.

That's cool. How was it transported? Military transport? That's how the guy got the Exterminator from Oslo Norway back to Washington state.

I agree with you, I didn't figure it out, but I'm sure it was more miles than mine took.
 
That's cool. How was it transported? Military transport? <snip>

Yep. It flew on a cargo plane at least once. The other times it was Mayflower moving trucks or cargo ships. The movers contracted by the Navy would show up and invariably remark about how cool or different that was... a full blown arcade game. I would usually have a sink full of ice and pop for them (niceness pays... they take more care with your stuff) and I remember, a few times, when guys actually played some games before loading DK up.

Funny, those years I only had the DK and later, after getting this collecting sickness real bad, I figured out just how lucky those guys were that it was a DK... one of the lightest cabinets I have had.

One final story... for the move from Cal to Tennessee and from Tennessee to Spain I also had a full size Dynamo coin op pool table. That became the most feared item during a move... DK was almost forgotten. Wasn't nearly as intimidating.
 
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