What is the furthest you have driven for a game only to not buy it?

incrediblegamez

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What is the furthest you have driven for a game only to not buy it?

For me it was a Track and Field in south Cleveland, 130 miles from me, that after owner assured me it was in great condition and sent me pictures that backed that up, came to find out it had chunks taken out of the front of the machine and the game was glitchy. No budge on price at all thanks to jpopson's interest in it :D I dont think he bought it either.

2nd had to be the mr. and mrs. pacman pinball in dayton last night, 80 miles. Beautiful pictures and machine was just that upon arrival however bubbling mylar on the playfield, non working light maze, and what was told an extra MPU board came to be an extra power supply. Offered the guy $260 vs. his $400 and he told me no, he paid $600 for it blah blah blah. No budging and the wife and i left. Oh well, i had bad vibes on this one before i made trip but i wanted it.

3rd was a local, 5 miles from me Galaga that looked good in the picture. Upon arrival the cabinet leaned forward about 3 inches due to the water damage at bottom and it was running a bootleg board. Ironically another buyer was there right after i showed up, we looked at machine together but i kept my comments to myself. Guy said i was first, i passed. Other 2 guys were excited and said they would take it for $350! I laughed my ass off on way home!
 
I have to be pretty sure to drive more than an hour. Though for me, I've driven 40 mins to check out a game only to drive 40 mins back home without it.
 
I've driven ~140 miles, one way, to an auction before and come home with nothing.
 
All I've done is drive 20 minutes to an auction and not buy anything.


Now, I have taken a 3 hour drive (each way) to pick up my joust. But, If I'm driving for over half an hour, I better know the person selling it can be trusted (a member on a forum or related in some way to someone I know). If I go through the hassle of borrowing a truck, bringing a friend, and driving a long distance... I'm picking something up.
 
Auction an hour away, didn't buy anything. Parts and machines 45 minutes away, didn't buy anything. That dude was skeevy and wanted too much for old junk.
 
Drove 65 minutes to look at a some really nice Star Wars and Dragon's lair 2 uprights. Things got complicated when I asked "So, How much do you want for the two?" Turns out the guy didn't own the games. He was just "holding them" for his sister who lived in seattle. WTF!? He also had a Environmental Discs Of Tron piled away under all the cat crap an boxes too. :( It amazing where these giants can turn up. Sorry for the horrid pictures. I only had my phone to take pictures of the games. Plus I wanted to get out of that shifty neighborhood as fast as I could.

So I had to come back with something while I was miles away from home. :D There was this Tetris cab on that side of town that was posted on CL. Turns out, that's what came back after another 2 hrs of driving. So I guess the journey wasn't quite a loss. I was really bummed out about the SW. But CL works wonders and another SW turned up on CL next week with a much cheaper price tag.
 

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Somewhat related - I've driven to auctions 3+ hours away and not bought anything.

But, thats my problem with CL and driving to get something thats more than 1 or 2 hours away, I am afraid I'll get there and it will be sold. (4) examples, 2 turned out great and the other 2 I took a vacation day from work only to have the person email saying it/they were sold after we agreed I was buying it/them. At least I didn't get stuck with a u-haul! But I still burned a vacation day.

I went 45 minutes away and picked up my first regret purchase - its a Battlezone that is in sorry shape. Oh well, it has 10+ projects ahead of it. I should have passed on it though.
 
Somewhat related - I've driven to auctions 3+ hours away and not bought anything.

But, thats my problem with CL and driving to get something thats more than 1 or 2 hours away, I am afraid I'll get there and it will be sold. (4) examples, 2 turned out great and the other 2 I took a vacation day from work only to have the person email saying it/they were sold after we agreed I was buying it/them. At least I didn't get stuck with a u-haul! But I still burned a vacation day.

I went 45 minutes away and picked up my first regret purchase - its a Battlezone that is in sorry shape. Oh well, it has 10+ projects ahead of it. I should have passed on it though.

I'm always afraid of that too. Especially if the post lists the address and says "we will remove the post when it's gone"

I try to contact the person first, but most of the time they don't respond, so I give up. If I do get in contact, I tell them when I will be there, and then I call them as I'm about to leave, just to make sure they won't sell it on my way up
 
I drove 60 miles once for an Asteroids that had sound issues and some monitor issues as well as cosmetic issues none of which were evident in the crappy CL posting pics. The guy was a dick too. wasted 6 gallons of gas and a few hours of time for that one. Argh!

I probably would have purchased the that pin. Bubbling mylar can be corrected or removed, this is common on this machine because of the window for the maze score etc. Lights not working on the maze is also common for this game since the transistors on the light driver often fail. They are cheap and it is an easy repair. MPUs are cheap and numerous for these also so I would not care if an extra one came with it or not. $400 was actually not a bad price if it was cosmetically nice.

2nd had to be the mr. and mrs. pacman pinball in dayton last night, 80 miles. Beautiful pictures and machine was just that upon arrival however bubbling mylar on the playfield, non working light maze, and what was told an extra MPU board came to be an extra power supply. Offered the guy $260 vs. his $400 and he told me no, he paid $600 for it blah blah blah. No budging and the wife and i left. Oh well, i had bad vibes on this one before i made trip but i wanted it.
 
....If I do get in contact, I tell them when I will be there, and then I call them as I'm about to leave, just to make sure they won't sell it on my way up

Yep, this is what I do as well - like I said, twice I was "I'm leaving" and get a reply "Sorry, I sold that last night". Grrrrr.

I just know its going to happen and it probably won't be pretty!

The two that did work out were very nice people and more than made up for the two losers. Whats weird to me is that the two that worked out were what I would consider more desirable titles (Defender, Tempest) than the others (AD and a jamma cabinet).

Oh well - its the way CL works I guess.
 
No budge on price at all thanks to jpopson's interest in it :D I dont think he bought it either.

yeah, he did. I have it now, i actually just gutted and knocked the cab apart. I now have a nice new T&F cab sitting on sawhorses right now :D
 
It must have been about 45 minutes for me. Not that big of a deal as I combined the trip with a trip to a friend's house that lived near him. It was for a White Water pinball machine. List for $1,500 and in great shape, no playfield wear, blah, blah. I get there and this thing was TRASHED. Re-import with a single slot coin door. Every boulder busted or missing. Shooter lane was so worn you can see the bottom of the cab, I thought the ball would fall through. No topper. Upper playfield ramp broken so that the ball literally fell off the ramp. Plus, the left side of the game had half the artwork literally torn off of it.

I was really nice to the guy, but passed. He bought it from FUN! on eBay and when he told me that, I knew it was probably even worse than what I thought. I told him I would be interested at < 1000, but I never heard from him. He sold it on eBay I think and got around $1,200 for it. Who ever won that I bet was pissed if he shipped it and they didn't see it before buying.
 
Drove an hour and a half south just last week for a Vectrex system, called him to verify he still had it, told the guy my name and that I am leaving as soon as I hang up the phone, got to his place and he opened the door and looked at me like I was crazy.....he told me he thought I was the guy who showed up ten minutes before me.....I asked him if he got the guys name and he said he did not.....(scratches head).......

I had to run before I started screaming at this guy.....

I bet he got a better offer while I was riding down there and wasn't smart enough to get a better story on how he sold it from under me.....
 
hmmm, drove 160 miles to the last 2 Orlando auctions, checked out the inventory and didnt even stay to watch the sale.

I usually ask enough questions (and tone down my expectations) so there wont be too much of a suprise when I show up, but there has been a few times Ive left empty handed.
Drove 200 miles a couple years ago for what was advertised as an 8 foot slate pool table in excellent condition for $250. Called, verified all the info, and left the next morning to go after it. I show up to find one of those 6 foot particle board tables Wal Mart sells at Christmas for 199. I was too pissed to even say anything as I went back to the truck and split
 
yeah, he did. I have it now, i actually just gutted and knocked the cab apart. I now have a nice new T&F cab sitting on sawhorses right now :D

That one was a totally different one. The one he was going to buy was in decent cosmetic condition and didnt come with the kicked in coin door.
 
Drove 200 miles down to the last auction Super Auctions had in the Sacramento area. It was pitiful which is probably why they don't have them there anymore. Didn't stick around very long and left empty handed.

Now, the one before that, I left with a Super Pacman, Asteroids and a Rockola juke. I was hoping for a repeat of the last trip, but no joy.

Tom
 
Drove 200 miles a couple years ago for what was advertised as an 8 foot slate pool table in excellent condition for $250. Called, verified all the info, and left the next morning to go after it. I show up to find one of those 6 foot particle board tables Wal Mart sells at Christmas for 199. I was too pissed to even say anything as I went back to the truck and split

That's good self-control on your part.

I would've been going "So, where's the pool table we talked about on the phone?"
 
That one was a totally different one. The one he was going to buy was in decent cosmetic condition and didnt come with the kicked in coin door.

Oh yeah.. whole upper half of the coin door panel was missing, kicked in. Had a gigantic lock bar on it and was a trackball t&f right?
 
UPDATE!!! (queue the unsolved mysteries music)

As the wife and i was waiting for our popcorn to enjoy Predators last night, i received a text message from the son in law stating that "he will take $250 for it" I tell the wife and she says to tell him you will be there tomorrow to pick it up.

Picked it up today, $250 cash, $10 cheaper then my offer 2 days ago. I guess i was a nice young man and he knew it was going to a good home.

Now 2 issues to fix, mylar coming up and the maze board. Pics in a few days once its set up in basement!
 
UPDATE!!! (queue the unsolved mysteries music)

As the wife and i was waiting for our popcorn to enjoy Predators last night, i received a text message from the son in law stating that "he will take $250 for it" I tell the wife and she says to tell him you will be there tomorrow to pick it up.

Picked it up today, $250 cash, $10 cheaper then my offer 2 days ago. I guess i was a nice young man and he knew it was going to a good home.

Now 2 issues to fix, mylar coming up and the maze board. Pics in a few days once its set up in basement!
Good deal sucks about making the trip twice though. But it pays to be nice and courteous. I was about to say if you guys wanted a pin you could try some out over here some time heeheh looks like you got your machine going though!
 
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