What is the past history of your game(s)?

ifkz

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I've always asked my local arcade friends about the past history of new arrivals to their arcades and I find it all very interesting. It's neat to know the 'how' and 'where' these machines went through before they came into collector's hands. I find the local pickups the most interesting. I'll start, I guess:

Centipede & Xybots -came from a barn both in terrible shape. They were originally given as payment to the seller for an odd job or two. Centipede was the worst; anyone else would have parted it out. I found another 'pede cab and went about the long process of fixing her up. Xybots was a less involved to fix up but still needed a complete rebuild.

Omega Race-came from a friend that got it after an 8 hour drive to LA. It was okay, but he had a heck of a time getting a working boardset for it. I gave it the full treatment with new caps everywhere and a new HV diode.

Spy Hunter-a friend of a friend helped me get this during my first road trip to get a game. Monitor was very weak, sound had issues, but I didn't care! My grail. New side art, repainted cab, new caps everywhere, etc.

Armor Attack & Altered Beast - were a 100% empty shells and I added everything: side art, marquee, board, power section, monitor, CP, etc. Were originally taking up space, gutted, in a friend's garage.

Star Castle - came from an RV park a town away. Half of one side was water damaged but the rest was in good shape. I rebuilt the corner with bondo and wood glue and did some other repairs.

Night Driver - came as a pair a town away. Originally bought at auction by the seller and we saved 'em from a sad fate as a MAME drivers. My friend got one that he promptly fixed up. Mine was worse off, and I'm finally starting the long restore.
 
I haven't been in the habit of doing this with games I buy, but my Rowe change machine lived most of its life at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk which I thought was very cool. Odds are pretty good that I used it there at some point as a teenager!
 
I haven't been in the habit of doing this with games I buy, but my Rowe change machine lived most of its life at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk which I thought was very cool. Odds are pretty good that I used it there at some point as a teenager!

My Mario Bros is from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk too . I found a bunch of tokens from there at the bottom of the cab .
 
I have too many games to list them all, so I'll do just a couple:

I bought my Gorf from Stansfield Vending in La Crosse, WI after they pulled in from a military base somewhere in WI back in 1998. If I remember right the guy told me it spent its entire life there.

Space Invaders: I saw it in a local paper back in 1998; I drove way out in the sticks somewhere near Dodge, WI. The guy said he bought it from a local operator back in 1985; his kids played it on and off for a few years, and they were grown up now and he wanted it gone. So he was the second owner.
 
Asteroids: belonged to one of my car buddies down the road from me, and it's the game that officially brought me into the hobby.

Battlezone: owned by the son of one of the Indianapolis Colts

Ms. Pac #1: bought it off of eBay, it was in NYC (a former game at Coney Island). When I went to pick it up, it was in a giant warehouse owned by the Russian Mafia..
 
I have a 720 in storage that came from the Bullwinkles in Santa Clara. It still had several Bullwinkles tokens in the bottom of it.
 
I have a 720 in storage that came from the Bullwinkles in Santa Clara. It still had several Bullwinkles tokens in the bottom of it.

Dude that was my favorite place to go as a kid. I spent many a birthday there.
 
Only cab of mine I really know the history of is my Namco Exceleena 2 candy cab - it was in a NAMCO arcade for several years, with a Darius game in it. A guy in VA bought it after the arcade shut down, and I got it from him.... was fun finding a bunch of old NAMCO tokens with Pac Man on them in the bottom of the cabinet.
 
I haven't been in the habit of doing this with games I buy, but my Rowe change machine lived most of its life at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk which I thought was very cool. Odds are pretty good that I used it there at some point as a teenager!

Man, that is awesome! I probably used your machine too. I remember using the same exact model Rowe machine at Aladdin's Castle at Sun Valley Mall in Concord, CA during the early 90s. It would be awesome to pick one of those up someday.

As for me, I try to find out where my games come from, but sometimes it's nearly impossible if it's had it's share of locations. Here's what I do know:

X-Men: It's in great shape and has a local vending/amusement company sticker on the marquee glass that is still active. I got the game from 8bitnintendo who got it from a local op. So I know it's originally local and most likely been at a few arcades. They were charging 50 cents a game from the sticker underneath the monitor glass.

DK Jr: The guy I got it from said his dad's friend used to run an arcade in the Fremont area and had given it to his dad when he took it out of service.

That's pretty much it. All my other games came from other owners/collectors that have no idea where they originally came from.
 
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Most of my former games I know where I got them, but not much else of their history. My Star Trek: Next Generation pinball machine I got from a guy who worked for an op. It was non-working and I got it for a song. Inside the machine was a detailed list of things that had been fixed on it and when. Also, the location. It was on route at an Embassy Suites for quite some time. I thought that sheet was neat and I am going to laminate it and keep it with the game.
 
Hmmm.... the notable ones:

Donkey Kong: Came from the Bally's Resort in Reno, which has since become the Grand Sierra Resort. Had Bally's asset tags all over it with the address here in Reno.

Centipede: Bought from a guy who brought 2 games up here from San Francisco. He bought it brand new. Only has a couple thousand plays.

Paperboy: Also came from San Francisco with the Centipede, but was bought used from a pinball warehouse that has since gone under.

Firepower: Bought 2 machines from a pinball "collector" who really doesnt share any concern or care for his collection or the people who offers to buy the games that have sat untouched in his storage for 5-6 years. The guys a jerk....

Pole Position: Bought from a thrift store for $50 and just needed a new monitor.

Spy Hunter: Bought from the Chief Operations Officer of ThreeG Game Studios.
 
Rampart: huo from atari headquarters...they must have played it a ton because the monitor had screen burn, which prompted me to swap in another monitor.

Millipede: huo bought it from Ben Gold who was the millipede champion bitd. He won it in a contest and the cab was in the movie chasing ghosts. Had to replace the monitor and overlays.

Atari stunt cycle: huo gift from Evel knievel to Faron young. Sold it a little while back.

Tom
 
I have a centipede, toobin and rb tapper that came from a CEC in the fresno area. The guy I got them from got them in trade from the owner of the CEC in exchange for work on the guy's motor cycle.

Have a two player gauntlet that came from one of the atari game rooms.

TOD that was given to George Lucas and co for helping with the game.

I have my road blasters that I bought from a carpenter who got it in trade for wood work from the owner of a local pool hall. It still has the sticker with the name of the pool hall on it.

Beyond that I still have contact info for most folks I've bought games from and memories of picking them up.

Most of the time I didn't get a story of where the games came from prior to the owner I bought them from.

I guess there was the DK and defender I bought from a guy in reno. These had been in a rec room at a youth center in the reno area for about 20 years prior to the previous owner buying them. So they spent most of their life with minimal play. The DK was in excellent condition but was sold to a friend for a large profit. The defender is still in my collection and is actually pretty nice but definitely shows deterioration to the side art in the form of the wood aging.
 
Game History

My Bram Stokers Dracula pinball came from the arcade I used to visit as a kid. I remember playing it when it was new. It is the only one I have from there. I traded the operator a Freddy Kruger pin for it.
 
Frogger: Used to be in a Chuck E Cheese place (not sure how it made it out), guy I bought it from picked it up off the side of the road.

Swimmer: Lived its whole life in a bar in south Austin until they sold it off to a dude that sold it to the dude who sold it to me.

Time Soldiers: Absolutely no clue. The guy I bought it from got it from his brother.

Assault: Bought at an auction buy the guy who sold it to me. No more info than that.
 
Well, let's see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di's clothes. I couldn't believe it...
 
hmm.. lets see...

freedom pin: came from a house, was bought new and in a familys bar for several years till they had to close it due to heath issues. was played to death at the house, then i snagged it from them via craigslist or ebay

space mission pin: craigslist. Bought it site unseen for parts, only to find out after cleaning that it was 99% nicer then the one i had.

capt fantastic: traded my arachnid dartboard for it.

star wars trilogy: klover deal, came from a movie theater arcade(chicago)

area 51/max force: klov deal, part of a operators junk cleanout. Was a stripped area 51, added max force board and duo kit(burbs)

operation wolf: one of two, klov trade deal (thank you chips4sle) (burbs)

skill crane: ebay. Bid sight unseen for under $50. fixed vandal damage in a day, been workign great(burbs)

race drivin upright: part of a 3 way sale/trade deal between me, mudmantim, and leinhit(mighigan)

super hangon: craigslist deal. Bought it and a champ sprint, traded champ sprint parts to bobn(cab was trashed) (belvidere)

outrun: another craigslist deal. needed steering gears. (naperville)

space invaders: yet another craigslist deal (rochelle)

Bump n jump: craigslist trade deal (burbs)

ms pac: craigslist. saved it from a dirty restraunt basement( chicago)

tron: klov deal(thanks ted) came from a drive in movie theater. Ted got via craigs with a pac, iirc (burbs)

pole position: craigs/klover group buy. Also got a indy heat from the same lot) (rockford)

joust cab: part of a op cabinet cleanout (burbs)

i think thats all of em lol
 
I'm relatively sure all my games came out of arcades. I know cause I found at least 1 quarter in all of them and the vast majority were beat to hell.....BUT, I bought most from auctions with the exceptions of a few that came from friends and collectors. Personally, I think my games lives began when I got them cause a great many of them were ready to go to the bone yard, landfill, scrap heap, great beyond, or wherever the hell old busted games go.
 
let's see.

pac man. - originally had a ms pac and traded pacray for the cab as he needed a beat up cab for a multigame.

donkey kong - got from a private owner that had had it for a while, got it for his kids to play. traded a shitty rifle for it.

tron - got from vespertillio (fred) due to his divorce fire sale. it was one of his first games, don't know how long he had it.

mario bros. - got from an older guy that had had it for 10-20 years, he got it from an op for his kids to play.

satan's hollow - got from a local op who had gotten it from a guy in nebraska where it was sitting around forever. he never sold it cause he wanted to keep it but eventually decided to part with it and i snagged it.

space invaders - got from a guy in the mountains mostly into pinballs, who had it for a couple years when the monitor died. thinking it was a board issue he had all the boards repaired, and i just had to replace the monitor.
 
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