Who's auction is this in Johnson City, TN? 450+ arcade games

[ToddK]

Exactly ….coin doors, and sometimes the curve of the control panel

 

[ToddK]

In person it's very easy usually but these pictures you really have to look at a lot of the machines closely

 

[Phetishboy]

Boy that auction site sucks. I'm not sure what cabinet the Nibbler is in, but no hardware on the CP is the first telltale sign for me that something is amiss.

 

[ida34]

I am wanting a Food Fight and the Battle Pod

 

[TheYeti]

Coin doors often give them away.

Other details to look for:

• Lack of carriage bolts on the side of the cabinet that would normally be used for CRT mounts
• Lack of security bar holes near the coin door
• Lack of overall cabinet wear. An original game will always have worn edges and scraped artwork.
• Front bottom edge of kickplate should always have chipping
• Wrong joysticks or buttons
• Incorrect artwork
• Non-faded artwork
• Thickness of the wood. (On Nintendo cabs this is very easy to spot)
• Lack of chipping around speaker grills (especially on Nintendo cabs)

 

[BackInTime82]

I'm bidding on :
Space dungeon. (Been on my list over 10 years)
Naughty boy cocktail
Beezer
And on the fence about a few others

I had my eye on the Space Dungeon, too. Thanks for notifying us. I'll refrain from bidding as tempting as it might be!

I'll stick to my silly obsession with Bronze Age games for this one:
Guided Missile
coMotion
Steeplechase

But if they go too low, I might be ousted by the seller lol. (Stupid terms, IMO. Take the time and put actual reserves on games you care about!)

 

[mclemore]

My understanding is that the majority of this stuff is from the Gatlinburg Pinball Museum which opened in 2019 and closed in 2023. They had already done a big sell off last year of the more common stuff via facebook marketplace. Some of these same machines are still listed over there. The Maneater for instance had a price tag of around 25 grand with no takers.

Gatlinburg Pinball | Gatlinburg TN

Gatlinburg Pinball, Gatlinburg. 5,314 likes · 1,505 were here. At Gatlinburg Pinball, we offer an Exclusive Pinball Experience by featuring highly limited games.

www.facebook.com

I can confirm the same thing. I was told that the machines are mostly from a collection of items from a business called Tiebreakers in Johnson City (they have a location in the same city as Auctioneer), reportedly from their attempt to make a museum that didn't work out.

Home

Tiebreakers is a premier entertainment eatery destination for guests seeking unique games, a superior rewards system, delicious food, exceptional service, and a fun environment.

tiebreakers.com

PinMap has a reference to their Gatlinburg location:

Pinball Map » Tiebreakers gatlinburg, Gatlinburg, TN | Pinside Map

Find out which pinball game you can play @ Tiebreakers gatlinburg, Gatlinburg, TN!

pinside.com

which links to a page on the tiebreakers site that provides a 404 now: "tiebreakers.com/gatlinburg-tn/"

As i said, plenty of games in this lot are counterfeits. As a matter of fact, most of these were made by Guscade. Here's just a few i found casually drinking coffee while waiting for my flight.

That's pretty sad... You may be able to spot these from a mile away, but a lot of people won't. In person it's easier than from their minimal photos (at least for the untrained eye).

I would hope that anyone spending hundreds (probably thousands when the hammer drops) would be able to tell the difference between a reproduction and an original...

Some people know, some people don't, and some people might get sloppy and bid online, especially if the price is low enough.

There have been some machines that have turned up at Captain's Auctions that looked like they had potential. Then when I spent the hour to drive down there, it took only 3 seconds for me to go 'uggh' and 5 more seconds for me to confirm that I wasn't bidding on it...

Master of the obvious -- but it's really helpful to see stuff in person. Even doesn't guarantee one will dodge all bullets.

I one was thinking of bidding on a relatively modern pinball machine that seemed in great shape. And I was looking at it in person. Then someone walked by and mentioned it was missing an upper ramp/upper playfield. It wasn't obvious until he mentioned, and then it was super obvious. Yes I should have known better and did know better. I just didn't notice and had some kind of mental blindness that day. I can see totally see that someone who might otherwise know better miss basic clues like a weird coin door. Some of the photos are so bad its hard to see what kind of screen is in them.

And there was the time I bought an 80s classic in A+ condition to find out upon arrival that it had an absolutely incurable and case of major mildew throughout all the particle board...

Aside from the LCD, is there a quick way to pick out the repros? What do you see when you look at these?

Coin doors often give them away.

Exactly ….coin doors, and sometimes the curve of the control panel

In person it's very easy usually but these pictures you really have to look at a lot of the machines closely

That's the problem...

 

[ReallyRotten71]

There's definitely one game in that auction I'd like to leave with, but a seven hour drive is a hard sell.

 

[mclemore]

If I was local, there are several things I'd consider coming home with. But I'm not. There is nothing I really 'need', and I won't be bidding. I hope everyone that is interested gets a good deal on something... and that the seller 'approves' the final bids more often than not.

 

[CameronMcC]

lack of internal pics really is a miss on games that command big prices especially. Im sure someone could pair the banning games to the original pics but thats a lot of foot work.

As far as transport, it would be nice if some trusted KLOVers were doing a route on the way back. Id pay a few bucks to not have to make a 9 hour round trip.

 

[DarkKobold]

Dunno who it is. But the final prices will be an interesting indicator of the current state of the hobby.

I'm curious to see how it plays out, as it seems like prices have been coming down a bit from the all-time highs of a few years ago. But this sale will be a test of that, providing a good chunk of data.

I think that the Banning Captains Auction showed that these sorts of MEGA SALES don't really reflect true pricing. There were Tempest machines selling for like $3-4k at Bannings, iirc, whereas you can sit on a Tempest for $1200 on local classifieds.

That said, every time I see a HiBid auction, it seems like the listings disappear the moment they close. So, unless someone is actively tracking and recording it, we won't know the strike price? Someone let me know if that's wrong. I'm super curious to see what the Computer Space sells for, sans TV. We know he paid $6k for it from Banning.

Also, I'm guessing no one from Utah is making the 28 hour drive.

 

[Charles Kline]

Love to see people spitting on guscade repros, of course gunsmokeguy will contact tombo saying we're being unfair to him.

 

[mclemore]

I think that the Banning Captains Auction showed that these sorts of MEGA SALES don't really reflect true pricing. There were Tempest machines selling for like $3-4k at Bannings, iirc, whereas you can sit on a Tempest for $1200 on local classifieds.
...

Banning was well promoted and made national news: tv and print, with the angle that it was a major museum closing down. 10x as many people registered for the auction than normally signs up for Captain's auction. Timing was good, everyone was in a buying mood, and there was enough great stuff that everyone wanted things and often settled for a one or a few (meaning they still bid).

This isn't Banning.

 

[DonPanetta]

Aside from the LCD, is there a quick way to pick out the repros? What do you see when you look at these?

All of the mentions by @CameronMcC @TheYeti and @ToddK are perfect things to look out for when looking at these cabinets. It's not easy but sit down in front of your computer with a clear monitor with your favorite non alcoholic drink (you don't want to be tipsy while comparing), take a deep breath and begin to carefully comb over the pictures for some of the things mentioned. More often than not you will spot BS without having to smell it.

That's pretty sad... You may be able to spot these from a mile away, but a lot of people won't. In person it's easier than from their minimal photos (at least for the untrained eye).



Some people know, some people don't, and some people might get sloppy and bid online, especially if the price is low enough.

There have been some machines that have turned up at Captain's Auctions that looked like they had potential. Then when I spent the hour to drive down there, it took only 3 seconds for me to go 'uggh' and 5 more seconds for me to confirm that I wasn't bidding on it...

Master of the obvious -- but it's really helpful to see stuff in person. Even doesn't guarantee one will dodge all bullets.

I one was thinking of bidding on a relatively modern pinball machine that seemed in great shape. And I was looking at it in person. Then someone walked by and mentioned it was missing an upper ramp/upper playfield. It wasn't obvious until he mentioned, and then it was super obvious. Yes I should have known better and did know better. I just didn't notice and had some kind of mental blindness that day. I can see totally see that someone who might otherwise know better miss basic clues like a weird coin door. Some of the photos are so bad its hard to see what kind of screen is in them.

And there was the time I bought an 80s classic in A+ condition to find out upon arrival that it had an absolutely incurable and case of major mildew throughout all the particle board...









That's the problem...

This is why i chose my words more carefully in my previous post and called them counterfeits and not reproductions. I know it sounds like word salad but I would completely understand if these were labeled as repro units in the auction listing and sold priced accordingly (i know this is an auction but still). It's something completely different to simply not mention that or intentionally failing to disclose this to the seller. Now the auctioneer is selling these 'counterfeits' for the purpose of siphoning more dollars out of people.

 

[DonPanetta]

Love to see people spitting on guscade repros, of course gunsmokeguy will contact tombo saying we're being unfair to him.

The reality is, stuff from guscade is not accurate and it doesn't take much to see this.

Superman at the auction for example is an obvious guscade counterfeit. Huge boat anchor for a control panel, the incline of the monitor is completely wrong and the marquee top area is significantly longer than the original.

 

[geech]

Banning was well promoted and made national news: tv and print, with the angle that it was a major museum closing down. 10x as many people registered for the auction than normally signs up for Captain's auction. Timing was good, everyone was in a buying mood, and there was enough great stuff that everyone wanted things and often settled for a one or a few (meaning they still bid).

This isn't Banning.

And Banning was still during the covid era of hyperinflation of collectibles. People were spending waaaaaaay more wildly than the present day. Still there were ludicrous prices on so many machines. A Stargate went for $5200 for gawds sake.

I forgot to note which KLOVer worked up the spreadsheet of the Banning final hammer amounts but here's the PDF for a refresher. Still shocking.

 

[ToddK]

FYI, Elevator Action is a counterfeit as well, beside running an LCD and non original hardware, the control panel shape and curvature for sure is not correct ............

 

[TheYeti]

A Stargate went for $5200 for gawds sake.

 

[ToddK]

Joust is a counterfeit as well... note the coin access door typical of all Williams games is not there..............

 

[Alpha-tron]

And klov had an inside guy fixing those machines. I was not at the auctions because I tend to growl at people's salesman lies. Museum quality repairs my behind. Pinball guy taking credit on repairs. Lazy ass taking credit for other people's hard work. Lack of parts, lack of support and the lies I had to put up with.

Zero tolerance for other people's bs. I got arcades machinces to fix and I am teaching others how to.