Why do you collect? What got you started?

jar155

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If you're an active collector, what got you into it? What got you started? I'm writing an article about the preservation and collecting of arcade/pinball, and I need some quotes. If you don't want your quote (possibly) used, please say so in your response.

For me, it was partially that I wanted to see these machines preserved and I've found that nothing recreates the arcade feel quite right unless you're playing these games on the proper controls and standing up in front of them. After restoring a Donkey Kong (my first machine), I was hooked.
 
I was working in a warehouse, when by chance a friend of mine was in the office working and a coworker mentioned that her and her husband were going to an arcade and pinball auction in San Jose on saturday. He told me about it and I went and bought a upright Crystal Castles and a Truck Stop pinball she bought a TOTAN and JP pinball and the sickness began. That was in summer of 1999.

Andrew
 
Well I was about 10-14 years old during the golden age of gaming...These games were everywhere....malls, car washes, arcades, liquor stores and 7-11's. I used to walk and take the bus all over town to play these. There is something magical about these games that most have forgotten. I don't have nostalgia for much of that time of my life other than these games and mebbe 80's music. My wife blessed me with 2 amazing sons, so my answer is two-fold. Nostalgia and because I think my kids will get a kick out of them.

Ok ok... a 3rd reason could be I suffer from mild OCD, lol. But seriously without the kids, I probably wouldn't have allowed myself to get sucked in :D

Tom
 
My Grandparents lived on Catalina Island and I remeber spending every summer over there and they had 2 large arcades and I loved the noise and sounds that you heard walking into there. It was full of EM's and what now are considered classics and I thought some day I want one of these things. So low and behold when I was 8 (1982) my brother brought home a Sheriff cocktail, Joker poker pin and a Puckman from the golf course he worked at. It was over from then on we both have been collecting from that day on.
 
I had gone to arcades in high school in the late '70s and played black / white video games and really enjoyed them so I had a memory of late 70's and early 80's arcades.

I was living in So. Cal around 1985. I had a video room above my garage with my wide screen TV (50" at the time!), stereo, Atari 2600 and Colecovision. I wanted an arcade game to add to the atmosphere - I called it Electronic Art. I found some games for sale in a paper called The Nickle. Went and check it out - he had a whole garage full. I picked up an Exidy Venture and a Atari Warlords cocktail for about 400.00 for both. They were of course like new since they were only a few years old.

Fast forward to 1996 (I still had the above two games) - living in No. Cal now - in looking through an old 'Video Games' magazine I had, I came across a History of Atari and a time line of games. In that was a picture and description of Lunar Lander. I remember playing that as a kid and loved it. The search was on. A short time later I discovered the Usenet newsgroup RGVAC and posted on there I was looking for one. Had several replies and a couple weeks later I was on my way to San Jose and "Yogi's" place - anyone else remember him? I picked up my Lunar Lander from him and I still have it. After that, my obsession with collecting these things went crazy and I've been involved since then. Finding KLOV early last year re-ignited my interest again and I've been pretty active since then with about 40 games in the game room.

Tom
 
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My first game and restoration was Donkey Kong as well.

I had watched King of Kong randomly on Netflix back in 2009. As a Nintendo fanboy, I thought it would be cool to own an original Donkey Kong arcade game. Lucky for me, there was one on CL that week. I stumbled upon KLOV, completed my restoration and my arcade journey began.

I have collected the games I have now because they are ones that I remember playing as a kid growing up in the late 80s and 90s. I share many good memories with my brothers and friends. Like many guys here, all of my old spots are long gone, either out of business or demolished. So this is one way to cherish those childhood memories and relive them. I never thought as a kid that I'd ever own arcade games. What an awesome hobby.
 
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I grew up with arcades. They were everywhere and I played them everywhere we went, pizza parlors, resort laudromats, corner stores, dedicated arcades, etc. Later on after college I started thinking about how I missed the games, as most of the arcades I had gone to were no longer around. I started looking around, almost bought a Super Sprint off Ebay and was going to have it shipped out, but then I ended up driving 2+ hours to an auction and picked up my first two games back in October of '02.

It's about the nostalgia for the games, and the times I spent playing them, more so than the preservation aspect for me.
 
when i moved out when i turned 18, i had a decent job doing tech support for a local isp, and had a bunch of spare cash. i had previously seen a ms. pac at a local flea market and wasn't able to buy it, but it stirred the pot and i realized that all the old arcade games were still around and you could buy them as well. so i hunted down and found a local place that sold things like gas pumps, pinball machines, and arcade games as well. i found a really nice pac-man there, which was a game i used to play a ton of on the atari 5200 growing up and was my first choice for an arcade game. so i bought it, and it just grew from there. i've been collecting for 10 years now and have hitten a high of 8 games, which will grow to hopefully 15-20 once we can sell our house and move into a larger one.
 
Late 99, while still in school, I did some extra work for a guy who runs a business that rents sound equipment - mixing boards, speakers, etc for shows, events, churches. In the basement of the business, behind a lot of junk, I noticed 5 games and thought if I bought them I could flip them on Ebay for a profit.

After going back and forth for a month or so, he agreed on a price, said he used to run a route, and I gave him a check - Pac Man, Zaxxon, Vanguard, Venture, and Gorf. The Zaxxon was in NICE shape, perfect sideart, and working - I probably had it a year. Same with Vanguard, nice shape, but I quickly thought the game sucked. Venture, had some swelling at the bottom on one side, and I never found a working boardset or got it working. I think it went to someone in FL. The Gorf was bought by Richard/someotherguy - It was in amazing shape and an early model with the stenciled white Midway GORF on the side instead of sideart. Should have never let it go. The Pac was the first of those I brought home, first I fixed, by just doing a cap kit on the dead monitor, and the nicest condition Pac I've ever seen. I still have it. I've since acquired another Gorf. I've never seen another Venture and I hope that one is in good hands now.
 
Being born in 1976, I was very young during the golden age. I remember playing Pole Position and Dig Dug when I was around 6 years old which was always a blast. I also always loved going to the local arcade in the mid 80s-the early 90s before I lost interest. When I was in college in 1996, they had Phoenix, Joust, and Time Pilot in a little break area that I loved to play, and it was at that point I wanted to get an arcade game. I looked around but never did buy anything at that time.

Fast forward to 2010 when I finally moved out from apartment living to a house, I started searching craigslist for arcades. I ran across Frogger, which I picked up, then a few months later I got Ms. Pac-Man. SInce then, I've watched out for good deals of the games I want, and occasionally pick up a game. I have plans to convert one bay of my garage into the arcade area, and figure I'll end up with 8-10 games eventually.
 
I had gone to arcades in high school in the late '70s and played black / white video games and really enjoyed them so I had a memory of late 70's and early 80's arcades.

I was living in So. Cal around 1985. I had a video room above my garage with my wide screen TV (50" at the time!), stereo, Atari 2600 and Colecovision. I wanted an arcade game to add to the atmosphere - I called it Electronic Art. I found some games for sale in a paper called The Nickle. Went and check it out - he had a whole garage full. I picked up an Exidy Venture and a Atari Warlords cocktail for about 400.00 for both. They were of course like new since they were only a few years old.

Fast forward to 1996 (I still had the above two games) - living in No. Cal now - in looking through an old 'Video Games' magazine I had, I came across a History of Atari and a time line of games. In that was a picture and description of Lunar Lander. I remember playing that as a kid and loved it. The search was on. A short time later I discovered the Usenet newsgroup RGVAC and posted on there I was looking for one. Had several replies and a couple weeks later I was on my way to San Jose and "Yogi's" place - anyone else remember him? I picked up my Lunar Lander from him and I still have it. After that, my obsession with collecting these things went crazy and I've been involved since then. Finding KLOV early last year re-ignited my interest again and I've been pretty active since then with about 40 games in the game room.

Tom



My Joust 2 came from Yogi :)
 
I collect a lot of console stuff, mainly NES though.

In 2007 I was searching craigslist for NES and Nintendo in general when I came across a Punch-Out and a Red Tent. I somehow convinced my wife these would be sweet to own along with the rest of the Nintendo stuff we had. I actually only owned these 2 plus 2 others until 2009. 2 years later we have over 35 games and there is no sign of it slowing any time soon.
 
Arcade video games were my "life" from about age 8 (1980) to 16 (1988)...

...then came "the chase"... girls.

Then life...

Then marriage...

Etc...

2003 or so comes... I learn of MAME and download it. It's OK... i play mostly PC games now... Battlefield 1942, what not...

2006 comes... I get this brilliant idea to interface my PC playing MAME with an actual arcade machine and it's controls. Figuring I was one of the first to think of this I find that, in fact, they'd been doing it for years when if ind BYOAC forums, etc. After I build a MAME cabinet and spend countless hours on BYAOC learning about different things I manage to find a Joust for a very very good price...non-working of course... just down the road in Ontario OR. `tis was the beginning. I knew of KLOV and it's database for months before I realized there was a forum (I'm not the most observant). I believe I registered here March 2007 and here I am.

I do it because of the thrill of the chase... the pleasure of restoring a machine... and of course the "brings me back" factor. I actually enjoy working on them as much as playing them... maybe even more before... but I'm starting to relish the idea of every game working for a while... ;)

...but that usually brings on "I need a project" syndrome... which means another cab I can't fit. AH... yeah... hooked... like crack.

BTW: I've not played a PC game other than a few rounds of Sam n Max in about 5 years. No more Battlefield... no more Desert Combat... etc... just no time. Too much other crap to do.
 
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You can use anything I wrote in this old post, in fact you might want to look over that whole thread: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=294289&postcount=31

I still get that old feeling playing my Tempest cabaret. This is the first game I ever played, and it was on free play at a kiddie barber shop my parents would take me to when I was very young. I couldn't get enough of the game, the vibrant vector colors, the excitement of the new layouts as you advanced to levels you'd never been to before, the sounds, I think the cab even has a memorable smell to it. I occasionally turn it on, lean close into it, look in the smoked glass, see the graphics churning away, hear the sounds, see my silhouette in the glass reflection, and it...just...takes...me...back.

A few years after I started playing Tempest in that barbershop, my parents got on a Vegas kick, and we would go almost every weekend for what seemed like a couple of years, but was probably just a year. Back then, letting your kids run around unsupervised was no big deal, I guess. I remember spending ALL DAY in the arcades there. I would come back to the room late at night, only when I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. I have a memory of playing in the Caesar's Palace arcade, it was in a loft area near the Omnimax entrance. I think I was taking a break from trying to OWN that Super Punch-Out!! high score. I looked down at the casino below, at all the people spending their money on slots and table games, and I just didn't get it. I thought, "What's the point of all that down there when you can have all this up here?"
 
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This forum.

I actually bought my 720 in 2000 and only ever wanted that game. I had no intention of collecting. I was searching for 720 info several years back and found links to my 720 site on this forum. As all know, once you start reading here you want like 50 games....
 
Through out the years I loved the arcades and even worked at one when I was 19.
During that short lived moment I ran into my second "I gotta own this one day!" game.
I had made a promise that one day, I would own The SFII and Tekken series. This was also in 1999.

So it's 2007, and I'm in the Navy stationed in Japan and learned of the supergun that many electronic gadget fanatics were using because machines were very costly and took up a lot of room. So I did some research and bought my SF and Tekken games along with a supergun.

That didn't last too long as I still felt I wasn't getting the FULL 100% authentic arcade feel. I wanted the whole 9 yards and I eventually ended up with a Japanese candy cab. I love it still to this very day. My brother learns of this and when I went home on leave, I helped him get a cab of his own.

Doing so, I realized that I grew up with the old American uprights and now I am on a quest to get one for myself. I wouldn't really call myself a collector since I only want 1 more machine and maybe a cocktail in the future. But more than that would be too much for me and the wife since I would be the only one playing them unless I had the guys over. But when that happens we are on the grill, sports TV and beer. I'm the only one who thinks about playing a game or two.
 
Silver Spoons (the tv show) made me always want my own arcade game when i was younger. When i was about 20 a good friend of mine had a Spiderman cab that was converted to AvP and given to him that his dad wanted out or it was going to the curb. We loaded it in his dads minivan and brought it here. (FREEBEE!)

I worked on it for a few years, when i got it, it was DOA and had no boards in it so i cleaned it up really good, fixed a ton of wiring issues and proceeded to start buying misc jamma boards of games i always enjoyed when i was younger.

I got zapped by the white pot k7000 flyback that had a cracked housing on it (which i attest to killing my KI1 board) and lucky for me had a friend that worked at the local arcade who swapped out the board for me with a working one FOR FREE

after that i kinda lost interest in it for about 3-5 years, untill january of this year. Since then i've bought 2 more cabs, 2 more jamma boards, and tons of restoration parts.

My cabs are still rough but all are WIP, Money has been tight but my arcade collecting need is on fire. I expect 2 of my cabs to be fully restored by the end of this year and already be partially done with my 3rd. Who know's i might have a 4th or 5th cab by then space is starting to become an issue tho. I actually get a lot of the drive and inspiration from the people of this site and the new england site, I wanted to restore these machines slightly before but now i'm looking for a bit more :D
 
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My reason for collecting is so that I can share all of the games I played as a kid with my children. I take them to arcades as often as I am able to but none of the arcades around now seem to have the magic that arcades did when I was younger. I don't know if it's because they're not as dark enough but it just isn't the same.

The way that I got into it was when SSF2THD came out for the XBOX Arcade. I decided to build my own arcade controls after I got thoroughly beat by someone online and they said that's what they were using. So I built some arcade controllers for my X360 and before I knew it I was buying my first Arcade machine, it was a Tekken 3 in a Dynamo cab. It was great and I caught the bug.

As far as what I collect, I try to collect all of the games that were my favorites as a kid as well as the games which I find fun to play now. I do have a weird thing about Pinballs though in that I only want to collect Williams pins. I was hoping to at least buy my favorite pins from the "Williams Pinball Hall of Fame Collection" , so far I have Space Shuttle and Pinbot. The next on my list would have to be Gorgar or Funhouse.
 
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I guess my motivations are a little different than was is normal here.

I remember the atmosphere and of course experience the nostalgia, but back in the late 70s and early 80s it was all about competition for me.

Various games had their champions and it was always nice to have bragging rights on a particular title. Always nice to be able to say that you were the best at it.

I used to work at an arcade in the mid 80s, but at the time I never thought I'd actually come to own any games.

My start in collecting occurred in the late 90s when I stumbled across the Twin Galaxies website and remembered how we used to try to top each others world records. So I ended up winning a non-working Ms. Pac-man on eBay that me and a friend picked up in Cherry Hill New Jersey.

Since I had previously held the world record on this game for 12 years I was determined to get back into practice. This led to other games I had mastered in the "Golden Age", and I now have a dozen cabinets and almost 100 game boards.

Of course, I now spend more time trying to fix them than anything else, so this didn't turn out the way I planned.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
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