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Author Topic: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?  (Read 19375 times)

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leapinlew

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Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« on: February 23, 2019, 06:54:03 pm »
About 5-6 weeks ago, I impulsively ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups from liquidation site directliquidation.com. If you aren't familiar with the whole liquidation thing, no worries, neither was I. I learned that when someone returns something to certain vendors (like Walmart, Target, Amazon, etc) they don't put it back on the shelves, or sell it at some outlet store, they send them to a central location, where like-and-kind items are gathered and sold to the highest bidder. Crazy huh? Well, it was crazy to me, I didn't realize that's how it worked.

I was checking out the Direct Liquidation site and found a pallet that said it had 11 items and it listed those items as Portable Speakers, but the pictures shows an image of Arcade1ups. It was the only pallet that had Arcades on it. I felt that it was a price mistake, and I thought "Heck, Arcade1ups are selling for $300 at most stores. If I can sell these for $200, I'd be making money". I made a bid and set my maximum bid at $750 and then went to sleep.

Part of my motivation is that my arcade fund is self funded. As a hobby, I buy\sell stuff so I don't have any guilt for using house funds to pay for arcade games. I've sold dozens of games after modifying them. I saw this as a quick cash grab. Turn them around and add some slush to the arcade slush fund.

I woke up and instantly regretted my decision. I recently started a new job. I was studying for some new certifications. I didn't really have time to take on this kind of project. I anxiously waited for the auction to end and cursing myself for not waiting to place a bid till the morning. I had time, no idea why I didn't wait to see if I felt the same way in the morning. Till the last second, I was winning the auction at $640. The auction ended and I had a surprise. Not only did I win, but I won with my maximum dollar. I suppose it's possible someone bid it up to my highest amount, seems fishy though....






leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2019, 07:07:46 pm »
The next surprise was the shipping costs. The estimator said it would cost $160, but it cost $240 when it was time to ship. 8 days later it was in my garage:



I moved them into the dining room. Still kind of annoyed that I had picked up a project I had no real time for:



I ignored them for several days. I just had to many other things to do.

More to come!

yotsuya

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2019, 07:18:34 pm »
You just made -1 wet his
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opt2not

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2019, 07:45:16 pm »
“A fool and his money shall soon be parted” — that instantly came to mind, reading this. Hope it works out for you, but that’s definitely not a horse I would bet on.

JDFan

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2019, 08:35:40 pm »
“A fool and his money shall soon be parted” — that instantly came to mind, reading this. Hope it works out for you, but that’s definitely not a horse I would bet on.

At least he got them a few weeks ago and at a decent cost -- right now some idiots have found the site and are bidding ridiculous prices -- For example the one attached - still a day + left on the auction and it's already at 88% of full retail not including the outrageous shipping charges ! ( Can buy them cheaper at Walmart )

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2019, 08:43:25 pm »
 :laugh2:
%Bartop

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2019, 08:55:19 pm »
The next surprise was the shipping costs. The estimator said it would cost $160, but it cost $240 when it was time to ship. 8 days later it was in my garage:



I moved them into the dining room. Still kind of annoyed that I had picked up a project I had no real time for:



I ignored them for several days. I just had to many other things to do.

More to come!
yeah, unfortunately, shipping on these deals usually kills any profit margin. Good luck.
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yotsuya

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2019, 10:18:19 pm »
Out of curiosity, what do the CPs on those built cabs look like?
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leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2019, 10:25:14 pm »
I think this might have been one of the first pallets to go out. They didn't have any history of these being sold that I could find. It was the first time I had ordered a customer return pallet, so I didn't know what to expect. I can confidently say now that it's more risk than I'm willing to accept. All said and done, it was right under $1,000 to have it shipped to me. I can afford $1,000, but it's an amount I can't just willy nilly throw around, so I put some pressure on myself to get the money back.

It just so happens that around this time frame, Wal-mart started doing a massive selloff of the Arcade1up cabinets. Most places seemed to have them in the $249 range, but some people were reporting them as low as $99. That's trouble... I thought I needed to do something to help my odds. I created and ordered some generic artwork and everything needed to convert a cabinet to a 60-n-1. I only ordered enough to do 1 cabinet, because I wanted to test the market.

A few days after getting them, I finally got a break between the job and studies to take a look at what I got. Here is a rundown of the inventory:

1 x open box centipede. Will have to look at it later.
3 x new in box Pac-Man. Snapped some pictures to put on craigslist.
1 x open box, but appeared new Asteroids. This is the least desirable Arcade1up. I snapped some pics to put on Craigslist. 
1 x new in box street fighter. Snapped some pics to put on craigslist.
3 x fully put together cabinets (status unknown). Doing a few quick part swaps, I have 1 fully working cabinet and 2 that are just shells, unknown status on the monitor. 
1 Riser
1 x Monster Rock'n'Roller portable speaker

I actually like the portable speaker. It doesn't charge, but that appears to be the only thing wrong with it. I'm going to keep it.

I listed all the Pac-Man, Asteroids, and Street Fighter on Craigslist for $200 and started waiting to see if I get responses. In my area, most cabinets are $249, so I wasn't sure how well it would go.

leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2019, 10:29:21 pm »
Out of curiosity, what do the CPs on those built cabs look like?

It's 1/2" MDF for the sides, the CP, a few internal supports and the marquee. The rest is 1/8". The CP has a large plastic cover underneath to hide all the wires. The artwork on these CP's is where they really screwed up.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2019, 10:31:03 pm »
200 is going to be a hard sell considering Walmart just marked them down to 199 in most places.  I wish you luck. 

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2019, 10:33:51 pm »
If they don't sell you can just open an arcade for dwarfs.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2019, 10:43:35 pm »
Out of curiosity, what do the CPs on those built cabs look like?

It's 1/2" MDF for the sides, the CP, a few internal supports and the marquee. The rest is 1/8". The CP has a large plastic cover underneath to hide all the wires. The artwork on these CP's is where they really screwed up.

Think he means what shape was the artwork on the CP in -- Trying to figure out if the units were display models (where the art would be worn off) or actual customer returns ( Most Walmarts were not taking them back once assembled and would have the customer contact A1U for warranty service instead.

leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2019, 11:02:29 pm »
200 is going to be a hard sell considering Walmart just marked them down to 199 in most places.  I wish you luck.

Your right Howie! No hits after a week. I dropped them to $175, and I finally sold the Street Fighter with riser for $175. The other cabinets sat idle with no interest for a week.

I renewed the Craigslist listing and lowered the price to $150. I sold the 3 new in box Pac-Mans. In total, I've recovered $625.

The artwork and 60-n-1 kit arrived, so I modded a cabinet. I listed it for $425 on Craigslist.


All in, I have $1,200 invested in this adventure (I spent $200 for the new artwork and 60-n-1). I've sold $625 worth of arcades and what's left is an open box centipede, new in box asteroids 1 fully functioning put together pac-man, 2 shells of arcade1ups and a modded cabinet.

leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2019, 11:09:09 pm »
Out of curiosity, what do the CPs on those built cabs look like?

It's 1/2" MDF for the sides, the CP, a few internal supports and the marquee. The rest is 1/8". The CP has a large plastic cover underneath to hide all the wires. The artwork on these CP's is where they really screwed up.

Think he means what shape was the artwork on the CP in -- Trying to figure out if the units were display models (where the art would be worn off) or actual customer returns ( Most Walmarts were not taking them back once assembled and would have the customer contact A1U for warranty service instead.

Oh, I get ya.

The CP artwork is crap. They scratch, scuff, etc. way easy. The models I got weren't floor models. None of them had a ton of wear and tear, but I wouldn't be comfortable selling them as is.

leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2019, 11:48:13 pm »
I sold the following over the next 2 weeks:
Working upright Pac-Man - $75
Open Box Centipede - $100
New in box Asteroids - $100

Total amount I've recovered: $900

I told everyone who bought a machine from me that they could return it within 24 hours for a full refund if something didn't work. I didn't have 1 return. I got extremely lucky.

« Last Edit: February 24, 2019, 01:24:34 am by leapinlew »

leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2019, 11:52:14 pm »
I apologize for telling this story in a weird chronological order. I really haven't had much time to post as I go.

More to come.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #17 on: February 24, 2019, 12:40:17 am »
The CP artwork is crap. They scratch, scuff, etc. way easy. The models I got weren't floor models. None of them had a ton of wear and tear, but I wouldn't be comfortable selling them as is.
Did you get on the a1up website and order the replacement CP covers? No receipt is necessary to order them. Just takes a while to get them so you might have them sold before they arrive.
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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #18 on: February 24, 2019, 05:03:38 am »
What certs are you studying?

I am hoping to get my CISSP this year (  :lol ) and I am put the date on my Server 2016 cert before they close it.

Never seems to end and I thought my degrees, would help, but no....

Thanks for the heads up on customer return deals.  Like you I would have regretted it. 
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leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #19 on: February 24, 2019, 09:27:45 am »
What certs are you studying?

I am hoping to get my CISSP this year (  :lol ) and I am put the date on my Server 2016 cert before they close it.

Never seems to end and I thought my degrees, would help, but no....

Thanks for the heads up on customer return deals.  Like you I would have regretted it.

I just finished my AWS Solutions Architect Pro. I turned my attention to cloud 5 years ago and I think I'm done doing other vendor certs. I have my Windows NT - 2012 MCSE. I think it was a MCITP for 2008, they didn't have a MCSE for that OS. I was studied up for my CISSP, but when it came time to take it, my employer backed out of paying for it because they no longer needed it. That was kind of a bummer, but ok, since the CISSP has a good amount of upkeep with it.

Good luck with your certs. I'm hoping, crossing fingers, that I won't be doing many more of these too!

leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #20 on: February 24, 2019, 09:29:05 am »
The CP artwork is crap. They scratch, scuff, etc. way easy. The models I got weren't floor models. None of them had a ton of wear and tear, but I wouldn't be comfortable selling them as is.
Did you get on the a1up website and order the replacement CP covers? No receipt is necessary to order them. Just takes a while to get them so you might have them sold before they arrive.

Yes I did! Only the Street Fighter arrived quickly. The Pac-Man, Asteroids and Centipede haven't arrived. That really should be stop one for anyone who owns any of these cabinets.

leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #21 on: February 24, 2019, 09:39:50 am »
At this point, some Walmarts around me have been on a much more aggressive price reduction. All cabinets are $199, and some places have them for $150. I have the modded cabinet listed for $425 and it had been on Craigslist for over a week with very little interest. Some people wanting to offer very little, and others who are asking questions because they want to do the same mod to their cabinets, but no one wanting to buy. While selling this last functional cabinet, I realized that I would have been better off to not mod the cabinet at all. I should've just sold it for $100 and I would've broke even. Because I paid $200 for the artwork and 60-n-1 upgrades, I had to sell this cabinet for $300 to break even.

Since I was getting no action at $425, I lowered the price to $350. The good news is, I wasn't feeling pressured. Worse case, this cabinet would go in the kids playroom and I would have invested $300 into a 60-n-1 cabinet for them. After another few days, I guy messaged about the cabinet and he seemed very interested. He lived local and came by and purchased it for $350.

And that's where I stand today. I made $50, I have 2 non-functional Arcade1up's, and a bluetooth speaker. I don't think there is a world where this would have been considered a money making gig, but at least I can say I only lost some of my time, and not my shirt. So, this isn't a win, but it isn't a loss.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #22 on: February 24, 2019, 10:01:04 am »
I'll break up my post-action lessons learned into 2 parts. What I learned about selling arcade games and what I think about Arcade1up.

What I learned about selling arcade games
  • I prefer to meet my buyers in person. I used Craigslist and Ebay. I had 1 buyer on Ebay, but I chickened out and canceled the sale. I just didn't trust these cabinets to make it to their destination unharmed. Since these were customer returns, I felt a little guilty, like I was selling them someone elses problems. Even if they were New in Box, I didn't think it was right. I know I wouldn't want to buy someone elses problems. That's why I provided the 24 hour return policy.
  • Everyone who wanted a cabinet, paid full price. I'm not sure what the lesson is here, but I noticed everyone who wanted the cabinet, paid the asking price. Everyone who negotiated before even coming over, would evaporate
  • I forgot how much I hated dealing with potential buyers. Lots of questions, flakey people, etc. I had this issue selling real cabinets, one at a time a couple times a year. This was multiplied by having several Craigslist ads running at once
  • Arcades aren't selling well. At least, these particular arcades. I've sold lots of cabinets, and was always successful selling them in the $850 range. I thought these cabinets would easily go for $500 if I included a riser. Not so. I was getting very little action at $425. I got very little interest at $350 also. I notice lots of the full size cabinets are languishing on Craigslist too. Not sure if this is the masses having their demands met or if this just how things our in my region of the country


What I learned about Arcade1ups
  • I think build quality, collectively, is poor, but I think there are good and bad spots of these cabinets. The worst offender is the artwork. The Control Panel has well known issues. This can be resolved by the overlay. The overlay is an absolute must. The marquee is unlit, but is acceptable. The sideart was surprisingly poor. If all you are doing is looking at it, it's fine, but it's a sticker that peels away from it's backing pretty easily. Any excessive handling of the cabinet and it starts to peel up at the edges. This may or may not be a problem - just depends on the person
  • The construction of the cabinet is acceptable. I think 1/2" MDF isn't a great choice to build with, but to assemble a cabinet that already has all the lock/cam style joinery in it already is fine with me. I think these are decent candidates to build from.
  • The controls and LCD panel are too subjective for me to judge. I was happy with them, but YMMV. Not much else to say here, except if you don't know what to think, you should put hands and eyes on one
  • Arcade1up has support, but it requires lots of patience. Either patience to talk to someone or patience waiting for parts to arrive
  • Long term build quality on these isn't like an arcade. If you move a lot, or plan on moving this cabinet a little, the moves will take their toll on the stock cabinet.
  • Price if you plan on keeping it stock should be $150-$200. If you want to mod it, I would wait for a free donor cabinet. It'll happen as people tire of these cabinets and/or they begin to fail outside of the short 3 month warranty window

I think everyone knows I'm a proponent for giving these cabinets a chance. I still am and I'd like our attitudes collectively as a group reflect that, but I've adjusted my expectations downwards for these cabinets.

Bottom Line. I won't do this again. I'm happy to be on the other side. I'm slightly worried about why my judgement thought this was an ok idea to begin with, lol.

leapinlew

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #23 on: February 24, 2019, 10:10:57 am »
And just to be clear -

I'm being fully transparent with you guys. Purchasing this pallet was a dumb ass move for me. I kicked myself several times during this whole process. At one point, I had 600lbs of Arcade1Up's in my garage and $1,000 less in my bank account. I'm not a huge risk taker. $1,000 isn't a ton of money to us, but it's more than I had in the arcade slush fund, so as far as I was concerned, I had taken on debt by taking money out of the household.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's made a decision that was instantly regretted. I decided to share how mine worked out. I didn't lose money, but I didn't make any either. I got lucky the cabinets all mostly worked and I got lucky to find buyers.

Anyhow, carry-on fellow arcaders!

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #24 on: February 24, 2019, 10:22:53 am »
Thanks for sharing Lew.  I found this very interesting and appreciate you be open with the process.


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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #25 on: February 24, 2019, 10:37:05 am »
Thanks for sharing Lew.  I found this very interesting and appreciate you be open with the process.
Agreed was an interesting read - Glad you at least broke even. Think the only ones that could make money on these type of resales would be those that live within driving distance of the auction site ( so just spend the gas money rather than shipping fee ! )  :dunno

Does sound a bit fishy that the auction wound up right at your Max bid and that they added the extra $80 to the shipping estimate - wouldn't doubt that they do that on most of the auctions to make some extra profit for themselves as well.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #26 on: February 24, 2019, 11:06:03 am »
Thanks for sharing Lew.  I found this very interesting and appreciate you be open with the process.

Agreed. Easily the most interesting thread I’ve read in a long time! :cheers:
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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #27 on: February 24, 2019, 11:07:09 am »
Oh, I forgot to ask - what did the wife say?
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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #28 on: February 24, 2019, 11:25:38 am »
Oh, I forgot to ask - what did the wife say?

LoL! Great question. I lol, because several folks have asked me about it and because in any healthy relationship, this kind of money and\or time investment is something that should be discussed. I didn't and that's my biggest regret. When I told her (prior to the shipment arrival), I did so with a "you aren't going to believe what I did" angle. I promised not to spend too much time on it, she eye rolled, and we both laughed about it. 

My wife is super cool. My arcade hobby usually isn't a big deal. I can bring in a cabinet or some parts in with no concern. Well, the only concern is how much time I'm going to dedicate to it, not the money. Most of the time I purchase whatever without any consultation, but when a pallet arrives with a 600lbs of Arcade1ups, I owe her an explanation.

Good question.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #29 on: February 24, 2019, 12:26:04 pm »
And just to be clear -

I'm being fully transparent with you guys. Purchasing this pallet was a dumb ass move for me. I kicked myself several times during this whole process. At one point, I had 600lbs of Arcade1Up's in my garage and $1,000 less in my bank account. I'm not a huge risk taker. $1,000 isn't a ton of money to us, but it's more than I had in the arcade slush fund, so as far as I was concerned, I had taken on debt by taking money out of the household.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's made a decision that was instantly regretted. I decided to share how mine worked out. I didn't lose money, but I didn't make any either. I got lucky the cabinets all mostly worked and I got lucky to find buyers.

Anyhow, carry-on fellow arcaders!

I'm actually a little impressed. I make lots of stupid purchasing decisions with the logic that I can just sell them if things don't work out but.... they just sit on my pile of unfinished arcade projects.


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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #30 on: February 24, 2019, 01:17:42 pm »
I don't usually pay that much for firewood.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #31 on: February 24, 2019, 01:23:26 pm »
Posting just to secure a place in BYOAC history.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #32 on: February 24, 2019, 09:04:36 pm »
My “set up” with my wife this similar to yours, Lew. My arcade hobby pays for itself, and interesting enough it’s actually been paying for some bedroom purchases she wanted. So everyone is happy in the end.

The only thing she doesn’t know about is the $400 pinball project I have in storage. ;)
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #33 on: February 24, 2019, 09:28:52 pm »
Run for the border, bro, the "bedroom Purchases" are cheap and OTC down there.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #34 on: February 24, 2019, 09:35:02 pm »
Run for the border, bro, the "bedroom Purchases" are cheap and OTC down there.

Motherscratcher, the little general wakes up at full attention every morning. Bring your little blue pills to ZapCon.
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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #35 on: February 24, 2019, 10:37:11 pm »
Are you gonna be my JO buddy?

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #36 on: February 24, 2019, 10:39:00 pm »
Are you gonna be my JO buddy?

I’m not one to tell tales, but the circle jerk starts right on time. Be prompt.
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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #37 on: February 24, 2019, 11:05:23 pm »
My “set up” with my wife this similar to yours, Lew. My arcade hobby pays for itself, and interesting enough it’s actually been paying for some bedroom purchases she wanted. So everyone is happy in the end.

The only thing she doesn’t know about is the $400 pinball project I have in storage. ;)

My wife actually gets pissed about my self financed hobbies that pay for themselves. But, it pretty much boils down to everything she ever spends money on is worthless the moment she gets it home, and everything I ever spend money on has a significant resale value.
Acceptance of Zen philosophy is marred slightly by the nagging thought that if all things are interconnected, then all things must be in some way involved with Pauly Shore.

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #38 on: February 24, 2019, 11:15:08 pm »
My “set up” with my wife this similar to yours, Lew. My arcade hobby pays for itself, and interesting enough it’s actually been paying for some bedroom purchases she wanted. So everyone is happy in the end.

The only thing she doesn’t know about is the $400 pinball project I have in storage. ;)

My wife actually gets pissed about my self financed hobbies that pay for themselves. But, it pretty much boils down to everything she ever spends money on is worthless the moment she gets it home, and everything I ever spend money on has a significant resale value.
Pfft. Wives...

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Re: Ordered a pallet of Arcade1ups - what could possibly go wrong?
« Reply #39 on: February 25, 2019, 07:41:31 am »
My “set up” with my wife this similar to yours, Lew. My arcade hobby pays for itself, and interesting enough it’s actually been paying for some bedroom purchases she wanted. So everyone is happy in the end.

The only thing she doesn’t know about is the $400 pinball project I have in storage. ;)

My wife actually gets pissed about my self financed hobbies that pay for themselves. But, it pretty much boils down to everything she ever spends money on is worthless the moment she gets it home, and everything I ever spend money on has a significant resale value.
Pfft. Wives...

Don’t pull a Johnrt and start posting photos with a pair of nuts photoshopped on them! ;)
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***