'in the wild' find story

[shardian]

   A few months ago, I was at a jobsite out of town and saw a Taito Jungle King thru the window of a laundromat. I was in a hurry, so I had to pass it by. Last week, I happened to be passing thru the area, and decided to stop by to get my game on. The bad news was that the game was not plugged in to play. The good news is that I had stumbled upon a Gold Mine of Classics that seemed ripe for the picking! After I snaked my way thru the large Amish family who were cheating and using electric washers , I took stock of what I had found: Tron, PC-10, Stargate, Ms. Pacman, and Jungle King! They were all facing the wall, just waiting for a loving owner to take them away from that dreary place. I longed to be that owner. The Tron was most impressive of the lot. It was in excellent cosmetic condition - which is even more impressive considering its location.
   I scoped out the laundromat looking for some kind of owner or phone number. After worming thru those damn cheating Amish folk again, I came upon a glassed in Office area. The office was super messy. Inside I saw another Ms. Pac being punished with its face in a corner, and another Ms. Pac who was apparently the owners current b*tch  - it was plugged in and running next to the desk. While this may sound exciting to you, dear reader, it was not a good sign to me. It showed that the owner had at least some passing interest in the games. I was able to determine that the owner also ran one of those paycheck loan shark (they can call it whatever they want, but they are still loan sharks) places next door. I went over and asked if the owner was in, and if he also owned the laundromat. They said yes he owned it, but was not in at the time. I asked the Secretary if she knew anything about the games. I was then told quickly that "The games aren't for sale!". DAMNIT!!!
   I figured this would be the case, so I wasn't too heartbroken. I then went back over, worked my way thru the pile of no good cheatin' Amish folk again, and took some pictures of the find that was not to be for  my dear readers enjoyment. Unfortunately, I screwed the quality of the pictures up when I downsized them. Apparently my picture program was set up to horribly compress in JPEG mode. Sorry about that.

Hope you enjoyed the story!

[ChadTower]

Find the owner and ask him.  I've been told that sort of thing multiple times only to have the actual owner sell when faced with a handful of fifties.  Bought a car once that the first person I asked told me was actually not for sale despite the for sale sign on it... when I found the owner I was told the first person was trying to lowball them on it and was sending away potential buyers. 

[CheffoJeffo]

As much as I hate to encourage him, Chad is right -- make an offer on that Tron.

Even if the owner wasn't thinking of selling, a reasonable (or perhaps unreasonable) offer might jog his brain to the point that he decides to sell.

And if it doesn't happen, you are no worse off.

[shardian]

Well if anyone else wants to give them a call, I still have the number.    If I bought anything from him, it would most definitely be to flip them. I don't have the funds or space to keep them as my own for the foreseeable future.

[ChadTower]

Too far for me, otherwise I'd pair up with you on it.

[shardian]

Oh, and this is in Marietta Ohio.

[Ummon]

Poor place to store them.

  They were all facing the wall, just waiting for a loving owner to take them away from that dreary place.

Poor place to store them.

[ChadTower]

Why?  They could be out next to the dumpster getting destroyed.  That's actually a pretty good place for them to be.

[shardian]

I'm amazed that the Tron hasn't been vandalized beyond recognition by bored kids.

[Ummon]

Why?  They could be out next to the dumpster getting destroyed.  That's actually a pretty good place for them to be.

Hnhnhnhnhn, that would be the worst place, not a poor place. Dedicated storage would be preferred.

[CheffoJeffo]

Hnhnhnhnhn, that would be the worst place, not a poor place. Dedicated storage would be preferred.

Anybody who would put this in nice dedicated storage ain't gonna sell them at a bargain price ...

[Ummon]

Hnhnhnhnhn, that would be the worst place, not a poor place. Dedicated storage would be preferred.

Anybody who would put this in nice dedicated storage ain't gonna sell them at a bargain price ...

Very likely. It remains to be seen whether they'd sell them anyway, and unfortunately people will so haphazardly hold on to such treasures.

[shardian]

Was in the neighborhood today, and decided to see if the games were still there. They were, and the tron was facing out. It was in decent condition - everything present. The shroud was split on the left side top to bottom, but otherwise intact.

I was able to track down the actual owner this time. Some middle eastern guy who used to be an op. Talked to him a while - Ms. Pac has bad monitor, and the PC 10 has issues with the monitors. He thought the others worked - but they were somewhat beat I thought. He was interested in an offer, but he wasn't serious I could tell. I offered $200 a game, which I think is more than fair going by shape and the bad monitors - and the 'assumed' working condition for the 5 games.  He wasn't interested at that price though. I figure he would want at least $400 a game. Maybe the Tron is worth $400 if I saw that the game worked nice, but none of the others were close to being worth more than $200.