What a horrible loss of machines.......please see post

[divemaster127]

Please click the link to the Oklahoma forums what a horrible loss of machines but no one was hurt.

http://forum.okcoin-op.com/index.php?topic=3464.0;topicseen

[Ginsu Victim]

Yeah, I considered posting about this.

Keep in mind this wasn't just a collection, this was a family's home.

Here is the collection before it was lost:
http://www.robohara.com/?p=1175



I'm planning to help them out in any way possible.

[shardian]

no insurance....wow.  That's alot more than a kick to the tenders - that's a wrecking ball shot!

[Ginsu Victim]

I went at the end of February and it was an awesome arcade. Even more awesome was that these strangers invited me into their home just because of a shared love of classic gaming. My heart goes out to the family and I hope they can recover well enough from this.

As for the collection, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (and they had several new ones not in those pics). I'm glad I had the chance to experience that arcade while it lasted, though I regret not playing much. We talked about them more than we played them.

[HaRuMaN]

no insurance....wow.  That's alot more than a kick to the tenders - that's a wrecking ball shot!

 

[Ginsu Victim]

Maybe those of you who know more about it can speak up, but I don't know what the situation is trying to get home insurance on a converted warehouse. I'm not sure what all that entails or if it's difficult or not. When I visited, I couldn't believe it was someone's home.

[Billy_Goatfeet]

  Looking at the pictures, this was a really amazing place.   What a loss.  As was mentioned though, at least nobody was injured, that really is the most important thing.

[Ginsu Victim]

It was amazing. I had the chance to go back, but was holding off for the gameday scheduled for Sept or Oct.

[ChadTower]

Oh crap.  Good thing nobody was hurt, including the firefighters.

Any word on what started the fire?  I'd hate to think it was a game.

[Kevin Mullins]

Definitely not the kind of post I wanted to kick my day off reading about. 

I hadn't had a chance to get down there down to visit, but I can say we have a pretty tight group, so the help is always there.

[DJ_Izumi]

How does someone have a family home of such value, plus spend money on valuable thinigs inside it, but not get fire insurance? :/

[divemaster127]

Its real possible where they were living in a converted warehouse its impossible to get homeowners insurance.  Someone in that field may have to give there thoughts

[Ginsu Victim]

Oh crap.  Good thing nobody was hurt, including the firefighters.

Any word on what started the fire?  I'd hate to think it was a game.

They may have had some machines stored up there, so that was my first thought.

Its real possible where they were living in a converted warehouse its impossible to get homeowners insurance.  Someone in that field may have to give there thoughts

This is the same thing I was thinking. It was commercially zoned, so who knows?

[ChadTower]

Was it rented?  How many renters buy insurance?  I never did when I was renting.

If it was owned, and had no insurance, it also must have had no mortgage.

[HaRuMaN]

Was it rented?  How many renters buy insurance?  I never did when I was renting.

I've always had it when I've rented.  Many times it was a condition of the lease that you obtain it.

[ChadTower]

Many times it was a condition of the lease that you obtain it.

Really?  I probably rented 10 different places and not once was that a condition nor did I ever have it.  Of course a few of those places were in a two family with the owner in the other unit...

[HaRuMaN]

Many times it was a condition of the lease that you obtain it.

Really?  I probably rented 10 different places and not once was that a condition nor did I ever have it.  Of course a few of those places were in a two family with the owner in the other unit...

Probably differs from state to state I'd imagine.

[Ginsu Victim]

Was it rented?  How many renters buy insurance?  I never did when I was renting.

If it was owned, and had no insurance, it also must have had no mortgage.

Owned. (As in, "he owned it", not PWNED!)

[ChadTower]

It may get worse, then, if the building is condemned and he is ordered to tear it down.  Normally insurance would cover that.  It's costly.

[Beretta]

wow i was just looking at that collection last week it was truely awesome.

it is a shame, especially with no insurrance

at least no one was hurt but it still sucks, do they know what caused it? with that many machines i wonder how they was wired? that would really suck if it it was a overloaded circuit.

[Benevolance]

Did someone call for an insurance broker?

Standard residential markets wouldn't touch a risk like that. If you could convince a specialty risk markets to look at it, they'd certainly be charge a small fortune in return. I do know if someone came into my office with a risk like that to insure, I'd politely pass.

...and then ask if I could come over and play some Defender. That was a wicked arcade.

[Ginsu Victim]

...and then ask if I could come over and play some Defender. That was a wicked arcade.

That Defender was all original. Every serial number matched and it had never even had the monitor capped (possibly the CPO replaced, but that's it). It was an awesome freak of nature.

[Kevin Mullins]

Standard residential markets wouldn't touch a risk like that. If you could convince a specialty risk markets to look at it, they'd certainly be charge a small fortune in return. I do know if someone came into my office with a risk like that to insure, I'd politely pass.

And that's exactly what had been presented to them.

[Ginsu Victim]

News interviewed them and talked about the arcade and the loss of everything
http://www.kswo.com/global/story.asp?s=10856121

[Kevin Mullins]

I told ya'll I like to e-mail people.   

[Level42]

What a loss.......Too sad for words.

Of course I have no way of knowing if they had any and if it could have prevented (part of) it happenin, but this shows why you should have smoke detectors and extinguishers.

[Ginsu Victim]

this shows why you should have smoke detectors and extinguishers.

No one was home when the fire started, so what good do those serve at that point?

[sham69]

terrible news.
I remember seeing pics of the place and thought wow.
Has donation process started?
I know I wouldnt mind making a donation.
Glad no one was hurt.

[Turnarcades]

It is/was a great place and I hate to be so brutal as to say I told you so as it is a great collector's loss and a terrible personal loss, but to site a collection of such value without insurance is literally playing with fire. Regardless of whether insurance was approvable or not, if it wasn't insured I would have had doubts about even living there as it's gambling with both your money and your life.

If it is the case it was uninsurable I find that bizarre, particularly as a great portion of US homes are made from little more than wood and plaster board (sorry - 'drywall') and are sited in hot climates with the likelihood of hurricanes or earthquakes, and I bet they get insurance approved - even though they could burn to the ground easy or blow away in the wind!

At least this place was built using some kind of brick, like it should be. There's that other big arcade some guy built at his home (the name currently escapes me), and although made of wood, he took suitable precautions to alarm, fire-protect and insure it when it was built.

[Norfolk Starling]

   Ouch.  My condolences.

[Ginsu Victim]

Craig, one of the biggest hurdles was the fact that it was a commercial building and wasn't zoned for residential living. It was directly next to the train tracks and everything around it was industrial. Word around the campfire is that the city might be starting legal action against them for living there in the first place (more salt to the wounds).

As for fund raising, right now, there isn't, to my knowledge, a paypal account setup yet, but I'm sure it's coming soon. Currently, there is a local bank taking donations for them, and on Saturday night, they are setting up a screen outside to watch the UFC pay-per-view, having hamburgers and hot dogs, and taking donations.

[ChadTower]

Regardless of whether insurance was approvable or not, if it wasn't insured I would have had doubts about even living there as it's gambling with both your money and your life.

Erm, insurance isn't going to save your life in a fire.  It helps you rebuild.  It does nothing to get you out of the burning building.

They could have gotten a custom insurance policy on the collection itself but odds are it would have been an asset policy and been prohibitively expensive for them.  If Mariah Carey can get a billion dollars in coverage on her legs then there is insurance out there for anything.  Being able to afford such coverage is the problem.

Now, since they were living there, that could have been a problem for insurers, given that it is not legal to take up residence in a commercially zoned building.  That is a different issue, though, and an intentionally chosen risk.

[Level42]

this shows why you should have smoke detectors and extinguishers.

No one was home when the fire started, so what good do those serve at that point?

Well if you have smoke detectors installed connected to your alarm system, the fire brigade would have showed up a lot sooner. Fires never start big, they start small. In the first phase of a fire there is still a lot that can be done to prevent further extension of the fire.

But even more important, what IF there had been people there ?!?!?!! Would they have come out safely ? Would they have had an extinguisher around to try and stop the early fire ? Was there more than 1 route to escape the building ?

It's just things people rarely think of but should...

I'm not saying this is per-se the case here, it's just a wake-up call for fellow collectors...

[Ginsu Victim]

They had an alarm system (look at what was inside, I mean, come on) and all kinds of precautions, but it was very difficult for the firefighters to fight that blaze because of the structure. My post was saying that all of that didn't matter much in this case.

[Turnarcades]

Thanks everyone for clearing up the picture of how insurance works in this instance, but it still remains that if it was the case insurance was unlikely, I personally would not take the gamble of living there. No-one expects it to happen, but even if there is a small chance I wouldn't be able to disregard it. I guess after having an unexpected stroke at a young age, I tend to err everything on the side of caution as with that I often thought if I'd made even small precautions it may never have happened and I'd still have proper use of the left side of my body.

Regardless of whether insurance was approvable or not, if it wasn't insured I would have had doubts about even living there as it's gambling with both your money and your life.

Erm, insurance isn't going to save your life in a fire.  It helps you rebuild.  It does nothing to get you out of the burning building.

Not what I meant. By 'life' I don't just mean health, I mean losing a home is like losing 'your life'. Without a home you don't have much of a life, you're back at square one more often than not.

Whatever the situation, I wish them the best and hope they get back on their feet soon. If I was in the US I'd contribute myself by building a cab to give to him. It's no consolation for the loss of classics (or your home!) but it'd get his collection re-started.

[Billy_Goatfeet]

   If I may make one point on the material side of things....Insurance or no insurance, there is no bringing back those cabinets, especially the rare ones like the number matching Defender.   

[Ginsu Victim]

I personally would not take the gamble of living there.

Sometimes you don't have a choice where to live, especially if your family gives you a building they already own. Why go elsewhere? Fires are unpredictable. It's not like they lived in a tinderbox that was just waiting to go up in flames. No manner of readiness can actually prepare you for something like this. What the fire didn't get, the water did.

If I was in the US I'd contribute myself by building a cab to give to him. It's no consolation for the loss of classics (or your home!) but it'd get his collection re-started.

That's a kind sentiment, though a MAME cab would never have been allowed in that collection

[Ginsu Victim]

   If I may make one point on the material side of things....Insurance or no insurance, there is no bringing back those cabinets, especially the rare ones like the number matching Defender.  

Here's a partial list of the games they had:
POPEYE
DK JR
DK
BURGERTIME
MISSLE COMMAND
GALAGA
ASTEROIDS DELUXE
MOON PATROL
JUNO FIRST
GORF
SPACE INVADERS
GRAVITAR
TEMPEST
CENTIPEDE
ROBOTRON
STARGATE
DEFENDER
SUPER PACMAN
PUNCHOUT
ATARI BASKETBALL
KANGAROO
DIGDUG
JUNGLE KING
MS PACMAN
JOUST
FROGGER
QBERT
MAPPY
MILLIPEDE (COCKTAIL)
GALAXIAN (COCKTAIL)
ASTEROIDS (COCKTAIL)
BATTLEZONE
PACMAN
TRON
BUDWEISER TAPPER
SATANS HALLOW
WIZARD OF WOR
CRYSTAL CASTLES
STARWARS
BLUEPRINT
HANGON
KUNGFU MASTER
TETRIS
SPY HUNTER
TRACK & FIELD
CRAZY CLIMBER
SUNSET RIDERS
FINAL LAP 2
OUTRUN
MANXX TT
BIG BUCK HUNTER
WING SHOOTER

PINBALL:

XENON
SURFSIDE
NUGENT
NIGHT RIDER
MIDDLE EARTH
GETAWAY
TAXI
GOLDBALL


PROJECTS:
POLE POSITION
VS DUCK HUNT
CHAMPIONSHIP SPRINT
DRAGON (PINBALL)
LASERBALL (PINBALL)

[Dr Zero]

Keep us posted about the family fund we can all skip our fancy coffee or a trip to Mc Donalds and send it along to them instead.

I live in a hurricane area and its very hard to get insurance here and when you can get it it's not cheap.

You never know when or what can happen my little one came to our room one morning saying there was no power. We checked all the breakers nothing wrong but half the other end of the house had no power. Spent a couple of days going from outlet to outlet checking wiring till a fluke happened and while unplugging a working outlet we got voltage on a dead circuit. We traced the fault finally from that outlet to a unused outlet behind a bookcase and when we took the cover off the insulation was gone (burnt) at least 2 inches into the wall.

We were very lucky since there was no prior warnings that there was a issue and were able to re wire the series. While we were at it we replaced all the outlets also just be sure the wiring was ok and to have a little peace of mind.

Once again please keep us posted this could have easily been one of us, I hate to see the loss of the games but at least they are safe.

[Kevin Mullins]

Here's a partial list of the games they had:

Dragons Lair