after mentioning an "arcade auction" i get a bad response from the wife to be.

[hulkster]

i was talking with my fiance yesterday...and there is an auction this sat. here in Nashville, TN and i said "hey theres an auction this weekend and i'm thinking about going!"  and she says "well that will be fun for you" (so far so good) and then i say "yeah, i might be able to find something cheap for like 50 bucks or something"   (big mistake)  and then she says "what?!  i'm not wanting to have all that game crap in our house!"  oh geez.  well there goes my game room idea.  but maybe a few years down the road when i can afford a nice 2/3 level house (should be able to) then a game room/basement will be possible!  

just thought id share for those of you with similar problems

[Edgedamage]

Use the line "if you really loved me like you say you do then you should have no problem letting me do a hobby that makes me happy"

[menace]

or if she has a sense of humor.."my last girlfriend was ok with it"  

(please don't really say this, I would hate to have a homicide directly linked to one of my posts)

[hulkster]

or if she has a sense of humor.."my last girlfriend was ok with it"  

(please don't really say this, I would hate to have a homicide directly linked to one of my posts)

well that wouldnt work...even IF i was crazy....cuz ive been dating her for 3 years, and engaged for 1 1/2

[Edgedamage]

Dammm who am I to talk. My wife wants "that ugly cocktail cabinet" outta here

[NY_in_TX]

Do the whole Eddie Murphy standup..

"Dis is MY HOUSE...and if you don like it, you can get the f..."


Seriously, I feel your pain.  I made an agreement with the wife that I only needed 2 rooms and a section of the house.  Home theater, gameroom/office and garage.  She can do whatever with the rest.  Well I guess now it's just the garage as my gameroom is now a nursery but still.

Anyways on top of that I brought her to my first auction and she was bored off her rocker, but she could at least see the excitement I had.  now she knows that poker nights, autoX, and arcade auctions are my things.  


Plus I always tell her how much I could sell them for....I'll never sell em, but she doesn't have to know that.    (I've been telling her I want to get into restoring pinballs...priming the pump gentlemen)

Now that being said, I've spent my share of time at antique malls, and shoe stores.  It's all about making sure both parties are supportive.


I will tell you this...if you guys are just starting out.  Listen to her...she's probably more practical at this point.  

[shmokes]

What are you thinking, man?  You're 21 years old.  Call it off.  Wait until you're at least 25 or 27 or 30.

[Goz]

 I think we all know what you are up against. What seems to work with my wife is a combination of things.

1) While restoring or converting a cab can be stressfull, I find it a great way to decompress from my job. You could argue that you are less likely to drop dead of a heart attack, etc.

2) Throw a party and have people use your current cab. Friends testimonials to how cool it is can be a hell of a impact on changing someones mind. My wife was opposed to the first cabinet I had put together and when people were using it, it opened up the door to me finally being able to do my game room. (coverted garage) She actually encouraged me to go to the last auction and handed me cash on the way out the door.

You just gotta find her switch.

-Goz

[hulkster]

well she is supportive because it makes ME happy.  she thought my first arcade cab was really cool, but i think the fact that i wanted to build another one made her roll her eyes and give me the old "spending money on food and rent is more important" speech.  but yeah she is more practical at this point, but im not retarded when it comes to finances and budgeting, so im just going out and buying everything all at once.  i wait till im ready to buy things and when its smart to, etc.  plus im not paying any rent or bills or food right now, and havent been for like 6 months...cuz im living with my mom until i get my apartment which is probably in about a week.  anyway, once she sees it, she will be very impressed and pleased, but also will say "now no more!"  

and about the poker night....i registered for a foldable poker table top from Bed Bath and Beyond.  yeah, its pimp, and it was the only cool thing about that day    so ill have a poker table, two arcade cabs, and hopefully...eventually, a driving cab, bubble hockey, and pool table.  ha!  yeah right, in my dreams

[abrannan]

Personal opinion time....  Wait.

You've got a cab.  You don't (as of right now) even have an apartment, let alone a house.  You're getting married.  This is not a once in a lifetime auction.  Set aside the money you'd spend on a cab and put it toward a down payment on a house.  Get yourself established:  A job, a house, start an IRA (take a look at how much $100 invested at age 20 is worth when you retire and how much $500 is worth invested at age 40).  Pay off any credit card/student loan debts (better credit score = easier time getting a better mortgage = bigger house = bigger game room).  

Retrofit your cab.  Add swappable control panels/rotatable monitor/whatever.  I know that most of the fun in this hobby is putting things together, and actually playing the cab is secondary.  

Trust me.  You're young, you're free from parental control for the first time in your life, you've got more money at your disposal than you've ever had before.  I'm not much older than you, I'm 28.  I've been married 3 1/2 years.  4 years ago I was lousy with debt, had barely saved a dime, and wanted a cab.  Now, I've got a beautiful house with a pool, and a sizable savings account.  At my wife's suggestion last year we bought a 47" widescreen HDTV and I got my cabinet (which she has absolutely no interest in).  Now my wife is willing to help build a large storage shed that I could keep extra cabs in if I wanted to buy & restore more.  I'm not saying your life will turn out any better or worse than mine, regardless of whether or not you get a cab at the auction.  I'm just saying that there's a lot of things you can do right now that will do a lot to help you get off on the right foot in your life.  I just don't think that buying another cab is one of them.  

But like I said at the beginning of this post, this is all my personal opinion.  

[hulkster]

Personal opinion time....  Wait.

You've got a cab.  You don't (as of right now) even have an apartment, let alone a house.  You're getting married.  This is not a once in a lifetime auction.  Set aside the money you'd spend on a cab and put it toward a down payment on a house.  Get yourself established:  A job, a house, start an IRA (take a look at how much $100 invested at age 20 is worth when you retire and how much $500 is worth invested at age 40).  Pay off any credit card/student loan debts (better credit score = easier time getting a better mortgage = bigger house = bigger game room).  

Retrofit your cab.  Add swappable control panels/rotatable monitor/whatever.  I know that most of the fun in this hobby is putting things together, and actually playing the cab is secondary.  

Trust me.  You're young, you're free from parental control for the first time in your life, you've got more money at your disposal than you've ever had before.  I'm not much older than you, I'm 28.  I've been married 3 1/2 years.  4 years ago I was lousy with debt, had barely saved a dime, and wanted a cab.  Now, I've got a beautiful house with a pool, and a sizable savings account.  At my wife's suggestion last year we bought a 47" widescreen HDTV and I got my cabinet (which she has absolutely no interest in).  Now my wife is willing to help build a large storage shed that I could keep extra cabs in if I wanted to buy & restore more.  I'm not saying your life will turn out any better or worse than mine, regardless of whether or not you get a cab at the auction.  I'm just saying that there's a lot of things you can do right now that will do a lot to help you get off on the right foot in your life.  I just don't think that buying another cab is one of them.  

But like I said at the beginning of this post, this is all my personal opinion.  

well dude, im not a bum (not saying that you said i was) and i do have a job as an IT Specialist for a credit union here in nashville.  i have a Roth IRA account that has been building for about 15 years, as well as mutual funds that are growing but the market isnt that great right now, so they havent grown for a while.  ive held my job for the past 8 months and the only thing that has come out of my account is a cell phone bill each month.  so im saving pretty well.  even if i WAS going to buy something at the auction, i wouldnt spend more than 50 bucks.  im stingy, and not that big into dumb retro pac man machines.  but if there was like a cool dart board, or a slot machine or something weird like that for 50 bucks, id get it.  so im not retarded with my money, and i know everything else comes first.  i dont have student loans, or car payments, and im debt free.  not saying i know everything at all...but cut me a little slack here.

oh and im 22, not 21    

[zaphod]

It's not always about the money.  Sometimes the little lady just doesn't want a second (or third) cab in the main living area and the money issue is just the easiest reason to veto it.  I have my main cab in the living room today but realize that the day may come when it gets relegated to the (finished) basement (once we need the space for something else).  With each new cab I build, I get asked if its for someone else as she has a "one cab/one house" rule.  We, who love the hobby, sometimes forget that not everyone shares our level of enthusiasm about the 300-lb beasts we build.

I've also found that you sometimes need to show pictures of what you are talking about rather than just broadly describing the potential purchase to your significant other.   Anytime the wife wants to change the color/style of a room I ask for pictures as her verbal description means little to me (did you know there are like 60 different colors of red?!?!?).

[hulkster]

very well put.  yes not everyone shares my hobby...and i have to keep that in mind.  to her its a cool arcade thing, but its really big and not what she wants the center piece of our house to be.  i understand that, and i was going to put  more than one cab in unless we have a large basement area that is designated as like a media room or play room once we have kids...and now that i think about it, we probably wont have a cool basement for another 5 years or so.  ANYWAY....i wasnt going to buy another cab in the first place, i just mentioned buying something for 50 bucks if it was like a crazy deal (not an arcade machine) for like a bubble hockey game...but of course it wouldnt be working.  oh well, so i guess i wont be going to the auction and ill just spend the time working on my current cab.

[abrannan]

Personal opinion time....  Wait.

You've got a cab.  You don't (as of right now) even have an apartment, let alone a house.  You're getting married.  This is not a once in a lifetime auction.  Set aside the money you'd spend on a cab and put it toward a down payment on a house.  Get yourself established:  A job, a house, start an IRA (take a look at how much $100 invested at age 20 is worth when you retire and how much $500 is worth invested at age 40).  Pay off any credit card/student loan debts (better credit score = easier time getting a better mortgage = bigger house = bigger game room).  

Retrofit your cab.  Add swappable control panels/rotatable monitor/whatever.  I know that most of the fun in this hobby is putting things together, and actually playing the cab is secondary.  

Trust me.  You're young, you're free from parental control for the first time in your life, you've got more money at your disposal than you've ever had before.  I'm not much older than you, I'm 28.  I've been married 3 1/2 years.  4 years ago I was lousy with debt, had barely saved a dime, and wanted a cab.  Now, I've got a beautiful house with a pool, and a sizable savings account.  At my wife's suggestion last year we bought a 47" widescreen HDTV and I got my cabinet (which she has absolutely no interest in).  Now my wife is willing to help build a large storage shed that I could keep extra cabs in if I wanted to buy & restore more.  I'm not saying your life will turn out any better or worse than mine, regardless of whether or not you get a cab at the auction.  I'm just saying that there's a lot of things you can do right now that will do a lot to help you get off on the right foot in your life.  I just don't think that buying another cab is one of them.  

But like I said at the beginning of this post, this is all my personal opinion.  

well dude, im not a bum (not saying that you said i was) and i do have a job as an IT Specialist for a credit union here in nashville.  i have a Roth IRA account that has been building for about 15 years, as well as mutual funds that are growing but the market isnt that great right now, so they havent grown for a while.  ive held my job for the past 8 months and the only thing that has come out of my account is a cell phone bill each month.  so im saving pretty well.  even if i WAS going to buy something at the auction, i wouldnt spend more than 50 bucks.  im stingy, and not that big into dumb retro pac man machines.  but if there was like a cool dart board, or a slot machine or something weird like that for 50 bucks, id get it.  so im not retarded with my money, and i know everything else comes first.  i dont have student loans, or car payments, and im debt free.  not saying i know everything at all...but cut me a little slack here.

oh and im 22, not 21    

My apologies if I offended you, that was certainly not my intent, though I can understand where you could get that from my reply.  I was making very broad assumptions about your situation based solely on what I've seen from my friends as they come out of college.  I assumed you were talking about a cabinet purchase from your initial post, not a bubble hockey/foosball/dartboard.  And as we all know, a $50 cab still needs a lot of love/money.  You sound like you've got a great start going, and are definitely ahead of the curve.  

I still say wait on any purchase that's going to take up a lot of in-home real estate, though.  

[hulkster]

no way man, i wasnt taking any offense to what you were saying.  in fact, i welcome the advice!  especially from someone who is close to my age range.  i was just simply informing you of what my situation was and where i stood.  im starting to see how much money these things can suck away from you and im still learning about all that, so definitely no offense taken.  im past the stage of being a punk kid not wanting to take any advice from my elders, unless that elder is a hippie!....i hate hippies.

[DrewKaree]

SCREW THAT! Go to the auction! Nothing sez you GOTTA buy something there, and if you've got $50 carefree cash sitting around and in your mind it's "spare" (since you've said that's your $ amount), it WILL get spent on SOMEthing, be it a movie night or dinner with the wife-to-be, as long as you know you have that money to spend, you will almost CERTAINLY spend it.

Cheez and rice, it's nice to work towards the future, but what the heck fun is the PRESENT if you can't enjoy it a LITTLE?!?!  I've got a solution for those who say don't blow FIFTY FRIGGEN DOLLARS:  Hulkster, GO, DAMMIT, and next week, have PB&J's or something for lunch, saving lunch money.....$5x5 days= $25 dollars.....halfway there....wait a week (so you don't get sick of PB&J's ) and do it again.  $50 bucks, problem solved, present fun and auction experience gained, life is good all around.

     *insert HUGE friggen dollop of sarcasm*
Hulkster, it is YOUR duty as an American to spend your hard earned cash to help our economy   How else are we going to be able to afford this war, now that all our jobs are being shipped out of the country?!     SPEND, MAN, SPEND!

In lieu of you going to the auction, you may send your donation to the "Buy ME a new cab" foundation  ALL forms of monetary payment are accepted.  To charge your donation, just send your unsigned credit card.

Seriously, you say you're living at home w/mom right now.  NOW is the time to buy....just kinda eeeeeease it in the side door when you two get your own place.  Easier to get her to accept the purchase after it's already been made.  No sense it waiting to get the whole marrieage experience...start the BIG fights right now.  If you guys are still together, BINGO, she's a keeper.  If she's not, I hear crashwg's wife is up to her eyeballs in dishes, she may be looking to trade in that old clunker for a new model  

[hulkster]

um....wow.  naw man, i dont need any more cabs.  2 is enough, and i dont have enough room for both of them, so if i have 3 then ill really be in trouble.  ill definitely go to one down the road, but right now is probably not the ideal time.  plus i need to use this weekend to build, and i have to watch an mls game at 3!  hey, mls isnt english prem. league but its soccer/football and i have to watch it some time!!!

[RetroJames]

um....wow.  naw man, i dont need any more cabs.  2 is enough, and i dont have enough room for both of them, so if i have 3 then ill really be in trouble.

Get three, bargain down to two.  

[paigeoliver]

Ok, I did not even bother to read ALL the responses to this, but I am going to give mine.

I am old school in my beliefs. I believe ultimately the man's word is final in all situations in a marriage (and you aren't even married yet). But, the man should very much take the opinions, wants, and needs of his wife into account when making all decisions.

I have an apartment full of this stuff. When I get married there is absolutely no question what is going to happen to all of it. And that is this, I will sell myself down to 6 items, and I will involve my future wife in the process of selecting which ones we keep, but it will ultimately be my choice.

[cdbrown]

A Happy Wife Is A Happy Life live by the motto and you can't go wrong... trust me

[NY_in_TX]

Hulkster...I forgot you were building that huge showcase cab.  On second thought...yeah, you deserved the evil eye from your chick.    She's probably just coming to grips with just how ominous a showcase can (or will) be.

Do what makes you happy (and you probably already know, when you find the right chick...making her happy is one of those things)

ny

[CitznFish]

marriage and/or relationships are all about accepting eachother and respecting eachother. She should be supporting your hobby, not denying your god-given right to have a fully stocked game room. Heck, it's even in the Declaration of Independence, "...pursuit of happiness"  

OK, seriously, remind her marriage is about compromising. Maybe she'll let you have a game room, and she can decorate the living room with girly items like tiny pillows and empty wooden boxes.

[hulkster]

yeah im all about compromise.  and well, she knows im building and arcade machine and she knows it will be big, but she doesnt know what it looks like yet.  and while multiple machines would be cool, im not that into this hobby where i need to have 10.  i mean, for me, one is enough.  but whenever we get settled in our own house and have a basement thats not needed for storage too much, i may have more than one  but as of right now, i dont need any more than my big ass showcase cab

[Chemixtry]

Something that has worked for me to get support from the wife is that I told her I would get an old Ms. Pacman and fix it up for her. She has not complained once about me buying joysticks and other arcade parts and even wants to attend the next auction with me. It allows me to obtain another cab and it makes her feel included in my hobby.

If momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy

[fredster]

Sorry I got you into that kind of trouble Hulkster.

I didn't have a problem with my wife about them, they live in the garage.  

(of course, so do I......)

[Santoro]

I am old school in my beliefs. I believe ultimately the man's word is final in all situations in a marriage (and you aren't even married yet). But, the man should very much take the opinions, wants, and needs of his wife into account when making all decisions.

Dude, absolutely no disrespect intended, but good luck finding a woman in this day and age that will marry someone who openly feels that way.

[AlexC]

I wish we had basements in Texas   .

[allroy1975]

I am old school in my beliefs. I believe ultimately the man's word is final in all situations in a marriage (and you aren't even married yet). But, the man should very much take the opinions, wants, and needs of his wife into account when making all decisions.

Dude, absolutely no disrespect intended, but good luck finding a woman in this day and age that will marry someone who openly feels that way.

Na, there are lots of church going people like this I think.  I work with one.  He's a baptist and there seems to be a whole community of them out here in St. Louis.  

It kinda scares me.  

Allroy

[drunkatuw]

OK, seriously, remind her marriage is about compromising. Maybe she'll let you have a game room, and she can decorate the living room with girly items like tiny pillows and empty wooden boxes.

I sent this to my fiance and she started laughing out loud!  I've told her this many times.  I just need the basement and the garage, she can have the rest of the house.  

We're both living with our parents until the wedding date, so we're saving lots of money and she didn't have a say in whether I built a cabinet in my parent's basement.  Now I just have to convince her that we'll have enough room for the arcade, kegerator and big screen...of course since all these things are already purchase/made, it's much harder for her to say no

[hulkster]

OK, seriously, remind her marriage is about compromising. Maybe she'll let you have a game room, and she can decorate the living room with girly items like tiny pillows and empty wooden boxes.

I sent this to my fiance and she started laughing out loud!  I've told her this many times.  I just need the basement and the garage, she can have the rest of the house.  

We're both living with our parents until the wedding date, so we're saving lots of money and she didn't have a say in whether I built a cabinet in my parent's basement.  Now I just have to convince her that we'll have enough room for the arcade, kegerator and big screen...of course since all these things are already purchase/made, it's much harder for her to say no

amen brotha!!!!  i started building my cab, and well when its finished i want it to go somewhere....so its hard for her to say no

[Thenasty]

First find out which video game she like, then build her favorite one and give it to her on Wedding/Birthday/Anniversary/etc... get the point   ?
This will start you off in the right direction.

At this point, she sounds like she's in charge  





Oh wait a minute.......................My wife is also in charge  

Damm....all the thing we give up for WOMEN.
But like I always says " My wife SUCKS and I love it "  

[hulkster]

nah, shes not "in charge" but i respect her logic on certain things.  building arcade games are fun and it would be great to have an arcade in my house, but its not very logical.  im not as diehard as a lot of you guys are, so its not so important to me.  so if i dont get to put my arcade machine in my apt. the first year, ill just have to wait till we get a house.  no big deal.