What the heck did I just do? I bought NINE NEW GAMES?!? CRAP!

[SirPeale]

Just handed over the money for nine games:

Burger Time
Centipede Mini
Defender
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong 3
Galaxian
Popeye
Tunnel Hunt

and two crap conversions.

These were stored in a barn for a minimum of ten years.  They're dirty, filled with mouse nests, and none of them work correctly.  Most, if not all have monitors with issues (likely due to dried caps).  Burger Time has no board.  The crap conversions don't work at all.

I've got ideas about what I'm going to do with these.  Tunnel Hunt I'll probably donate to FunSpot.  Donkey Kong will be converted to Donkey Kong 2.  DK3 convert to DK Jr (which is what it was originally, I think).  One of the conversions turned into a 48-in-1.  The rest cleaned up and fixed.

I'll be picking them up tomorrow.  No pictures yet.

I have run into one snag.  There was some miscommunication between my wife and I.  I told her I'd have one or two cabs here unless I could arrange a separate workshop space.  I couldn't find one yet.  Suffice to say, she's not happy.  Oops.

[RetroACTIVE]

I have run into one snag.  There was some miscommunication between my wife and I.  I told her I'd have one or two cabs here unless I could arrange a separate workshop space.  I couldn't find one yet.  Suffice to say, she's not happy.  Oops.

oops... can't say I've not done the same 

[TOK]

Its always better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.

You did the right thing. 

[SirPeale]

I moved them all today.  I do *not* want to repeat this task anytime soon.

I wanted to start around 11am.  But by the time I got all the stuff together, had to wait for the truck rental people, etc etc, it was 11:45.

Start loading games, and the guys that own the garage are standing around.  In the way.  It's like "hey man, excuse me." "Oh, sorry..." repeat that about six or seven times.

Then there was the guy that decided he wanted to "help".  I'm walking up the ramp with the game, I get to the top to weigh my options, and he decides he wants to help me push it in the truck.  Of course, he does this without telling me he's doing so.  So suddenly I'm being pushed backwards by a force.  That guy I gave a mild verbal warning.  I mean, he could have killed me by trying to "help".

I started trying to strap the games in.  Only one problem...the straps I have won't hook onto the truck supports.  Crap!

When it came to the last game (the Pac-Man conversion) it was one that was going to my house instead of to storage.  Started up the ramp, but something went wrong.  The game took a dump.  I managed to save it from completely going kerplonk, and stood it upright.

That's when I heard the sound of tempered glass shattering.  Dammit!

The control panel wasn't on this cab, and I'd forgotten.  So when it tipped (to the side) it was just enough inertia to pop the glass over the lip and *smash*.

Luckily that was the worst thing to happen.  I swept it up, said my goodbyes, and left.

I head to my house, offload one game - mysteriously roughly.  "Odd," I think, and head toward my Centipede Mini.

The whole game is leaning heavily towards the right.  If I'm not careful I'll dump it - not a game I want to dump!  Then I see it - and probably the reason the other game took a dump. 

The hand truck I'm using was a standard model, but the previous owner had cobbled on some inflatable bigger wheels for use on stairs.  A quite ingenious design.  But at some point the bolt holding the wheel assembly on burst thru the metal, rendering it useless - and dangerous.  I don't know if I can fix it.  Dammit.

Luckily I have another hand truck.  But this one is wrought iron, and weighs around 100 pounds (the other is aluminum and weighs next to nothing). 

I figure I'll go inside and get a quick glass of water.  Except...crap...no keys!  I'd left my keys at the garage, inside my jacket.  I curse quite a bit, close the truck, and head back to the garage.

I manage to offload the rest of the games at the storage facility in record time.  I'm already almost an hour over the time I thought I'd be done (though I did manage to complete the task in the timeframe I thought it would take me, three hours).  Go pick up my daughter from the woman that's watching her.  I'm running seven minutes late.  Seven whole minutes.  I get to my house to find my kid (who walks to and from school daily) in practical hysterics.  He thought something happened to me.  He calmed down quickly, and we went to pick up his brother from preschool.

Got there, and by this time I hadn't had anything to drink, or gone to the bathroom since 10am.  I walk in, tell my son and daughter to go to the classroom, and that's when I see my other son, outside the class with his teacher, wrapped in a blanket, crying hysterically.

He'd gotten a fever and a headache sometime around two, and had been quite upset since then.  Calmed him down a tiny bit, and got him home.

[SavannahLion]

The hand truck I'm using was a standard model, but the previous owner had cobbled on some inflatable bigger wheels for use on stairs.  A quite ingenious design.  But at some point the bolt holding the wheel assembly on burst thru the metal, rendering it useless - and dangerous.  I don't know if I can fix it.  Dammit.

Since buying a hand truck, I've learned pretty quickly to always inspect the hand truck before using it every time. Last time I used it, I was carrying a really heavy cast Joiner that belonged to my dad. I already disassembled and crated it but it was still obscenely heavy. I'm tugging the thing across uneven ground with the hand truck and the crate kept taking a dump off to the side. Even though I had it strapped to the hand truck to avoid that very scenario.

By the time I tug it into the storage area, I realized why I was having so many problems with it. One of the inflatable tires went flat! Doh! 

[SirPeale]

It was fine when I started the job.  I'm guessing that it had metal fatigue, and that first tumble might have stressed it to the point of breaking.

I don't know how I'm going to fix it.  If it were steel I'd weld a new plate on, but this is aluminum.

[Level42]

Hey, what's 9 cabs ?


My entire collection !!! 

(I keep saying "this is my last, no really, definitely, absolutely.......and then I run into something nice again...... )

Congrats, and I hope to play the Tunnel at Funspot one day ! 

[SirPeale]

I bought them to fix and sell them.  Centipede and Defender will join my collection.  I'm pretty sure I'm turning DK into DK 2.

[SirPeale]

Going to start work on the first today.  It's Capcom Bowl in a Galaxian cab.  I thought it was Pac-Man until the side art peeled off, revealing the Galaxian art underneath.

I just wish Galaxian art was tougher; I'd love to recover it, but it just comes right off with the paint that covers it.

I do have a Galaxian now, and am going to baby the art on it.  It's currently filthy.  I'm a bit nervous about trying to clean it.

[More Cowbell]

Nice grab, Peale. Those bulk buys are great. Fix up and sell some to pay for the ones you want to fix up and keep. Sweat equity at it's finest. Keep us updated on progress.

[Level42]

I bought them to fix and sell them.  Centipede and Defender will join my collection.  I'm pretty sure I'm turning DK into DK 2.

I'll buy it. How much for shipping ?

[SirPeale]

I bought them to fix and sell them.  Centipede and Defender will join my collection.  I'm pretty sure I'm turning DK into DK 2.

I'll buy it. How much for shipping ?

$6,000