This hobby is full of oddballs. Post your encounters here.

[shardian]

I had a rummage sale this past weekend, and a fellow stopped by who saw the games in my garage. It was an interesting encounter, and it got me to thinking: There are many strange people in the hobby that give normal folk who just want to reclaim a bit of our childhood a bad rep. Feel free to post any odd encounters you have had with people relating to the arcade game hobby.

Anyways, I was inside when the guy showed up, and my wife came to get me because he might be interested in buying a game or MAME machine off of me. I chatted with him for a while and showed him some what all I had and told him a bit how some of the MAME and controls stuff worked. The guy was VERY excited every time I told or showed him something new. Hey, that's understandable: it blew my mind when I realized the potential of MAME too... but he was getting a bit too excited. He did say he had never used MAME before because he wanted to get first hand opinions of those who had first. Near the end of the conversation, I asked for his email so I could send him some links. He seemed to freak out a bit, and started mumbling about having email but not using it. Since when does an uber-nerd hardcore gamer with a ps3 and xbox360 NOT use email and frequent gaming related forums and blogs. It was just odd. I then realized he had never told me his name. I was quickly becoming glad that the baby was asleep inside and that I couldn't bring him inside to show him some other stuff for that reason. He mentioned that he might stop by some time in the future again, but I really hope he doesn't.

[Ginsu Victim]

One thing I learned real quick when I finished my MAME cabinet:

DON'T TELL EVERYONE!

As excited as I was to show it off (mostly my project announcement), I've had far too many people want to come by and check out the machine. Plenty of people have asked about seeing it, and I've said, "Yeah, we'll have to do that sometime."

Yeah right.

A lot of the wrong people have wanted to come by that I wouldn't have over previous to this, so why now?

[shardian]

Yeah, I guess I have been lucky up till now. Everyone I have met locally have been really nice people who have families, nice houses, and most important of all they are pretty normal. I suppose you can say I have taken yet another step in the full experience of the hobby. 

[Dexter]

From my own experience (retrogaming 10+ years or so with an arcade cab mamed for about 7 of those), people see the cabs running multiple games + systems and blow a gasket. I'm talking intelligent people who are PC literate here. I guess our generation equate 1 cab to 1 game, end of. And the thoughts of having thousands right there in your own home is something a lot of people find it difficult to get their heads around.

When I was first put onto Mame, I was still being amazed that thanks to my PSX I could finally play arcade quality games at home. Next of all I download Mame030 and am hooked. Here I am a decade or so later, owning and building cabs, a 33" showcase cab in the diningroom thats probably going to be exhibit one in the murder trial after my other half crushes me under it (she thinks its a bit too big, I think the rooms a bit too small), a press full of arcade spares in my kitchen (exhibit two),  and am posting this on a forum about building arcade stuff.

Its been an experience all right  

[JeepMonkey]

I have found some people at the local auctions can get on my nerves.  They are sometimes regular people, sometimes operators or repairmen.

The first guy is the one who must be within three feet of the auctioneer at all times as he moves in front of the games he is currently calling.  This person rarely bids.

The next guy is the one who feels it is necessary to lean against / lay on / or generally just be in the way of the item currently being acutioned.  Get the hell out of the way, you are not one of the girls from the Price Is Right!

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Everyone I've met, in person, through this board has turned out to be pretty damn cool. I try not to venture out into the weird world of auctions. That's just asking for trouble. 

So far, I've met Joymonkey, RecycledPast, Screaming, Teknique, Crashwg, Ed O'Neill, Boz, #1Chad (Not Tower)...and so far everyone is still alive and kickin'.

Some of us have even camped together!! 

[shardian]

Some of us have even camped together!! 

You would be eaten alive on the KLOV forums. They like pretty boys who are open to 'camping trips'. 

[mr.Curmudgeon]

They seem like a cheap date though.   

[SavannahLion]

So far I haven't really met very many enthusiasts in the wild. I don't spend a lot of time advertising the existance of my video games in Real Life. I just bothers me when people come in the house and they eyeball the consoles or the games on the shelves the whole time they're there. It's probably because a buddy of mine had his entire music/video/game wiped out in a home burglery a few years back.

Of the few people that do see any portion of the collection, they seem too off for my tastes. None of my cabinets are functioning at this time but for the damndest reason, anyone who sees them (regardless of whether they're aware of MAME or not) seem to start offering up their vision on what I should do with the cab.

For instance, one of them wanted to help me retrofit my Hang-On cab with a new hanging CP and new 3"x5" marquee (no joke). Essentially gut and strip down a Hang-On cab and turn it into a JAMMA fighter cab. Eh?

[Ginsu Victim]

how about a Hang-on to Galaga?

Talk about making a game harder!

[Namco]

The guy who delivered my arcade machine was a character. He was from the central valley of California (the boonies) and drove up in a beat up Chevy pickup with beat up clothes to match. He was about 5'6" with arms like tree trunks from moving around arcade machines... or maybe he was in construction or something. Whatever, he had to get a Simpsons 4-player off the back of his truck to get my machine off and he did it like the thing was made of paper mache'. Also he had a few things to say about the homeboys that he saw walking around on the way to my house. Whatever his faults he was a good guy and we talked for a long time about arcade machines and the collection of machines he had in his garage that he was restoring for sale on ebay.

As for characters wanting to look at my restored Street Fighter 2, I don't really play with the garage door open. It was so hot on Sunday evening that I was playing some Fun House with the garage door open for the first time since I built the thing and got a few glances from passers by. The marquee is so bright that it's really obvious that it's a Street Fighter 2 machine from across the street, so I closed the door as soon as I could. I just don't want to attract attention, nothing good can come of it.

[Ginsu Victim]

I hear you on the not attracting attention thing.

When I finished my cabinet, I had to get it from the workshop to the house, but my backdoor wasn't big enough. We took it around front and, luckily, no one in the neighborhood seemed to be home, and no one drove by.

Whew!

[SavannahLion]

It was so hot on Sunday evening that I was playing some Fun House with the garage door open for the first time since I built the thing and got a few glances from passers by. The marquee is so bright that it's really obvious that it's a Street Fighter 2 machine from across the street, so I closed the door as soon as I could. I just don't want to attract attention, nothing good can come of it.

I saw this pretty cool idea in a guys garage. He built a free floating wall just behind the garage door. Far enough back that he added shelves in the space between. Behind the wall he "hid" his work shop. I've considered the same. A free floating wall and a long curtain on the exposed side. To protect the cabinets from nosy neighbors as well as to set a clearly defined area for the cabinets to live.

I looked at other options such as retrofitting the garage door with a security type vented garage door (similar to roll down security doors in front of many stores) and an exhaust fan. But it appears the cost is either too high or building code is too restrictive for those solutions. Why you need restrictive building code on adding an exhaust fan to a garage is beyond me. Can anyone explain the logic behind that?

[vertygo]

I gave a non-working machine to someone on Craigslist that I talked to. I wanted to make sure he was keen on fixing it/maming it and not just trying to flip it right away. He was a great guy, not alot of experience (like me) but was very happy to get the machine. I told him it was really heavy, and to bring friends. Sure, sure, no problem. He brought along his 2 tween daughters!

Suffice it to say, we had a heck of a time loading it into his truck. On the plus side, both his kids were amazed that their dad was buying this arcade machine for them.

On the non-arcade side of things, I went to a movie with a group of people.. Iron Man.. one of the women said that that technology already existed (his chest piece) and it was invented by Nichola Tesla. Eegads.

[Mauzy]

Ive only met one person who was not necessarily in the hobby, but has been the service tech around here for the past 20 years. I job shadowed him for a 8 to 5 shift. This guy was awesome. Pretty much the entire was spent going around the shop checking out what they had that was down and talking about the demise of arcade gaming (the pinball industry specifically) and what the future held for ops. I also had a few minutes to sneak around their cold storage. Didn't find anything special as back in the heyday of the industry they used to send a semi of old cabs to auction every couple years for cash to stock up on the latest games. If you bought a cab at an Indianapolis auction 10 or 15 years ago, chances are good it was a Melody Music cab at some point.

I did find two French EM pinball machines stuck in a corner. All but two of the techs had no idea they were there and the guy who I shadowed had no idea where they came from or how long they've been there. They were under a stack of eight or nine 8-liner cabs, so I couldn't see too much about them.

[Texasmame]

Never give out your phone number.   

[ark_ader]

I had a rummage sale this past weekend, and a fellow stopped by who saw the games in my garage. It was an interesting encounter, and it got me to thinking: There are many strange people in the hobby that give normal folk who just want to reclaim a bit of our childhood a bad rep. Feel free to post any odd encounters you have had with people relating to the arcade game hobby.

Anyways, I was inside when the guy showed up, and my wife came to get me because he might be interested in buying a game or MAME machine off of me. I chatted with him for a while and showed him some what all I had and told him a bit how some of the MAME and controls stuff worked. The guy was VERY excited every time I told or showed him something new. Hey, that's understandable: it blew my mind when I realized the potential of MAME too... but he was getting a bit too excited. He did say he had never used MAME before because he wanted to get first hand opinions of those who had first. Near the end of the conversation, I asked for his email so I could send him some links. He seemed to freak out a bit, and started mumbling about having email but not using it. Since when does an uber-nerd hardcore gamer with a ps3 and xbox360 NOT use email and frequent gaming related forums and blogs. It was just odd. I then realized he had never told me his name. I was quickly becoming glad that the baby was asleep inside and that I couldn't bring him inside to show him some other stuff for that reason. He mentioned that he might stop by some time in the future again, but I really hope he doesn't.

What if the guy was a cop.  You you still have him around your Mame cab?   

[shardian]

What if the guy was a cop.  You you still have him around your Mame cab?   

Trust me, this guy was most definitely not a cop. Even if he was, he would probably want  a MAME machine for his own room well before wondering if it was legal or not.

[Ginsu Victim]

Yeah, cops aren't really the ones busting people over personal-use copyright infringement. Most of them do it too.

[shardian]

So, in case any of you were ever wondering why I make no effort to get along with fellow hobbyists, there's your answer.

 

Well damn, I'll give you that one! 

[RayB]

A cop cannot arrest you for copyright infringement even if he wanted to.

However, keep letting big corporations dictate your country's laws and eventually it will be an arrrestable offense.

[SavannahLion]

A cop cannot arrest you for copyright infringement even if he wanted to.

I thought that was one of the charges police arrested Johansen for?

[TOK]

My wife has been drooled over so many times she won't even greet the guys anymore.  She either goes behind a closed bedroom door or waits in the car.  She used to get right up in the machines and poke around but had finally had it.

I used to send my wife to buy motorcycle parts because she could show them stuff in a mail order catalog and they'd match the price. If a dude tried that, he'd get kicked in the balls and thrown out into the street.

I feel like kind of a scumbag in light of your comments, but you gotta work 'em while they're hot, it doesn't last forever. 

[RayB]

A cop cannot arrest you for copyright infringement even if he wanted to.

I thought that was one of the charges police arrested Johansen for?

If there's a warrant for your arrest, then it falls within their jurisdiction to haul you in. But no cop will cuff you and "take ya downtown" just because he saw you reading a photocopy of a book. It's not like possession of drugs or assaulting someone. Copyright owners must build a case against you first.

[Mauzy]

If there's a warrant for your arrest, then it falls within their jurisdiction to haul you in. But no cop will cuff you and "take ya downtown" just because he saw you reading a photocopy of a book. It's not like possession of drugs or assaulting someone. Copyright owners must build a case against you first.

Thats good to know considering theres 6 cops living within a stones throw from my house...

[vertygo]

Why would so many cops live together ? That sounds really suspicious! Maybe you should call the cops on.. er.. oh fuddle.

[Mauzy]

Ha. They're all from different towns or places. There's a Champaign, Savoy, Urbana, U of I campus, and two others that I havent met but have been mentioned by the other cops. Sucks to be 17 with a Jeep in this neighborhood...

[SavannahLion]

A cop cannot arrest you for copyright infringement even if he wanted to.

I thought that was one of the charges police arrested Johansen for?

If there's a warrant for your arrest, then it falls within their jurisdiction to haul you in. But no cop will cuff you and "take ya downtown" just because he saw you reading a photocopy of a book. It's not like possession of drugs or assaulting someone. Copyright owners must build a case against you first.

I see what you're saying. You do realize that it's not uncommon for a knowledgable (or one pretending to be so) police officer to tack on a bunch of ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- charges when they're hauling you in. Occassionally a charge will come across my desk where the officer tacked on something akin to bootlegging (I forget the exact code, not my fish anyways) in addition to whatever other charge they hit them with.

ie, I got pulled over and the officer tried to tack on a "fixit" to me for obstructing my license plate. What was I obstructing the license plate with? The tow ball. The same damn tow ball I had on two previous trucks and the same exact type of tow ball my father had for thirty some odd years on every truck he ever owned. That particular tow ball was probably older than the cop himself, but he decided to tack the charge on anyways. It was the first time any officer ever tried to tack that kind of infraction on me.

[Dartful Dodger]

the guys I've seen at auctions look exactly how you'd expect video game guys to look(oddballs).

After the auction, while waiting to pick up the game I bought, I ended up talking to someone who looked and acted normal.  It was when he posted what game he bought at the auction that I realized he was a fellow BYOACer.

At other auctions I’d overhear people introduce themselves to each other by their usernames.  Most of them were in shape and none of them had a foul body odor.  I told a buddy of mine, that’s how you know who’s from this site.  People with any self-respect are in the minority at an arcade auction.