The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Arcade Collecting => Miscellaneous Arcade Talk => Topic started by: stratjakt on October 04, 2005, 04:31:06 pm
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Anyone going?
I'm planning to go, though I don't have the room for more cabs (well, I'd make room for a nice enough cab or pinball - it's not like we need a dining room table),
Might want to buy something for parts, maybe someone else would want to divvy up the cost and take the cab..
Or whatever. Anyone go last year? This will be my first trip.. any notes to share?
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Absolutly, I go to that auction every year! You are in for a treat, it is a fantstic auction and each year is a bit different than the last. I will give you a detailed response here tommorow, I have to watch a movie with the wife tonight. I have some minor info and pics from the auction on my site here:
http://www.subarubrat.com/arcadeandauction.htm
Where do you live?
Here is an old post of mine that might answer some questions:
Welcome to the show. The Baltimore Auction was my first one as well and I went in there with no real clue outside of some 10 year old FAQs. I will be happy to share with you what experience I have. First of all, go ahead and get something. Even if you have to take it apart and carry it up piece by piece it will be worth it.
What to expect. When you arrive there will be a table set up where you need to go and register. You pay a refundable deposit to get your bidders card. You then go onto the floor and the games will be lined up and marked with a number. Make a note of the game numbers you are interested in. Be careful as you select these so that you don't waste your time or attention on something you won't want or get. Last year they had two auctioneers running down the rows so games were being auctioned at the same time. Take a hard look at http://www.basementarcade.com/arcade/auction/a55/Data.html for a list of what the games sold for at that auction in precious years. You can then build a list of games to bid on and more importantly games to pass on. If I had done just that on my first auction it would have been 100% better.
The auction normally starts with new production Galaga machines and the like that go for high hundreds to a few grand in with a heavy mix of crap. Inkjet printers, popcorn makers, bar trivia machines, slot machines, wooden indians, CD jukes, and all manner of hot dog cookers. The money bags who came for a Galaga will be thinned out here. ( I should perhaps explain this better, I am talking about the guys that throw money at every game without discrimination). This part will also last an hour or two. Instead of being a total newbee and sitting in the front row go play some games and savor the flavor of being surrounded by hundreds of classics. After the crapfest ends they start running down the rows. You will see allot of bidding by people who want something, anything, and are bidding on just about everything for the first part of the first row. Then it tends to settle down a bit. The real frustration last year was the tandem auctions so you had to jump between crowds and try to hear the dualing PA systems. There will be some freakin hotties that follow the auctioneer and write up sale tickets, if you are the high bidder on an item collect your sale sheet from them. As soon as you pay for the item at the table you registered at you are free to go load it. You will read allot about the non working games being auctioned off last, at the Baltimore auction last year they had them all mixed in so be aware of that. They power each game up as the auctioneer reaches it so you can see what is up. Watch carefully for games that you saw working or tested yourself that don't work when they try to power them up. I bought one like that and the toadie powering them up for the auctioneer simply didn't know how to turn the game on OR didn't wiat for it to warm up or finish booting.
And best of all, get ready to see a virtual freak show when it comes to people attending the auction. You will see some normal people like yourself but there will be many ones that look like they stepped out of a timewarp. Big thick plastic framed rose tinted glasses, lots and lots of satin jackets with company logos, beligerant old men in power chairs hell bent on running you down, a virtual sea of bad comb overs, and a few hot women with guys who look like they were realeased from prison the night before and slept in a bus station down the road. Bring a camera.
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It would make sense to be there when they start if you're after working games, as they start on those as soon as they're done with the misc junk. I'm generally more interested in the non working stuff they sell off last, so I'll sleep in and show up later in the day.
Watch out this year, they may be changing that format. Last year at Baltimore they mixed the working and non working games together, marking the non working with a red X. It seemed to bolster up the prices of the non working ones.
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I'm in Annapolis, I figure it'd be fun to attend, even though I've already got all the cabinets that I can sanely fit in my arcade, which isn't that big, and am already in the doghouse for blowing so much dough on the games I have, but I'd probably bid on something that really struck me as worth having.
Sounds like a fun day to a dork like me.
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:(
I live about 10-15 minutes away from it, but will have all 3 of my lil-uns by myself, while my wife is enjoying her birthday in London.
I imagine they would frown on a group of 2, 6 & 7 year olds running around like mad during the auction. Not to mention the problem with transportation. I think my 3 year old would have a little trouble holding the cab on her lap. :)
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So who all is going?
I am in.
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Well I am renting a truck and if anyone in N. VA needs a game(s) dropped off contact me and we can make a deal.
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It was pretty cool, my wife blew my budget friday night on one of the buy-it-nows - an Xmen vs street fighter in a converted Golden Axe 25" cab.. It was 395, which was more than I'd pay, but not a bad deal, the cab's in awesome shape, monitor is great with no burn, and cps2 systems go for 100 easy..
We had hallowe'en plans saturday, so I didn't hang around long enough for them to get to the tables of parts. There were a few boxes of pcbs I was interested in - one with a Haunted Castle in there. There was a lot of CP's, with a couple decent Donkey Kongs, and a lot of marquee's with a good DK. If anyone here bought those lots, message me and hook me up with the DK CP and marquee. You got two of em.
Did anyone see what the Ninja Turtles pinball went for? The one missing the glass over the playfield, and the playfield itself was somewhat chewed up? I had my eye on that as a potential project, then sobered up and realized I have enough projects right now.