Free cabinet....

[shawnbo42]

I think the title says it all, but long story short, on my way home tonight I decided to randomly get gas, and went a different way home than usual. Fortunately, one of my friends was with me, as we came upon a Dig Dug converted to Tri-Sports sitting on the sidewalk. Opened up the car, took all the crap out of it, loaded the machine in, and stuffed all the crap back in around it (I have a 20-year-old LARGE station wagon, National Lampoon-style).
So now I have number 43 (I think) making it's way into the garage at some point (probably as soon as I make space, it can stay in the car for now, my wife is gonna hang me out to dry)
I have NO idea if it works, and if not, what the problem is, but the way I see it, for the price, if I strip the board and marquee and toss the cabinet, I still did ok. Nah, who am I kidding? I never toss ANYTHING. Hence the reason for 43 coin-op machines in the basement. Anyways, that's the big score for the night, sorry it wasn't a more exciting story, but it's near 2 a.m., and time for bed. I'll try and get some pics up in the next week or so for everyone.

[jcalder8]

I thought it was a good story. I wish I had a find like that, but I know my wife would kill me if I brought home an arcade machine

[otoko]

Damn! I've been wanting a arcade. It's my final video game related goal. Oh well. Also I have a sneaking suspicion that my parents would yell at me or something. hmm.

Awesome for you though. ^_~

[Vigilante]

I found an xmen vs street fighter cab on the sidewalk once in front of a pizza parlor... smelled like nasty grease! I gutted it for parts....

(at least I think what it was)

[Puff-puff]

How come I can never find cool stuff like that at the side of the road? All I find are dead raccoons.

[shawnbo42]

Believe me, you have to go through LOTS of dead raccoons before you get the video game prize...I picked up a PSX the other week also in a trash pile. No idea if it works yet, but I'll test it one of these days. This situation for me was just totally random. I *happened* to need gas, and just *happened* to drive another way than usual. If you really think about all the cool stuff you miss out on due to the wrong place at the right time, it's really rather depressing.

The good news is to keep your hopes up, and never stop looking. Networking is important too, as the more people that know your name, the better (except on porn sites, ). Think about it, you need a plumber, you don't call your mechanic. You want to be the person that people think of when they have anything video-game related to dump. I have made more than one score this way. Admittedly, most of what I get is "junk"....A single PSX controller with a chewed wire, a 2600 (I already have 7), with a TON of games. Pac-Man, E.T., etc. BUT, once in a while, you get something either rare, or a new addition to your collection, or something unique.

As has been stated before in other posts, yard sales and the like are also possibilities to score, but it depends on where you go. If you go to the "money" part of town, you are probably better off, because people out there generally spring for the more expensive stuff (i.e. Neo Geo, 3DO, etc.), they are not as concerned with profit as they are about getting rid of junk (generally), and they usually have more of it in nicer shape.

The thing of it is, in this instance, for once I was on the "inside". Rather than be one of the crowd going," Oh, that lucky bastard." I got the thing THIS TIME. That is the key point. Next time it is someone else's turn, and I will again be on the outside looking in. Just keep your eyes open, never give up hope, and sooner or later you'll come across something. Happy hunting!!

[Flack]

Shawn's right. Everybody went nuts when I posted that I got my nearly-pristine Q*Bert cabinet at a garage sale for $100. What I didn't post about were the hundreds and hundreds of garage sales I went to where I found nothing.