Arcade Auction Trip
October 4, 2003
Page 1: Trip Details
Page 2: More Pictures and Price List
 Many, many arcade machines... [Building 1] |
 Lots of people, but it got cramped when everyone was crammed into one building trying to bid. |
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The Crusin' USA game was cool, but it had some screen burn [sold for $1075]. If I hadn't won my auction for Tekken 2, I really would have liked to bid on the MK3 machine [sold for $325] beside Crusin' USA. What happened though was a guy that really knew what he was doing wanted this machine. I don't doubt that he would have outbid me up to $1000 for this machine. Oh well - maybe next time. |
 Outside of Building 2. Building 2 as well >> |
 If you look closely - there's a Kiddie helicopter ride in the centre of the photo. It sold for only $75. It's the coolest thing. I would have bought it if I'd had more room in the van to take it back. |
When the auction actually started there was an older man doing to auctioning and a guy from Starburst flipping numbers on stand so people knew which item they were bidding on. It took about 2hrs to auction everything off, which is less than 2 minutes / machine on average. So things moved along quite quickley. On top of your bid you had to pay 15% tax and remove the machine yourself within 2 days or pay a $5/day storage fee. Most of the people there were in their 30's or 40's. I was the youngest bidder by far. Surprising? No.
Auction Results
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After you pay the $200 deposit, you pick up a sheet that has all of the machines listed by number. I wrote down the prices that each machine went for. At times it was difficult to hear the auctioner or to decifer which item was up for auction (the Starburst guy was a little slow on flipping the numbers some times). I believe I'm fairly accurate in my pricing but an error allowance of +/- $1000 should cover any mistakes I made =).
The top of the sheet is ripped because a guy asked why I was taking pictures and then asked if I did board conversions and stuff. He wanted the URL to my website - so I tore my sheet and wrote it down for him. It's funny because my dad suggested I make up a few business cards before I went down but I said no way, that was riduculous. I believe this is the first documented time I have ever been wrong. Just kidding.
My Purchase
I purchased Tekken 2. Amazingly enough, we were able to fit it into the side door of the van (the back door is broken). The machine works fine, but when I got it home I discovered the power supply fans are VERY loud. I'm going to replace them within the next two days. As far as extra work for the machine, I've replaced two light bulbs behind the marquee and one switch under a button. Other than that - it's working great. Future plans for the machine: hopefully it'll make me some $$$.
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Here's the machine where it currently is in my garage. Hopefully it'll be in a local pizza place within a week. I'll let you all know how that goes shortly. It's got a bright 25" monitor and the coin mechs are working fine too. The wiring inside is meticulous. Whoever wired it up originally really put a lot of time and effort into it. The test switches and everything are accessable from the coin door and monitor controls are as well. I'm quite happy with the purchase over all. |
Drive Back
I was a bit nervous driving on the 401 without another capable driver around. Bryson navigating helped a lot, but the rain sure didn't.
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The first picture is of us heading down the 401 back to Waterloo. Once we were in Waterloo and stopped at a red light I said "Hey Bryson, before we start going - get a picture of Sobeys". So he did. That's where I work. Once we got up to Sobeys I knew our chances of dying in a car crash were somewhat slimmer. Hehe.
I'll probably be attending the next auction on Nov. 8th, 2003. If you read this and see me there - say hi. It's always nice to meet a JBProjects.net reader. I think.
Page 1: Trip Details
Page 2: More Pictures and Price List