Twice I have had the unfortunate circumstance of having to sell my arcade game collection. The first time, due to a divorce about 15+ years ago and the second time I was just moving around the country too much thanks to my job. I never expected to see any of these long lost games again until I got a rather unexpected email from an old friend.
My former Roller Derby coach (yeah, I played Roller Derby for about 4 years about 8-10 years ago...fun times) contacted me wondering if I was interested in buying back one of the games I sold him right before I moved from Memphis to Houston. I had to get rid of my small but decent collection I had while I lived in Memphis. Which is always a hard decision for a collector... but since I had a job where I was expected to move around a lot I figured I would have to put my game collecting on hold at the time. But I jumped at the chance of buying it back, and eager awaited the shipping company to come knocking on my door.
It arrived on a typical rainy day here in Seattle. If you desire to see the unboxing (or unwrapping actually) feel free to watch the video above. I never thought I would be able to get ahold of any of my previous games again, so this is a great treat.
Spoiler alert... it's a Moon Patrol upright by Wiliams, which brings the Williams game count to 4 now in the arcade. It is in more or less the condition I last saw it in, other than a bit of damage on the bottom right side of the base of the cabinet. When I bought it originally it had been converted to a Black Tiger (By Romstar). The glorious stenciled sides were covered with thick gooey black paint which I did my best at the time to strip off. At the time I lived in a two bedroom townhouse, which didn't really have the proper facilities to work on an arcade game. Now that I actually have a workshop to properly restore these machines (and a better skill set ten years later) I am looking forward to a proper restoration to this classic.
Crazy enough I actually have another game from a different era of my collecting I hopefully will have back this year as well if everything pans out. That is a game I haven't seen in over 15 years, and desperately want back in my collection. If this hobby has taught me anything is you can't plan for anything as far as acquisition. Things fall in your lap for the best when you least expect it sometimes. Happy hunting.