Ah, early in the year, when the flowers change and the first arcade games go to auction. Spring auctions can be a mixed bag, but are usually a disappointment. Warehouse owners try to clean out games that might be almost ready to hit the dumpster. Or sometimes collectors decide to unload some stuff they are sick of. Either way I have never had too much luck in Spring auctions. This auction was very interesting with some rare pieces and some very over the top prices being paid for what I thought were often so-so games. But hey, everyone has their favorites, so who am I to judge? Grab your Moxie soda and scroll downward for my little auction time slide show.
My wife Trinity poses like an action star. I hope those games don't all blow up in slow motion.
Fully working Berzerk cocktail, pretty neat. Nice shape despite the flaking of the art under the glass. The sound was cranked up so loud I could hear "CHICKEN FIGHT LIKE A ROBOT" all the way across the building.
Bubbles cocktail! Clean as can be, this game was either not played much in its 35-plus years, or just really taken care of. I think this is the first Bubbles cocktail I have ever seen at an auction. I was very tempted to bid high on this one, but I'm not a huge fan of cocktail cabinets.
Someone spent 1050 on that Lunar Rescue. Overall prices were a bit crazy. That non-working Donkey Kong Junior with the painted-over front fetched 750. (I did buy a box of Donkey Kong Junior parts) About 80% of the original side art was still on it however. The Gauntlet that wouldn't power up I think went for 1400.
Phoenix worked but was in rough shape. The selection was typical of early in the year auctions. Some odd and interesting games for sure, but a lot of projects and most of it went for way too much.
Nice looking Defender for 750, seemed to have a slight power issue however.
If I could fit more than one game in my van I would have also brought home this APB. I've always dug this game, thanks to the version I had on my old Atari Lynx. It was missing the seat, had a dim monitor, and the steering wheel barely worked. It sold for a little South of 500. The whole cabinet was very yellowed; maybe it was somewhere where people smoked a lot?
Crazy times! Maze Man, a terrible Pac-Man bootleg or copy sold for 1025. The rough but complete and working Venture sold for 700. One day I hope to find a Pepper II which is in a very similar cabinet.
Holy cow, a Tank! Sold for 850, it ran but it didn't seem to be playing correctly for me. I have fond memories of playing this at a campground when I was about 5 or 6. I find these early black and white games historically interesting, but I have little desire to own them.
Crazy rare but not super fun to play Radical Radial sold for 1200, the Stunt Cycle which was running but needed love sold for 600.
Someone was getting rid of some rare older games. This nice Gunfight sold for 1700. The Tora Tora next to it sold for an insane 2900 dollars, although it's a very nice example.
Rough and not working Battlezone... this one needed a hug.
Star Wars Trilogy, a game in which I crash into a lot of trees, sold for 900.
I brought my best friend Alex with me on this trip. He didn't get anything but had a great time eating snacks and people watching.
D'oh! I bought this huge Simpsons 4 player game for 850! A tiny more then I wanted to spend but everything was going for some serious money today. And I plan on making it run both The Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which should prove popular when we have parties. There were a lot of lines on the sprites when it was auction time, and the monitor was needing some love. These 4 player Konami games from the early 90's and late 80's are becoming very collectible now, so I figured it was time to add one to my collection, despite it being bigger than most New York City apartments.
Tight squeeze in the old Ford Transit Connect. It's going to need new side art for sure. (The game, not the van... although I have been thinking of getting a rad wizard painted on the side of it, you know, to impress babes.)
Into the workroom for a big time clean out and checking out. Well after the 4 hour drive from Dallas back to Houston anyway. I was able to get the sprite issues down to a bare minimum after some tweaking with the game, and the monitor actually looks pretty darn good after some mild adjustments and degaussing. I think Lisa is my favorite Simpsons character - always trust a musician.
List of games at auction
Sorry no prices this time, I was too busy screwing around with my friends. Prices were MUCH higher than normal I would say. Supposedly there was a phone bidder from Tennessee bidding on a lot of items.
(Random stuff at the start)
Lots of Boards in boxes including 2 DK Jr Sets (Mine now), some Jamma stuff, Neo Geo carts, and a Gravitar set.
A Parking Meter with stand
A bunch of poker machines
Beer draft thing with cooler
Full gumball vending rack
Usual random stuff like a dart board and monitors
Arcade Games
Cocktails
Ms.Pac-Man converted from a Nintendo Cocktail? Pretty terrible looking
Berzerk Cocktail Dedicated
Bubbles Cocktail Dedicated (Crazy clean)
Uprights worth mentioning
Ms. Pac-Man
Pac-Man w/ Ms. Pac Board
Asteroids (Not Working)
Galaga (2 or 3 of them)
Lunar Rescue
Gauntlet (Not Working)
Donkey Kong Junior (Not Working, front painted black)
Time Pilot (2 of them there)
Kid Niki (Some sort of old Sega cabinet?)
Arkanoid
Cisco Heat
The Simpsons (Dedicated)
Dragonball Z
Monaco GP (Cabaret, on but only showing garbage)
Goindol (in a Q*Bert cabinet still painted yellow)
Exerion (in a decent looking DK Jr. Cabinet with Nintendo Vs. side art)
Centipede (Rough but working)
Space Invaders (Needed a cap kit but working)
A.P.B. (No seat, C+ shape)
Hang On (Not Working)
Multi game in a Tempest Cabinet
Defender (Nice)
Final Lap 3 (Stand up)
Mortal Kombat 3
Super Off Road (2 player)
Star Wars Trilogy
Neo Geo (2 or 3 of them)
Turbo Out Run
Phoenix (dirty and missing bezel)
Circus (Nice for it's age)
After Burner II
Operation Wolf
Winner (Old Pong clone)
Radical Radial
Stunt Cycle
Maze Man
Venture (Rough but all there)
Super Monaco GT
Tank
Tora Tora (Spotless)
Gun Fight
Super Hang-On
Alpine Ski (Very rough cabinet, & not working)
Battlezone (Not working)
A lot of early 2000's sit-down driving games like Rush etc.
Some EMG's I can't remember
And a ton of crane games
Only two pinball machines
Rescue 911
X's and O's (Very clean)
Happy hunting!