Arcade Galore

Had to share this story:

Other day I had already spent my wad, but had a few hundred still on me so decided to hit one more facility on way home.  They had 2 units owned by same person.  When the opened the first of the two it was filled to the brim with spare parts for arcade and slot machines made by 8-liner.  Went for $300ish.

Second one opened up and was stacked tightly with all the perfect looking arcade and slot machines by 8-liner.  This was the lick I've been looking for!  But I only had $325 on me!!!

There were at least 30-40 units inside of this 10x25.  The auctioneer started at $50 and I jumped it to $250 hoping I could scare away everyone that would want it.  It almost worked.  Finally went to the $325 I had with me and with my fingers crossed the auctioneer was calling out "going once, going twice, going...", then the guy who bought all the broken ones went up $100.  D*mn!

The unit went for $475.  A serious steal.  Those machines are completing around $450 on Ebay and retail for $1400 new.  With 30-40 in the unit, if they worked, he stood to gain at least $10,000... at least.

Lesson learned: bring a lot of cash!

Was that unit in the Dallas Metro area or outside in a rural town. That unit would have gone for at least $2000 probably $3000 or more and I am in a much smaller metro area then Dallas.

You are absolutely right, I always bring enough money to buy every unit if I wanted to.

That sucks man!!

Sounds like my dream unit.Good luck next time.

Oh man - that was a nice steal for person that got the units.  Even if they didn't work he had parts there to work on them.  A few sold would of made his money back right away and the rest profit.  I saw a "game unit" last month when was out with my daughter.  It wasn't arcade games however.  Was like 3 of the basketball games, some exit signs, a cash register, and other odds and ends.  That one went for $250 i my area.

As for spending your cash already it happends.  Any of us hobbiest have to set a limit on how much we spend, or I know I do.  I do however try to keep $200-$300 backup just in case

Yea, I was at that auction too. It looked ugly with all the machines at the 1st taken apart. Didn't look too hard at the 2nd..hope he did some good with them