Arcade Operator visits

[jase]

Hi everyone,

Obviously this site focuses on Japanese arcade gaming and culture, but I thought this may be of interest to some of you.

I had pretty much done with PCB collecting, managing to get all the games on my 'want' list. And then I started visiting some old UK Ops. My main reason initially was for preservation, to get old boards back out there in the collecting community rather than sitting there in an old store room, at risk of being skipped. One Op gave me a bundle of boards, including Splatterhouse and X-Multiply and wouldn't take a penny. I waved some notes in his direction, and he said he was thankful I was saving him a trip to the tip! Admittedly this was a one off.

However these 'Raids' have far exceeded my expectations, and I've managed to pick up some games I'd never have imagined I'd see, especially over here in the UK, in 2020. Visiting an old Op, not knowing what to expect and finding some gems is a real buzz. So much so that we've sometimes based our holiday location on Op visits. This has taken us to some awesome places we wouldn't have even thought about going to otherwise. It's also proved a great way of discovering new titles I hadn't heard of before, such as D.D. Crew, Dark Edge, Nitro Ball, Regulus and Zip Zip Zing.

My best board pick ups so far include Bubble Bobble, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Darius, Ghosts'N Goblins, Juno First, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, Nemesis, Ninja Spirit, R-Type, Rainbow Islands, Salamander, Shadow Dancer, Slap Fight, Splatterhouse and The Newzealand Story to name a few, as well loads of MVS carts and a near complete set of Sega Mega Play cartridges in near new condition. I've also picked up more Football Champs, Golfing Greats and World Cup '90's than I care to mention.

Sadly though I haven't come across any Cave stuff, but then I only really saw Cave games over here in Casino arcade, London, and I think those boards were on loan from collectors.

I've posted some of my write ups on my Blog. Quite a few of you may have boards from these places!

http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2018 ... -2018.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2018 ... rcade.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... -raid.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... -raid.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... art-2.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... -sent.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... art-2.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... art-1.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... -part.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... art_6.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... rt_13.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2019 ... eyond.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2020 ... s-pcb.html
http://planetharriers.blogspot.com/2020 ... cb_29.html

So my question for you guys, has anyone else managed to pick up anything interesting from arcades or old Operators?

[rancor]

I've done several raids in Tokyo. Got plenty of cabs, stools, monitors, ashtrays, tokens, nearly anything you can think of EXCEPT games. I've never had anyone give me any games for free.
On my best day an old Korean lady who had the arcade for 20+ years gave me all the Egret 2's, New Astro City cabs, and Sega style stools I could carry. The very next day, everything I couldn't carry (including a Neo-Geo / SNK change machine) was loaded into the garbage trucks... It was a sad sight, but at least I saved 7 of them.

[jase]

It's so cool to hear about your Raids in Tokyo. I would absolutely love to do some of my own in Japan.

Nice score with those cabs. I know what you mean though, it's sometimes hard leaving stuff behind, but there are times when we just can't take everything. You've got to look at the positives though, saving those seven cabs is an awesome result.

[geldra]

Love reading about this stuff.

How do you even go about talking an Op into letting you rummage around their lock ups etc?

I’d love to know if there’s any treasure kicking around my town. I’m sure there could be as there’s a fair here and the town had a pretty busy amusement scene back in the day. We deffo had 3 screen Ninja Warriors, Mr Heli, Wardner etc that definitely stand out in my memory.

[theMot]

There was an OP not far from me who used to have 5 or 6 arcades around town back in the day. I got in contact with him when I was still buying games and raided the **** out of his warehouse. He was selling me games for $10-$20 each. They were worth between $100-$400 in the current market. Sold it all off eventually as I got out of collecting arcade gear. I couldn't bring myself to pay market rates for PCB's once I was getting them for so cheap.

[jase]

Love reading about this stuff.

How do you even go about talking an Op into letting you rummage around their lock ups etc?

I’d love to know if there’s any treasure kicking around my town. I’m sure there could be as there’s a fair here and the town had a pretty busy amusement scene back in the day. We deffo had 3 screen Ninja Warriors, Mr Heli, Wardner etc that definitely stand out in my memory.

I love Shields! I spent a few years there at college in the late nineties. I remember many a study afternoon playing Golden Eye and Mario Kart 64 with my house mates, and the arcades were still pretty good. The first arcade you came to at the bottom of Ocean Road had a Sega Rail Chase cab. I'll always remember that, awesome machine, and the only one I've ever seen.

I go back every now and then and like most seaside arcades it's sad to see their decline over the years, with the video games disappearing and making way for ticket redemption and fruit machines. However one of the seafront arcades had Bubble Bobble and Space Invaders '91 installed in generic cabs for years. In fact the Bubble Bobble was still running on my last visit around six years ago, but the Space Invaders was switched off.

There was an OP not far from me who used to have 5 or 6 arcades around town back in the day. I got in contact with him when I was still buying games and raided the **** out of his warehouse. He was selling me games for $10-$20 each. They were worth between $100-$400 in the current market. Sold it all off eventually as I got out of collecting arcade gear. I couldn't bring myself to pay market rates for PCB's once I was getting them for so cheap.

Sounds like you got lucky and managed to grab an awesome haul! Which boards to you manage to pick up? Have you got any pics of your Raid? Shame you didn't hold on to anything for yourself. I end up selling on a lot of my pick ups, but try to keep hold of the games that interest me.

I know what you mean about pricing. I visited an old Op in Blackpool and every board was the same price, whether it was Golfing Greats or Salamander. It definitely makes splashing out on a board a bit harder after getting some great deals. But saying that, the boards I buy from Ops are usually untested, the favourite saying being "It was working when it was pulled from the machine twenty years ago."

[jase]

Hi guys, I just thought I'd share a video of my latest Raid and the days antics. I picked up some machines which used to belong to a fairground / circus owner. They had been stored in a container for a couple of decades.

[geldra]

Wow! In 2022 n’all! Cheers for making the vid and sharing. Love this stuff.

[jase]

Hi guys, I had a great little pick up from a retired Op and I was even offered soup!

[Neo Gold]

Nice one Jase!.. How did you get to find out how to contact these retired 'old ops'!?.. ..
Amazing finds... I'm searching for a last resort, if you can help me?.
What's your progress on those Thunderblade and outrun machines?...
You got a good woman there pal, helping you out I see

[jase]

Hi Neo, it's just a bit of detective work and a lot of luck really. Popping into arcades and chatting to the owner, googling phone numbers of old arcade suppliers, old stickers on the back of arcade machines. It's definitely getting harder to find, but every now and again I get a lead which makes it all worth it.

I think I may have a double of Last Resort, I've still got a lot of MVS to sort through, I'll have to check and get back to you.

I've had to move those on sadly. Realistically Thunderblade was just too big for me to keep, I would have had to part with too much, and OutRun was too much of a project for me. I'm pleased that they've gone to good homes. My next projects are an Atari System I Indy cab and a Sega Alien Storm.

Haha my Mrs knew what she was getting into, but she has to put up with a lot!

[zak]

Hi guys, I had a great little pick up from a retired Op and I was even offered soup!

What's in the Kaneko box?

[jase]

I think it was Mille Miglia 2: Great 1000 Mile Rally.

[sven666]

Crazy, you still have ops and undiscovered ones too!!

Everything has been picked to the bones here... (guilty as charged i suppose)..

[Neo Gold]

Hi Neo, it's just a bit of detective work and a lot of luck really. Popping into arcades and chatting to the owner, googling phone numbers of old arcade suppliers, old stickers on the back of arcade machines. It's definitely getting harder to find, but every now and again I get a lead which makes it all worth it.

I think I may have a double of Last Resort, I've still got a lot of MVS to sort through, I'll have to check and get back to you.

I've had to move those on sadly. Realistically Thunderblade was just too big for me to keep, I would have had to part with too much, and OutRun was too much of a project for me. I'm pleased that they've gone to good homes. My next projects are an Atari System I Indy cab and a Sega Alien Storm.

Haha my Mrs knew what she was getting into, but she has to put up with a lot!

I get the buzz of the hunt.. And it really is the luck of the draw in what you find 'good fun though!' , I guess things can get out of control buying up cabs and lots of pcb's.. As the lust can take over..
I admit to this year's ago... Grabbed what I could, but found I was only playing certain pcb's over and over... They took over my house/space!!.. Got fed up and sold the lot.. Over 15 years ago that, these days I've got more cabs than pcbs!.. & only keep a small amount I actually play, I've let the rest go to people on here.
I even sold two Candy's recently.. No regrets, more of letting someone else have a go and enjoy owning one.
I had my fun resurrecting a none working machine and selling to someone who does not have a cab at all.
Some games, including 'Cave' shmups I actually let go recently as I simply did not like them like I did years ago, guwange.. DOJ.. Donpachi, yawn... Yeah, let someone else enjoy them!.
Dodonpachi.. Ketsui.. Progear etc, yeah! I'll keep them:).
I'm fond of Thunderblade AC as I remember it when it was released, so I'm fortunate that I'm a couple of miles from Arcade club, they have the deluxe hydraulic one!.. Amongst, salamander, nemesis, rainbow islands.. Bubble bobble etc etc, don't think I'll be wanting to fork out today's prices for those now... As there just not worth it, as much as I like them.. I'm not paying triple for what I did a few years back what!?.
Alien storm?.... I'll look forward to seeing that one Jase.
I've only just noticed you're blogs so I'll enjoy watching those with a cuppa in my spare time.
BTW thanks for the heads up.. Appreciate that.

[NASguy]

It's crazy how things have changed over the years, I think hoarding stuff current day is so stupid, but of course there was a time when I wanted one of every board like some kind of library, or a house full of cabs, but it's just mental illness for me in the end. I never got too bad, had two cabs at one time and about 40 boards at my peak. But filling up closets with USPS shipping boxes that have boards stacked in them ain't a good look. Enthusiasts who pass good things onto other enthusiasts are great, but there are so many LARP gamers these days just looking to make an easy flip. When I see current Youtubers with rooms filled to the walls with games I know very well they don't play, I giggle. It's like they live for collection videos or reddit brags but if they didn't have that would they even own games? If a tree falls in the woods... I agree with Neo Gold, I purged a lot when I realized I was only playing less than 5 boards. I used to also own almost every gaming system ever made, with dumbass steering wheels, virtua sticks, fight pads and games for all of them. Systems, games or PCBs I finished to death I knew I only kept around out of habit. I mean damn, nothing against the guy, but does anyone want to be Lukemorse1 after 35 years old... I felt much better selling everything and only keep the lean meat that I actually use, and when I stop using even those things I will sell them all the same. I am excited these days buying M2 Cave ports on the PS4, and I feel energized again to play, but I don't need pricey boards or more cabs, I love my OLED more tbh.

[o1s1n]

I think Luke Morse was the wakeup call a lot of us needed, I know it snapped me back to reality a few years back!

Similarly to you, I sold up mountains of gear. What I found quite jarring about it was that I was initially worried I'd miss stuff (and that was preventing me selling) - but once I actually got going with the selling, I didn't really miss any of it.

I still do have one of most consoles and quite a lot of videogames - but the games are now all nicely presented on shelves and the consoles are hooked up and ready to play.

Any consoles I had in duplicate or boxes were sold. As were big peripherals, I had multiple arcade sticks for multiple consoles 'just in case'. Silly really. Big things like the Steel Battalion controller which was great fun that one time I might have used it a year, but not exactly a great use of space.

Then there were the CRTs! For a few years there I went full on CRT hoarder, which was also really really silly. They've all been sold now too bar one 14L4 that I held onto.

PCBs I'm still debating. I've been seriously impressed by MiSTercade and find I'm playing a lot more games than I ever did with PCBs, so might start selling them over the next few months after they've been tested.

I also have a good 60-70 MVS carts in the attic that I'm not too sure what to do with, they sure do take up a lot of space but it's a collection I really enjoy having!

[jase]

I don't think there is any right or wrong way with regards to collecting, whether you've got multiple cabs and a library of PCB's or a Mame set up. As long as you're enjoying your set up then it's all good.

I do enjoy the hunt and not knowing what I'm going to find. In fact we've based family holidays around it, and it's worked out pretty well, taking us to some nice places we'd never have thought about visiting otherwise.

I am guilty of being a bit of a hoarder, but every now and again I get the urge to have a blast on certain titles and it's nice having them in the collection. I have games which I'm fond of, but don't play very often. However I know that if I part with them I'll most likely never be able to get them again.

The other big thing for me is preservation. I've collected cabs, numerous monitors and PCB boards which would have ended up at the tip otherwise, which would have been a massive shame. One Op offered me a cab for free and said that if I don't take it he would just smash it up with his digger. It was very rough and needed a lot of work, but is now in a local arcade running R-Type and always puts a big smile on my face whenever I visit. What I don't keep gets sold on to the arcade collecting community.

[arcnl]

So how much profit do you end up with after picking it up?

[jase]

It's a hard one to answer as it depends on the haul, machines and boards are generally sold as untested, but then the offer I make takes this into account.

Sometimes I keep the lot and there is no profit as such.

Ultimately though it's just part of my hobby and not my job. When I sell bits on I don't really look at it as profit, but more as funds which subsidise the trip (or the next new exA game).