It has been so long since I did a game pickup, over 2 years! Most of my collecting over the last several years has been artwork. But when a Tron comes up for sale in my backyard with a great little back story – its a no brainer purchase! Tron from a small town grocery store Towards the end of January after the blistering cold front had moved through Indianapolis, I got a message from Alan. A gentleman in the greater Columbus, IN had a Tron he was looking to sell. When I went to see the game, the seller indicated the game had come out of a grocery store. Another local collector, John W., messag ..read more

It’s been a slower year for me as a collector, but I still managed to close out the year with an interesting purchase – a Zaccaria Fitter, located up just west of Hamilton in Ontario Canada. Read on for some photos and a brief backstory. Roadtrip during a pandemic At the beginning of October, I was in touch with a gentleman based in Migrove Ontario who had a Zaccaria Fitter he was looking to sell. I’m a raving fan of Zaccaria cabinets and was even more thrilled to have one pop up in North America. Unusual games seem to surface in Canada on a semi-regular basis, which never ceases to surprise ..read more

Over the last two months I’ve been doing some restoration work on several different Nintendo cabinets. I wanted to share this quick idea for others that may have the same question I had – how do I get the bezel retainer bracket off of a Nintendo bezel without damaging the bezel or the retainer? What is the bezel retainer bracket? This is the metal bracket that can be found on the bottom of the bezel that gives the bezel extra rigidity in the wood channel just above the control panel for Nintendo cabinets like the Donkey Kong Family, Popeye, Mario Brothers and Punch-Out! to name just a couple ..read more

Quick post today to share some photos of a pretty uncommon game to find – a Universal Cheeky Mouse cocktail, completely working! Universal Cheeky Mouse Cocktail Like most Universal games, Cheeky Mouse is a relatively hard game to find because the game itself has a reputation for not being very good. For that reason, there aren’t many photos of either the upright or the cocktail floating around. Today’s post is just to share some photos of what a working! Cheeky Mouse cocktail looks like, from an owner overseas. This cocktail is one that was distributed by ADP, you can see the German instructio ..read more

For some time I have wanted to purchase a Universal Snap Jack, but like many Universal games they are not always an easy game to find. Until I am able to locate one I’ve decided that I am going to start piecing one together using an old converted generic Universal cabinet. This is the first in a series of posts to document my progress. Universal Snap Jack – Starting the ball rolling As of this writing I now own 9 different Universal machines and am always on the lookout to grow the collection. Each and every one of their cabinets is gorgeous. Even though Snap Jack was released in Universal’s g ..read more

In today’s edition of determination a price for selling your arcade game, we have a Stern Tutankham that recently sold on eBay just east of St. Louis, MO. Stern Tutankahm – Decent final auction price Tutankham is one of those classic games that has a small, but dedicated following of collectors who love the game. The game doesn’t come up for sale all that often, and certainly not in working condition. From what I can tell, there have been well less than a dozen machines that have been sold through eBay in the last 10 years so it can be a little bit more difficult than your average game to find ..read more

In today’s edition of ‘What’s it worth?’, here is a recently ended auction on eBay for a Midway Omega Race that sold just west of St. Louis in Chamois, Missouri. Midway Omega Race – One example final price Omega Race is arguably one of Midway’s more beautiful cabinet designs, and has the unfortunate reputation as a game that was frought with leaky batteries that destroyed its boards. The auction we’re looking is short in description with some solid photos of the game. The original description, stop muh beating heart: super nice good working upright shipping is 400.00 or you can come pick it u ..read more

I was lucky enough to pick up a Tempest at the end of July that also took me through a scenic part of Cincinnati that I had not seen before. Home owned for at least 12 years (possibly longer) here are a couple of photos showing the condition of the cabinet. Tempest was completely working, until it wasn’t… Back in March I received a message about this working Tempest on the west side of Cincinnati. We exchanged a number of messages, but we couldn’t line up the timing until just two weeks ago in July. The cabinet was stated to be in fully working condition and everything in the photos indicated ..read more

In today’s edition of ‘What’s it worth?’, here is a recently ended auction on eBay for a Sega Zaxxon that sold in the Cincinnati, OH area. Sega Zaxxon – Really solid final BIN price For me, Zaxxon is one of the games that comes to mind when I think of Sega for one of the most widely produced games. Paramount owned Sega and spent considerable money to product a commercial for Zaxxon back in the 80’s to ensure their claim of that Zaxxon was the new #1 game came true. I’d speculate this game did get production numbers likely in the thousand(s), possibly multiple tens of thousands. The likelihood ..read more

Couches, nightstands, and arcade cabinets – Oh My! All on the side of the road. Today – a quick share on a Jr. Pac-man conversion that got saved from the side of trash road USA north of Nashville. Damp, flaky goodness – in a Junior Package Last week I got a message through this website from a gentleman who had seen a Jr. Pac-man on the side of the road along Revels Dr. near Highland Trace on the northside of Nashville. While the prospect of a free game always sounds great, after further conversation the situation was as I feared, the game had likely been sitting outside for two weeks or more ..read more