TI generally is used as an acronym for “tenant improvements”. I.E. the tear down, remodel, rezoning, build out etc of a new location.

Yep, good times for sure.
I still have a Webber charcoal grill stashed there that I bought and left there for whenever we had tech days.
Good fun for sure and a lot of good memories.

There was one night after you all went to bed I polished off a half bottle of Scotch and went over to the pinball side and made love to the Big Lebowski.
Had my drunken way with that thing for a good hour or so by myself before I crashed out.

That first trip I went through two full boxes of black and white cap kits.
Think I recapped every Motorola XM series monitor on the arcade floor.

There’s been a lot of comments about return on investment regarding the collection.
Sure, many things will bring record prices, but I think many will not.
One thing to also consider is that John paid top dollar to acquire many of the machines for the Museum. In several cases he paid exorbitant price to acquire key pieces where he will get back no where near what he paid for them (especially considering the auction fees etc).
Quite frankly they had a few games shoved up their ass at absurd prices under the guise that “the museum needs this”.
Sure a lot of the machine that we’re bought ages ago will perform well compared to the price paid, but many will not.
Honestly he would have been way better off putting the money in real estate or something similar.
I’m thankful for what he created there for the time it existed and cherish the times I spent at the museum.
Hopefully I can pick up a few machines in the auction.
Going to target a few that are near and dear to me.

Yes

Both are listed in the auction.
Lot#481 and Lot#1341

Prototype, reportedly 10 were made.

Space is for sure an issue with me.
If I were just starting out I would probably go nuts at the auction and try to buy a bunch of stuff. I just don’t want to do that at this stage in my collecting and I hate storing games. I’m also very happy with my current collection and don’t really want to sell a bunch of stuff to make room. Might sell a few things after the auction if I’m successful on more than I think I’ll probably wind up with.
I think my goal is to specifically target and go after a small handful of games that I think are really special. That means they are either rare, total oddball or something I have emotional attachment or nostalgia for.
I like taking really oddball rare games to shows, especially things people have never played or rarely get to play. I have a shortlist of a handful of games like that I would really like to own and I think I’ll be happy going home with 2-3 machines like that.
Just don’t have the room or desire to go there and fill a truck anymore.

My brother in-law Will (wife’s sisters husband) got that thing up and running at one of the repair events 3 or 4 years ago. It kept burning up a resistor and he tracked it down using the schematic and had it up and working mid-late afternoon one weekend when a bunch of us Arizona guys were out there. It was pretty awesome because everybody stopped what they were doing to check it out and get in on a game. We cracked open a couple of beers and played it for a while and then took a break to eat.

Originally I guess that game worked using an 8 track player that syncs with the gameplay where you have to land the shuttle in sync with a specific timing when the recording of the command center in Houston directs you to do so. The 8 track player on this specific machine has been replaced with a MP3 player replacement that has digital files of the original 8 track recording and works in the same manner as the 8 track.
It worked for a while (maybe a year or so after Will worked on it) and then started having issues again. They took it off the floor shortly after that.
Not sure if it was the same issue or not.

This is all basically correct, however there is a guy that developed a replacement board for these sort of games.
I can find the website right now and haven’t looked at it in many years, so I don’t know if they even make or sell them anymore.
He had a database of EM games where he had digitized the 8 track and would sell a PCB that integrates with the original hardware. If memory serves me correctly the replacement board has a coil or switch that activated at a certain point in the audio when the control center prompts you to land. That in tern activates the coil in the original machine that allows you to lower the shuttle.

When my brother in-law started working on the machine it partially worked.
Meaning the game started and played audio. You could move the landing shuttle left and right, forward and backwards, but could not lower it when it prompted you to. There’s a big bank of coils on the inside of the machine for various functions of the game. One specifically engages (or is supposed to engage) when the audio prompts you to land.
This was the coil that had a burnt up resistor, hence the game would not allow you to lower the shuttle. I don’t know if the issue with the resistor burning up is related to the board at all etc. But I can tell you for certain that the game functioned correctly after that resistor was replaced and continued to do so for some time.
I do not believe the machine is currently working now.
Not sure it that issue resurfaced or if the machine now has other issues.

My dad called me today because he heard about the auction on the radio and asked me if I needed a loan.

No kidding.
That came totally out of left field and was unexpected.
He seemed genuinely excited about it.
I told him I would let him know after the auction and I see how much I spend, but I think I’m budgeted pretty good for the lots I intend on bidding on.

I hope they are taking into account the amount of internet traffic this could potentially generate. Even if people are not bidding and just following the auction it’s going to eat up a lot of bandwidth.
The internet connectivity at Banning has always sucked.
Hope they are taking this into account and taking the proper measures.

Sounds like a great way to turn 150k into 90k.

I predict that a bunch of machine for sale on pinside adds will magically sell while the auction is going on.
Some of these machines are currently listed for sale at half the price.

I feel like Babe Ruth.

Cant wait to see what Raven sells for.

Close Encounters is very rare as an EM.
Also, many of them went to Europe.

I was thinking this earlier.
A lot of new buyers will have no idea how to keep their machines working properly.

Samurai was one of four games on my short list in the auction.
Guess I'm never going to own that game.

It actually has board issues with the PCB.
It hasn't worked right in four years.
I was hoping to buy it and have a friend of mine fix the board, but could not justify it at that price.

Wonder what my immaculate Blue Shark is worth now?
One of my favorite games.

IMG_0927 (resized).JPG

Timber and Tapper are both originals.
Ive been inside both of the games at the museum, plus John had those long before the person you are referencing started making the repros.

Don't know.
I never worked on that machine.

Thats actually one of those games that is becoming "less rare" with time.
Nearly every converted Track and Field winds up getting restored in this day and age due to the popularity of the game and the fact that all the artwork is available as a repro.

You would think that, until you own one for a while.
Best attract mode for an arcade game, but the replay value is not there.

T-800 is the first generation Terminator.
T-1000 = liquid metal.

I'm on a business trip in Europe at the moment and have spent the last two nights in my hotel room following the auction.
Last night I stayed up until 5am and then worked today.
This lag shit is fucking killing me.

T1 was the shit in the early 2000s when I was playing FPSs.

Museum Quality < Collector Quality

It's possible it was worked on within the last few days.
John had some people in there right before the auction because he wants as much working as possible for the auction.

The second joust was also the rarer of the two.
It was in a factory converted Robotron cabinet, which is much rarer than a standard cab.

Don't know the answer then, but the monitor had power going to it.

Star Wars 1983
Return Of The Jedi 1984
Empire Strike Back 1985
Star Wars Arcade 1993
Star Wars Trilogy Arcade 1998
Star Wars Racer Arcade 2000
Star Wars Starfighters 2003
Star Wars Battle Pod 2014

oops, yep I knew someone would chime in that is missed one.

They normally sell in the $5000-$5500 range used, so not terrible.

I was in at $5000 if that tells you anything.
I'm only 3 pins away from putting together a complete set of Spookys.

Suck it, Rob Zombie FUCKING ROCKS!!!!

Me too man, me too

If thats the reason, then the sky is the limit with Dolly.

Could be a newer purchase since covid.
Some of the machines they are on right now are recently purchased.
The Transporter thats up in a few lots was purchased from Captains a few auctions back.

I don't think the price on Transporter was crazy.
Its probably the rarest system 11

Hammer? Or all in?

The auction won’t generate enough proceeds to do that.

Possibly so.
This is not a project for the faint of heart or novice.
I commend you if you buy it and undertake putting those back together.
Thats quite an undertaking, but certainly worth it for such a remarkable and fun game.

I have the rare single player version.
Heres a video of me playing it.

Neither of the two Gunfights that are in this lot are the one that was down in the shooting gallery at the bottom of the hill.
That is a third Gunfight that is still down in the shooting gallery also now partially dissembled and also in need of repair.
I'm guessing it didn't make it in the auction as it was not in one of the main rooms.

These two were bought very recently during the last year or so as a lot.
No idea if all of the parts are there, or if there is enough to create one or two working games or not.

I'm not sure that's the reasoning for the 3rd Gunfight not being in the auction.
My understanding is that only the machines that were on the floor are the machine being auctioned now, which seems to be the case.
There are still a shitload of games in storage, other parts of the property and off site that are not in this auction.
The idea was to clear out the main building.

Awesome to see someone out here bought the Slither.
That game is great.
It's like a crazy version of Centipede with the Devil in the Arizona desert.
Seems like it belongs here.

Thats all folks......

They were like that earlier before the auction started back up.
Once the auction went live it was fully populated, including the lots from the first weekend.

The cabinet looked like total shit.

An even better mod is to replace the stationary targets with drop targets.
The game is coded that way and they were taken out when the game went into production. Here’s a picture of mine.
It’s a real game changer for this title.

6AF016F3-DD98-47BF-B904-F898D389CE28 (resized).jpeg

Hey you with the face.

Out of curiosity, why do you say that?
I know someone who ones one of these that works.
Is is missing some kind of game specific parts or something?

Also Black Knight 2000, which came out the year prior.

I am seriously disappointed that Terminator 2 did not break the 10k mark (before fees).

I love Black knight 2000, but damn.

Think he's more of a Hot Rod type of guy.

Ill guess 17k

This was the lesser of the two Varkons and it went for more than the first one.

That Bozo Balloon dispenser would be a real hit at a whip-it party.

Heard the guy that bought the 24 for $10,100 just showed up to buy that game and left (like a boss).
Must be a huge Kiefer Sutherland fan.

The Space Demon Cabaret I picked up in the middle of nowhere Utah on my way back from Eagle Idaho visiting Grinkers with a buddy.
Made a side trip just to grab that machine for the museum and dropped it off with them on the way to visit my folks in California.
Pretty damn rare cabaret and totally original (only one I've seen).

Warlords is up next.
Should be good.
Best cocktail arcade game ever made.

My wife is trying to get me to bit on the Tapper cocktail because it's her favorite game.
We already have the upright, lol.

Perhaps I have a bias opinion.
I grew up in a Catholic Italian family with 5 kids and Warlords was the only game we had on Atari 2600 where four of us could play at once.

Ok, please report.
Did someone here buy the two Gun Fight projects?
If so, please start a restoration thread when you get them.

Whomever bought the EM Monte Carlo.
I donated that game.
The spring for the pedal is inside the game and just needs to be attached.
I blows the fuse for the ball eject every once in a while after long periods of time, which is why it would not eject the ball.
Game works just needs TLC.

I took the game to ZapCon 3 years ago and it got the shit played out of it there.
The spring broke at the show and we jimmy rigged it with some pinball rubbers from the Marco booth.
Don't trip out when you see a bunch of pinball rubbers attached to the peddle replacing the spring, lol.
Joe, the arcade tech ordered the correct spring, which is sitting inside the machine and never installed.

If you want to know the history on the machine, it came out of an arcade museum in New Mexico that went defunct.

The ball is probably in there.
If not it used the same ball as Ice Cold Beer, Zekes Peak and Fire Escape so its easy to get.
John fell in love with the machine at the show and I was out of room on my trailer because I bought two pins a the show, so I gave it to the museum.
If you need help with it when you get it, let me know.
I pretty familial with it.

That game is super fun, congrats.
When I took that game to ZapCon we had people waiting in line to play it.
You're going to have a lot of fun with it.

I'm not so sure its as easy as that.
The Midway Space Invaders uses an 8080 processor so its similar to a lot of other games (Sea Worlf, Space Lazer, Depthcharge, Lunar Rescue etc.), but not the same as the Japanese version.
We had a guy that was bringing his Taito Space Invaders to several repair parties out here and could not figure out how to get it working.
I'm not the best PCB guy, but there are several guys in our group that are electrical engineers and no dice.

I almost threw up getting off that thing after they got it up and running.

I see what you did there.
Well done.

I now own a Sub Hunter.
The number 1 game I wanted in the auction.

My dad would give me quarters to go play in the arcade while him and my mom were playing in bowling league.
This is the English version of Depthcharge (of which I own two), however this has a two way mirror with blacklight reflective art and a way radder cabinet.
Im soooooooo stoked right now, and my kids feel like they just involved themselves in part of my childhood.
Sooo happy to own this.
This was my favorite game as a kid.

Yeah man come on out.
My biggest collecting interest outside of pinball is very early arcade games and I have a huge collection of Black and White 1970s arcade games.
I'm a huge collector of Black and White games.
I have many that the museum never had the chance to acquire.

For what it's worth, this version of Depthcharge was not even known to exist until it showed up at CAX 3 years ago.
Although I'm not 100% certain, the machine may be a 1 of 1 as far as examples known to exist.

No, not the exact machine I played when I was a kid.
The bowling alley by my house had a Depthcharge.
Effectively the same game, but in a SEGA Gremlin cabinet (same cabinet as Frogger but white).

Sub Hunter was the European version of this game licensed to Taito.
If you look at the coin door, the coin eject buttons are denominated in British Pence.

The American version was basically just a white Frogger cabinet with a little bit of graphics on it.
They went all out graphically on the Euro version, which is one of the things that makes it special

The second variation is that the Euro version uses a two way mirror that reflects a color background (Similar to Varkon, Space Invaders, EM shooting games etc.)
It looks like a color game, but is not.
The American version only had a blue gel overlay to make the black and white monitor "look like the ocean".
The Euro version took it to another level.

Anyhow, my main arcade collecting interest is pre golden era black and white game from the "bronze age of arcades".
I have about 40 different games from this era including things like Atari Pong, Sky Diver, Death Race etc.
This was a real gem to add to the collection and one where I friggin adore the gameplay to boot.

If ZapCon happens again you will see this machine at the show,
My buddy Paul (one of the show organizers) has asked my to do a black and white game exhibit when the show opens back up and I'm really looking forward to that.

Correct.
There’s a specific model of Zenith that they use and it really needs to be correct to command the money.
I have a Red Computer Space.
It’s a trip because it’s legit an old TV with vaccine tubes etc.

That’s the only thing mines missing is the coin bucket.
It’s actually not a coffee can.
The coin buckets were the paint/lacquer cans left over from gel coating the cabinet and they repurposed them as the coin bucket.

Atari Pong uses a bread pan for baking a loaf of bread.

This era of video games is fascinating.
Keep in mind that this is the very beginning and there weren’t things like commercial crt monitors and other standard parts like you had in the later years.
Atari and Nutting were legitimately going into department stores and hardware stores to buy parts to build these games.
It’s a trip.

It’s pretty rare.
People like to lump it into the same category as Computer Space because of the unique fiberglass cabinet.
There’s really only a handful of games that used this method of cabinet manufacture (Computer Space, 2 player Computer Space, Space Race and Maneater).
Maneater was basically capitalizing of the Jaws craze and there were several shark themed games that came out when Jaws was big.

There was a Maneater up on eBay about a year or so ago and it basically just sat there at 10k OBO.
It worked and was in nice shape, but someone had painted blood all over the teeth and painted gills and eyes on it. There was some speculation as to if the paint could be removed without messing up the gel coating on the cabinet. In retrospect it was probably an ok deal.

Lol, yep.
I have a Death Race as well as the PG version Destruction Derby.
A lot of the metal parts on those games like the shifters and pedals were just raw steel that they cut and welded to make work.
At least the steering wheels on early game like that are easy to replace because they used legit steering wheels from the car hobby and you can still buy them.

Sort of.
Computer Space wars was the first video game ever made.
This is a version of it ported to an arcade game.

I bough my Domino Man from Captain 3 or 4 years ago.
I think I paid $3400 for it and people thought I was nuts.
I bought it for my wife because Timber and Tapper are her favorite games and Domino man is the third game in that series.
It’s rare as hell and every known Domino Man is in a converted Lazarian cabinet. If you pull the dominos off the front, it has mint Lazarian artwork underneath. Also the side art is laid right over Lazarian art.
I guess Lazarian was a commercial failure and they converted them all at the factory. I’ve looked at 5 different Domino Mans and they are all like that.
It’s legit a rare game and impossible to fully restore because you can’t get the domino kick plate.

Anyhow, long story short my wife didn’t like the gameplay because its so different than Timber of Tapper.
My buddy Derek was interested in it, so I gave it to him and told him that he needs to come up to the property after summer and it cools off to help me build a chicken coup.
I called him last night and told him what the game sold for and reminded him he still owes me a chicken coup. Lol

Interesting.
Yeah, I guess that predates Space Wars by a couple years.
FWIW, there’s even a few documentaries that credit Space Wars as being the first video game.
Tennis definitely predates that.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!

Yep, Granny pretty well explains all the factory cut EDOTS.

You still bitter because you were denied being able to volunteer as a tech because they didn't think you were a good fit there?

I’m good.

My reputation isn’t ruined on KLOV.
I left on my own accord because arguing with people like you is like getting into a fight with a mentally handicapped person.
Take your shit somewhere else.

How did you do in the auction?
I’m guessing you didn’t go view in person considering you are one of only a select few people that made a list to be denied access to the viewing.

I’m guessing you didn’t even know that.
I forget, what were you saying about reputation?

Anyhow, I’m done .

Cool, enjoy your popcorn.

When it’s all said and done can you post the gross total sales from the auction.
I’m curious how this compares to the asking price when the contents of the museum were trying to be sold intact.

Yes, but prior to the collection going to auction they were looking for a buyer that would buy the collection and keep it intact.
The problem is that they couldn’t find a potential buyer that would have kept the collection intact. Anyone interested in buying it would have parted it out and sold most of it off or auctioned it, which leads us to where we are today.

That estimate was based on the asking price that was being thrown around prior to the collection going to auction based on a loose inventory.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think anyone ever made a proper appraisal machine by machine to come up with that value.
I do know towards the end (before the auction deal was inked), they lowered the price and were open to offers to try and find a buyer that would keep it intact.

Largest collection of pinball machines and arcade games ever auctioned 5.4 million over six days.

It's a trip to think that a new run of Stern LEs will basically sell for double this amount in a few hours upon release.

I'm not sure what the lasting repercussions of this auction will be, but in the grad scheme of things I don't think 5.4M is a lot of money for the hobby to adsorb all at one whack considering new game sales.

Supposedly a lot of that type of stuff will be auctioned at a later date.

I kind of want one of the benches.
When we had repair events we would push 4 of them together to make a bed to sleep on at night.
Did that a few times and then bought a folding cot.

If the machines had sold for peanuts and John lost his ass on this venture people would be singing a different tune.

Jealousy is a strange and funny thing.