I don't know if many of you know this, but 15 months ago I moved to Boquete, Panama. I sold my house, all my games, all my tools, everything and moved. It was difficult because of my love for playing, fixing, and restoring Arcade machines and pinball machines.

Well fast forward 15 months. Life here in Panama has been wonderful. I love being retired and I love this beautiful country. But I do miss the arcade games and pinball machines. I was starting to get a bit bored. Then what do you know, right down the street the Boquete Panama Barcade opened up. Watch my walkthrough video here:

So I offered my services and I've been helping Kevin, the owner, with his arcade games. Well one day when working there I was contacted by the woman who sells me coffee. She wanted to meet to give me my newest batch of coffee. So I told her I was working at the Barcade. She asked what I did there and I explained. So she asks "Do they have Pinballs?" I replied they did not because they are hard to find in Panama and very expensive right now. She then told me she knew of one in the area and she would place a Facebook ad and try to find some. Great I said, go ahead. Thinking the whole time that there was no way she would find anything.

4 days later she calls to tell me that she found 7 of them with a family in Colon, Panama, 7 hours away. I got the sellers info and contacted them. Apparently their father lived in the Canal Zone in1999 when the United States decided to turn the Canal back over to Panama. The US government had set up Rec Centers for the Americans living in the Canal Zone and they were auctioning off all the games from those Centers. Well her dad bought them all and started restoring them. Sadly he died 7 years later. The family sold off a bunch of them but there were 7 left that had been sitting for 15 years.

I asked for pictures and then made an offer. She accepted and 2 days later I headed out to get them. Here is the pic I received:

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Now she does not live in Panama so all the pictures and info were sent by her Spanish speaking caretaker. And I don't speak Spanish. So I didn't have a lot of information to go on. I could see by the pics that they were not in great condition so my offer was $2k. Well I arrived this morning and sadly things were not as I would have hoped. The video shows the sad story:

Yep all of them were destroyed with termite damage.

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Such a sad thing! I salvaged the electronics, dmd's, and Translites. I probably should have stripped everything. But it was extremely hot in there. And what would I do with it in Panama. There are no pinball machines here and no-one that needs parts. And shipping them to the USA is EXTREMELY expensive.

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So there's my story. I am home now and depressed. I would have loved to have saved and restored these 7 beauties.

Well I haven't sold anything in 3-4 years. And everything I've sold, sold for asking price within a few days. So I don't really know if I was "that guy" ?

That was the plan yes.

I think I will go back. Feeling guilty about leaving them there for the trashman.

Do you think there would be a need for the complete wire harnesses out of all 7 of them?

I got most of it. Took 7 hours or work and 15 hours of driving in 2 days. I'm whooped. I'll post info, vid, and pics tomorrow. I'm going to bed.

Got the fish but the plastic fell apart. To far gone.

Yes I did!

Here is the video:

And pics of what I brought home:

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Yea, they all did. The only one that I had to unscrew stuff was the Judge Dredd. It was heart breaking.

I am going to see about sending them to the US. But I would need to sell the entire lot to one person. It's way too difficult here to ship things.

It never fails to impress me what a little soap and water will do.

These parts look to be in poor shape. But with a little cleaning they shine once again

And with some more cleaning and a quick buffing they would be sweet!

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Started cleaning and organizing a bit. These are the Maverick parts minus the wire harness, coin door, and mechs that stayed attached to the harness.

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Also after a bit of cleaning I've realized that the ramps that looked rusted are just extremely dirty from the termite trails. They can be cleaned up real good as seen on the Star Trek ramp that I spent a few minutes on with soap and water.

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Thanks. I hope it helps people in the future.

Here is the Getaway High Speed II stuff all cleaned up :

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Judge Dredd parts cleaned and sorted:

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Bear in mind that if a mech was on the wire harness and I couldn't get it off with a plug easily, I just left it attached to the harness. So you are not seeing all the drop down targets, slings, pop bumpers, switches, etc that are still attached to the harness in the other totes.

Fish Tales parts cleaned up:

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Finally done with the major cleanup. This is the amount of work and trash from just stripping the rotting wood off the parts BEFORE I can clean them:

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And this is the 2 Start Treks parts all cleaned up:

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I retired because I was tired of working away from home 4 days a week. Tired of all the stress in the USA. Tired of living to work. I took a vacation to Panama and it was so calm and relaxed. I fell in love.

Spanish is not a requirement in a lot of the towns. The locals speak a decent amount of English. But learning Spanish will help you integrate and be accepted better.

Cost of living is about 1/2-2/3 of the US average.

Daily life was working remodeling the house I am renting for the owner for about a year. Now I spend most of my time with my family and hobbies.

I bank in the US and here in Panama. I earn 3% interest on my bank account and higher with cd's and bonds here.

Crime is virtually non existent here. It's mostly crimes of opportunity. So if you are careful, kind, and not stupid you will be fine. I have never felt unsafe anywhere in this country.

I can tell you that guns are not really a thing here. It takes 6 months - 1 year to get approved for one. And it's next to impossible to bring them in and expect to get them back from customs. So most expats don't even try. And I've never seen a Panamanian with a gun.

The locals are fine with expats as long as the expats don't act high and mighty.

Awesome! Will do. Thanks.

I managed to save the translites.....sort of. Most of the white backing was coming off. So I cleaned them gently and then glued them to a white foamboard to hang on the walls.

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Just noticed that I forgot the Riverboat Gambler parts pic:

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Headed to the U.S. to be made into New Pins!

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