So this morning at 11 I attended the Betson Arcade auction in Canton, MA. This was my first arcade auction. There were about 100 machines in total. 70 vids, 10 jukeboxes, 10 pinball machines and 10 miscellaneous (shuffleboard, crane games, candy machines, etc). There was a decent turnout of around 60 or 70 people. Since this was my first auction, I quickly made a list of the machines I would be interested in. Fees were 6.25% state sales tax and 10% auction fee. I felt I would be in for any pinball where I could get it for a 'steal'. I didn't expect to be able to steal one and boy was I right.
There were a few people I knew there. The owner of Pinball Wizard in NH, a well known pin flipper from the Boston area, and a few people I knew from NEACF.com . The best part about the hour before the auction, and testing out games, is that everyone is really willing to talk about the games and share knowledge. it's not at all cutthroat, people generally love the hobby and love sharing knowledge.
I was really suprised at the lack of bids on a number of popular video game machines. Most video games , unless golf or hunting related, didn't sell even for $25. Myself, I picked up a World Class Bowling for $25, and a non-working single-game Neo Geo Metal Slug X for $25. I regret not bidding on Double Dragon 2, which only went for $50, and Tekken 3, which got zero bids. I also should have bought the Striker 1945 or the Raiden fighters. If I had known so many machines weren't going to sell I would have held off on the bowling game and bought a shoot'em up. Two Soul Caliber 2 video machines did not sell, even when it was clear they could be had for $20.
The BEST part of the day? At the end of the Auction, I go to pay, and it turns out someone paid cash for my lot. I said, hey now, I need to pay. And the auctioneers tried to find who paid for my unit but could not. Apparently someone paid for my lot and left the building, not even picking up the games. So I get to go get my *FREE* video games on Monday, which an anonymous benefactor paid for. Thank you, mysterious person! Obviously I had a ton of fun and I really like the crew at the auction, very nice guys. Can't wait for next year.
Pictures on this post are the games I bought, Metal Slug X and World Class Bowling.
Pins at auction:
High Roller casino (Stern): $900.
Sopranos: Was pulled and placed on retail floor 
Elvira and the Party Monsters: $1350
Jurassic Park: $1900
Flight 2000: $550
Mr. and Ms. Pacman: $650
Nascar: $2000
Stars (Stern): forget what this sold for, I think $275?
Taxi: $1300 (Marilyn, intact spinout ramp and playfield wasn't bad, but was going to need new left and right ramps)
Dragon Fist: $500? Can't quite recall.
Bugs Bunny Birthday Bash: $900
Arcade_Auction,_Christmas_Tree_031.JPG Arcade_Auction,_Christmas_Tree_022.JPG
Waialua, HI
A lot of cord cutting and shady crap use to go down at the ones near me (when we had them).
