Sometimes, the good Lord just smiles upon you and drops something in your lap.
Last Thursday, I got an e-mail from a friend that he had a contact of someone looking to get rid of a Stern Monopoly. Only details I got was that they'd owned it for a few years, but now just wanted rid of it.
So I call them up, and sure enough, they said they were just wanting to get it out of their garage, and the price they were asking was verrrry reasonable. It was then that I get the sounds-too-good-to-be-true news...."We bought it brand new about 6 or 7 years ago."
I then begin to think to myself that something's not right here. Monopoly is a 2001 title, so either they don't remember when they got it, or they bought it from a reatiler who sold them a routed game that was shopped out and passed off as new. The big problem? To check this whole thing out required a 3.5 hour drive each way.
But, given the great price and the chance that it was HUO, I had to take a shot. So yesterday I load up the kids and borrow a friend's truck and it's off I go.
I get to the folks' house and there it sits in the garage. Walking up, I can already tell that it looks in pristine condition. The cabinet looks perfect. Not a blemish on it. Then comes the funky part. The playfield is totally covered in black grime. Looks like Uncle Pennybags has a severe case of blackhead acne. Worse, I go into test mode and pop out a ball, and it looks like a black marble instead of a beautiful silver sphere. Ewwwwww!
But, like a diamond in the rough, I can tell that everything's here. The ramps are mostly clear and no cracks, just like the plastics. The only physical issues are minor switch repairs I can easily handle. Then comes the best part. The owner comes out and shows me they've found the original paperwork. Build sticker on the machine shows a manufacture date of 12/10/2001. Sales receipt shows a purchase date of 1/4/2002. Yeah, it's totally HUO. Score!!!
Up in the truck it went, and home it came. Now, completely unexpectedly, there's a Monopoly at my place!
I love this hobby!
Later,
EV