Beantin's arcade raid
- Thread starter Big Phil
- Start date
Part 2
We enter a room about 10ft wide by 30ft long. Each wall contains shelves to the ceiling, rammed with PCBs, boxes and cardboard tubes with Suzo Happ labels. All the PCBs are in bubble wrap and have been carefully labelled and stacked. There is a lot. It’s immediately clear that due to the height involved we are going to need step ladders to access to the top shelves, which bizarrely, is where we choose to start. Shadows flicker and dance as our head mounted lights turn this way and that, taking in the contents we are about to gain access to. I hate heights though, of any kind, so the task of climbing up and handling the PCBs and boxes goes to two of the other RAID! members; Alpha1 and Chuckie Egg. I’m momentarily stuck at ground level with nothing but a view of both men’s crotches, my arms open, ready to receive.
The Operator is a short, elderly old man who again seems taken back by the sight of 5 blokes (and a 6[sup]th[/sup], smaller fat one) beginning to go through his stock. We variously nod and smile and thank him for allowing us into his life. It’s a very fine balance between being careful with what is essentially somebody else’s property and being efficient in the mental and physical cataloging and sorting of what we find; you want to be respectful but you also need to be mindful of the fact that you can’t spend all day there. Operators generally want you in and out, take what you want, pay cash and don’t leave a mess. We don’t leave anything.
Wall to wall PCB's and Parts
The first of the PCB’s is passed down and the conveyor belt starts again. Just a small amount of the many games that are pulled out and passed down the line: Battlezone, Super Breakout, Missile Command, Carnival (Cocktail vers.), Gorf, Ikari Warriors, Flying Shark, Crazy Balloon, Pole Position, Sky Skipper….wait, ‘Sky Skipper’? There is a brief pause as the three of us make [bulging] eye contact. It’s the kind of look that says either ‘I’ve just found a Sky Skipper PCB mint bagged and it’s rare as f**k’ or ‘I’ve just shat in my pants’ or even ‘I’ve just shat in my pants because I’ve just found a Sky Skipper PCB and it’s rare as f**k.’ The ladder wobbles a little. My arse starts to twitch but the show must go on, so the PCB is bagged with the rest of the haul and the games keep on coming; Gauntlet x 2 (these are actually both Gauntlet 2!!), Super Hang On, a minty bagged Discs of TRON (more eye bulging), R-Type II (amusingly labelled as 'K-Type'!) and, incredibly, an entire Robotron back plate with all the PCBs and interconnects still attached, (after some polite interjection and a small amount of begging as I have a Roby shell sat in my hallway, this comes home with me.)
Crotches and Arses
Everyone has a box with anything from 6 to 20 PCBs in; each carefully wrapped and bagged and tagged by the Operator; with a thin layer of dust evident on each. After thinking we’d cleared the shelves, we pull out a few overlooked boxes and find an incredible stash of marquees, manuals, schematics and old Coin Slot magazines; videogame history in our hands and ironically, articles about the very games we are finding on the shelves all around us. All of these are in beautiful, clean condition and get carefully added to our piles. The mood is fantastic. I half expect a giant rolling boulder to come crashing down towards us and for us all to have to run out, (Golden Idol in hand), grinning from ear to ear.
Bagged and Tagged..
When it’s time to negotiate prices, an orderly queue is formed with the Operator and one by one, we run through our stashes. The Operator seems to recognize each PCB and tells us where it came from, whether it was stored working (they all were, ‘for the love of it’ he tells us) and what happened to the cabs they came from. Sadly most were scrapped, which, when you consider the games we’ve acquired is heartbreaking. Deals are done, hands are shaken and cash handed over. I’ve hardly spent anything but when I stagger to my Mini with my 3 boxes, I realise ‘sh*t, it’s full! And we’ve only been to 2 places!’ Word then comes that there is something wrong with the Operator.
He is visibly upset.
We hastily go back inside; worrying what we might have done wrong to upset him but it transpires that it is nothing we have done at all. The Operator originally wanted to pass on the arcade business to his son to continue but it seems he unfortunately wasn’t interested, so all of the games, parts and manuals had to be moved on. Essentially, 6 complete strangers have just turned up, boxed up his livelihood and left him stood in an empty storeroom with a bundle of used notes. Not every part of a RAID is fun. The good news is that the Operator is absolutely fine after a few minutes and we all get a welcome second and somehow more meaningful opportunity to thank him and say goodbye. He raises a smile and clutches a large mug of tea as we all file out down the stairs and into daylight, switching our head torches off in the process. A couple of huddles form and we discuss where to go next. One member nips off to relieve himself in a corner of the yard; a sight that quickly causes everyone to stop talking and take their cameras out to take a picture of him. The sight of a grown man taking a whiz up a wall is a bafflingly draw. Some things never change. I high five the perpetrator, before realizing that he (of course) hadn’t washed his dick hand. Nice.
Dick Hand..
It’s raining still. In fact it’s absolutely hammering it down. What better time then, to go to the seaside? The next RAID! location is actually in a real live arcade, on the sea front, that is still operational. I don’t mean operational in that it’s open to the public but filled with bandits and a solitary Daytona Twin with an Out of Order sign on it. This one has real video games. That you can play. We are less than 30 minutes away. One of the guys has had a tip off that the arcade has 3 pinball machines for sale and need them gone. A short time later, we are walking down the sea front; in a line, being pelted by the rain. On the beach in the distance a school class is playing football and is equally soaked. Nobody seems to want to score.
“Hey, we’re like Reservoir Dogs!” somebody shouts.
“Let me guess..” I say, “I’m Mr Pink?”
There is much laughter all round.
We actually stop at this point to take RAID! photos in front of the sea. I’m told to ‘camp it up’, which I obligingly do with Chuckie Egg. It’s a wind up though and I’m left reeling when everyone else takes the session really seriously and poses like a shoot for an 80’s Bros album.
The arcade itself is empty. There is nothing and nobody apart from the Operator and, (I assume) his engineer. You could argue it was the rain and to an extent it was but there is a sad undercurrent running through the place; the arcade is dead and it’s not coming back. We find two of the pinballs out on the floor earning money, (well, they would be if anyone was putting money in them); Street Fighter and Bride of Pinbot.
Bride of Pinbot plays fine; it needs new rubbers and a playfield restoration but critically, it plays a good game and the head moves as it should. Street Fighter is in better condition but isn’t taking coins sadly. Both are for sale for cash deals on the spot. The third pinball has been withdrawn from sale as it’s ‘too minty’ and the Operator wants to keep it. I share a 50p credit with Alpha1, whilst one of the other members chats to the Operator about prices. Really….cheap….. prices. It’s the law that seaside visits must contain fish and chips, eaten on the sea front, no matter what the weather. They are hot and delicious, or so I’m told. I decide to have my beef sandwich instead. There is no way I’m spending £2.50 on a Tesco sandwich and not eating every last crumb. As I swallow the last mouthful, I stare out at the rain and the sea. I’m cold. I’m wet and my Mini is full but I’m smiling.
There are two more locations to visit.
We enter a room about 10ft wide by 30ft long. Each wall contains shelves to the ceiling, rammed with PCBs, boxes and cardboard tubes with Suzo Happ labels. All the PCBs are in bubble wrap and have been carefully labelled and stacked. There is a lot. It’s immediately clear that due to the height involved we are going to need step ladders to access to the top shelves, which bizarrely, is where we choose to start. Shadows flicker and dance as our head mounted lights turn this way and that, taking in the contents we are about to gain access to. I hate heights though, of any kind, so the task of climbing up and handling the PCBs and boxes goes to two of the other RAID! members; Alpha1 and Chuckie Egg. I’m momentarily stuck at ground level with nothing but a view of both men’s crotches, my arms open, ready to receive.
The Operator is a short, elderly old man who again seems taken back by the sight of 5 blokes (and a 6[sup]th[/sup], smaller fat one) beginning to go through his stock. We variously nod and smile and thank him for allowing us into his life. It’s a very fine balance between being careful with what is essentially somebody else’s property and being efficient in the mental and physical cataloging and sorting of what we find; you want to be respectful but you also need to be mindful of the fact that you can’t spend all day there. Operators generally want you in and out, take what you want, pay cash and don’t leave a mess. We don’t leave anything.
Wall to wall PCB's and Parts
The first of the PCB’s is passed down and the conveyor belt starts again. Just a small amount of the many games that are pulled out and passed down the line: Battlezone, Super Breakout, Missile Command, Carnival (Cocktail vers.), Gorf, Ikari Warriors, Flying Shark, Crazy Balloon, Pole Position, Sky Skipper….wait, ‘Sky Skipper’? There is a brief pause as the three of us make [bulging] eye contact. It’s the kind of look that says either ‘I’ve just found a Sky Skipper PCB mint bagged and it’s rare as f**k’ or ‘I’ve just shat in my pants’ or even ‘I’ve just shat in my pants because I’ve just found a Sky Skipper PCB and it’s rare as f**k.’ The ladder wobbles a little. My arse starts to twitch but the show must go on, so the PCB is bagged with the rest of the haul and the games keep on coming; Gauntlet x 2 (these are actually both Gauntlet 2!!), Super Hang On, a minty bagged Discs of TRON (more eye bulging), R-Type II (amusingly labelled as 'K-Type'!) and, incredibly, an entire Robotron back plate with all the PCBs and interconnects still attached, (after some polite interjection and a small amount of begging as I have a Roby shell sat in my hallway, this comes home with me.)
Crotches and Arses
Everyone has a box with anything from 6 to 20 PCBs in; each carefully wrapped and bagged and tagged by the Operator; with a thin layer of dust evident on each. After thinking we’d cleared the shelves, we pull out a few overlooked boxes and find an incredible stash of marquees, manuals, schematics and old Coin Slot magazines; videogame history in our hands and ironically, articles about the very games we are finding on the shelves all around us. All of these are in beautiful, clean condition and get carefully added to our piles. The mood is fantastic. I half expect a giant rolling boulder to come crashing down towards us and for us all to have to run out, (Golden Idol in hand), grinning from ear to ear.
Bagged and Tagged..
When it’s time to negotiate prices, an orderly queue is formed with the Operator and one by one, we run through our stashes. The Operator seems to recognize each PCB and tells us where it came from, whether it was stored working (they all were, ‘for the love of it’ he tells us) and what happened to the cabs they came from. Sadly most were scrapped, which, when you consider the games we’ve acquired is heartbreaking. Deals are done, hands are shaken and cash handed over. I’ve hardly spent anything but when I stagger to my Mini with my 3 boxes, I realise ‘sh*t, it’s full! And we’ve only been to 2 places!’ Word then comes that there is something wrong with the Operator.
He is visibly upset.
We hastily go back inside; worrying what we might have done wrong to upset him but it transpires that it is nothing we have done at all. The Operator originally wanted to pass on the arcade business to his son to continue but it seems he unfortunately wasn’t interested, so all of the games, parts and manuals had to be moved on. Essentially, 6 complete strangers have just turned up, boxed up his livelihood and left him stood in an empty storeroom with a bundle of used notes. Not every part of a RAID is fun. The good news is that the Operator is absolutely fine after a few minutes and we all get a welcome second and somehow more meaningful opportunity to thank him and say goodbye. He raises a smile and clutches a large mug of tea as we all file out down the stairs and into daylight, switching our head torches off in the process. A couple of huddles form and we discuss where to go next. One member nips off to relieve himself in a corner of the yard; a sight that quickly causes everyone to stop talking and take their cameras out to take a picture of him. The sight of a grown man taking a whiz up a wall is a bafflingly draw. Some things never change. I high five the perpetrator, before realizing that he (of course) hadn’t washed his dick hand. Nice.
Dick Hand..
It’s raining still. In fact it’s absolutely hammering it down. What better time then, to go to the seaside? The next RAID! location is actually in a real live arcade, on the sea front, that is still operational. I don’t mean operational in that it’s open to the public but filled with bandits and a solitary Daytona Twin with an Out of Order sign on it. This one has real video games. That you can play. We are less than 30 minutes away. One of the guys has had a tip off that the arcade has 3 pinball machines for sale and need them gone. A short time later, we are walking down the sea front; in a line, being pelted by the rain. On the beach in the distance a school class is playing football and is equally soaked. Nobody seems to want to score.
“Hey, we’re like Reservoir Dogs!” somebody shouts.
“Let me guess..” I say, “I’m Mr Pink?”
There is much laughter all round.
We actually stop at this point to take RAID! photos in front of the sea. I’m told to ‘camp it up’, which I obligingly do with Chuckie Egg. It’s a wind up though and I’m left reeling when everyone else takes the session really seriously and poses like a shoot for an 80’s Bros album.
The arcade itself is empty. There is nothing and nobody apart from the Operator and, (I assume) his engineer. You could argue it was the rain and to an extent it was but there is a sad undercurrent running through the place; the arcade is dead and it’s not coming back. We find two of the pinballs out on the floor earning money, (well, they would be if anyone was putting money in them); Street Fighter and Bride of Pinbot.
Bride of Pinbot plays fine; it needs new rubbers and a playfield restoration but critically, it plays a good game and the head moves as it should. Street Fighter is in better condition but isn’t taking coins sadly. Both are for sale for cash deals on the spot. The third pinball has been withdrawn from sale as it’s ‘too minty’ and the Operator wants to keep it. I share a 50p credit with Alpha1, whilst one of the other members chats to the Operator about prices. Really….cheap….. prices. It’s the law that seaside visits must contain fish and chips, eaten on the sea front, no matter what the weather. They are hot and delicious, or so I’m told. I decide to have my beef sandwich instead. There is no way I’m spending £2.50 on a Tesco sandwich and not eating every last crumb. As I swallow the last mouthful, I stare out at the rain and the sea. I’m cold. I’m wet and my Mini is full but I’m smiling.
There are two more locations to visit.
vib_ribbon
Active member
So many games!
...but I can empathise with the owner. =(
...but I can empathise with the owner. =(
terminator2k2
Active member
having read the latest part of this story, I too feel a little sad , these were once great games and a big part of many of our lives at one stage. The once great sea side arcades which brought in thousands of folks through out the year are disappearing at a great rate...or even gone.
on a recent visit to blackpool I was really a bit cheesed off that there wasn't really much in gaming hardware to play on, its either crane machines or bandits....and give it 5-10 years or so and you may not even see video games in said arcades...
ah roll back the years...lets go back to the mid 80s.....
on a recent visit to blackpool I was really a bit cheesed off that there wasn't really much in gaming hardware to play on, its either crane machines or bandits....and give it 5-10 years or so and you may not even see video games in said arcades...
ah roll back the years...lets go back to the mid 80s.....
great write up again Phil
Feel sorry for the old man regarding wanting to pass his legacy down to his son but times change and his son chose a different path for his future (probably for the best I guess as running an arcade business in todays world would be very hard to make a living out of) still I bet he cheered up once all you guys left and he looked at that big wad of cash in his hand
he had his pleasure out of all the arcade stuff and I guess he felt it was the right time to pass it all on to other ppl who will appreciate it all as much as he did...
Feel sorry for the old man regarding wanting to pass his legacy down to his son but times change and his son chose a different path for his future (probably for the best I guess as running an arcade business in todays world would be very hard to make a living out of) still I bet he cheered up once all you guys left and he looked at that big wad of cash in his hand
vib_ribbon
Active member
...based on what's said and what's in the photos, does it mean he's a kick arse pcb repairer? maybe i can send him some boards for repair?
Nes4life said:
Lol more worryingly is he taking a picture of me or the pcbs
Part Three
It's still raining as we head back to the first RAID!
Ironically the next (and fourth) location is in the street adjacent to the
first. There have been whispers that this one is the mother load; essentially
believed to be upwards of 50 cabs and possibly 90, spread over 2 locations.
This visit is time stamped and we have been told to arrive at a certain time,
which we respectfully do. You know, when you think about it, you don't realise
what you must all look like on a RAID; 6 strapping blokes turning up in cars
and vans, ladened with tools and torches and scrambling all over your personal
property and possessions. It must be quite intimidating. I expect people deal
with it in different ways; for some the prospect of hard cash is probably
equally as exciting as our thrill of what we will find. For others though, it
is possibly just that little bit traumatic, as we were about to find out.
As we collectively walk through the front gate we are
met by the OP; he is dressed in clean blue overalls and immediately beckons us
over to a large double garage door, one side of which is open. There are stacks
of Sega Out Run PCBs on the floor; more Out Run PCBs than I have ever seen in
one place. Then the OP is moving us on; there is no time to look, touch or
examine; the door is closed and we are being led to an out building nearby.
This, it transpires, is the OP's workshop; the beating heart of the business
where PCBs are repaired and stored. It's odd that we were shown the Out Run
PCBs but not allowed to touch them but the sight before us ensures any further
thought on that matter is parked. The workshop shelves are packed with stacks
of PCBs; easily hundreds; there are literally PCBs everywhere, on every surface,
stacked 15-20 deep; tables, shelving units and benches; all full. And that's
only the downstairs.
We are all led upstairs to find more shelves rammed
with carefully bagged and tagged PCBs; one entire wall is just covered in CPS2
carts of the green and blue variety. No sooner have we all arrived upstairs
though than we are being shouted to come back downstairs. There seems to be a
pattern forming; show and tell; look but don't touch. At this point we all
start to give each other uneasy sideways looks. Perhaps the OP is going to show
us everything first and then let us split off into the areas we are interested
in? I think. Perhaps we are going to see the cabs now? When we arrive
back downstairs in the workshop, the OP is standing holding 2 A4 jotter pads;
the type you used to have your Mum or Dad buy you for school at the start of a
new term but that you only ever got a quarter of the way through. The OP tells
us that we are surrounded by over 600 PCBs and that each and every one is
catalogued in the jotters he is holding. He suggests that, as he has to go out
now, maybe we can take the pads and have a look through them at what we might
want to buy.
Wait.
He has to go out???
We've only just arrived. Some of us have travelled a
long way and taken time off work for a pre-agreed visit on a specific day, at a
specific time, yet the OP has (oddly) arranged to go out and we haven't been allowed to
touch anything. It's unexpected but critically everyone remains calm and in any case, this is somebody's house. You have to respect that.
The OP explains that he will be back 'in an hour or so', and that we should come back then. I take the
jotters and thank the OP for his time and we start to file out into the street,
a bit like zombies. We are not sure what has just happened and critically, we
don't have anywhere to go.
It's raining.
"Let's find
a Whetherspoons!"
It's the best idea I've heard all morning and besides,
we need somewhere to rethink the plan and get warm and dry again. Off we go.
Much of the on foot journey into town is sporadically interrupted by people
shouting out as they attempt to walk and read the jotters at the same time.
"OMG he has
multiples of virtually everything! I've just seen 4 Bubble Bobble originals!"
Indeed, at the side of each PCB, the OP has helpfully
indicated where he has more than one with additional ticks, also where a
particular board is a bootleg. There are not many bootlegs. There are many,
many ticks. This helps the mood of the group considerably and by the time we
are walking up to the bar in Whetherspoons to order coffee and hot chocolate,
people are smiling and making jokes again. Mostly about my Mini.
We find a table large enough to accommodate all of us and
spread the jotters out. I offer to scribe because hey, that's just the kind of
guy I am. It must have been a strange sight; 5 blokes sat down in the middle of
Whetherspoons on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, shouting obscure 80's
arcade game names at a 6[sup]th[/sup], smaller, fatter one. I make a list for
each RAID! member, adding to it as people shout out what games they want.
Within minutes it all gets a bit frantic and I resort to shorthand scrawl to
keep up with the baying crowds demands. This takes a good hour as, well,
without any exaggeration, there is literally every game you can think of from
the 80's; even the rare ones and there are multiples of those. No cabs though.
We run through the 2 books, A-Z, twice, until everyone has had their fill.
"I never
thought I'd get bored of looking at lists of rare arcade boards" says
one of our group, jokingly.
I'm not entirely happy with the neatness of my writing
so I offer to rewrite every list out again for the whole group, this time
transferring each list onto a separate piece of paper; one per person.
Amazingly whilst we've been sat here, a rumor has started of a local pet shop
that has a cocktail machine for sale! A pet shop! The groups disbands to
investigate and I order more coffee. Or perhaps it was hot chocolate. I
forget.
When the group returns (sans cocktail), the clock is
getting on for 3:15pm in the afternoon.
Various bladders are emptied and the nervous waiting begins. Fortunately we
don't have to wait long and a mere 5 minutes later the OP calls to say he is
home again. There is a catch though. He doesn't want all of us going back
inside and in fact will only allow 1 of us back in. That will leave 5 of us
outside (in the rain). It's not clear how this will work but Alpha1 is nominated as the member who
should go in and so everyone hands over their lists. We watch him disappear
around the corner and we wait. Thankfully and very kindly, the OP from the
first location offers to take us back inside his house to look for more arcade
gear; bonus!
Around 30 minutes pass before one of the group decides
to go and look for Alpha1 and see
what's what; how long can it take to agree some prices? The atmosphere is not
strained but we are all starting to get the feeling that things are not going
to go well. The day is also nearly over and we haven't seen any hint of being
allowed to see the 50 - 90 cabs yet. 10 minutes later Alpha1 walks around the corner on his way back to us.
"Something's
not right. Look at his body language." Beantin says.
Something is very definitely off and with good reason.
The OP now wants us all to write our offer for working and non-working against
each game but (and here's the gut punch), he won't sell us any JAMMA boards today, as he wants to test
everything first. This immediately decimates all of our lists and means that we
won't be going home with over 80% of the games we’ve selected. Did I mention it
was also raining? The OP has also arranged for a workman to come and do some
work at his house, despite already changing the arrangement earlier, and has
given us a new cut-off that is literally 30-40 minutes off. This leaves
insufficient time for all of us to do deals and no time whatsoever to see any
cabs at all.
The OP will
sell us the dedicated PCBs from our lists though, as he doesn't have the means
to test them. Anything is better than
nothing and we so desperately want to do a deal of some description and go home
with something from this amazing stack, so we all set about borrowing pens and
annotating our lists. Queue the in-fighting as somebody points out that,
because there are multiples of the same PCB, we all need to offer the same
price for them or risk one of us losing out to a better offer made by a mate.
There is a little moaning and cursing as prices are scribbled out. It's a good
point well said though. The current estimation is that each member will get 2
or more dedicated PCBs from their lists so theoretically it's still a good
haul. Alpha1 takes the lists back in
and we all jump into our respective cars and vans and wait. And wait. I sit in
my Mini and look through the pelting shower at an old
church-come-school-come-derelict building. 'That would make a great conversion
into a private arcade', I think.
Alpha1 appears. He isn't
carrying any PCBs. We all emerge from our vehicles and walk over to meet him.
The news has gotten worse. All of those dedicated PCBs from out lists that we
were going to be sold? Off the table, all of them, for reasons unknown. What we
*can* have today is the following and only the following, to split between us:
4 Champ Sprint
2 Super Sprint
3 Road Blasters
1 Paperboy
8 Super Hang-On
8 Out Run
1 Xybots
1 Unnamed Tatsumi driving game that is possibly Buggy
Boy
We bite our collective tongues and do the deal; it's a
great deal, an amazing deal really but just not what we expected. We shake
hands with the OP, thank him for his time and confirm that once he's finished
testing everything we will be more than happy to come back and see him again.
And with that we accept that we won't be seeing any cabs today and it's time to
disband the crew. We take a (great) group photo and there is much male bonding
and shaking of hands, nodding and high fives all round, before the job of
checking that boards and parts are securely stored for the journey home.
Jodo2015-11-04 23:17:23
It's still raining as we head back to the first RAID!
Ironically the next (and fourth) location is in the street adjacent to the
first. There have been whispers that this one is the mother load; essentially
believed to be upwards of 50 cabs and possibly 90, spread over 2 locations.
This visit is time stamped and we have been told to arrive at a certain time,
which we respectfully do. You know, when you think about it, you don't realise
what you must all look like on a RAID; 6 strapping blokes turning up in cars
and vans, ladened with tools and torches and scrambling all over your personal
property and possessions. It must be quite intimidating. I expect people deal
with it in different ways; for some the prospect of hard cash is probably
equally as exciting as our thrill of what we will find. For others though, it
is possibly just that little bit traumatic, as we were about to find out.
As we collectively walk through the front gate we are
met by the OP; he is dressed in clean blue overalls and immediately beckons us
over to a large double garage door, one side of which is open. There are stacks
of Sega Out Run PCBs on the floor; more Out Run PCBs than I have ever seen in
one place. Then the OP is moving us on; there is no time to look, touch or
examine; the door is closed and we are being led to an out building nearby.
This, it transpires, is the OP's workshop; the beating heart of the business
where PCBs are repaired and stored. It's odd that we were shown the Out Run
PCBs but not allowed to touch them but the sight before us ensures any further
thought on that matter is parked. The workshop shelves are packed with stacks
of PCBs; easily hundreds; there are literally PCBs everywhere, on every surface,
stacked 15-20 deep; tables, shelving units and benches; all full. And that's
only the downstairs.
We are all led upstairs to find more shelves rammed
with carefully bagged and tagged PCBs; one entire wall is just covered in CPS2
carts of the green and blue variety. No sooner have we all arrived upstairs
though than we are being shouted to come back downstairs. There seems to be a
pattern forming; show and tell; look but don't touch. At this point we all
start to give each other uneasy sideways looks. Perhaps the OP is going to show
us everything first and then let us split off into the areas we are interested
in? I think. Perhaps we are going to see the cabs now? When we arrive
back downstairs in the workshop, the OP is standing holding 2 A4 jotter pads;
the type you used to have your Mum or Dad buy you for school at the start of a
new term but that you only ever got a quarter of the way through. The OP tells
us that we are surrounded by over 600 PCBs and that each and every one is
catalogued in the jotters he is holding. He suggests that, as he has to go out
now, maybe we can take the pads and have a look through them at what we might
want to buy.
Wait.
He has to go out???
We've only just arrived. Some of us have travelled a
long way and taken time off work for a pre-agreed visit on a specific day, at a
specific time, yet the OP has (oddly) arranged to go out and we haven't been allowed to
touch anything. It's unexpected but critically everyone remains calm and in any case, this is somebody's house. You have to respect that.
The OP explains that he will be back 'in an hour or so', and that we should come back then. I take the
jotters and thank the OP for his time and we start to file out into the street,
a bit like zombies. We are not sure what has just happened and critically, we
don't have anywhere to go.
It's raining.
"Let's find
a Whetherspoons!"
It's the best idea I've heard all morning and besides,
we need somewhere to rethink the plan and get warm and dry again. Off we go.
Much of the on foot journey into town is sporadically interrupted by people
shouting out as they attempt to walk and read the jotters at the same time.
"OMG he has
multiples of virtually everything! I've just seen 4 Bubble Bobble originals!"
Indeed, at the side of each PCB, the OP has helpfully
indicated where he has more than one with additional ticks, also where a
particular board is a bootleg. There are not many bootlegs. There are many,
many ticks. This helps the mood of the group considerably and by the time we
are walking up to the bar in Whetherspoons to order coffee and hot chocolate,
people are smiling and making jokes again. Mostly about my Mini.
We find a table large enough to accommodate all of us and
spread the jotters out. I offer to scribe because hey, that's just the kind of
guy I am. It must have been a strange sight; 5 blokes sat down in the middle of
Whetherspoons on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, shouting obscure 80's
arcade game names at a 6[sup]th[/sup], smaller, fatter one. I make a list for
each RAID! member, adding to it as people shout out what games they want.
Within minutes it all gets a bit frantic and I resort to shorthand scrawl to
keep up with the baying crowds demands. This takes a good hour as, well,
without any exaggeration, there is literally every game you can think of from
the 80's; even the rare ones and there are multiples of those. No cabs though.
We run through the 2 books, A-Z, twice, until everyone has had their fill.
"I never
thought I'd get bored of looking at lists of rare arcade boards" says
one of our group, jokingly.
I'm not entirely happy with the neatness of my writing
so I offer to rewrite every list out again for the whole group, this time
transferring each list onto a separate piece of paper; one per person.
Amazingly whilst we've been sat here, a rumor has started of a local pet shop
that has a cocktail machine for sale! A pet shop! The groups disbands to
investigate and I order more coffee. Or perhaps it was hot chocolate. I
forget.
When the group returns (sans cocktail), the clock is
getting on for 3:15pm in the afternoon.
Various bladders are emptied and the nervous waiting begins. Fortunately we
don't have to wait long and a mere 5 minutes later the OP calls to say he is
home again. There is a catch though. He doesn't want all of us going back
inside and in fact will only allow 1 of us back in. That will leave 5 of us
outside (in the rain). It's not clear how this will work but Alpha1 is nominated as the member who
should go in and so everyone hands over their lists. We watch him disappear
around the corner and we wait. Thankfully and very kindly, the OP from the
first location offers to take us back inside his house to look for more arcade
gear; bonus!
Around 30 minutes pass before one of the group decides
to go and look for Alpha1 and see
what's what; how long can it take to agree some prices? The atmosphere is not
strained but we are all starting to get the feeling that things are not going
to go well. The day is also nearly over and we haven't seen any hint of being
allowed to see the 50 - 90 cabs yet. 10 minutes later Alpha1 walks around the corner on his way back to us.
"Something's
not right. Look at his body language." Beantin says.
Something is very definitely off and with good reason.
The OP now wants us all to write our offer for working and non-working against
each game but (and here's the gut punch), he won't sell us any JAMMA boards today, as he wants to test
everything first. This immediately decimates all of our lists and means that we
won't be going home with over 80% of the games we’ve selected. Did I mention it
was also raining? The OP has also arranged for a workman to come and do some
work at his house, despite already changing the arrangement earlier, and has
given us a new cut-off that is literally 30-40 minutes off. This leaves
insufficient time for all of us to do deals and no time whatsoever to see any
cabs at all.
The OP will
sell us the dedicated PCBs from our lists though, as he doesn't have the means
to test them. Anything is better than
nothing and we so desperately want to do a deal of some description and go home
with something from this amazing stack, so we all set about borrowing pens and
annotating our lists. Queue the in-fighting as somebody points out that,
because there are multiples of the same PCB, we all need to offer the same
price for them or risk one of us losing out to a better offer made by a mate.
There is a little moaning and cursing as prices are scribbled out. It's a good
point well said though. The current estimation is that each member will get 2
or more dedicated PCBs from their lists so theoretically it's still a good
haul. Alpha1 takes the lists back in
and we all jump into our respective cars and vans and wait. And wait. I sit in
my Mini and look through the pelting shower at an old
church-come-school-come-derelict building. 'That would make a great conversion
into a private arcade', I think.
Alpha1 appears. He isn't
carrying any PCBs. We all emerge from our vehicles and walk over to meet him.
The news has gotten worse. All of those dedicated PCBs from out lists that we
were going to be sold? Off the table, all of them, for reasons unknown. What we
*can* have today is the following and only the following, to split between us:
4 Champ Sprint
2 Super Sprint
3 Road Blasters
1 Paperboy
8 Super Hang-On
8 Out Run
1 Xybots
1 Unnamed Tatsumi driving game that is possibly Buggy
Boy
We bite our collective tongues and do the deal; it's a
great deal, an amazing deal really but just not what we expected. We shake
hands with the OP, thank him for his time and confirm that once he's finished
testing everything we will be more than happy to come back and see him again.
And with that we accept that we won't be seeing any cabs today and it's time to
disband the crew. We take a (great) group photo and there is much male bonding
and shaking of hands, nodding and high fives all round, before the job of
checking that boards and parts are securely stored for the journey home.
Jodo2015-11-04 23:17:23
