Is It Time To Leave This Hobby ??

[69er]

Well ITS NO FUN HERE ON THE FRONT LINE EITHER !!! we buy mostly new or recent s/h machines from main distributors who often offer a 30 day warranty ?????? so you order at a trade show in January or February... and stuff gets delivered by first week March then by Easter a motor packs up or similar and you phone the distributors like Harry Levy or others and they say …………………….

sorry mate the warranty was from the order date... just co you didn't open till mid March not our fault even when it burnt out first or second day of use !!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAARRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !

Rant time here too !!!!!

I went into our main arcade yesterday first time since we shut on Nov 2nd for winter …….. AND AS USUAL … Roulette all the hoppers are running freefall ……… Star wars trilogy No Picture (screen lit) Tekken3 Monitor faulty no picture …….. ghost squad dl awaits refit of a giz10p repair from last year.. need for speed one side is off and fast n furious bikes blew up a computer psu on the last day so one side of the twin bikes is off ………….. our fun Chameleon locust Easter ticket vender is not powering up and th Ice age double end hammer redemption screen is showing reset bios only ( done that one ) BUT AS I WAS I THE VAN we loaded our GUITAR HERO ON BOARD MAYBE TO BREAK UP as its in need of a 32" wide screen monitor and the little dinosaur shooter ticket vend new in 2018 needs taking apart to repair round the gun mounting as the plastic retainer frame has shattered and the bits drop in the little balls that the machine gun rapid fires THUS BLOCKING IT UP and not service friendly so its coming home till we open mid Mach for time consuming workshopping

I agree as a hobby its getting silly as I have collected / restored pinbals and videos since the 70s as a hobby too ! we have owned more than most people here.

BUT YOU GOT INTO IT TO REVIVE THE FUN …. SO ENJOY THE FUN … THE KNOWING YOU OWN IT YOURSELF .. THE PLAY ANY TIME …. FOR FREE (excluding cost as mentioned many times ) most members on here just wish they lived in a house with more space ,, more rooms , a garage a shed or a big garden to build a gamersroom ? AND I WISH YOU ALL CONTINUED FUN & ENJOYMENT OF YOUR HOBBY.. we will always try advise if you need any?

as just mentioned above we cleared out loads of stuff 10 - 15 years ago as trends changed but still have some video games in our arcades and sites and we do some sites which can accommodate videos still. we have several in FFrith beach bowling alley and holiday parks across North Wales BUT STILL SHOPPING FOR PARTS IS A CHALLENGE and repairs are plentiful...…..

Also yesterday we scrapped 6 x £100 jackpot fruits all under 4 years old and a paragon quiz ,, because they have been replaced with new or just got a bit stale been everywhere over time...… its sad that these were working with keys in the locks just banknote recyclers and odd coin mechs retained for spares

TALKING OF WHICH you all should be operating around 80+ fruits which have all just been upgraded to accept and pay out the NEW £20 note which we have already seen released here in batches and account for over 50% of machine plays already ( good thing we got them done in January ready )

On top of that fist job yesterday with the van was clearing a Rhyl pub of all our stuff as its shut down for the foreseeable ………… juke box , 7ft pooltable and two machines had to be lifted and when I went out to the van ,,,,,,,,,,,, OUCH NON STARTER at 8 am in MID CHESHIRE and need to be at said pub for 10 am...………… JUMPED BATTERY OFF WIFES CAR get to depot in Rhyl area and van battery STILL F****D so it over to the nice car repair man ( who already has our other van for a minor job) and get a NEW BATTERY at £71 but at least he fitted it save me a job and all is good to go again

I THINK WE ALL NEED A GOOD RANT AND THIS TOPIC HAS CERTAINLY GENERATED SOME OF THAT .. I was just commenting in another discussion thread a few days ago how its great some members start such a topic...…….. AND MANY OF US JOIN IN ……………… YOU ARE NOT ALONE !!!!!

hopefully we will have all our problems ( or most of them ) sorted for when we open on March 19th but meanwhile we already have stuff on sites which are accessible 52 weeks and get breakdowns and damage ……… pool tables to recover ………… jukeboxes and quizzes and fruity time dongles to renew .. AND VAT to sort out and pay ( Gaming Machine Licence Duty ) so for the home Man-cave Arcadian Collector and Gamesroom owners ……………….. problems ?????????? come spend a few days with me and Dan then you will see problems...

WE NOW HAVE threat of CORONA VIRUS trying to get us imagine us having to handle all the 2p coins in the arcade from all over the country ,, al the notes and silver we count from our pub fruits.. and imagine how much gets rubbed off hands onto pool table cloth balls and cues in pubs …. steering wheels of driver games and buttons on our video machines fruity and jukebox touch screens..…we have to touch all these in the course of our job…………….. ISOLATE YOURSELF with time on your hands PLAY YOUR NICE CLEAN DISINFECTED GAMES AT HOME STAY IN THIS HOBBY ITS STILL QUITE GOOD VALUE !! when you think about All the options.

Rant over thanks Dave for starting a great topic !!

 

[Velyks]

As someone who wants to buy classic games to put back in an arcade for them to actually be played *gasp* the current prices are inconvenient, but I only started collecting when the price was high so I don't have much experience of the old days to compare against.

There are still reasonable people out there and good deals to be made. My solution to all of this is I simply won't buy from or sell to flippers and I stay as far away from eBay as possible.

 

[Wurstkopp]

There was a time about 10-15 years ago when the cabs where coming in from everywhere and they were cheap as chips and it was pretty easy to build up a nice home arcade. But I have to admit that as time went by no matter what new cab came in, it never felt like the first one. And it got harder and harder to satisfy the greed of the collector in me. I'm now pretty sure that even if I'd own a complete colour setup of Computer Space machines, I'd still want more, more rare, more awesome, more whatever. At some time I decided to quit this game because I realized I could only lose. And now I'm under the impression that I could live "a normal arcade life" with just one universal cabinet with a build in MAME setup. And that is something pretty much everyone still can afford and most likely can afford in the future.

I don't see why I should quit this hobby at all. I've found many, many friends, am part of a cool (my wife would disagree

), worldwide community and I've learned much bout the inside of arcade machines and restauring old sh*t in general. It has affected and still affects my whole life and the prices of arcade stuff today can't take that away from me.

PS: There are not enough Ferrari Testarossas in this world and there not
enough mansions on the beach for everyone in this world. And now there are not enough Star
Wars sitdowns for everyone in this world too. Life goes on.

Wurstkopp2020-03-10 10:43:26

 

[69er]

just to add in the topic theme …………. I tend to sell via EBAY I find I occasionally get a good price (better than I would put on an item if I listed it on here ) often I lose on expected value too but its the price the buyers often want to pay I REPEAT WANT TO PAY …………..

you get the odd knob who says not as described I want a refund and often because they use sniper tactics and bid too high and find another bidder has also done so thus a high sale price develops at the very last second .. THAT IS THE BIDDERS FAULT … ONLY EVER BID as mentioned WHAT YOU FEEL YOU WANT TO PAY...

I might be in a minority of ebay sellers but consider myself a very honest seller and my personal feedback and people on here who know me will reflect this fully ……. if and item is faulty I have usually tested it and found it so or if its untested assume its going to have age issues unless you are very lucky ……………..

as mentioned in the post above we tip hundreds of pounds of machines and it costs us £140 a ton to do so at Thorncliffe recycling in Abergele, AS PICTURED YESTERDAY 9/3/2020 so adding a few rubbish pcbs which are knowingly unrepairable or other dud parts is no effort just chuck on the van and chuck off again some of the cardboard there is ours too... as new pooltables come in a box but when we install its easier to move them with the wrappers removed?

all but one (Chilli Con Carnage) like they have all become crashed and abandoned …. are (were) fully working with top door keys (all our bottom doors have identical suited locks to save carrying big chains like in the old days and get used again ) the DOND next level (yellow frame on top) scorpion 6 was in a pub till 2 weeks ago THATS SOME MONEY SPENT luckily we make plenty (sometimes) saddest thing apart from smashing them as they drop from the truck tail lift is seeing so many lost pound coins roll across the concrete from the hidden corners as we try to ensure they are destroyed but you can bet the guys there are watching and usually as we arrive they run up with hammers and spades to do that job for us .. many said coins are they older pounds been lost for a while but when the sides split off they emmerge and survive...a few just go into the huge 'digger' loading buckets and go through the shredder machine eventually... the other sad thing is some of the lower doors have great looking artwork themed to the machine and if only it was not on a heavy chipboard door ??????? hang and admire ??

hope you liked that as NO CLASSIC VIDEO GAMES WERE HARMED during the filming process pictured above

69er2020-03-10 11:25:30

 

[gatchamix]

I'm relatively new to this whole thing (so I guess I'm one of those 'younguns' that are hated in this thread

)

I played my fair share of 90s arcade games when I was younger - dancing stage, time crisis, house of the dead, metal slug, street fighter, etc. But I'll be the first to admit that I didn't have the sort of experience with arcades that the previous generation did (courtesy of very finite pocket money!)

That being said - the continued survival of arcade games in Japan, and a general interest in console games, arcade ports, sequels and remasters - the 'heritage' of arcades - that's what's made me dive head first into this hobby.

I now have 14 arcade machines: 5 candies, 9 bespoke machines, with games from the 80s up to titles that are still in Japanese arcades today. I don't much care for buying single boards (would much rather go with multi-carts. Darksoft and TO doing gods work here) unless I absolutely have to, and I would hope that conservation efforts allow many titles to survive through accurate MAME or FPGA solutions in the future.

I wish I had the connections, the space and the income to participate in these fabled days of "low prices" and "high availability", but I guess I missed the boat

Let's just enjoy the machines and games while we can!

 

[69er]

Can I add 7 years of storage fees to the value of my cabs...please

sadly, Andy, there is no compensation scheme in place for periods of 'self isolation'

 

[TheDaddy]

Rant over thanks Dave for starting a great topic !! 

Your welcome !!!! I spend a lot of time in north wales (Rhyl) As I only live in Staffordshire. I am a repair tech so if you get to stressed i can do some repairs for you . (I used to repair note acceptors and games equipment ect for TCS John Huxley )

Dave.TheDaddy2020-03-10 13:12:12

 

[69er]

Your welcome !!!! I spend a lot of time in north wales (Rhyl) As I only live in Staffordshire. I am a repair tech so if you get to stressed i can do some repairs for you . (I used to repair note acceptors and games equipment ect for TCS John Huxley )

Dave.

thanks for the offer...…..

yes I know of the TCSJH casino tables and machines company (big in the industry) tho don't think I've ever been there, I also used to work for a leading machine company Associated Leisure back in the day as well as developing our own ops...…trade experience is like gold dust …and I was and still am an engineer at heart..

I am trying to spend less time there …………. I am just up the road at Northwich in Cheshire and we had a static caravan in Towyn for 30 years.. made it very handy to operate from there in summer and just commute in winter...….but Premier inn is comfortable and there is one seafront hotel we get mates rates. right near town centre so I can walk to breakdowns in many cases. SC2 is directly across the road from the Premier.

we are quite good with Vegas and NV11s but do accumulate a sizeable account with e-service and Maggi repairs from time to time, Just to spend less time fixing them ourselves and more time doing other things. Dan programs them for the new notes and some software issues but I am the old dog that finds new tricks above my performance pay grade odd times and specialise in all the other miscellaneous and older stuff... and variety is definitely here! jukes, novelty arcade stuff etc.

surface mounted pcb devices is beyond my vision ability and gets too complicated when components can't be so easily identified / tested / compared equivalents / replaced .

 

[bones]

Hi Dave, I have to agree that the prices have become crazy, but I suppose it's basic supply and demand really. I mean what's a nemesis board really worth £150-£200 max, I'd love to play it again but the going rate is ridiculous. I wonder how many members of this forum have one tucked away in a box on a shelf/in the Attic probably not been fired up to play for yonks. No criticism of this, that's what collecting is all about, but every time one's bought the price goes up. I find it strange that some people may even consider PCBs as an investment as history shows that in many different avenues of collecting unless the item is truly valuable as in art or precious metals it's more than likely in a single generation to become worthless as nobody is interested anymore.
The problem for us is that if we did sell a PCB for a reasonable price on here it may well sell a few times at an ok price but eventually somebody will stash it away or Chuck it on eBay for silly money.
I think the biggest disappointment was when I read on J+ that John from Electrocoin had donated an entire PCB collection to it. I thought perhaps this would have been an ideal time to have set up a forum PCB library,with people being able to rent the PCB for a week paying the postage and perhaps a small fee to go towards any future repairs(done by forum repairers for which they're paid) but I guess you'd need legally binding documentation to stop people just selling the PCB and quitting the forum.
I can dream.....anybody looking for a pocket gal 1000 Euros lol

 

[jengineer]

all but one fruit machine (Chilli Con Carnage)

oh man I love the fruit machine names, they make me laugh sooooooooo much

 

[strykr]

Prices are absolutely mad at the moment to me. Combo of raritt, collectors, Arcades n barcades opening, retro being cool, the world switching to non physical,a lot of people that remember these games hitting maximum earning power.

Just the way it is, doesnt make me want to leave the hobby, too many good things about it, but has made me reevaluate it completely. Im not prepared to pay 500 quid on an old circuit board so i have a couple mame cabs and a few cabs with special controls. Just about all my cabs were bought as projects as thats my favourite part of the hobby.

Its time to just be happy with what ive got and visit retro arcades to play cabs i will never own. As a by product of that you get to know people in the community so its good.

Must be bloody murder for someone starting out in the hobby! But then again if you earn 100 grand plus a year, 500 on a pcb is a drop in the ocean i guess. Its a free country and people can spend their cash how they want.

strykr2020-03-10 21:30:14

 

[John Bennett]

I dunno if it's just me, but I bought a PS2 last year and got Time Crisis 2 & 3. They were so good (better than the arcade versions), I decided I'd rather have them on my big CRT than ever own a real cabinet.

There's some Sega Ages conversions (Galaxy Force 2, Space Harrier) that are close enough to 1:1 with the arcade and run at 15kHz.

Anyway, I realised my 'aim' is to own the best or optimal version of a game I enjoy. So if a console offers something equal or better, that's enough for me. The same applies to emulation. I don't think I'm good enough to notice a frame or so's worth of latency in a shooter and I still can't parry in Street Fighter 3, despite owning the real PCB

I think I just buy the odd board if I see a hugely reduced game that's a fixer-upper ('cos messing with hardware is half the fun for me).

 

[robotech]

The ps1 versions of point blank and point blank 2 are really good if you havent all ready got them they have the arcade versions of the games on them and some extra bits
And work really well with the gcon guns

 

[jonhughes]

This is what I have, two linked PS2s on B&O MX7000 TVs. I don’t want a hulking great big shooter that costs a fortune to keep running and only plays one game. £15 per PS2, £3 per game disc and £100 per TV, that’s great for me thanks and there are loads of shooting games almost Arcade perfect.

The extra missions and features on TC2 & TC3 make them better than the arcade for game play.jonhughes2020-03-11 08:15:43

 

[robotech]

Nice setup i think i have all of the light gun shooters on ps2 ninja assault is not too bad and crisis zone can be had quite cheaply
I think point blank 1/2 and time crisis got the most play in my house i like how accurate the g cons are

Is it time crisis two where you can unlock shoot away and the game where you have to shoot the cup

 

[jonhughes]

Is it time crisis two where you can unlock shoot away and the game where you have to shoot the cup

Shoot away & Quick & Crash

 

[John Bennett]

I've thought about two side-by-side, but it's a bit silly

 

[jonhughes]

When one TV is bigger than a Crisis Zone machine, I reckon so.

 

[robotech]

Wow those are cool kind of like the delux version
I like those better than the b&o
But your getting close to cab size with those rear projection tvs

 

[John Bennett]

The cab's going (provisionally sold), bored with it and it seems too small