My road trip to Belgium for my grail cab Sheriff

Nintendo Arcade

AL’s Arcade
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Hi guys,
As some of you already know I have been looking for a sheriff Arcade machine for quite sometime. Now this is a very rare Arcade machine and I've only ever seen a few pictures on the Internet,but earlier this year someone got in contact with me about a sheriff cocktail machine they have but is broken and wondered if I could help fix it.
I went, I saw,i fixed and tried to buy this machine but that was never going to happen because it had been in the family for 25 years.
That was okay because I was just happy to help fix this rare & classic machine by Nintendo.
Then I found a collector in Europe who is the owner of the Dragons Lair forum (darthnuno) Bruno and asked if he would sell his as it was my grail game.
At first he was not interested but after a few months he made me a offer I could not resist but on one condition,I would have to come and get it from his place in Belgium.
No hesitation I jumped at the chance and a trip was organised for the weekend just gone the 23rd of august.
I travelled with my good friend Mark Who is my competitor at my local car boot sales so it was great to have him on board as he made a great navigator using the old fashioned maps we managed to find some really good boot sales in Luxembourg and France.
We left at 7 AM Saturday morning and arrived at 7 PM that same day .
It was a really long journey, being my first time on the wrong side of the road we made good time.
So we arrived at Bruno's house which was in the middle of the country, and first impressions was where is the arcade because if you look at the pictures it just looks so small from the outside but inside it was absolutely massive.
I had seen the pictures of his arcade but never expected to see the best Arcade Room I've ever seen in my life. As you walk through the door the first thing you notice is Computer Space ,Pong and Star Wars cockpit .
I can tell you I was so tired I had been drinking caffeine all day long but I hadn't come this far just to go to sleep I wanted to see as much as I could this evening of the fantastic Arcade.
His wife kindly brought us pizzas and we chatted lots played lots and I managed to interview him which you can find on the 10p arcade podcast .
But of course the main reason why I was here was to pick up sheriff, I can tell you I was not disappointed this machine was pretty much immaculate for its age and rarity .
I was totally blown away and just so happy to see my grail cab waiting for me to pick it up and take it back home.
So with gaming and lots of chatting we went back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep.
I couldn't sleep at all,i had so much caffeine in my body and I was just so excited I think I got about four hours sleep.
So next morning we arrived at Brunos house 7 AM to pick up sheriff and to make our way back home.
I travelled just under 900 miles that day it was an epic journey, & one I would happily do again.
Bruno said to me that I was the right person to buy that cab because I have travelled so far. The last thing he wanted was to pallet the machine up and send it away only to maybe get broken on route. He knew how much I wanted that game and was more than happy to let me have it.
I just wanna say a huge thanks to Bruno for giving me the opportunity to buy this machine and a huge thanks for this hospitality and his wife for the tea and pizza.
Next time I come back I will bring more friends and when ever you are in the UK you're more than welcome to stay at mine.
So enjoy the pictures and I would do a video very soon

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Car boot in France , managed to get a few nes games
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Arrived at brunos place which was in the middle of the country side
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Enter the dragons lair if you dare
Room 1

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david_orton_2000

Green Mario
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Great pics Alex!
Place looks awesome...some uber rare machines there indeed!!!
How many cabs in total were there?
How many working ones? ;-)

-Can't believe he has a Galaxian 3 theatre!!!! Ahhhh, that just blows my mind. Must be the only 1 in Europe (and maybe the US) which is assembled and working. There was a thread on one being dismantled and stored in the US a while back. Still remember this in the London Trocodero and would play it any chance I could...6 players if I remember correctly..just awesome experience! :)

Han Solo is on the wall..."and still encased in carbonite", hopefully Leia will turn up and rescue him. :)

Just an amazing arcade, period.

Cheers,
DaveO.

david_orton_20002014-08-25 20:44:19
 

forcefulfil

EDOT King
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WOW Epic Journey Alex!
900 miles holy sh*t,ill never moan again driving to birmingham..

Brunos Lair does look superb,hopefully one day he will sell me his UDOT and i too can visit the Lair

Look forward to pics of the Sherrif too
 
G

Guests

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Great thread Alex,

Lovin' the red DK/Radarscope!
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Did the exhaust on your van make the trip?
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I'll have to come and investigate this Sheriff shortly.
 

rcantor77

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Such a beatiful sight... looks amazing and so does Sheriff.

So best you now get that Mini Bus sorted and lets get this trip arranged for next year...
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rcantor772014-08-25 20:57:34
 
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