racerx

That's Todd Tuckey's place.

My parents bought a used VCS with 8 games for my sister and me for Christmas of '79. Heavy sixer, still had the box. (Still have the console, sadly the box has been lost to the mists of time). None of us called it a VCS or 2600, it was just "Atari" or "the Atari." Sure, some kids had Intellivision and eventually Colecovision. One neighbor even had a Vectrex. But it was the Atari "tapes" that got brought to gradeschool and swapped around. We never had a lot of money growing up, but my parents managed to be on top of leading edge electronics, somehow. Before the 2600, we had some sort of Pong game. We had a huge honking top-load VCR when they came out, and a video camera (with the VCR unit worn slung over a shoulder). I'm pretty sure both of those cost about 1000 bucks in early 80's dollars. I spent a lot of quality time with the old man playing Atari, even though I typically doled out a beatdown equalled only by those my son gives me in Halo or CoD.

I don't shudder, lol. MAME certainly has its place. Tron needs a spinner and a flight stick. Paperboy needs its handlebars. Defender and Asteroids rely on specific button layouts. You're also not getting that ambiance that a nice cabinet brings...the blacklight and MCP translite of a Tron...the mirrored displays of a Space Invaders or Asteroids Deluxe...the 3D playfield of an upright Warlords. All I'm saying is that you're getting a different experience when playing a facsimile, and I definitely think it's second-best. I've never really understood the high-score competition with MAME setups intermingling with dedicated vintage controls, either. Hell, maybe I'm just an old fart. Get off my lawn!

Purist here. Don't get me wrong...MAME is fantastic for allowing people to play games that they'd never have a chance to otherwise, but to me an arcade game is more than just the code. Dedicated cabinets with dedicated controls really are art, and add so much to the experience that even the most accurate MAME emulation is still a pale imitation of the real thing. Don't get me started on the FrankenMAMEs that incorporate 100 buttons, sticks, knobs, and trackballs to try to cover every control possibility. As far as a "dedicated MAME," heck...you might was well just pick up an original, or at least build around the PCB. It wouldn't cost much more.

I'm assuming it didn't sell. You can list it for *Dr. Evil voice* one billion dollars, but it ain't gonna bring it. I'm more interested in actual transaction prices.

Lol, I think I have three, but only as they've come in lots I've picked up. Can't say as I've ever tried to track down an Atlantis II.

Rock solid marriage, lol...hence the tongue smilie guy. Not sure about "flipping over the photo."

My Waterworld for the Virtual Boy is still sealed for the same reason, lol. I tend not to even buy MISB games because a) I don't like to pay any more than I have to, b) I actually want to play them, and c) given "a" and "b" I figure the sealed copies are best left to the folks that collect sealed copies.

Grrr...can't edit. Lynx II (2)

Wow, let's see... Pong Super Pong Heavy sixer Light sixer Intellivision (w/speech module) Jaguar (4) CD (3) NES SNES N64 (2) GameCube Wii GameBoy Color GBA GBA SP DS 3DS Virtual Boy Xbox Xbox360 PSX PS2 Dreamcast

Guess what the mailman brought today. Connor's warming up for his high score competition entry...

My folks picked up a used one for my sister and me Christmas of '79. Heavy sixer and 8 games, and I think they paid $200 for it. It stopped working about a year ago...I just picked up a light sixer to play until I get it fixed.

Can't find the 2600 van or the kiosk...all the cars have been hanging on pegs.

But that's my point. A "normal" person wouldn't buy a Jag game at all, let alone search for one for two years or pay three figures for it. A Google search for jaguar iron soldier 2 brings up the Goatstore at the top of page 2. Not exactly hard to find. I can only assume you've never collected anything before. I don't care if it's vintage Transformers, antique clocks, stamps, or video games. There is no MSRP on this stuff, and if there is any kind of published price guide, it's fluid at best. It's your job to know what stuff's worth and where to get it. If not, you'll be taken for a ride on one hand and miss out on bargains on the other. I can't stand eBay scalpers either, but this guy's selling a game that isn't currently available anywhere else, and to me that commands a premium.

Honestly, if someone is paying $170 for a Jag cart, I would assume they were either a diehard Jag fan or certifiably insane. If you were looking for this game for two years without stumbling upon this site, Songbird, or the Goatstore that's honestly on you, not this seller. More to the point, seeing as how the two aforementioned stores are out of stock, as someone who was able to provide the game immediately I's say the guy's premium is justified. That aside, I've never blamed anyone for their asking prices, no matter how ridiculous. It's up to me as a consumer to either pay it or not.

Caveat emptor? I would expect anyone dropping $170 bones on a nearly 20 year old game system to have done a little research first, and unless I was completely new to eBay I wouldn't assume that it was my best bet price-wise for vintage games.

Just got my confirmation for #137.

Still waiting on my copy...hopefully it gets here before the competition closes.

Exactly. It was a good read, but what really killed off the arcade wasn't over-protective parents or crusading politicians, or even the overproduction of crap games. They may have been the first chinks in the armor, but home systems struck the killing blow. I don't think it's coincidental that the crash happened in '83, and Colecovision, the first system to really rival the graphics of the arcade machines, had come out the year prior. Yes, the crash took out home systems and arcades alike, but the NES hit the scene before the arcades had a chance to recover. The machines still found on location these days don't compete graphically, but are generally huge showcase units that offer some sort of experience that can't be found in home systems. Ironically, that now includes pins, as well.

Honestly water has never been much of a concern, and we've been in this house for 16 years. We definitely run a dehumidifier in the summer, though. The only time we've ever had water was when the sump pump failed, and even then there's enough of a grade to the floor towards the sump pit that the water didn't make it to the finished area of the basement where the games are. We've never understood what you you basementless types do with all your junk.

Success! Pads cleaned up, LED installed...just need to Dremel the posts on the white case and reattach to the mobo.

So last year at MGC this unit was working fine. I pulled it out of (dry, semi-sealed) storage today to inventory everything and found this: No way I can slip a composite cable over that. What would have caused that kind of damage? It's like the edge connector just bubbled up or something...it almost looks burned. Should I just try to Dremel it back down? Try to "desolder" it? [edit] Upon further review, I think I picked this unit up afterwards. It's looks as though the connectors have been soldered. Should I just desolder whatever's on there?

It's actually in the basement family room. You can see the evolution of the sickness here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/207401-evolution-of-a-collection/

You had me until you gave Fight For Life a 90%. Egad.

I loved the Paris to Dakar rally as a teenager. We played Big Run to death at our local multiplex. The race isn't really the same now that they run it in South America, but in August I brought the old magic home. Who doesn't like Centipede? Picked up non-working for a song in August; one interlock switch and a couch moved upstairs later, and it joined the rest. November means Thanksgiving and Asteroids. And just for something to work on over the winter, I found a free Sprint 2 looking for a good home. It's still in the garage...not sure if it's a keeper or not as I don't know if I can get it down the stairs. It's amazing how a new hobby can grab hold. I've managed to find a way to get 7 machines in the family room and an eighth is being worked on in the garage. I've gone from knowing nothing about the guts of these beasts to being comfortable doing cap kits on my monitors. I sneak peeks at Craigslist when I think the missus isn't looking. It truly is fun, though, and although my own kids kind of roll their eyes at Dad's old games, their friends think it's great.