RF Generation Message Board

This Saturday the 12th there is going to be another arcade auction at the Michigan State Fairgrounds.  Anybody from the area want to go?  I'm going with 2 people and meeting up with a couple guys from KLOV at the auction.

I'm going to write down all of the prices again, so for those of you that can't go and are interested in how much everything goes for I can post the results.

Keep us informed.  I'd love to be able to go to one of these.

Is there a list of stuff that's going to be up for auction?

No, they never have a list before hand.  All of the stuff is consigned to them the day before and the day of the auction.  I have a spreadsheet that I have been using to track pricing trends for the auctions that come through Detroit, so I have a list of everything they have had at the last 4 auctions or so which should give you a good idea what to expect.  If anybody wants to see it just let me know and I can email you a copy of it.

^Yes. Please email me a copy. Thanks.

Do you recall if they've ever had a Tapper machine? Budweiser...not Root Beer.

I have only seen one Tapper machine at one of these auctions, but it was Rootbeer Tapper and not Bud.  It still went for around $500 I believe.  I'm not sure exactly how much it went for because I didn't write the prices down for that auction  :P

However there was an auction in St. Louis last week that had a Bud Tapper and it went for $1000.  A bit pricey, but I guess it was in perfect condition.

I'm sending the list over to you right now.

I used to go to these when they came to the Columbus, Ohio area, but I have not been in years.  I would love to get back into the coin-op scene... I am curious to see what you report in terms of what prices machines are going for now days...

There is a lot more people that wanted to see the spreadsheet than I originally thought, so I'm just going to attach it here.  A few notes about it though:  If any cell is highlighted that means there were multiple copies of that game at the auction.  I also pulled any game that had major damage or problems (non working monitor, bad cabinet condition, converted cab) into it's own row and lumped machines with similar problems together.  That way the prices of working games in good condition don't get skewed.

Well, the auction is all said and done.  It was a really poor auction this time.  Normally they have easily over 200 games, 50 pinball machines, and countless other items.  This time there was maybe 50 games and only a handful of pins.  Still, I walked away with my two most wanted games for a song:  Ms. Pac-man and Galaga.  I paid 300 and 275 respectivley.

The Ms. Pac-man has the speed up chip installed.  I might take that out, but I'm not sure.  It is in suprisingly good condition since according to the counter it has over 200,000 plays.  The only things that I need work are the side art which will just require a bit of touching up, and the coin mechs which I will probably just completely replace.  They are a bit rusted.  I also think I'm going to throw on a high score pack so I can save the scores.

The Galaga is in much worse shape, but still not too bad.  I'm probably going to replace both of the side arts as well as the kickplate art and the control panel art, the power button doesn't work (it turns on as soon as it is plugged in), the monitor needs the capacitors replaced, and the bottom is starting to fall through.  I'm also going to put in a new marquee because the old one has some scratches in the art.  Also the last guy that had it was an idiot and drilled the power supply into the side of the machine instead of the bottom and the screw broke through the side.  Once I replace the bottom I'm going to have to take care of that.

But as promised, here is the results for the auction.  The first stuff auctioned off went for pretty small amounts, but near the end people got desperate and started putting up higher bids.

Ms Pac-man $300 (Mine!)
Pac Man $225 (After I won the Ms. Pac-man they offered this to me for $200.  Damn I should have taken it  >:()
Galaga $275 (Mine again!)
Ms Pac Man $230
Centipede $125
48-1 $685
Donkey Kong $310
Galaga $360
Gyruss $225
48-1 $635
Ms Pac Man $300
2003 GT $270
Road Riot $225
Area 51 $570
48-1 $610
Ms Pac Man $230
Galaga $350
Donkey Kong $260 (Not working)
Rastan $210
Legendary Wings $285
Pole Position $30 (Not Working)
Neo Geo $40 (Not working)
Bad Dudes $100 (Conversion)
Cyberball $20 (Not working)
All American F $100 (Conversion)
E-Swat $75 (Conversion)
Golden Axe $180
Arkanoid $180 (Kind of beat up)
Combattribes $120
Arkanoid $220
LED Storm $65 (this was in a Gorf cab)
Galaga $275
Hyper Sports $35 (Not working)
Ikari Warriors $120 (No board)
Sky Shark $200 (Conversion)
F1 Dream $35
Revolution X $350
Beast Busters $250
Capcom Bowling $190
Area 51 Site 4 $375 (Missing one gun)
Puzzle Bobble 3 $200
Double Dragon $150 (Had some board issues.  Kept reseting with a bad rom message)
Point Blank $265
Soul Calibur $200
Neo Geo $275
Dance Freaks $275 (Monitor problem)
Tekken $160
Sunset Riders $225
Tekken 2 $100
Confidential Mission $625 (Big Screen)
Point Blank 2 $200 (Showcae cab, missing gun)
X-men $250
Blitz/Showtime $300
Putt Fore Prize $300
Hydro Thunder $600 (Dead monitor)
Final Lap 3 $170
PGA Tour $525
Open Ice $250
Suzuka 8 $200 (Only one side worked)
Crystal Castles $280 (cocktail, didn't work)
Ms Pac Cocktail $380 (cocktail, was completely gutted inside, but did have a monitor)

So as you can see they did have a few good games (I was going to bid on one of the Donkey Kongs but didn't, and I threw in a bid on the Double Dragon, Neo Geo 4 slot and Sunset Riders but they went to high for my taste) but overall pretty disappointing.  I was hoping to pick up a bill changer and a cocktail table but no luck.

Also, for those of you interested, here is a link to the place that does the auctions:  http://www.superauctions.com/.  You can check thier calender to see if the will be near you.  They only have the calender filled out to June 28th though.

Congrats Mike!

Just out of curiousity, what were the conditions on the Centipede and Soul Calibur? At those prices, I may be interested in meeting up with you there next time. You have a truck right? 8)