Here are some of the adventures my friend Bill and I have gone on to some of the operators and dealers in the Minneapolis area - pictorially assisted by my trusty digital camera. Before you ask, I think most of these games are not for sale or are gone already - if they WERE for sale we would have bought them. :)

I've got lots of pictures from the different arcade or coin-op events or stores we've visited, and some textual descriptions and maybe even some interesting stories. I hope you find them insightful into the arcade collecting hobby, or at least just fun to look at.

Two Amateurs

Bill brought his Donkey Kong cocktail over to see if we could fix it...

Pic 18 - A happy Bill with his first arcade game...a converted Donkey Kong

Pic 19 - The tabletop of Bill's cocktail

Pic 20 - Trying to debug Bill's "Donkey Kong" board

Pic 21 - What finally displayed from the "Donkey Kong" board "Eight Ball Magic"

Pic 22 - The play screen of "Eight Ball Magic"

Pic 23 - Inside the Donkey Kong cocktail

Hidden Treasure

This was our first real visit to a place that sold arcade games, although Bill had been here before (he bought his Donkey Kong cocktail there) and I had been to a different arcade/slot machine/pinball store before previously. We went to a pinball and jukebox store that had some arcade stuff stashed away in the back. Dealing with this guy was weird - half the time it seemed he wanted us to leave, and alternately he didn't care. His wife ended up selling us a couple of machines in his absence (but not without calling him) although it seemed she just did it to get us to leave...

Lesson One - What they say in the arcade collecting FAQ is true. Operators and dealers hate collectors. If you get in once, buy everything you can, because you won't get in again. I really thought that was just a few exceptions, but it really is the rule.

Pic 1 - The basement of the store, showing Joust, Ms Pac, Asteroids, and a converted mini-pac. There was so much more, including lots of pinball stuff, stuff we couldn't get a clear shot at, and in the corner a couple of Midway cocktails in mint condition. Super Pac, Pac Man, Ms Pac Man, etc. He wouldn't let us touch 'em :) He was getting $1000 a pop for them, so I could understand why.

Pic 2 - This guy had a room literally stuffed with cabarets. *sigh* Ms Pacs, Centipedes, Arkanoid...I think these were either his personal collection or games he rented out to private parties and such. He was adamantly against selling them for any price. Oh, the agony...

Pic 3 - The Cabaret Room - Mr. Do, couple Centipedes, Ms Pacs.

Pic 4 - The Cabaret Room - Ms Pacs, Centipede, a Gorf cabaret...

Pic 5 - The Cabaret Room - Closeup of a nice Cabaret Centipede

Pic 6 - Cabaret Choplifter? I think this was a conversion. I hate to believe it, but I think it was converted from a cabaret Pac Man.

Pic 7 - Upstairs Room - A perfect Galaxian. He wanted way too much for it, or I would have bought it. This is still on my 'gotta have' list.

Pic 8 - Upstairs Room - The Galaxian again. Boy, what beautiful art...

Pic 9 - Upstairs Room - Ms Pacs, Asteroids...we were starting to get ill from disappointment and heartbreak.

Pic 10 - Upstairs Room - Robotron, Star Wars...we didn't even bother asking. :)

Pic 11 - Upstairs Room - Nintendo VS Tabletop. This one was actually for sale, one of the ones Bill had seen on his earlier visit. I ended up buying it for $50...but it was more like $150 after we got it down the stairs. Still, it's a cool game, and now that I've got tons of VS stuff, rather useful. Ugly as all hell, but useful! AKA "Red Tent"

Pic 12 - Upstairs Room II - A perfect Wizard of Wor! WOW (pun intended) I had never seen one of these before, but I think it was one of the older and rarer games there. I kinda wanted it but it didn't look like it worked...

Pic 12A - Upstairs Room II - Wizard of Wor again

Pic 13 - Upstairs Room II - Willis artwork on a Ms Pac. It was interesting to see this for once...hated it.

Home, Triumphant

Getting our purchases down the stairs and into Bill's truck was a real exercise and learning experience. We ended up buying four games for $50 each, the Nintendo VS cocktail (Red Tent), Rush'N Attack cocktail, Astro Fighter cocktail, and Vigilante upright. These were all upstairs and had to be moved one by one. For $50 each, we didn't get any help..until we were done, of course, when the guy brought in a refrigerator dolly to help...Thanks.

The VS cocktail was the hardest, because it probably weighs close to 350 pounds. It does have two monitors and an all-steel construction, after all. Not only the weight, but it is extremely unwieldy, and trying to figure out how to move it down the stairs without killing one of us was difficult. The Rush'N Attack cocktail was extremely heavy as well, but the Astro Fighter and Vigilante were not so bad.

Once we got them down and paid for them, we started loading them. Another half hour of backbreaking work (we were new to this) and we had two loaded, drove them back to Bill's place, and came back for the other two. When all was done, we set them up in his garage and took a breather. I had decided to leave my games at Bill's until I could come back with a rental truck (the adventures of which I will tell about in another place).

Pic 14 - Bill's Garage - The Red Games. The standup is the Vigilante, and is an old converted Taito cabinet. Bill later stripped it and found it was an old Frontline cabinet. Upon setting it up and starting it, we found there was no picture. A while later Bill went back and talked to the guy, and found out he was missing some rather important parts. He got them replaced for free, fortunately, and got the thing up and working with no problems.

You can barely see the Rush'N Attack cocktail behind it, and across from it is the Red Tent. It didn't work either. The Rush'N Attack was the only one that actually worked at the time.

Pic 15 - Bill's Garage - Three nice cocktails lined up. Left to right - Rush'N Attack, Donkey Kong, Astro Fighter. The Donkey Kong and Astro Fighter cocktails were very nice, and light as well. Rush'N Attack was a beast, but at least it played.

Pic 16 - Rush'N Attack - Mysterious coin mechanism...do you know what kind of cabinet this was originally? Email me and let me know.

Pic 16A - Rush'N Attack - This used to be a Taito cocktail of some sort, although I wish I knew what game. When I finally got this thing home I had to spend three hours with my arm crammed inside the coinbox opening trying to undo the lock, because I had no drill with which to drill the lock and I didn't get a key with the game. I think a drill would have been a better investment.

Pic 17 - Astro Fighter - Neat logo that lit up when we powered it up. The game didn't work though. Bill found out later it was a bad power supply and fixed it himself no problem.

In one adventure we went to Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport because I had memories of lots of classic games hanging out there in the arcade and in the halls. It makes sense - lots of people to play them while waiting for flights. Paaaathetic. What did we find? Nothing but vending machines and broken down and neglected old Ms. Pac Mans.

Pic 24 - Bill plays Ms. Pac Man. Of course, I think he kicked my butt...:)