John's Arcade Forum - Classic Arcade and Pinball Collecting and Restoring Discussion Forum - RETRO MAME - Nintendo Vs Forum

Hi everyone,

Being new to our hobby, I was wondering how you felt about arcade auctions and if there are any tips I should know before walking into one.

My wife has giving me the okay to get another cabinet and there is a place that does arcade auctions every weekend less than a hour away. I thought it would be cool to check one out and maybe score a nice deal. Will I be able to inspect and play the games? Or will I just be taking a gamble and hope the game works or not?

I appreciate your input and thanks so much!  ;D

I have never personally gone to one but have friends who have. I know a lot of times it is a bust but I know gutta who got lucky on deals. Pins tend to go for a lot and usually vids can be had for a deal.

You should be able to inspect the games beforehand. Not sure about power.

I guess just go into with open eyes and be careful.

Thanks for the advice John. I'm going to get there a couple of hours early to preview what pins and cabinets they are selling. Hopefully they will let me look at the insides of the games. I was reading a book called Trading Spaces about arcade game collecting and read about a guy buying a cabinet for quite a bit during a auction. When he started to load it into the truck, he found out the cabinet was completely empty. That's a bad day.

This newbie will try to be as careful as I can. Hopefully I will not make the same mistakes and find a couple of jems in the few hundred games they are selling. I'll let you know.