This morning on Facebook one of my friends forwarded me the link to a news story on MSN.com. The story is about video games as financial investments, and references the current auction of an Air Raid cartridge which is currently selling for $20,000. I wrote a bit about the last Air Raid cart found, which sold for $36k. That’s not really the story here. When I clicked on the link, I saw something familiar — a picture of my old game room! Here is a link to the article. It’s always surprising to see a picture of the inside of… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on July 31st, 2012 in Arcades/Arcade GamesThis weekend, Morgan and I attended a birthday party at Celebration Station which, if you’ve not been or don’t have one near you, is essentially a Chuck E. Cheese clone. They have pizza, arcade games, lots of outdoor activities, and animatronic … dogs. (Not my video.) Below are a few pictures I snapped at the party. Down the left-hand side of the arcade sat all the racing games, lined up and ready to go. And here are some of the shooting games. Upstairs, tucked away in the corner, were three pinball machines. The middle one was turned off, but I… (read more)
This weekend marked the 9th annual Oklahoma Video Game Expo (OVGE) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I attended the first show in 2003 as a spectator, but have participated as a presenter (almost) every year since then. Along for the ride this year were my friends Robb and Steve, who I previously mentioned flew in from Colorado and New York (respectively) to attend the show. Robb Sherwin is, among other things, the author of the award winning interactive fiction game Cryptozookeeper. Steve and Robb have known each other since the BBS days. Photo by Brandon Staggs Since our local NBA team (the… (read more)
The 9th Annual (wow!) Oklahoma Video Game Expo (OVGE) will take place this Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As always, I and some friends will have a table set up and once again the entire hall will be filled with people buying, selling, and playing video games. At my table this year, I will be joined by two friends: award-winning Interactive Fiction author Robb “Ice Cream Jonsey” Sherwin, and the creator of the infamous remote controlled phone video, Steve “Aardvark” Davis. Additionally, I will be sharing a bit of table space with Charles “Ubikuberalles” Pearson, who will be showing off some… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on April 5th, 2012 in Arcades/Arcade Games, PodcastEpisode 114 of You Don’t Know Flack is all about Arcade Auctions. In this episode I talk about my experiences of buying arcade games at auctions. I share some tips and tricks of the trade, including what to bring, what to look for, and what to expect. I have been attending arcade auctions for almost 20 years, and have purchased around 70 arcade games from auctions during that time. At You Don’t Know Flack you can download the podcast in mp3 format, or stream it directly from the site. There’s an RSS feed available, if you track your updates that… (read more)
This is going to sound stupid, but nothing makes me feel cooler than hauling arcade games around on the back of my truck. So many collectors never get to show off their collections to outsiders — and when they do, typically it’s done online. Seeing pictures of someone’s collection can be kind of neat, seeing an item in real life is much cooler, in my opinion. I’ve never been hunting so I don’t really know what it’s like to take down a big animal or anything, but … I don’t know, I have this visual image of a caveman returning… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on February 5th, 2012 in Arcades/Arcade GamesThe single most frustrating part of collecting arcade games has been the amount of maintenance it takes to keep them running. As a kid I had no idea how much time and effort was spent in keeping these machines running — then again back then when these machines were new, I suspect they weren’t quite so fragile. Sometimes it’s the cold of winter that does them in; sometimes, the heat of summer. Moving them always makes me nervous. I can’t tell you how many machines I’ve bought in working condition in other states, only to have them arrive in Oklahoma,… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 15th, 2012 in Arcades/Arcade GamesAfter spinning my wheels for the past several weeks, yesterday I sold five arcade games … and the funny part was, three of them didn’t even work. One of the most important parts of sales and marketing is knowing your audience, and that’s something I’m definitely encountering in my efforts to sell these machines. There are lots of reasons why people buy arcade games. Most regular people might think that the only reason to buy an arcade machine would be to play it, but there are actually several other reasons. Sometimes, arcade enthusiasts will buy a machine just for the… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on December 20th, 2011 in Arcades/Arcade GamesOkay, I’ll admit it; yesterday’s post was a little depressing. I wrote it after moving 18 arcade games and coming to the realization that I simply don’t have the space or time to continue this hobby. It’s one thing to say it; it’s another thing to hear it from your aching back. What I neglected to share with you all were all the good times I had with my arcade. Here are a few of those. When we bought the house in 2002, what became known as “the arcade” was simply a shed. The previous home owner did woodworking as… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on December 19th, 2011 in Arcades/Arcade GamesThis really shouldn’t feel like an eviction, but for some reason it does. Last Monday I spent from dawn ’til dusk clearing out the last items remaining of our old home: the arcade. For those of you who haven’t seen it before, in better days it looked like this: The “arcade” is really a shed that was already on the property when we purchased it. The actual number of machines inside fluctuated over time, but for most of 2011 it was home to 25 machines. I had another 3 in the garage that never made it out to the arcade… (read more)
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