It was a long day for me. As always, at auctions I kinda have A.D.D....like I do when I host a party...I'll find myself get an idea to go check something out or say hi to someone, and then get sidetracked and run into someone else and start talking to them...and then I remember my initial plan...and I sometimes simply just walk away from whoever I'm talking to! So, sorry if I have done this to anyone! You have to understand the mind of Batman is always multi tasking.
Also like at a party, I never seem to chat to everyone for very long, just try to chat a little bit with everyone. I think I saw most everyone, just a few people I missed: Charlie L... apparently you're not large enough or THAT easy to spot since I somehow managed to miss you; Steve/ Militia Man... I was chatting with Doug Titus and on the way to say hi to you...and got sidetracked and that was that. Will have to just meet you next time! If Ken/ megaslacker was there I totally missed you, nobody mentioned they saw you and I certainly forgot to look for you. And...Jack/ Robin? WTF??? You're SUPPOSED to be at my side at these crimefighting things, or at least two steps behind me, like that sweet Def Leppard ballad. I shoulda just left you in the circus all those years ago, you little brat.
On to the games...I wasn't TOO shocked by the pins, prices seemed alright, no big steals. The IJ4 that ended up at $3,200 after fees...so? That seems about right for that pin. I was a little surprised/ saddened by the low price the Mousin Around got since I love mine, but it was pointed out that the one at the auction wasn't working/ booting OR in as nice as condition as the one I sold, and nowhere near the one I have still. But I still love the game so always surprised it gets no love. The 2 Gottlieb pins I was surprised anyone mildly interested didn't pick them up, I thought Hollywood Heat looked the nicer of the 2, but for $50 that's ridiculous. Hell, I threw a manual in there for free, which apparently could be worth about 1/3 of what the game sold for. But also pointed out it had a few issues and needed a ramp that was missing...so who knows. Even dirt cheap they didn't interest me. I looked at the Simpsons DE pin and thought it looked nice, and I think I actually like that one more than TSPP... but still don't like Simpsons so not interested in that anyway, but thought it went for a cheap price. I thought the Captain Fantastic looked...well, fantastic and a nice restore. Not PERFECT, but very nice nonetheless. But still not enough interest in that either, or the EM's. The end of the pin row was disappointing since there was a stretch of about 4-5 pins that didn't boot up for whatever reasons, and not even playfield glasses on them. I won't mention the Kiss too much, other than you can't just paint over a turd (and leave the masking tape still on there!). Still a POS that was very worn. A pin in that condition was no WAY gonna have a mint BG on it that would have sold for $1,500, and sure as hell not at an auction either. I'll call the BS card on that one also.
With the vids, the only thing that interested my old school ass was the working Tempest. It was nice to at least play a few games on a dedicated machine. I never played it much when I was younger, not sure if it's because it was too challenging (which I definitely WANT that kind of game now), or just didn't like it. I was thinking maybe it would make me dizzy if I played it too much, since I get motion sickness going around and around in circles. Anyway, I re-discover that Jocko has great taste in games, seems to be the same taste in me as we both share a few similar games: Defender, Black Hole...and... OK, well it seems that's it but we were both thinking about the Tempest I guess. Glad we didn't start bidding against each other. I figured I'd win it by bidding maybe something crazy like $300, maybe even a little more since it worked nicely and looked very good with only a few minor issues. So...$300 whizzed by real fast. I think this was the biggest shock of the day, that it sold for $675...PLUS the fees. So, $800+ for a Tempest? Who's smoking what? Jeez, that' REALLY a bit out of whack IMO... but I haven't priced or been searching for Tempests so who knows what they normally go for. There was one a month ago with some monitor issues that sold for $400. This was really the only game I saw that I had interest in and that I thought might fit into my lineup, but not to be. Not a big deal, I'm retired and out of space anyway. After that auction (which was about 15 minutes after I got there), my bidding was over for the day so just tried to relax and hang out with everyone as much as I could.
Overall, it seems there was typically a lot of stuff that went higher than it should have for some reason, I thought the nicer pins were a little high also but that's just probably because I had no interest in them and would pay those prices for them. The ONLY pin I think I played was by far the nicest one at the auction, which was Curly's / soon to be mine No Fear. Very nice looking and playing pin! The other ones I've played were in piss poor condition so it was nice to play a nice one.
But...by FAR the biggest surprise and shock of the day that trumped ANY of the game sales was the fact that Spanks got there!!!! You guys thought MY adventures were insane, nobody can top Spanks. I bow my cowl to you.
