Among the Chicago Coin Industry press photos, Stern flyers and parts I found this little gem. (see the original post HERE) A two page, photo copied list of Stern production numbers! Stuff like this doesn’t come up too often so this is a great find. Sheds some light on how many games were in production and how long they were being produced. Insert token to continue…
A recent arcade purchase from a former Stern employee turned out to be a small treasure trove of arcade history. I was super excited to find a potentially NOS Stern Frenzy cabinet right from the factory floor! You can see it stuffed into the back of my 4 runner below, or check out the full post about the cabinet HERE. As exciting as that was, the real treasure turned out to be the plastic bin of miscellaneous parts and documentation.
In a Rubbermaid tote full of parts, photos, flyers and documentation, I found an original 8.5″ x 11″ marker rendering mock-up of the 1963 Chicago Coin Las Vegas Shuffle game. The artwork is drawn on vellum and then glued back to back onto a piece of white filler paper to create a double sided flyer. This was probably done in house by the marketing department, or by the person handling the company advertising at the time. The mock up is very similar to the flyer that was eventually produced and gives a rare glimpse at the creative process behind the arcade flyers we love so much. Insert token to continue…
If you were thinking Stern’s Moon War, you were right! Considered by many arcade enthusiasts to have the best game flyer around, Moon War is all about 80′s sexy. Just look at that game! 
While I didn’t find the actual cabinet, I did get these arcade flyers along with a small lot of goodies from a former Stern employee. While many of the flyers, pictures and schematics had water damage I did come away with some interesting stuff.
I was contacted by Terry, a former employee of Stern’s video game division, about some old pictures and a Stern cabinet he had in storage. Could I help him determine the value? Was I interested? Of course! Getting a chance to talk to a former Stern employee and grabbing some arcade history is always of interest to me. Terry told me he saved the stuff from destruction when the division was closing down. Everything was being tossed into dumpsters and he meant everything! Heartbreaking to hear when you’re a die hard arcade collector, and sad to know that all the history and documentation about the company is gone forever. Here’s a glimpse of the small piece he was able to save. Insert token to continue…
#The annual arcade road trip was in jeopardy! Jeff had scored a fantastic new full time job and I was in school trying to finish up my RN degree. It was already October of 2011 and we hadn’t been on the road yet, time was slipping away and with the holidays quickly approaching, I didn’t think we’d pull off a trip this year. Never fear, the bulk deal would save us! Jeff had been working on securing a bulk deal somewhere near the east coast of Georgia, of all places, and was having some trouble. With a little help from our friend Steve, a collector in Georgia, the deal was secured and Jeff ended up with a nice Food Fight. He just had to pick it up or have it shipped. It was then that I remembered the trade offer I got from that same collector. Steve wanted a Tron and I just happened to have a nice working Tron. I wanted a Black Hole pinball and Steve just happened to have a nice working Black Hole pinball. Shipping wasn’t an option for me, so I’d have to drive there to pick it up. It hadn’t made sense before, but for some reason it did now.
What a drive it would be, at just over 17 hours and about 1000 miles one way. Ouch. But now there were two games to pick up and the annual arcade road trip was starting to take shape. I was on winter break from school and Jeff took some vacation time. The trip to Georgia and back again was on!. The idea was to take our time on the way down and visit a few collectors in route. We’d meet up with Steve to grab the games and check out his collection, and then take a few short detours to see collectors on the way back, just to make it interesting. I was excited to squeeze in the trip before the year was up and this time we’d be bringing back some cool games. With the trailer secured I was ready to go. Insert token to continue…
Up for sale is one non-working, but super nice Gottlieb Sinbad pinball machine. As you can see in the pictures below, the backglass is nearly flawless and the playfield while dirty, is in above average condition. There is a large sheet of mylar on the playfield that has protected it well over the years. Cabinet is solid, and I have the original keys. There are some broken plastics, wear on the apron and the game needs shopped. The battery will need to be removed and the slight acid damage (resistors to right of battery) will need to be cleaned up. I have done nothing with this game except vacuum it and bring it into the basement. I have a number of projects and hate to see it just sitting doing nothing. I have the playfield glass as well, it has minor scratching. You can see my original post about the game here. Game is SOLD.
Recently there was some drama on the arcade forums about a “warehouse” raid that was going to happen in Louisville, KY. Brent, a friend of the Operator and an avid arcade collector, was organizing a clean out of this 100,000 square foot, 120 year old school house. The school was closed down in the 1970′s and sometime afterward it was purchased by the Operator who used it primarily as storage for his thriving business. It turned into a bit of a mad house on the forums, but Brent handled the chaos like a pro and everything went smoothly. I planned to head down to check it out with my friend and fellow enthusiast, Jeff Rothe of rotheblog. Luckily, Jeff had organized our purchase from the space long before the sale announcement, so our games were secure. Our primary goal was to secure the games and just check out the space. I loaded up the kids Friday afternoon and headed to Indianapolis for the first leg of the trip, the next morning we would drive up to Louisville for a 9am meeting and planning session with Brent. We were going a little early to help out with the sale, which started at 10am. The trip was about 5hrs and 15min one way. Unless you drive fast
We woke up Saturday morning to some wet snow, but still decided to take Jeff’s mini van instead of my SUV, it had more space. My youngest would stay with Jeff’s family and visit the Indy zoo, while I took my oldest along for the ride. Never too early to infect him with the collecting bug and I hoped he would enjoy the experience. The ride was easy and the school wasn’t that hard to find. It was huge and it was red. Insert token to continue…