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Operator's Warehouse - List of Questions
When you guys meet up with current / old operators to look at what they have, what are the questions you ask? I always feel like I am missing something, like I leave without asking something I should have.
I usually get a lot of photos, and a fairly good idea, if not a list of what they have within reason (not wasting more of their time if they aren't willing to give it). I also then ask about artwork, either unused conversion stuff or bezels, marquees, etc. and what PCBs, monitors, etc that they have.
What other things might I ask that might turn up interesting / valuable items? What has worked for you?
I usually get a lot of photos, and a fairly good idea, if not a list of what they have within reason (not wasting more of their time if they aren't willing to give it). I also then ask about artwork, either unused conversion stuff or bezels, marquees, etc. and what PCBs, monitors, etc that they have.
What other things might I ask that might turn up interesting / valuable items? What has worked for you?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Shane on -
I guess i dont usually ask alot of questions. generaly, i know what games iam looking for. And most of the time as long as there some what complete and working, anything else can be fixed. There will be at least three questions i will ask.
1. Are there keys ???
2. IS THIS A CONVERSION? (Unless i dont know right away as i previously found out on a recent purchase)
3. Whats not working ?
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Permalink Reply by neondr on -
I have only ran into a couple small ones. My best question was "Where is you're junk room" and it depends on if you're buying 5 games or 25. Mine have been only 5 to 6 machines. The last one was only 4 games left over after an auction but when i asked him about other junk he gave me the key to a storage unit which had boxes and boxes of boards, control panels, and monitor parts. And about 5 empty cabinets and 6 pins. I thought i would go nuts going thru that stuff.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Rothe on -
@neondr
Good tip on the 'junk room' question. If that is something they understand, that is not a question I would have thought to ask, I would have just thought to ask if you have any extra boards. But they would probably consider that a junk room for sure...
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Permalink Reply by hasenfang on -
I've only met up with one operator, and man was this guy a douche!! I went to his storage locker(s) and had had some vintage games, I inquired about things on my list and he basically wouldn't give me a straight answer.
Example:
Q.>Do you have a tron? If so how much are you asking for it?
A.>Yeah I think I have one in here, its behind these games, and I'm probably looking to get at least $600 for it.
Q.>Ok, can I take a look at it?
A.>Its behind these other games here.
Basically it went on and on like this for about 30 mintues or so. A friend of mine is building a MAME cabinet and wanted to look at some of the empties this guy had.
The operator then took us back to his office/store front where he had really badly hacked up games that he had been throwing the 48-1 boards in and printing out the marquees and what not on his bubble jet printer. It wasn't a good bubble jet and it wasn't a good job. Over all the guy was a complete tool, and lists his stuff on the chicago craigslist all the time. Maybe, someone will have better luck than my friend and I, but I doubt it.
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Permalink Reply by Bensonrad on -
Must admit I have always been quite shy of talking to the staff in arcades as they usually look quite unapprochable, here in the UK the last arcade I went to (packed full of retro games) half the games were not working, the chap spotted me trying to get a game to coin up and came over, so we had a good 20min chat about the games in the arcade, he asked me if I had a van with me, I probably could have scored some stuff there and then. But as I was on holiday and my wife was waiting for me, he took my details and said he would call back with prices. Alas he never did. Its probably all still there anyhow, I'll just have to see next time round.
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Permalink Reply by Flack on -
My personal theory/approach is that operators are all about making money, and any time they waste on talking to you (me) is time they are not making money. Therefore, when I deal with operators (which admittedly I've only done twice) I take the approach of "get in, get out." I've also learned that operators are like sharks who can smell blood. The minute you mention a specific game is the minute that game becomes rare and the price doubles. I've done better buying a lot of games and later selling the ones I didn't want. One time I met a guy who was trying to sell five games. Initially he was asking $400 for one of the games, and by the time everything was said and done I paid $500 for all five.
If I ask any questions at all, I usually ask like "so, how much rent are you paying on all these machines that aren't working," and "isn't it crazy that these old games aren't worth anything anymore?" Things like that to try and get the prices down, haha. :)
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Permalink Reply by Rrcade on -
Every time someone new gets into this hobby one thing they eventually do is look in the Phone book for Amusement/vending thinking they are going to stumble upon some secret stash of games from years ago that nobody else has ever thought about. Well everyone has and the operators know your KIND and if they have the patience they'll listen to all your dumb questions and try to sell you something for twice it's value. If you find an op that will give you the time of day, don't go in asking questions-that only raises prices. The only way you're gonna get a deal is Bulk so get a bunch of buddies together-pool your money-rent a uhaul and clean up.
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Permalink Reply by SaraAB87 on -
It really depends on who your dealing with. Most of these guys probably don't want to be dealing with you (unless you are there to do them a favor), and since they have worked on games for a long time, they probably don't want to talk about games. I wouldn't go chatting for 20 min about your favorite game. It might be ok to do that with the arcade staff, but I wouldn't do it with the person you are buying from, unless you intend to annoy them further. Rarely will you be able to get directly to the OP if your talking to people in an arcade. It could even take several years to get to them, and if its a big corporation you might as well forget about it because usually their policy is to put trash into the dumpster. Usually in your average arcade provided it is staffed the staff changes often so even if you manage to make friends with one person they might be gone before you can actually get their help, then you have to start over again. Sometimes the staff might not even be able to help you, or they might just not care and tell you to go away (you have to keep in mind that the staff of these places today will be your average teenage cellphone junkie who would rather be texting than at work). In larger umm.. buildings, yeah the staff might not even know the head honcho of the arcade games, so in that case they wouldn't be able to help you much, you would have to go rooting for the guy yourself. If you were to find the OP quickly, or the person in charge that would be rare. It really can take years to root these people out in some cases. But it depends on what kind of place your dealing with as well.
I have seen both types of arcades, the one that will take years to find even a single staff member in, and the one where the sole owner is the guy at the counter. The latter is very uncommon though, but its not impossible to find.
I am not sure about the notion of ops being able to smell a collector. You probably should treat it as if you are at a carnival though, they can be sharks, but there are some out there that really do not know that there are people interested in collecting arcade games. These people will get harder and harder to find as time passes.
I agree with not mentioning specific games, definitely don't take a list. If you have found an OP or the head honcho of some arcade and have gotten him or her to agree to meet you for a potential sale, you should probably be prepared to buy what they have to offer, and if the price is outrageous or the games are water damaged and beat to crap turn down the whole lot. If you turn them down though you likely will not be able to come back to this person again and this could have other effects as well. If you mention a specific game, he will know that you want it then he will try to corner you and raise the price, simply because he knows you want it. The market for these games isn't that large and the OP knows he has a stake in the local market because its expensive and is a pain to ship these things. Its not like a console game that you can go on ebay and get for 10$ shipped to your house. There might be a great difference in an OP's price and the going ebay rate including shipping to you from wherever your desired game is located, this is why you want to try to play it very cool with the OP. Don't tell them that you are "collecting" games because the word collectible = $$$ in some people's eyes. Of course these tips could apply to just about any type of collectible as well.
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Permalink Reply by Kris on -
It depends on how many I am buying. My main thing is to make sure they are complete, other than that, I don't care if they work or not, although some ops I've delt with test everything. Sometimes you can get a better deal with an AS IS sale, but you are taking a gamble.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Rothe on
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@Sara....
I heard something interesting today, that didn't really dawn on me. I kept thinking of ops as business men, and they don't see the games as anything but a money maker.....this I knew. But I thought, if they are in business, they would know, purchase capital, use it for a productive lifespan, and then sell after 6-10 years after depreciation of tax writeoffs is gone and you can still get some money back.
But a tech said to me, "you are forgetting that most of these guys have made their money back plus plus on most of these games, and they really aren't worth anything to them at that point". Still would be more logical above if they were more corporate minded....but I didn't think of that.
Kind of like your point about going in the dumpster....
But agreed, I wouldn't indicate that there is any one game that is of interest, if you are desiring a bulk buy. Otherwise, mention away if you have nothing to lose. But I have heard too many stories of 'ops', finding out what you want and making calls, or hitting ebay to price them out and try to get you a bunch of money.
@Kris...this thread was really more about what questions to ask an op, and how to think like them when you encounter one...not what games you'd take.
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Permalink Reply by SaraAB87 on
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Usually the games that get thrown in the trash are too far gone to even do anything with, or have major damage that cannot be repaired easily, from what I have seen. Or the person operating the games needs the parts from one game to fix another. Sometimes you just have to sacrifice something. Yes I realize that a collector who wants a machine very badly will do anything to repair it and I have seen instances where people have taken a cab in very bad condition and restored it. But when a machine is to the point where it can no longer be used in an arcade then its headed for the trash. The budget for buying new games these days for arcades is slim to none, so I seem to be seeing a lot of arcades operating what they have until the machine's death. Over here we have guys who are still operating games from the 1980's, so obviously they are operating them way past their useful life of 6-10 years because its much cheaper to operate what you have when its already paid for itself many times over.
I was mainly referring to places like Chuck E Cheese and large corporation arcades like those when I was talking about games being thrown out. Its a known fact that CEC throws out games, however what they throw out is beyond salvageable. Just think about how much those games are beat on by kids when in the arcade. I have talked to people who have worked at CEC and some who have worked there recently, they don't throw out perfectly working games, they throw out broken stuff like every other arcade does. Again with the big, new games CEC is purchasing, they really can't afford to throw out whole working games and purchase a whole new set of games.
Its completely logical that an op doesn't want anything to do with his former games stash. Think about how much money those games made in the past for them. Now if he is paying rent on a building to keep these games in, or if he is keeping them in a back room or a warehouse that is rapidly growing full with no more room, you might have a chance to get some games off him. If your considering a bulk buy and you can get rid of this guy's rent payments on a building, then they might have some interest in dealing with you. Again there are a variety of situations here you could play on, but you basically have to convince the guy you are helping him out or doing something for him.
I hear a lot of stories too of the guy who goes into an Op's warehouse only to get quoted ebay prices or higher later on when he returns to buy the games. I think we are all trying to prevent that from happening here. If there are good deals out there I see no harm in letting the collector get a cheap game for their collection. Seriously though these Ops are NOT INTERNET SAVVY. I have never met one who was in person. They could make calls though to their savvy friends. Chances are 90% that they have never touched ebay themselves. I have never successfully been able to get an OP or a tech or anyone significant that worked at an arcade to converse with me live in person about things that happen on the internet, youtube or anything else related. They just don't know what any of it is. If you want to talk to an Op about something try talking to them about which of their games make money for them, they will talk about that!
When you are talking about ebay and this goes for pretty much any item out there, there are VERY few people who truly know the ebay value of their items. A lot of people just pull figures from the air and say its worth this much on ebay to get you to overpay for the item. You should never trust anyone who says "this item is worth x on ebay" unless you really know the person and you know that they know their stuff, for this reason. This goes for Op's warehouses, yard sales, fleamarkets, thrifts etc...
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