recent container from closed arcade in north wales?

[cooldan]

hi pinfreeks,



i saw Martin the delivery man today

and he was talking about going to see a containerload from a closed arcade on a ship in North Wales last week - he talked about dozens, scores, hundreds even of old games in various conditions, some of which suffered from damage by the elements or gypsies, but some of which were looking nice. i think he said there were 126 or 128 games?



i tried to find it where he sent me, on ukvac.com, but didn't find it. anyone got a link, i can use for a starting point?

 

[Rav]

Container? Heheh - firstly original thread is herelink is http://www.ukvac.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=330452&title=the-duke-of-lancaster (have to register to read)....



The "container" is actually a Ship called the Duke of Lancaster...





Basically back in 2009 I was made aware of the fact that this ship had been birthed in 1979, originally as a way to trade on Sundays by getting past the ddraconian ruling that ships could trade on the sabbath. Afterwards it became "The Fun Ship"



Basically a theme park and day out place.

We also found out that people had broken in and had seen arcade machines on it - so the hunt was on!

Back in Feb last year, Myself Oll [Alpha1] and Andy Welcburn [P-man / andysarcade.net] managed to get the chance to check it out and explore the ship, see the arcades....





..and we found some 156 machines - 30 or so Fruits, 5 or 6 Pinballs and the rest videos ...









We also got to explore the whole ship - thats another story in itself!!!!



Well, after much negociating and a consortium of ukvac colleagues, we organised a bulk buyout of all the machines. So last Saturday we turned up in vans, some of us from europe with our vans, a crane, and everything was removed... here we all are:



(Well not me - Im lying on the floor taking the picture!)







Cutting to the chase, I came back with two videos and the majority of the pinballs...



Williams Time Warp:





Bally Nitro Ground Shaker:





Harlem Globe Trotter:





I also got a pretty wrecked Supersonic too probably for spares, part-out etc:





There was also a Tri-Zone (playfield in background) in bits:





Lastly there was a Dolly Parton (sorry dont have that great pictures of it):





And there we have it at a basic level!!! Obviously theres far more story details over at the ukvac.com forum I run

http://www.ukvac.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=330452&PN=1&title=the-duke-of-lancaster



Plus an Epic tale from our European partners going on here:

http://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=3346.0



I believe theres a thread on jammaplus too but I'm not like round those parts :>

With luck the pins I had will be at the slam - none work, all have 30 yer old battery damage for a starter!!! Harlem looks well Pretty - jeres it after a 5 minute clean:

 

[Rav]

Tonnes more pictures available (plus pics of the visits to secure the deal and tour of the boat!!!) are now online at:



http://www.ukvac.com/gallery



Enjoy!

 

[Paul]

Rav,



Dont spose there were any proper one arm bandits there that anyone wants to rid, was there???



Paul

 

[Rav]

The two that were on there werent the best... plus it was a bulk purchase on the fruits - I'll enquire what theyre gonna do with them if you like

 

[Paul]

Just looked at all the Pics - Wow - would have loved to be there just for the buzz!!!

 

[Paul]

The two that were on there werent the best... plus it was a bulk purchase on the fruits - I'll enquire what theyre gonna do with them if you like

If ya could that would be smashing

Cheers

 

[Rus121]

Awesome story. Why cant i find places like that?...

 

[cooldan]

great story and pics Rav - only quibble is that it wasn't Frodo who knocked the thing in the well, it was Pippin:



While the others were doing their best to silence Gimli and calm down the frantic Legolas, young Pippin made an interesting discovery: he found an old and gnawed dwarven skeleton lying atop an old well. Showing wisdom beyond his years, Pippin deducted that the horrid corpse must be the reason for the Dwarf's agony. Willing to make things better again, he gave the figure a push, and the skeleton fell into the well, dragging a set of steel chains with it. In a way, Pippin's goal was now accomplished: even Gimli was silenced by the noise that echoed through the hall.

 

[teachp8]

What an amazing tale! Thanks for sharing all that and for the pics.

 

[cooldan]

I've been looking through all the pictures and have to agree that this sounds like a wild adventure, even without all the treasure. Exploring the bowels of a pitch black nightclub underwater in a rusting ship musta put the willies up you, especially when the ghosts started banging.



As a video game man, Rav, and an arcade owner yourself, I expect it was like landing in Oz for the first time - I dunno what I'm looking at and don't recognise most of them, were there any rarities discovered? What IS a valuable sought after video game title, what's the popular MM equivalent or the valuable BBB?



If I had to guess, I'd take a stab at the pristine looking space invaders being the cherry on the icing, am I right?

 

[Rav]

Yeah, really was the most extraordinary day of my life - the whole wandering around that ship was awesome : one of my unsung passions is level designing for FPS games, particularly half life 2. This was a veritable treasure trove of textures, retro looks plus of course ever classics like port hole windows and stuff. Seeing places like the disco which was only alleged and not seen for decades was pretty cool - and yeah when that bulkhead slammed we all looked each other like we were in the Blair witch project!



Yes, the thrill is always about seeking out, discovering any stashes and getting them to rightful new owners

and this here video man came back with 2 vids and 4 pins hehehe! The exercise was of saving this unique picture of British arcade machines from a distinct cutoff of 1983, and witnessing such a unusual collection was awesome! This was never going to be a eBay venture that's for sure....



Videos don't really get to the heights of the pin prices that often, but I've paid a MM/BBB equivalent before - that being my Williams Blaster cab - we think 1 of 2!!



I can tell you your TAF/TZ equivalent has to be Defender, Star Wars - firm other faces are Robotron, PAC-man, GAlaxians etc. But people will always want a Tempest, Galaga etc...



Allot of the collectors were in it for the same as collectors of pins would be - I've already heard half a dozen "Omg! Never played a nitro ground shaker before" for instance, and indeed some of the vid collectors are drooling at Bootlegs like Missile Storm (suspected Missile Command), Star Fighter (presumed Astro Fighter) or Sidam Explorer best guessed as Scramble....



I'd say that what would any of the collectors loved to have bagged from this assortment? Well you've the obvious titles like Asteroids, Space Invaders and GAlaxians. Highest individual machine was the Missile Command I Think from memory followed by one of mine - Tailgunner - only 9 registered in existence! That must make it a vaguely BBB but not with the price paid - possibly! Tho I just want to see and play a real one more importantly!



...and yet I know people are made up and chose stuff I wouldn't have looked twice at such as the Star Hawks - heh, even the kiddie ride found a new owner and the roulette table has gone to save another one in an penny arcade still open!



Hmm.... I think I'm going to have to muse on pin to vid equivalents more hehe

At the end of the day we think we did a good job literally saving these machines from a sinking ship to people who will try to breathe life back into them!

 

[Bad Cat]

Awesome Rav, wish I could have been there. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ronsplooter]

What a cool arcade, thanks for sharing Rav

As a man who knows a fair bit about vids, you might be able to answer a question for me. I've always wanted a deluxe sitdown Outrun machine, do these come up for sale very often and what sort of prices do they go for?

 

[I TiltAlot]

I've travelled past that rusting hulk of a ship dozens of times on the train to Bangor and Holyhead - without realising that treasure trove of pins and vids was hidden away on board.



Looking forward to seeing, and possibly playing some of those pins you managed to save at the Slam, I haven't played a Time Warp or Nitro Ground Shaker since the early 1980s.



I remember playing the Tailgunner video game a lot as well, wasn't that one with vector graphics like Asteroids?



Thanks for sharing the tale Rav, and for taking the time and trouble to save those games for everyone to enjoy in the future.

 

[Alpha1]

What a cool arcade, thanks for sharing Rav

As a man who knows a fair bit about vids, you might be able to answer a question for me. I've always wanted a deluxe sitdown Outrun machine, do these come up for sale very often and what sort of prices do they go for?

Hi,



If you are lucky and find one in an arcade expect to pay £200ish. If from a collector - £500 up to £1500 now for a restored MINTY one.

 

[Alpha1]

I've travelled past that rusting hulk of a ship dozens of times on the train to Bangor and Holyhead - without realising that treasure trove of pins and vids was hidden away on board.



Looking forward to seeing, and possibly playing some of those pins you managed to save at the Slam, I haven't played a Time Warp or Nitro Ground Shaker since the early 1980s.



I remember playing the Tailgunner video game a lot as well, wasn't that one with vector graphics like Asteroids?



Thanks for sharing the tale Rav, and for taking the time and trouble to save those games for everyone to enjoy in the future.

Yeah Tailgunner is a fairly rare and oddball Cinematronics vector game. The cockpit is especially rare.