Winston-Salem, NC Auction Results (2010)
February 6, 2010
I figured that this auction would be pretty small. Just a week after a major ice/snow storm and with a threat of more weather hanging over NC, I thought the crowds would stay away. That was true...but the consigners stayed away, too--so the choices were limited. I didn't bother to stay for the pins this time...everything that mildly interested me (the nice Baby Pac-Man and the Chexx Hockey) were both in the first row. So I split at around noon.
Aside from those two items, the most interesting (nay, fascinating) thing there for me was a stand-up cocktail Pengo. I didn't even know there WAS such a thing, and it looked original. If it weren't for the fact that I already have a Pengo (and a multi-game that also plays Pengo) I might have bought it. It had some board issues, but it went for a mere $50!
Video Game Prices
April 10, 2010
The difference size- and attendance-wise between this auction and the one in February was amazing. This one was easily one of the biggest I've seen in years. Not a huge number of pinball machines (I've seen way more), but tons of video games with lots of classics to choose from. I had plans later in the evening so I only stayed for the first row, but even there tons of classics went on the block.
It was a buyer's market on Ms. Pac-Man (tons of them in varying states of repair), but there were some uncommon things as well. You hardly ever see Make Trax put in an appearance but there were two there (only one in the first row). There was also a cocktail Defender, which is something you rarely see. (I put in a lackluster bid on that one...it went cheap but I didn't want it that badly. A really nice Q*Bert rounded out the less-common list. Definitely some good deals to be had...although prices were really all over the place, with some good stuff going low and some non-working stuff going for nearly as much as identical working models sitting three games away. There were also some multi-games that went for pretty low prices.
Video Game Prices
June 5, 2010
The Winston-Salem auctions seem to be fluctuating between really big and really small here lately. This one was small. So small, in fact that even though I stayed until the last machine was auctioned, I was still out of there by 4:00 PM.
There were a few decent classic video games there this time around. There were also a number of really bad conversions--a Tron cabinet that had been covered on both sides with woodgrain contact paper and converted into a Sky Shark, for example. There were only a few multigames this time--the JAMMA ones went high, the one Ultracade MAME machine went really low (my friend Mike Nelson got that one). My friend Jim also got a game--a Tekkan that was in an original Gauntlet cabinet (another one of those really bad conversions). He only paid $75 for it--basically he wanted a decent but cheap monitor. Anybody who wanted a 25" monitor for a steal would have been in luck, too--some big, new(ish) games were going for insanely low prices...like an EA Sports golf game with a 25" monitor, fully working, for $50!
There were only a couple of things I was interested in. One was an old electro-mechanical submarine game called Sea Raider. My dad and I used to play that game on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland. It was great for nostalgia...but not worth as much as it went for (at least not to me). The other thing I would have liked to have was a Doctor Who pinball machine. It was in good shape and went for a decent price...but I wasn't prepared to drop almost a grand on a game at the time. Ah, well...maybe next time.
Video Game Prices
Pinball Prices
September 18, 2010
The size of the auction continues to fluctuate! This was a pretty big one--the first time in a while that there were double-rows of items in some places. Lots of classic games this time around, too--including some that you don't see very often, like Star Trek and Crystal Castles (two of them!). The pinball selection wasn't all that great (with a couple of stand-out exceptions), but they did have a couple of nice machines. I was considering a beautiful Mata Hari, but I didn't feel like spending $500. The big games along the outer walls continued their decline in price. I saw a couple of sit-down driving games go for $200 or less, and a twin Daytona USA sold for just $500. They literally gave away at least one item (a strange Borg game that was about 8 feet tall and, despite its Star Trek connection, was of no interest to me), and they literally couldn't give away a 50" Alpine Racer (it didn't work, but still...).
I actually arrived at the very beginning and stayed pretty much to the end this time. All I came home with was a new 13" monitor and a box of pinball back-glasses and monitor bezels.
Video Game Prices
Pinball Prices
Pinball Prices
October 16, 2010
This was a rare occurance--a second auction in as many months. I don't remember Auction Game Sales ever doing this before. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.
This was a much smaller auction than the one in September. Even so, there were a lot of good classics. There were three Pole Positions and a (working and nice) Pole Position II, which is pretty different (you usually don't see many--especially not working--I only stayed long enough to see the first two go). There were tons of multi-games, but very few of the other staples like Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga. The pinball selection wasn't too bad, but a lot of the games were newer ones. (Stern's Harley Davidson is really fun, by the way--you should play it if you get the chance. The engine rumble feature is really cool.)
I didn't buy anything, as usual.
Video Game Prices
Pinball Prices
Pinball Prices