Pick Date: 10/25/10    I'll say it. This is one game I thought I would never own. No... really... I had no desire to ever buy this game. Ever. I am classic gamer. This means Galaga, Donkey Kong, Ms. Pacman and similar games. Recently I got interested in driving games. That's all good and fine, everyone likes a good driver, so why not? However, golf, was never my cup of tea, not my cup of Golden Tee... Ha Ha. I was not into the bar scene when Golden Tee became popular so I never really played the game. I've been asked a few times if I had a Golden Tee in my arcade and would tell them that wasn't my kind of game.

I went to this arcade auction with a pocketful of cash and a few other games in mind. Those games never materialized at this auction, so to pass the time and my boredom during the auction's preview period I decided to try out this "Golden Tee". I wanted to see what all the hype was all about, why everyone seemed to like this game. Well I must tell you, it only took one game and I was hooked. I really liked this game.

I know what makes this game popular. Most games are ready to rip the quarter out of your hands as fast as possible, kill off all your guys, and give you a game over screen quicker than you can say "Hot Potato". This game however, was different. It was mellow, peaceful, wasn't ready to end your game at the drop of a hat. You coined up, leaned back, and relaxed while you played either 9 or 18 holes of golf. The expert commentators added an extra dimension with every shot, the camera angles were excellent and the graphics were superb. This was a NEAT game! I had to have this.

Luckily there were several Golden Tees for sale at this auction. I was able to quickly determine which ones had problems, and which ones were so new that they would be overpriced. I set my sights on one with zero problems and updated graphics and stuck with it. I made sure I was going to be the winning bidder, and I was. The game I won was a Golden Tee 2005 which was a great year for this game, but I had other plans.

I got this game home and got it all cleaned up. There was one thing this game was missing that a few of the expensive ones had at the auction, and that was an LED topper sign. I located a sign, ordered it and installed it. Eventually I ordered a flash drive upgrade for this game, which replaces the spinning hard drives that are prone to failure with a flash drive. The final upgrade on this was change this over to a Golden Tee Complete which gives the game 29 courses to play. Simply Amazing! This game is 500 pounds of gaming goodness with one of the coolest retro signs it could have attached to it. This game is quickly becoming a favorite of mine just to relax a little with.

I never thought I would say this, but the Video Vault Arcade now has a Golden Tee arcade game. Yes, I am a Golden Tee addict, and I am proud of it!

Click on images below to view image gallery