Total distance traveled: 429 miles 3/01/08. I will forever remember this day, the day Q*bert entered the basement arcade. Funny thing is my son's birthday is tomorrow, so I guess daddy's birthday came a little early this year, don't you think? I get up bright and early at 5:00AM on a Saturday morning. I shower up, grab something to eat, and leave the house at 5:23. It's pitch black outside still. A little weird, but hey Q*bert is worth it. I make sure the gas tank is full and set the trip odometer to 0. So my trip today takes me just a little south of Kansas City, and today I am flying solo. The last road trip with the wife and baby in the van the vehicle decided to die, so I'm doing it alone today. I am picking up this Q*bert from someone who claims to have 800 machines. I ask if he is a vendor or operator and he says "no". OK, I'll believe it when I see it, I just want that Q*bert. I must say the drive there was pleasant. For the first time ever my road trip consisted of birds singing, sunny weather and 70 degrees outside. So I make it to this guy's house with no problems. I pull up and see Q*bert, the owner (Randy), his son (Happy), and his son's friend. They already have the Q*bert pulled outside, plugged in and the back door unlocked so I can check it out. Now that's service. I have showed up to people's house to buy an arcade, and somehow it hasn't been moved, it isn't ready to pick up, and it's not plugged in. I mean come on, didn't you know you were selling me the machine today? Well Randy sure did, and made sure it was service with a smile. So I check out the Q*bert and it checks out good. The screen is bright, all lights are working, and even the knocker still works (Usually dead on these machines). OK, so I seal the deal with Randy, and ask him about these 800 other arcades. He tells me he is a collector not an operator, and has 6 buildings full. He tells me he needs to sell a few so his wife can move some stuff from her business into the building. Randy agrees to show me one of the buildings full of arcades. WOW.....Randy is not a collector. Randy is a hoarder. He is hoarding every game he can get his hands on. I take a tour of a small portion of his games, and see many duplicates, dedicateds and minis that I have never seen before. I ask him about Star Wars, Tempest and Crystal Castles. He has 3 Star Wars games, a Tempest mini and a Crystal Castles mini. Good God!. Well after the tour, I am short on cash and time. Randy is a perfect gentleman, I shake hands with him, load up the Q*bert and I'm on my way home. I make it home with a round trip total of 429 miles. I unload the Q*bert, plug it in and bask in the glow of that orange fuzzy football. Gotta love it! |
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