In responding to TGlover's "GNR wanted" post, a number of members somehow fell into "bragging" about how far they have been willing to go to pick up a machine...with each poster claiming to be a bigger idiot than the last one.

So instead of continuing to hijack TGlover's thread, how about a thread devoted to the insanity of pinball ( or arcade ) retrieval.

Summarily put, "What is the furthest you have gone, or greatest effort you have ever made to get a machine ? "


I'll start....

I'm torn between two equally disturbing stories :

1)  I drove with my wife and child through the worst snowstorm of last winter, and possibly of my life,  just to pick up my EBD from a guy in Michigan.  I already had a Mata Hari in the back, so my daughter had almost no room to move.  The storm was so bad, it took about 4 hours to go from Lansing to Detroit and about another 6 hours to get home.  Cars were flying off into the ditch everywhere.  Did I attempt to stop and get a motel ?  Nope.

2)  In the summer of 2008, I picked up a Playboy pin in San Diego while my family and I were visiting my brother in Los Angeles.  The day my wife and I left to pick it up was the day they had the 5.8 earthquake.  My daughter was left alone with her older cousins, something which we had never done previously.  We called home and discovered that she was very scared.  I took my wife back to be with her.  Did I stay too ?  Nope.  To Hell with the earthquake.  Down to San Diego I go to get my pin.  One week later, all 3 of us are in the van heading 2500 miles across the U.S. with a Playboy machine in the back.  My daughter has hated me ever since.

A truly horrifying tale to be heard.....On my way to an Auction west of me....I had to drive through Scarborough.....my knees are still shaking and the doctor has doubled my med dosage.

I dont leave the house but the last time I did I had occurrence to visit a public toilet, while there I urinated all the time standing next to an older gent and a 5 year old boy.

Wooo, glad those days are behind me.  I`ll stay in from now on and leave the traveling up to military types.

I bought a bunch of games up in Sault Ste Marie, about 45 of them. Guy forgot to tell me they were all in a commercial basement, about 20 steps, just narrow enough to get up the stairs with an inch on each side. Luckily the "help" he had arranged were crackheads too.They ended up smoking the cigarettes I supplied and watching after we told them to get out of the f#$@ng way. All the while my buddies wife( Who had to come , that was a condition of him being allowed to come) sat in one of the trucks, occasionally calling him names.Add to that , the 300$ high speed with extra PF I paid for on the way back, and then the guys house burned before I could return the next week

In hindsight, I wouldn't do that again.Ah who I am kidding, sure I would.

Hagersville Maryland the old coin-op warhaouse; there in back in a day for an empty ms pac man cabinet...

Hmmm.

Toronto - New Jersey overnight rtn
Toronto - Memphis MI rtn
Toronto - Ann Arbor MI rtn
Toronto - Montreal rtn (few times)
Toronto - Buffalo NY rtn (few times)
Toronto - Vermont rtn
Toronto - Cleveland OH rtn

Just to name a few off the top of my head.

Montreal-Hamilton round trip just to deliver a bowler to Shaggy.

Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto a few times

Montreal-Toronto a lot

Well sure we have all done the montreal/ottawa
mi/ohio runs WAY too many times..

I start looking at the time and now I know why I almost get to the point of begging people to palletize and ship things.

For the $200-$400 it costs to ship, it just isn't worth going.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Hmmm.

Toronto - New Jersey overnight rtn
Toronto - Memphis MI rtn
Toronto - Ann Arbor MI rtn
Toronto - Montreal rtn (few times)
Toronto - Buffalo NY rtn (few times)
Toronto - Vermont rtn
Toronto - Cleveland OH rtn

Just to name a few off the top of my head.

You forgot Peterborough...for a big mother of a pop machine.

Quoted from Bish

You forgot Peterborough...for a big mother of a pop machine.

Yeah right! Peterborough to haul a 635 pounder up a flight of stairs rtn. Quite frankly on the drive back a few times I did question my sanity.

Mind you after it all got adjusted and calibrated up, it's sitting in the cafeteria pumping out cold pop like a good thing so I am somewhat relieved all that wasn't for a 635lb paper weight.  

Hmmm....

Some of the places I've either driven to pickup or had games shipped from;

Driven;

Ottawa
Rochester
Buffalo
Wisconsin (while @ Expo)
London

Shipped;

Texas
Connecticut
Nova Scotia
N. Carolina
Ottawa

Craziest deal I've ever done was 7 A-list pins in one shot from one collector.

Ahhh.... Good times!

D