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Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

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Re: Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

#21

Post by RajT88 »

bovermyer wrote: post #11
xwdv wrote: post #3

It’s such perfect condition I have to wonder if they bought a cabinet then made up a faked story about finding it out on the curb outside as trash for clicks.

Bitter, cynical, and jaded is no way to go through life, son.

Considering things that people have done for attention in recent years:

- Crashing a plane

- Pretending to have been kidnapped

- Eating laundry detergent

...To name a few... It's not crazy to always suspect people are pretending just to get attention on the internet.

Re: Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

#23

Post by Roark66 »

tibbon wrote: post #13
Luc wrote: post #4

I saw this a few days ago on an arcade collector's forum (not based in the US), and the majority reaction was disbelief. People seemed to think it was a hoax. That thing is museum quality. I wonder if it's due to those suburban garages, allowing people to pile up stuff for decades. That and having more cash to buy goodies than most of the rest of the world, of course.

Large objects can be so hard to deal with that they are often discarded, regardless of theoretical price or value. Motorcycles, Hammond organs, etc. So often it might be worth quite a bit it someone in another location, but especially after someone dies, there often isn’t the energy to deal with it. So on the street it goes. You can find some people asking $6000 for a Hammond B3, but then someone can’t give away a D-…

Indeed. I used to own a vintage IBM AS400 server system and a separate disc enclosure. Each component was roughly the size of two mini fridges one atop the other. It weighted over 130 kg each. Add a "smart" crt terminal and a carrier bag full of cables.

Unfortunately I had to relocate for work and I couldn't take it with me. I tried to sell it, then I advertised to give it away. Eventually I had to take it to local "it recycling" facility rum by the council where they had me pay a fee for "disposal of a business grade it system" (fair enough). I wish I could've kept it.

Re: Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

#24

Post by deely3 »

bovermyer wrote: post #11
xwdv wrote: post #3

It’s such perfect condition I have to wonder if they bought a cabinet then made up a faked story about finding it out on the curb outside as trash for clicks.

Bitter, cynical, and jaded is no way to go through life, son.

Because... ?

Re: Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

#25

Post by trentnix »

xwdv wrote: post #3

It’s such perfect condition I have to wonder if they bought a cabinet then made up a faked story about finding it out on the curb outside as trash for clicks.

I’ve been following Tim Lapentino for many years and immensely enjoy his Art of Atari book and love for all things retro nerdity. I’d be really disappointed if this was faked. But I admit, it is astonishingly remarkable that the guy who curated a Tron exhibit would also be the one to find a minty DoT environmental, an arcade grail, abandoned on the curb.

Re: Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

#26

Post by Simon_O_Rourke »

gabereiser wrote: post #17

Dude just happens to find a fully working and in great condition arcade cabinet deluxe from 1983 in 2023? Jesus! What a find! I’m a huge fan of old arcade games and even built a few mame cabinets myself - this is extraordinary. There aren’t very many of those games left let alone working in great condition. Many have lost their CGA monitors or fried their boards.

I wonder what the ballpark resale price is for it, the author mentioned it could sell for big bucks, but it'd be interesting to see how much.

Re: Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

#27

Post by peter_d_sherman »

Commentary:

I am reminded of a quote:

"The best things in life are free!"

(Usually those things are such things as sunlight, oxygen, trees, water, flowers, grass, friendly small animals, human beings that express the best of humanity, etc., etc... but in this case it's sort of like a very specific subcase of a very specific subset of a very specific subcase of all of those other best things in life that are free... this specific subcase happens to be that of a "Discs Of Tron" arcade game(!) -- probably from the 1980's -- with its own (highly immersive!) full "environmental" (arcade) cabinet -- left on the curbside, for FREE!)

So the best things in life -- really are free!

(Up to and including a "Discs of Tron" full cabinet arcade game -- with its catchy tagline: "Become the most powerful video warrior of the computer world"... :-) )

I mean, what's not to love about all of that? :-) )

Re: Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

#28

Post by trentnix »

iamben wrote: post #5

What's the monetary value of a find like this? It always boggles my mind when people jump straight to "bin it" rather than "I'll see if anyone wants to buy it". I guess sometimes you just need the headspace!

I’m working order? Maybe as much as 10-12k. The emergence of barcodes has inflated the price of games like this.

A DoT environmental is widely considered an arcade grail and is rare. It’s extremely sought after and the logistics of the size of the cabinet resulted in lots of them being trashed over the year or chopped up.

Re: Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

#29

Post by dghughes »

Dragged it home on dollies? This has a very strong feeling of George Costanza Frogger episode from Seinfeld.

I worked fro my uncle who rented games to arcades. Discs of Tron always had problems with the 3D joystick. You need it for the Discs game the levels go up and down.

I can hear the music now...!

Re: Environmental Discs of Tron Roadside Pickup

#30

Post by ZiiS »

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #26
gabereiser wrote: post #17

Dude just happens to find a fully working and in great condition arcade cabinet deluxe from 1983 in 2023? Jesus! What a find! I’m a huge fan of old arcade games and even built a few mame cabinets myself - this is extraordinary. There aren’t very many of those games left let alone working in great condition. Many have lost their CGA monitors or fried their boards.

I wonder what the ballpark resale price is for it, the author mentioned it could sell for big bucks, but it'd be interesting to see how much.

At $2k it would sell today. The condition looks great could easily go for more then double that to the right buyer (Environmentals are prized but obviously limit who has room for them).
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