Game accidents... Who's had them?

[Menace]

Was reminiscing over the weekend about the last 12 years I've been collecting, and it got me thinking about the number of games I've had in and out of my place and how I've been fortunate not to have any accidents moving them up and down my stairs etc etc...

One of the things that got me thinking about this was a story I heard about another collector that had an unfortunate mishap moving a Robotron, that ultimately ended up going down a flight of stairs and smashing through a piano / wall. (he is a member here, so maybe he can give better details)

That being said, thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss, so if anyone has any stories about any mishaps with any games they've owned... PLEASE SHARE!

D

 

[Vengeance]

*knock on wood*

None so far for me in the past decade of collecting

Although the Fish Tales story is pretty funny on how cursed that game was.

 

[REVOLUTION]

I had a SWEp1 body get out from under me when going down some stairs earlier this year.. scared the crap outta me, but thankfully I was only 2 stairs from the bottom at the time. All was fine. WHEW

Also had the wife drop Mystery Castle on my hand in October.. not fun. My hand has finally just healed..

I hear someone had a fun time with a TAF recently though.

 

[mwong168]

I think the saddest story was posted on pinside from a user who found a nice mint HUO LOTR for $3k down the road from him. Long story short, this game was transported with the legs on and strapped down in the back of a pick up truck. The friend with the pick up was in a rush and clearly did not strap it down tight enough and first 5mph turn and in the ditch the game went and here is the result

Fortunately, Chad Keller found a new Stern head and fixed the game back to as good as new. Too bad as that would have a been a pretty good score for 2012 for a mint HUO LOTR.

 

[Vengeance]

That's not an accident, that is stupidity at it's finest.

 

[brewmanager]

Why I'm planning to start hitting the gym again shortly - taking Funhouse out of the basement last week, I had it waver on me on the very top step. Not sure if I was just out of steam or the slightly awkward angle coming up - not sure if spiroagnew felt it, but I had a split second of real panic before I got it back under control.

Other than setting F14 on fire and cracking a plastic, I've been pretty good.

 

[mwong168]

This also looks like an accident waiting to happen as well

I don't understand why anyone would transport a game with the legs on and see it done all the time in NAVL pics. If you break the game down and have it folded you can fit two games in the spot of one with the legs on. I remember when I picked up my first pin, High Speed, it came out of an apartment and the owner had no idea the head could fold down. He had a bitch of a time fitting it in the elevator when he moved it in with the legs on and head up :lol:

 

[REVOLUTION]

It takes all of 5 mins tops to break a game down.. there's really no excuse for moving a game on the legs.

I remember hearing of another local guy not taking the legs OR the HEAD off.. and the head ended up somewhere all over the 401.

 

[DRANO]

This also looks like an accident waiting to happen as well

Nice shrinkwrap job on that AFM.
I learned that lesson the hard way. Nicked my newly restored MM coming down the basement. Not a huge deal as it was a tiny spec at the back of the head cab, but still pissed me off for days.

 

[Grauwulf]

I've been pretty fortunate with all the games I've had and moved. I've only had two near-mishaps over the years. I had my Atari Road Runner get away from us when I was moving it in to the basement at my ex-wife's house. Luckily I managed to grab the vertical part of the banister and brace my legs so it landed on my thigh. Just a nasty bruise and some soreness from that thankfully. The other one was unloading a Golden Tee cab from the back of my truck solo and the thing started to slide off the tailgate funny and just about squashed me.

Thankfully I'm not doing anything more with vids, so no more vids trying to kill me.

 

[TwilightZone]

Two things have happened to me....

Years ago, back when I used to carry games rather than use a dolly. I was carry a game with a friend. A crap Millionaire of all games. We had freezing rain that day. While moving the game outside, I stepped on ice and before I could really react, I was on my side. Fortunately, I landed in a snow bank, so it wasn't much of a fall. The game and I were both fine.

Next...and this is recently. I had put carpet on the top of my stairs. I do this when bringing a game in so the floor doesn't get scratch when I pull the dolly over the transition strip. I had forgotten to remove the carpet and went downstairs to move a game up. I was on the top of the dolly and Jason was on the bottom pushing the game up the stairs. When I got to the top and stepped on the carpet, I slipped. The dolly slipped a bit and went down. I think Jason needed to clean his shorts that night :lol: When I slipped I fell but I pulled the game as I was going down and then caught myself, so I never lost the game, but it certainly was a close call. My kids heard some interesting language....which they pointed out :lol: :lol:

Cheers,
Duane

 

[Monkeybug]

Never had anything bad happen. The only time I had a fright was when I got a DMD game safely to my basement and my neighbor was helping me get it ready. He cut the plastic wrap that was holding the head in place. Thunk! The head dropped to the floor. No damage and everything worked fine. So it all turned out good in the end.

 

[Ancient Games]

Hmm,

I had a Race Drivin cockpit in the back of the truck and tride to unload it myself. It fell out the back and there wasn't a thing I could do. Smashed the cab but some tuck tape fixed her up and she worked. No one wanted it later so I gutted it and trashed it.

Transported a vid in the back of a covered trailer once. Its didn't like it too much because when I opened up the trailer it lay in pieces...still strapped but the bouncy road made it fall appart. One of those HS5 cabs if i'm not mistaken.

The scariest thing was when I had a single slate pool table in the back of the truck and I was driving through some windy Haliburton roads. Well, I didn't strap it too well I guess and it tipped over and just about went out...luckily there was a quick bend in the oposite direct and it came back in. I stopped and strapped in some more. Thats what you get when your in a rush. No damage and not my truck or table for that matter.

 

[stiffler4444]

Let's see....

I had moved my BK2000 into the basement. I have a habit of putting the legs on by myself (tilted back, front on first, then lift the back up, balanced on front legs, one back leg on hand tight, then supported on 3 legs, 4th leg on ...you get the idea.)

Well you can imagine that supporting an entire pinball machine with one arm while attaching the 3rd leg is somewhat daunting......and can leave you a bit unbalanced.

The BK2K decided it wanted to go for a nap, starting to twist and tilt in towards me and over she want. Luckily, I valued the machine much more than myself, so instead of jumping back and watching the carnage, I threw myself to the ground under it and "allowed" her to fall completely onto my torso. Game was saved and so was my anguish. Yes, I hurt in a number of places, but not nearly the mental stress of damaging such a nice machine......

 

[TwilightZone]

Just remembered another one....

This is a long time ago. I didn't have a van and had to rent a trailer whenever I wanted a game. Prior to this incident, I never double checked the hook up. I assumed they knew what they were doing. You know what they say about assumptions...

I go to uHaul, guy hooks up trailer, I get forms signed and off I go to Montreal. Pick up the game, and start heading back. All is good at this point. It's late as I had to do it after work, so it's 10 pm or so and I'm on a long stretch of nothing. I hit a bump and suddenly feel the car get pulled back.

"What the hell?"

I look in the rear view mirror and can just make out that the trailer is no longer hooked up. She's hanging on by the chains -- thankfully they were hoooked up properly.

I took my foot off the gas, and slowly applied the brake. I was able to pull over, hook it up, and continue.

No damage done, but I sure got a hell of a shock when it gave me that jolt.

Cheers,
Duane

 

[eh97ac]

Not a game but during a game pickup/delivery, an un-named member blew out a PF glass. It 'sploded everywhere

 

[REVOLUTION]

Not a game but during a game pickup/delivery, an un-named member blew out a PF glass. It 'sploded everywhere

Oh jeeze.. I totally forgot about that one! Thanks for the reminder, Grant! :lol:

 

[Ancient Games]

Not a game but during a game pickup/delivery, an un-named member blew out a PF glass. It 'sploded everywhere

Oh jeeze.. I totally forgot about that one! Thanks for the reminder, Grant! :lol:

Don't forget you also smashed a super nice Meteor BG....

 

[McMean]

I still sometimes think about this one and shudder...

Another member and I were helping a third member move some slate from pool tables around. We were pretty tired, having moved a whack of stuff around already. We were at the end of a trailer, trying to move the slate onto the back of one guy's pickup... and a piece went sideways. One guy fell off the truck, landed flat on his back, and the slate went the other way.

Looking down, he had landed flat on his back pretty much between two huge spikes of angle iron sticking straight up. *shudders*... I am so grateful that didn't turn out tragic. My stomach is in knots just thinking about that day!

 

[Bish]

I still sometimes think about this one and shudder...

Another member and I were helping a third member move some slate from pool tables around. We were pretty tired, having moved a whack of stuff around already. We were at the end of a trailer, trying to move the slate onto the back of one guy's pickup... and a piece went sideways. One guy fell off the truck, landed flat on his back, and the slate went the other way.

Looking down, he had landed flat on his back pretty much between two huge spikes of angle iron sticking straight up. *shudders*... I am so grateful that didn't turn out tragic. My stomach is in knots just thinking about that day!

Yup. That was me! I landed between 2 harrows, which are farm implements usually dragged behind a tractor to break up clods of dirt in a field. They have spikes that stick up. I couldn't have been any luckier. I ended up with a bruise that went from my wrist, halfway up my arm, and all the way around. It's also a miracle I didn't break it.

I remember looking up into a pair of the most worried faces I've ever seen in my life.

All's well that ends well. It could have been much, much worse though