Heartbreak Hotel.

In a small town behind a small hotel is a not so small shack. And in that not so small shack was one of the most horrific sights of arcade related death and decay I have ever witnessed first hand. The kind of death and decay that is eventually cleared out and has a house built on it that becomes haunted by the previous inhabitants. Everyone knew about this shack containing the ghosts of arcades past. It was the kind of place you speed your step up a bit as you walk by. The kind of place that stays with you long after you see it. I first noticed this shack a couple years ago while strolling the streets of this town and deemed all the games in there as beyond salvation. About a month ago I was there and noticed that the games were still sitting and rotting and part of the roof had collapsed. It was maddening, it was sad, it was frustrating, and it was downright heartbreaking to see these classics just rotting away in arcade purgatory waiting to be saved or laid to rest once and for all. Up until now, the word on the street was that the owner did not want to do anything with these other than let them sit. Instead of entertaining people, they were entertaining the feral cats of the neighborhood (including one that looked like it was straight out of Pet Cemetery). I decided it was time to make contact and see what I could do. To my surprise the timing was right and we worked out a deal to clear out the shack. Sadly, the owner had become ill and the town wanted the shack torn down because it’s a hazard. Not exactly the circumstances I want to pick up machines under, but I was assured I would be helping them greatly by doing this. I called Dan ( Hatrick) and took him there to have a look. We were still working on the trailer full of games from Buhl but I felt this might be worth pausing for. We drove out to get a look and decided that there could possibly be a few parts in there but the amount of work involved might not make it such a good deal. Sometimes you just have to check your logic at the door and go for it and that is exactly what we did. We set a date, rented a trailer, rounded up our tools and rolled out. Here are some pics. I will see you on the other side…

Down on the corner of lonely street...


Vectorbeam Warrior and a Seawolf that have both seen better days...


Can we please have a moment of silence...



It's only fitting that the Hercules Pinball was holding the roof up...


A beam came down right on the coin door of the Hercules :


The head of the Hercules pin sits wedged in there. There was dead cat inside of the head that must have gotten trapped when the roof collapsed. It took a long time for us to get the top of the Hercules pin out. Dan had to get in there with a Sawz-all and cut away one corner to free it :



These nails were sticking through the roof everywhere making it a little nerve-wracking to be under it. We risked taking one of these to the skull for this mission. We tried to make sure only one of us was under the roof at a time (btw Dan, I would have given your DK a good home if anything had happened to you) :



We used some wooden beams to get the roof up off the Hercules while we removed it:





Hopefully this will clean up nice:


The coin door folded under the weight of the roof:

What once was a burial ground for arcade games is now just a broken down shack:



It will take us awhile to process all of this and see just exactly what we have. When all was said and done, we were tired, hungry,and sore, but at the same time filled with a sense of satisfaction knowing we did what had to be done. So how exactly does a bunch of classic pinball and arcade machines end up in this old shack? Well, as the story goes, the games were set up in an arcade in town and the building was sold. The owner put the games in this shack in working condition as a temporary home until he could find another place for them. That was about 15 years ago.
As we were clearing the place out the curious locals would stop by and talk to us. They were shocked and yet pleased that the games were finally being removed and that some parts would be salvaged. We heard lots of stories about the previous owner and what a great man he was and what he had meant to the town. What had at times felt like a huge chore was beginning to feel a little more like a privilege. I think it’s fair to say that we were the right people for the job. We cleared the place out over a couple of days and spent a lot of time reflecting on it. I am just thankful that the games didn’t all go straight to the landfill without any of it being saved. It is all a little bittersweet. As much as I hate to see machines parted out, after 15 years of being exposed to the weather I don’t think any or at least many can be saved.
I hope the previous owner can find some comfort knowing that we will salvage what we can and realize it was time to let these machines go. If only it were that easy…