Easy How-To: Arcade cabinet black mold
Even four years into this crazy arcade game collecting hobby, I am still amazed at how many cabinets get some exposure to moisture. ‘Water Damage’ is an over used term that less savvy collectors use to describe cabinets with everything from mild swelling to wood particle board deterioration.
On Monday, I had to sit by and watch a cabinet sit in the rain and truly define ‘water damage’.
Off to the warehouse? Seriously?
On the way home Sunday we took a different route that luckily swung us by the Salvation Army. Sitting outside was a black arcade cabinet jutting out of a pile of mattresses and other junk. I got excited briefly, and then reality set in that the items sitting there were donations – not trash / disposals. It would be illegal to haul the cabinet home, which killed me because I knew we were supposed to have rain all week starting Sunday night.
Monday morning I went over to Salvation Army right when they opened 8am. At that point the rain had been coming down heavily for several hours and sporadically most of the night.
I headed inside to inquire about the cabinet and the conversation went something like this;
Me: I have interest in that arcade cabinet out there, what will happen to it?
Her: It will go down to the main warehouse unless someone wants to buy it. Do you want to buy it?
Me: I don’t. Its been sitting in the rain all night and is water logged. I would be willing to haul it away so you don’t have to throw it away..
Her: No, it will go down to the warehouse.
Me: Where is the warehouse?
Her: I have no idea.
Me: Could it be on the west side of the city?
Her: I really don’t have a clue.
Me: Is there someone here that knows where the warehouse is?
Her: I have no idea.
Friendly gal, friendly like a porcupine.
C’est la vie arcade cabinet. If you run across a black arcade cabinet in Indianapolis riddled with black mold, you’ll know where it started.
Don’t throw out old arcade cabinets in the surrounding Indianapolis area! I will haul them away for you for free if you just want to be done with them, just use my contact page to send me a message. I’ll get them out to folks who can still use them and prevent them from filling up a landfill.
Here are some similar arcade posts
- Pepper II, Free from Craigslist
- The ‘almost’ Craigslist $35 cocktail deal
- Picked up Sega Frogger in Indianapolis Today
- “Arcade away from home” Part 5 – Heading Home
- Wanna see the twins?
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Comments
Here, it is illegal to leave items outside of the collection boxes like that… if you’re caught doing it, you’ll get a ticket for littering. I would guess that here, the police would probably thank you for picking something like that up ๐ But yeah that sucks. To be honest I would have probably grabbed it, and given them an appropriate cash donation the following work day.
I wouldn’t change how I approached the soggy cabinet this time. Next time, I would. Once the guy indicated that what people drop off there is considered ‘trash’ by the organization I knew if the chance arises again its free game.
If you happen to get contacted with to many arcade cabinets feel free to give me an email and I am willing to take one cabinet and I have a truck. I am looking for a cabinet that will support 2 players with four or if possible 6 buttons per player. Although if the cabinet had a decent paint job or working screen I an sure I can figure out a way to rebuild the controls.
I have been wanting to make a custom arcade machine for over five years, but coming from Rhode island where we were living our rent was about the same as what our morgage cost per month but was six times smaller no yard or garage…
the place where I m working at is about to throw out a bunch of PCs so I am wanting to build my son and if the first cabinet works out well then I might even think about if I have enough parts building one out for my much younger brother in law who loves video games but parents have hit hard times out in Detroit over the last few years and could make the boys Xmas.
I can’t pay much for the cabinet since my wife would probably kill me since we just bought a house moved across the country and since the house we got was basically a foreclosure that was empty for a year she would probably want me to spend the time and money fixing the house not building an arcade.
Tyler McCoy ยป You know I’m based out of Indiana, correct? That would be one heck of a drive, or one costly cabinet to ship…
Yes, we moved to a Carmel town house 1 year ago, and just now moved into a house in Fishers in Nov.
I have been wanting to build an Mame system for a long time, but when your living in a place that was 550sqft the luxury of having spare room for a large arcade cabinet is not really possible until you have a bigger home.
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May 21, 2010
Were you able to tell what game was in it? Is it just a generic Jamma cab?