It seems like this is the time of year when I buy an old piece of arcade equipment.
I first noticed this Golden Tee arcade machine on Craigslist in the beginning of October. It was listed for $350 which seemed like a decent price. I sent it to a group chat who also agreed. Two weeks later it had dropped to $250 which seemed like an even better price. Then in the beginning of November it was $100 (which if you do the math is cheap as fuck).
Similarly to the time Silas and I bought a pinball machine I proceeded to leave the page open in a tab for weeks. The ad said it worked, however, the dimensions were huge. Armed with my measuring tape I attempted to find a place where it would fit in my garage. IYKYK that was never gonna work. So in browser tab purgatory it remained.
And now for a side story which I will weave into the overall narrative with surgical precision.
In a post lockdown world I took my sweet time returning to the office. When I did, my department had been moved into an entirely different area. During early lockdown days I went into my office and took everything that I needed, sifted through a ton of office detritus and donated skateboard decks, shirts and shoes that I’d accumulated over the years. I was told to label anything that I wanted for the great return to work. I stuck a post it note on my desk and that was that.
(awww... look at dumb baby with his bandana 'mask')
The rest of my office mates returned to the office sooner than I did. I let everyone know that I was fine with my desk being put wherever.
In the summer of 2023 when I did return to the office I found my desk with (post it note still intact). Next to my desk was a Monster energy drink punching bag which I began to use as a coat rack. I don’t really know where the punching bag came from but as the last person to head back into this zone I didn’t really feel like asking “hey, who’s punching bag is this and could you please take it away”. I quickly got the impression that it was a thing that had been just left there and that nobody really wanted it nor wanted to take credit for it.
So one day in early December I was sitting in my office alone (which is quite normal). See, like the rest of the world the in-person/remote working thing is… well… just that, a thing. And by that I mean a thing that is confusing. Post 2020 many employees of my department (and company) have moved away and now work remotely. There has been all manner of benefits and handwringing about this. I for one am more or less indifferent. I understand that there are indeed positions that fully require somebody to be at a physical location. Additionally, I understand that there are personality types that need to work outside of the home. Then when you add in all the emotions and dynamics at play the conversation becomes a mess.
From my perspective as long as you're able to handle your shit then you should work from wherever works best for you. My job has always been fairly solitary so very little has changed. The person I work closest with is now back home in his native France and it makes little to no difference to me.
The upshot (meaning 'incredible story telling') that I’m getting to is I spend a lot of time by myself in a fairly large office space. Again, I don’t care. I use ‘going to the office’ as an excuse to ride my bike and potentially talk to other human beings.
So on one of these solitary days I was staring at the Monster Energy drink punching bag thinking ‘man I fucking hate this thing’. It then occurred to me that I could just move it. There is all kinds of unused space in this office, I'll just shove it in a different corner.
And then I thought… what if I put a Golden Tee machine in place of the punching bag? One stupid thing in exchange for another.
This was now late December and I figured there was no way that the Golden Tee machine was still available at the $100 price tag. However, I refreshed the tab in my browser and two days later it had replaced the punching bag. As per the ad, the machine fired up right away. However, there were some quirks and the light on top that advertised the game didn’t light up (and if I’m being honest this was possibly one of the most important pieces of the puzzle).
Now I know nothing really about working on arcade games but I’m always down to try to figure something out. In the past month I’ve replaced the battery that stores settings/high-scores, repaired the ‘marquee’ light, adjusted the power supply so the ‘voltage low’ warning is no longer present, rewired the buttons so the ‘operators menu’ works correctly and added a special 'add credits' button to bypass the quarter slots (even though I also found the special bulbs that light up the quarter slots). Additionally I conducted an archeological dig in the back and discovered that it likely spent some time in a Round Table Pizza.
Another ill advised yet solid investment. Today my office mate Ron got the longest drive, longest putt and an eagle.
I guess I now need to figure out where to put this skee-ball machine once it drops to $100.
Sign on up!