Rare Arcade Game Worth Thousands Found in Dump
We discussed the retro games’ rise in popularity just recently after a massive collection of retro games was added to the Xbox gaming ecosystem. While most retro gamers play their games via emulators and modded older-gen consoles, some prefer arcade games—those gargantuan gaming machines whose computing power is comparable to a modern, pricier calculator. And, in the most recent news, someone found a Discs of Tron arcade game, worth thousands, by the side of the road.
A game collector stumbled upon a Discs of Tron arcade machine left out for the garbage.
According to Kotaku, author, and game historian Tim Lapetino stumbled upon Discs of Tron arcade game while visiting his relatives in Chicago. During Lapetino’s visit to his relatives, his niece mentioned seeing “some TRON thing” by the side of the road while she was riding her bike through the neighborhood.
Lapetino went to check out to see exactly what was going on, only to discover that the Discs of Tron arcade was sitting by the curb. Apparently, a local resident didn’t want it anymore, and they dragged the arcade game out for the garbage men to take away.
Furthermore, internal counters showed that the game was played less than 3,000 times in total, which makes this particular find a holy grail of retro gaming.
Luckily for the game historian, and unfortunately for any sanitation worker who tried moving the Discs of Tron arcade game, the thing weighs 700 pounds and can’t be moved as easily—or at all, without adequate equipment. That’s because the entire cabinet was built as an immersive experience, and it’s designed to allow players to stand inside the cabinet while playing.
Its complexity and size directly attribute to its weight and are direct reasons why only a handful of these was made back in 1983, especially when you take into consideration that a typical cabinet weighs only 200 pounds.
During Lapetino’s visit to his relatives, his niece mentioned seeing “some TRON thing” by the side of the road while she was riding her bike through the neighborhood.
Furthermore, due to its complexity and rarity, it’s really difficult to find a Discs of Tron arcade machine in good condition, let alone one that’s working—its internals are turning 40 this year, which is approximately 38 years too old to be working by modern electronics’ standards.
Because of its good condition—apart from a few drag marks the previous owner inflicted while carrying this thing to the curb—this arcade game could probably fetch a decent price, as some models go for as high as $10,000, and Tron is a well-known and established franchise.
After he towed the Discs of Tron arcade cabinet back home, Lapetino and a few other collectors assessed that the game had all of its original components (it hadn’t been fixed or tampered with) and that it was in great working condition. Furthermore, internal counters showed that the game was played less than 3,000 times in total, which makes this particular find a holy grail of retro gaming.
The only thing that was missing from the cabinet was the back glass panel, and you can easily order a replica online while searching for an original piece.
We’ll take the salvage of Discs of Tron arcade machine as another game preservation success story. Recent studies suggest almost 90 percent of classic video games are lost due to archaic copyright laws and sheer negligence, so we’re urging owners of outdated gaming hardware such as older consoles, handhelds, and cabinets—don’t throw these away; sell them or give them up for adoption, instead, as they’re likely to make at least one retro gaming enthusiasts happy.
