# Arcade Pickers - Episode 2: Lost In Tucson

**Source:** RetroRalph  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2021-03-13  
**Duration:** 21m 16s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igagJFZHnms

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## Analysis

RetroRalph and Cory visit Tucson Pinball in Arizona, a massive 300+ machine arcade collection assembled over 20+ years by David. The episode focuses on arcade cabinet picking, restoration, and acquisition, with discussion of original vs. converted machines, rare finds like GORF cabaret and candy cabs, and negotiation of several purchases including House of the Dead, WrestleFest, and marquees.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] David started collecting arcade machines around 2000 after playing Arkanoid in the Army in Texas — _David speaking directly about his collection origin_
- [HIGH] David currently has 300+ machines in his Tucson Pinball collection — _David's direct statement: 'Right now, 300 plus'_
- [HIGH] At one point David had 60 cabinets on his back patio before moving to warehouse space — _David recounting his collection history_
- [HIGH] GORF cabaret version is rare and valued around $900 — _David stating price for the specific GORF Cabaret cabinet in his collection_
- [HIGH] Tapper conversion history: the Moo Mesa cabinet was originally Tapper, then converted to Timber, then to Altered Beast — _David explaining the multi-conversion history of the cabinet_
- [MEDIUM] GORF cabaret cabinets are much more rare than full-size versions and highly sought after — _Narration/educational segment about GORF history_
- [HIGH] Eugene Jarvis created NARC in 1988 — _Narration describing NARC's history and designer_
- [HIGH] Ralph and Cory have a 6x12 trailer for transport — _Cory stating: 'Dude, we have a 6x12'_

### Notable Quotes

> "It's still a hobby. It's still a hobby. It's still a hobby."
> — **David**, ~4:20
> _David emphasizing to his wife that his massive 300+ machine collection is still just a hobby_

> "I don't like it. If it's not already been converted to something else, why ruin a good original cabinet?"
> — **David**, ~7:30
> _Core philosophy about preservation of original arcade machines vs. conversion kits_

> "If I could drop that out of the helicopter, I would."
> — **Ralph**, ~13:50
> _Ralph's strong negative reaction to the Nintendo Red Tent with Street Fighter conversion_

> "Ralph, it's time to put your picker hat on and take your collector hat off."
> — **Cory**, ~14:30
> _Cory calling Ralph to focus on deal-making rather than geeking out over machines_

> "There's a NARC. A working NARC."
> — **Ralph (Cory)**, ~16:00
> _Excitement over finding a working NARC cabinet, a highly collectible game_

> "Tapper, then a Timber? And now an Altered Beast. What the hell?"
> — **Ralph**, ~33:30
> _Reacting to the multi-conversion history of the cabinet, highlighting cabinet evolution over time_

> "So this goes against everything we talked about earlier."
> — **Ralph**, ~47:00
> _Ralph acknowledging the irony of buying WrestleFest (Gauntlet conversion) after criticizing conversions_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| RetroRalph | person | Host of Arcade Pickers show, arcade collector and picker |
| Cory | person | Co-host of Arcade Pickers, mod specialist who works on arcade cabinet restoration and conversion |
| David | person | Owner of Tucson Pinball collection in Arizona, accumulated 300+ machines over 20+ years starting around 2000 |
| Tucson Pinball | organization | David's massive arcade/pinball collection facility in Tucson, Arizona housing 300+ machines |
| Eugene Jarvis | person | Legendary arcade game designer, creator of Robotron and Defender; also designed NARC in 1988 |
| NARC | game | 1988 arcade game created by Eugene Jarvis; controversial game about arresting/killing drug dealers and criminals |
| GORF | game | 1981 arcade game notable for using synthesized speech via Votrex speech chip; cabaret version is rare and valued around $900 |
| Arcade Pickers | organization | Video series hosted by RetroRalph and Cory that travels to collections to acquire and restore arcade cabinets |
| Retro Ralph LLC | organization | Production company for Arcade Pickers series |
| Superhero Rental of Arizona LLC | organization | Co-production entity for Arcade Pickers series |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Arcade cabinet preservation vs. conversion, Rare arcade machines and valuation, Large-scale arcade collection management
- **Secondary:** Arcade restoration and repair, Arcade game history and designer legacy, Cabinet conversion kits and arcade evolution, Collector mindset and arcade culture

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Ralph and Cory are enthusiastic and appreciative of David's collection; David is friendly and accommodating; successful transactions create positive energy throughout. Minor tension around cabinet conversions and pricing negotiations, but resolved amicably.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Arcade Pickers show demonstrating active collector community engagement through content creation and arcade acquisition/restoration activities (confidence: high) — Entire episode format built around visiting collections, negotiating purchases, and discussing arcade preservation philosophy
- **[community_signal]** Tucson Pinball collection represents significant Arizona arcade community hub; David's 20+ year accumulation demonstrates sustained collector enthusiasm and infrastructure (confidence: medium) — David's facility in Tucson housing 300+ machines; started collecting in 2000 and evolved from backyard to warehouse space over 2 decades
- **[design_philosophy]** Collector preservation philosophy: strong preference for maintaining original arcade machines vs. conversion kits, tension between practical economics and historical preservation (confidence: high) — David and Ralph repeatedly discussing preference for original cabinets; Ralph criticizing Nintendo Red Tent conversion, later buying WrestleFest conversion despite earlier criticism
- **[market_signal]** Specific pricing data for rare arcade machines: GORF cabaret ~$900, candy cab Astro City ~$400, House of the Dead ~$200, marquees $10-25 (confidence: high) — Documented pricing from David's collection during negotiation segment
- **[community_signal]** Cory positioned as arcade mod specialist who can perform conversions and board swaps; enables cabinet restoration into playable condition (confidence: high) — Cory's discussion of converting House of the Dead board, adding LCD screens, and swapping PCB boards like Tekken Thunderbirds into Tekken 2 cabinet

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## Transcript

 Today our travels take us to Tucson, Arizona, deep in the heart of the Sonoran Desert. Question is, did we strike arcade gold or come home empty-handed? Find out right now on Arcade James Piekarz. I'm Retro Ralph. And I'm Corey Massal. And we're the Arcade James Piekarz. Cory, I'm beat. Me too, man. Busy, busy day, but a lot of cool stuff. Fucking peakers. Oh! Okay, you're probably wondering, how did they get here? Cory and I are both on the ground. I'm screaming. It's crazy. We're both super exhausted, but here's why. Let's take a step back in time. I am starving and we've been driving for three hours are we close to this place dude relax it's gonna be totally worth it when are we gonna eat when we're done holy this is crazy this is incredible wow man david this is a lot of stuff so Just so we know for reference, like, how much stuff were we looking at here? Like, when did you start collecting this stuff? So I started, gosh, here in Tucson would have been right about 2000. So 20 years ago, 21 years ago. Before that, I actually picked up an Arkanoid game in Texas when I was in the Army there. That's what started everything. Going to the arcade started everything. Yeah, and it was just hobby, and the hobby is now this room. It's still a hobby. It's still a hobby. It's still a hobby. See, so I can use this when I show my wife and I can go, look, see, it's fine. It's a hobby and I can have, how many machines do you think are in here? Right now, 300 plus. Oh my gosh, this is unbelievable. Like, I just wanna run through here and scream. I'm so excited. I'm like literally, this is, I just wanna, I wanna go look. Like, I wanna look right now. You need, I think we need like a tour or something. Can you show us around? All right, let's do it. All right guys, we just got here and I'm super excited. David's collection is just, it's so vast. There's games from the 80s, there's games from the 90s. There's literally anything, no matter what you like. Shooters, fighters, side-scrolling beat-em-ups. There's pretty much everything here. So I'm like over the moon and I can't wait to get started. All right, so David, this is, first of all, incredible. I know you said it's a hobby, but this is a lot. So how does it go from one machine to this many? Because this is a lot. I don't know how you got to like you got to have some story as to how this happened. There's an addiction. I guess you could say. It's a healthy addiction though right? I mean there's worse things that someone could be addicted to right? That's true. Arcades are all right. That's true. At one point I had 60 cabinets on my back patio. Okay so you did the house thing too. I did the house thing. I've done the house thing. I'm at the house right now with minimal storage. Yes. So did you have storage units and then storage units became this warehouse? No, I moved from backyard to a friend of mine owned the land and a shed, for lack of a better term, and I was able to put it in there. So you just went from there to just big time. Kind of. I got lucky. That's out of control, man. I mean, you have everything here. I'm looking at Terminator 2, Strider, Commando, Mortal Kombat 2, Area 51. These are all such iconic games. you gotta i know and you got the mortal combat sign you those are signed by the characters i almost like this is you know i get really emotional around this stuff because to me these things mean something they're like parts of history so is that is that part of it for you i mean that's exactly what it is for me that's that i love this you know going to the arcade as a kid i loved that being able to have these and plug them in and play them as an adult now it's a dream come true I gotta ask you though, so it seems like as you dive deeper into the hobby, there are people that will sometimes take original cabinets. You know, they'll take things like this Tempest, for instance, and they'll hack it up and make it something else. What are your feelings on that? Because I personally have some issues with that. I'm with you. Yeah. I don't like it either. I don't like it. If it's not already been converted to something else, why ruin a good original cabinet? You look for the original stuff. If you see the pack, my row of pack, man. That's what I was just looking at. I'm looking right here. I'm like, wait a minute. I think you like keeping things original. So my row of Pac-Man is to keep them original so that they don't become multi-games. This is awesome. So you're a big Pac-Man fan, I'm guessing. I kind of like Pac-Man. I'm guessing, right? This is awesome. This is so cool And you have everything You got Pac Ms Pac Is there a Junior Pac back there somewhere No maybe Junior Pac right here This is so cool All right well I think I just need to look around a little bit more, because I'm overwhelmed. I don't know. You're welcome to look at whatever you'd like. Awesome. All right, David, so this is another whole aisle of stuff that we have here. I mean, show me what you got, man. What do we got going on over here? So we've got one thing that I really do love, 720. Always love this game. Actually, somebody converted this to a Primal Rage. I'm in the process of making it back into a 720. Have the boards, have the rest of it. Need to put a monitor in there. Skate or die, right? Skate or die. Yeah. You got it. One of my all-time favorites, Rastan. Okay. We've got some multi-games. I'm going to turn it back into a kangaroo. A few other things. A bubble bobble that used to be a Crystal Castles. Okay. An empty centipede. This was an Arabian, which was a very hard game to find. Sinistar, always a great one. Nintendo Red Tent with a Street Fighter in it. This is interesting. Something you've never seen. Like, how cool is that, dude? You love Street Fighter. If I could drop that out of the helicopter, I would. That's messed up, man. That's messed up. I'm not a Street Fighter guy, man. What do you want? What game are you looking for? You know, I saw a couple in here that I was looking at, but I think I saw House of the Dead over here. All right, well, get out of here. I want to geek out more, so go buy some stuff. Go make some deals happen. It's not like I can't find something to do in here. So when we first got here, I could tell Ralph was a little bit too excited. I was like, Ralph, it's time to put your picker hat on and take your collector hat off. Dude, they have a NARC here. A NARC. A working NARC. I gotta go. There's a NARC. 1988, the famous game designer Eugene Jarvis, the creator of Robotron and Defender, created NARC, a game that sparked a lot of controversy. The basic premise, arrest drug dealers, pimps, junkies, or kill them with a rocket launcher. Totally crazy at the time, but tame by today's standards. I'm noticing more than just arcades in here. You've got cool decoration stuff all over the place. What's up with the Kool-Aid man? Yo, where'd you get the Kool-Aid man? So I picked up the Kool-Aid man from a General Mills rep here in town. She won that because she made a display. And it was on OfferUp. So I bought it from her. I've had Kool-Aid Man in here probably six or seven years now. What would it cost for you to break up with Kool-Aid Man? Kool-Aid Man would be probably about $200. I'm gonna step away from Kool-Aid Man for the moment, but we might revisit that in just a minute. This is probably one of my all-time favorite games right here. It's a good game. Yeah, what can you tell me about this? A little funny. It's almost like you're Superman or you're Captain Marvel, because there's a blue section, a red section. Shazam! Shazam! You got it. I know you know about the comics. They made a blue and a red Superman. Even before that, they put him into an arcade game. It's got side scrolling action on there where you're flying, you're actually shooting meteorites and things. It's a good one. Does this one fire up and play? This one does fire up and play. It does. David. Sammy. There's an altered beast here? That's not an altered beast. Wait, and Moo Mesa. That is a Moo Mesa. What do you mean it's not an altered beast? It looks like altered beast. So this cabinet, going back to what we talked about when they convert things. Okay. Back in the 90-ish, probably late 90s, when Tapper wasn't making any money for the operators anymore, they would come out with a conversion kit, which was altered beast. I didn't see the side. What? Budweiser Tapper. Shut up. And they would convert it to a new game. So what I found about this game that I did not know, before I found the Tapper artwork, there was a sticker on it. We pulled the sticker off. This was a timber. No way. And I love timber. Timber's a fun game. Yes. This was a timber that somewhere along, actually, it was Tapper, and then they decided, hey, we've got enough Tappers out there. Let's make this timber. So they put a sticker over it with timber. It was a tapper, then a timber? Tapper, then a timber. And now an altered beast. What the hell? That's so cool, man. I mean, that's kind of got some cool history, right? It's got a lot of history. Is this a for sale item too? This would be tough. I hear you. I understand that. I've never seen a Gorf Cabaret. Like, what the hell? Like, this is a thing? This is a thing. What does something like this go for? Well, this one right here, probably about 900. Okay. All right, but they, I mean, did they make a lot of these? Because I've never seen it in this form factor. I haven't seen many of them. GORF was released in North America in 1981. It became one of the first titles to use synthesized speech powered by the Votrex speech chip. The one we found is a cabaret version of the full-size cabinet. Cabaret cabinets are much more rare and are highly sought after. But if you want this one, it's going to cost you. I picked up a friction at a place I was at. I guess it used to be a time crisis You know that big red and blue beast with the pedestal I do I thinking of turning that back into a Time Crisis and I noticed you had this marquee over here Yes Where'd you get that thing from? From a Time Crisis 3. From a Time Crisis 3. I had both sides to it, ended up with a second marquee for it. And you got it hanging up there because it's pretty. My thing is, I don't know that it would fit right into where that one goes, because I think it's more of like the skinny one. I'd probably have to get the plexi cut like probably almost in half, I think, like almost to where I could get like the time crisis and like the bottom of the three cut off below it and then maybe put it in there. Is that something that's for sale there? Do you like it up there? I'm thinking about $60. 60 bucks? Take it. Nice. Thanks, man. You're welcome. I got a perfect spot for it. There's something else I want to ask you about back here. so back here i noticed that uh well there's a couple house of the deads in here right there are does this one work this one will start to power on then i think it gets stuck somewhere while it's booting and i'm not sure if the power supply is not giving it enough power or if there's some kind of corruption on the board so it's got the game board in it it's just not booting up for some reason it does it's actually a hard drive in there all right so I like these ones because as you know if you can't get it to work it still has the holsters and I'm the mod guy so I can put a flat screen in there find a good home for the CRT and a cabinet that deserves it and then I can put a Wii on there and probably get somebody shooting House of the Dead 1, 2, and 3 along with a ton of other shooter games. That sounds fun. Big question what's this thing worth to you? Oh gosh I having the other one I could probably do about $300 on this. $300? You're going to put me in the mortuary with this one. How about $200? Well, we did go easy on the marquee. Yeah, I think I could do that. $200? I can do $200. Popping on that one. Thanks, brother. I've always wanted an Astro City. And these candy cabs, they don't come up a lot. This one's in rough shape, though. I mean, this one's seen better days. It has, but it's a candy can. Oh, okay. No, no, all right, all right. Fair point, but... Okay, so what would you do with this? What would you do on this one? It's complete. Completely non-working, but it's complete. All right. I'd be at 600, I think, on this. David, I gotta do a lot to this. Like, I got... This is a... I mean, it's not a mess, but it's a lot of work. So, I mean, I do, would you do three? Ooh. I know there's a lot of work that needs to be done. It is a solid cabinet. There's not a lot of damage to it. Really, my bottom line, you know, we've talked about a few other things as well. Would you do 400? I really want a candy cab. I really want a candy cab. All right, I'll do four. I'll do four. Let's do it. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank you. This is a gauntlet with WrestleFest. Yes. It's crazy. Yes. It's like I said before, I'm not a fan of tearing something up to make it something else. I picked this up. As you see it, it works pretty well. A little darker in the corner here, but it's a good wrestling game. Yeah. It's very fun. Yeah. It's a classic wrestling. I know. it's one of those games that like still comes up to this day and then i think it's even more popular now because wwf is now wwe so it's like there's nostalgia for wwf and then a bunch of us that around our age watch wrestling and these are like the people we watch so it's kind of cool that's right this one for sale this one is for sale okay interesting well we might we might have to we'll kind of like mark this one off as a maybe but uh let's see what else you got sounds good all right so i found all the marquees down here david so you got quite a few like are these just all like when you have marquees that aren't in a cabinet, you just pile them up down here. At one point I had them displayed, I had them up and you could kind of see them. Just haven't had time to really do anything. I like to have them up and be able to see them. Makes me happy. These are really cool. I mean, you've got a bunch of really good ones here. I mean, there's a Marvel versus Capcom. I feel like just because it's an original, people would want something like that hanging up. Let's test the waters a little bit here to see where you're at on something like this. $10. $10? Take it. Nice. All right, I'll take that one. Let me see what else you got down here. Crime City, Virtua Tennis, Total Carnage, Battle Zone. Oh, there's a bad dudes right there. How bad of a dude are you on this one? 25. 25 on that one. All right, I'm gonna set that one aside. I might be a player on that one too. Unfortunately, I just got rid of a Captain America for the Avengers last week. Ooh, I kinda like that one. It pretty good is that an original Nice translate How much is that How much are you willing to dunk on me for We can do 10 on that just like we did on the other I take it All right let see what else we got down here Hold on a minute, McLean. Is that a glass Die Hard right there? It's coming off a little bit. Translight behind glass. It's still on there pretty good. We go 10 on that one as well. Yippee-ki-yay. Take it. All right, so I bought the House of the Dead. You let that go pretty cheap. We got limited trailer space. Is there anything else in that kind of that price range? Well, hold on a second. So we have limited trailer space because you're buying all these big games, so this means I can only buy small games? I mean, you have a candy cab. I know, but I feel like... Dude, we have a 6x12. We'll be getting one. Okay, all right. I'm just asking him on behalf of... Oh, you're looking out for me. Okay, I get it. Well, we did look at that WrestleFest earlier. Took a look at that one. I would probably be in the range of $300 on that. Corey, seriously, dude? No! I want the WrestleFest. What was that look? Go get the WrestleFest. Jerk! Jerk! I think Dave and I need to discuss WrestleFest, man. Alright, so we're back at the WrestleFest, and this goes against everything we talked about earlier. I asked you literally earlier about cabinets with other games inside them. So this is a gauntlet with your WrestleFest, like we said before. And you kind of threw out the 300 number. I feel like that's a really fair number. I think so. I think I'd like to buy this one if you'll let it go for 300, like you said. I'll do 300. All right, cool. Thanks, David. Appreciate it, man. You're welcome. All right, so Ralph's going to like that WrestleFest. Yeah. That was pretty awesome. That was a great deal. So we were talking about some of the cheap cabinets. I think the one that I really like, just because I was a 90s kid with the PlayStation. I really liked the Tekken 2. And you said the board's in this? Mm-hmm. So if I fire it up and probably throw an LCD in there, it should work with the converter. The artwork all looks good, the marquee and everything. Where were you at on this one? I think I had said 150, 150. How do you feel about 100? How about I have a Tekken Tag board that I can throw in there along with the Tekken 2, And we stay at 150. So I'm going to give you two PCB boards with this cabinet. I'll take it. Nice. Thanks, man. You're welcome. Appreciate it. We're going to find a good home for this right on. Okay, so I don't want to leave. I took Corey's keys. He doesn't know. Have you seen my keys? No. Okay. I know I left them somewhere here. We'll be right back. Man, it was really great to have Corey and Ralph come out and take a look at everything today. Some real good guys. Always fun to connect with like-minded people in the arcade world. I think we made some pretty good deals today. I think they got some good deals. I think I did pretty well for myself. Corey, I'm beat. Me too, man. Busy, busy day, but a lot of cool stuff. I'll keep you in control! It's so stupid. I think this was a super successful pick man David's a cool dude this place is amazing my mind is blown you did good man you did good me too man awesome pick but I tell you what I'm starving let's go get some food alright hey so it looks like you found your keys shut up Ralph Thanks so much for watching this episode of Arcade James Piekarz. If you'd like to inquire about the show or have us pick at your place, please email us at ArcadePickers at gmail.com. Arcade James Piekarz is property of Retro Ralph LLC and Superhero Rental of Arizona LLC. you

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: d92bcf07-b648-42f1-aa94-0068d1e53ab8*