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Episode 402: Captain’s Auction Warehouse (and showroom)

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·21m 21s·analyzed·Aug 13, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Captain's Auction Warehouse showcases 200+ machines, Banning Museum auction legacy, tournament hosting.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Captain Chris Campbell and CeCe Castaneda about Captain's Auction Warehouse in Anaheim, a massive showroom and auction venue that has grown significantly with 200+ pinball machines across multiple rooms. They discuss memorable auctions including the Banning Pinball Museum (2021), tournament hosting, community events like VW rallies and high school dances, and upcoming appearances at SoCal Gaming Expo.

Key Claims

  • Captain's Auction Warehouse has approximately 64 machines in showroom plus 40, 45, 35, and 50 machines in separate rooms

    high confidence · CeCe describing the facility: 'I don't even know how many games there are. It looks like there's 64 right now. I'm in another room here. There's probably 40 in this room. There's another 45 in this room. And another 35 out in that room. and another 50 in that room.'

  • Captain Chris Campbell has been involved in auctions for over 40 years

    high confidence · Jeff's introduction: 'You've been doing the auction and this for over 40 years now.'

  • The Banning Pinball Museum auction took place in August/early September (approximately 3 years before this recording) and required 90 days of preparation

    high confidence · CeCe: 'it was six days of auctioning in the heat of August... it was two three-day weekends separated by one week, but it was a total of approximately 90 days of prep that I spent almost every day in Banning.'

  • The Banning Museum closure was triggered by COVID and a marijuana facility moving in

    high confidence · CeCe: 'With the museum, there was a perfect storm... with COVID... and then there was a marijuana facility moving in.'

  • The Banning auction attracted media attention including Good Morning America, Vice News, NY Times, and Spectrum TV

    high confidence · CeCe: 'there was Spectrum TV embedded with me there, Vice News, then the New York Times. Good Morning America and Good Morning USA is what set it off. Like Michael Strahan started talking about pinball.'

  • Crypto buyers were significant participants in the Banning auction, with CeCe personally knowing half a dozen crypto millionaires/billionaires involved

    medium confidence · CeCe: 'There was lights out on games just constantly... I know personally a half dozen crypto millionaire slash billionaires that were involved in the sale and buying.'

  • The most expensive item Captain's ever auctioned was a Sega R360 arcade cabinet that sold for 65,000-75,000 dollars

    high confidence · Chris: 'The most expensive item that I've auctioned off would probably be a Sega R360... it sold upwards over around 75 wasn't it 65 to 75 000 in that range yes'

Notable Quotes

  • “If somebody blinks, is that a bid? It can be, depending how much I like you, I guess.”

    Chris Campbell @ ~10:30 — Reveals Campbell's playful approach to auctioneering and his rapport with bidders

  • “The people that come here, the people that I deal with, they have a good time. I am an auctioneer that you can understand... I got a passion for it, and I think that translates out a lot.”

    Chris Campbell @ ~11:00 — Campbell's philosophy on successful auctioneering centered on passion and understanding

  • “I know all the back corners, Jeff, of Banning. Believe me, you don't want to go there. The haunting. The hauntings. Yeah, the experience of the ghosts of the museum that were in there.”

    CeCe Castaneda @ ~18:30 — Emotional recollection of the Banning Museum auction experience during preparation

  • “here's the real truth about josh and the ifpa because that curmudgeon can't get out and play because he's got three little ones at home, he makes it hell for everyone else.”

    Chris Campbell @ ~35:00 — Campbell's humorous but pointed criticism of IFPA rule changes under Josh's leadership

  • “IFPA doesn't matter. Whoppers don't matter. You've created a fun little tournament for me. That's why we all got into it.”

    Jeff Teolis @ ~40:00 — Reframing the purpose of pinball tournaments as community fun rather than competitive mechanics

  • “I'm very open to trying to get anybody and everybody to play pinball.”

    CeCe Castaneda @ ~43:00 — Captain's philosophy on expanding pinball accessibility beyond traditional enthusiasts

  • “So there's going to be a surprise auction. So stay tuned. Go to my website to check it out, which is captainsauctionwarehouse.com.”

    Chris Campbell @ ~44:30 — Announcement of upcoming surprise auctions and promotion of Captain's digital presence

Entities

Captain Chris CampbellpersonCeCe CastanedapersonCaptain's Auction WarehousecompanyBanning Pinball MuseumeventJeff TeolispersonJonathan SoonpersonJoshpersonWhopperpaloozaeventIFPA

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: IFPA tournament formats have become increasingly inefficient and lengthy; multi-table play format innovation was deprecated in favor of bonus-point-less format, reducing competitive variety and speed

    high · Chris: 'josh made a rule no more and you know what that was... you won't get that bonus point for doing those group match plays'; 'I'm sick of long, long, long tournaments. I think players are too.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Captain's Auction Warehouse is vertically expanding revenue streams: traditional auctions, showroom sales/rentals, tournament hosting, high school events, VW rallies, and charity auctions at gaming expos

    high · CeCe: 'we've expanded into renting the room... we've already been hosting winter formals for high schools... high school dances in here where they all played pinball'

  • ?

    event_signal: VW and Pinball Rally was first annual event attracting non-traditional pinball enthusiasts (100+ attendees); demonstrates successful cross-community expansion strategy

    high · CeCe: 'VW enthusiasts who really hadn't either played pinball or knew pinball come in and play... Over 100 people inside... They loved the air conditioning. They loved the cars.'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Nostalgic reverence for Banning Pinball Museum as iconic community gathering place; loss of museum felt deeply despite pragmatic business perspective on auction success

    high · CeCe emotional reaction (smile and tear); 'It was a great place for people... it was a great place... It was where all of our friends all met every year'

  • ?

    event_signal: Captain's Auction Warehouse will exhibit at SoCal Gaming Expo (Pasadena Convention Center) with 12 pinball/arcade machines and host 2-day charity auction benefiting Extra Life LA

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.064

0:00
it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teals you can find everything on pinballprofile.com we've got a big group on facebook we're on instagram and twitter at pinball profile you can email pinballprofile at gmail.com and if you'd like to show your support it's not necessary the show will always be free but i appreciate my patreon subscribers like Rodney C, Bart V, Colin M, Tony V, Jerry S, and others. That's patreon.com slash pinball profile. Sorry there haven't been as many episodes in the last couple of months. Here's why. I was away for 8 of 11 weeks. Most of them were pinball related. There was a vacation week in there as well. But while I was away, I've recorded several episodes. So now that I'm home, I'm editing them. So expect a few to be released over the next few weeks. This one I recorded a couple of months ago, but its release today is kind of timely because of a couple things. There's a big auction this weekend at Captain's Auction Warehouse. And also, it was about three years ago, this month in fact, that we heard of the auction of Banning's Pinball Museum. We'll find out what those crazy days were like and other interesting events from Captain's Auction Warehouse with Captain Chris Campbell and CeCe Castaneda. Chris, CeCe, how are you doing? I'm doing great. Thank you. Hello. I'm good. It's good to be back here in Anaheim. This place, it looks like it's grown, actually. And from what you were telling me, Cece, it's actually going to be growing even a little more. It is. Chris is bringing the offices over to this side. What? Well, that's the thing, Chris. Like, when you come into the showroom, you see, I don't even know how many games there are. It looks like there's 64 right now. I'm in another room here. There's probably 40 in this room. There's another 45 in this room. And another 35 out in that room. and another 50 in that room. And more and more on the auction side. This just keeps growing. So I assume this started as an auction house first. Started as an auction house first. My hobby carried me away into building the room. So yeah, it started off as the auction and now it's everything that encompasses arcades and pinballs. You've been doing the auction and this for over 40 years now. A real legend in the industry and self-taught from what I'm understanding because I'm a professional broadcaster. I talk for a living And being an auctioneer, that's not easy. It is not easy. Well, I don't know if it's not easy. It's easy for me. I mean, I'll auction for 13, 14 hours straight and have to remind myself that people need to take breaks, including myself. I should take breaks. But, yeah, I love to talk. Well, it's a good thing you're on Pinball Profile. That makes perfect sense. But, again, is the key to an auctioneer really just gearing people up? You can do it. Come on, another 10, another 20, another 30 more. What is the trick? If somebody blinks, is that a bid? It can be, depending how much I like you, I guess. We've got a lot of players, a lot of great, when I say players, buyers. You know, the trick to it, I don't know if there's a trick. I know there's a lot of psychological to it. The people that come here, the people that I deal with, they have a good time. I am an auctioneer that you can understand. They understand what I'm selling. They understand that I love what I'm selling. I got a passion for it, and I think that translates out a lot. And if they know that I know that they know they're loving it, that I have a good time, it's really easy for me to throw the auction numbers out there. And, yes, I will try to get that extra bid. I like it. Now, you auction off anything that is coin-related, but you've done some odd things, too. I think I was asking CeCe about, I don't know, you're in California here, maybe movie props. You told me there was a limo. Yes, we sold a limo here, which belonged to an operator. So it was still part of coin up. What is the coolest thing you've ever auctioned off?

  • IFPA rule changes have made tournament formats less efficient and longer, with multi-table play no longer awarded bonus points

    medium confidence · Chris to Jeff: 'Josh changed the rules... josh made a rule no more and you know what that was... you won't get that bonus point for doing those group match plays'

    • organization
    SoCal Gaming Expoevent
    Indusevent
    Extra Life Foundationorganization
    Sega R360product
    Pins and Pirates Pinballevent
    Neil McRaeperson

    high · CeCe: 'We're going to hold two days' worth of auctions inside the Gaming Expo. A big portion of the auction is going to be for Extra Life LA'

  • ?

    event_signal: Captain's Auction Warehouse is hosting Whopperpalooza (3 tournaments over 2 days) coinciding with IFPA 19 at Jim Belsito's facility; significant community gathering of top-80 IFPA players

    high · CeCe: 'It is a celebration of IFPA opening back up after COVID... now we have three tournaments in two days'

  • $

    market_signal: Banning Museum auction (2021) saw extraordinary price inflation driven by mainstream media attention and crypto-wealthy buyers; international bidding participation expanded market significantly

    high · CeCe: 'None of us expected the prices... Michael Strahan started talking about pinball... the phones, the emails, everything started ringing... all of a sudden we were in thousands of people registered to bid'

  • ?

    community_signal: Jonathan Soon is a regular presence at Captain's Auction Warehouse streaming content and teaching rule sets for Extra Life charity fundraising; representative of growing streamer-venue partnerships

    medium · Jeff: 'I watch Pins and Pirates pinball all the time. I see UCC on there, Jonathan Soon, and that's fun... Jonathan can come in anytime, coin up games, because he also does his Extra Life thing'

    • 3:58
    On the spot, the coolest thing that I've auctioned off, you know, it's hard to tell. There's been so many cool things. It would have to be cool, unique, and unusual. And it would probably fall in the taxidermy category where we had, remember the pinball collector? We auctioned off these huge taxidermied swordfish. A whole bunch of fish. and they were painted. Some of them were painted like really wild. Some of them were just painted like natural. And it was actually... Wasn't there a deer head too? Yeah, there was a deer head. It's got to go with the big buck hunter. It does go with big buck hunter. But I mean, those were... I don't know if that was like weird. He was a customer who passed away. So he was a huge pinball collector. He was an eclectic collector like most pinball collectors are. Very eclectic and have other things to collect. So it was kind of weird. Can I ask what the most expensive thing is you've ever auctioned off? The most expensive item that I've auctioned off would probably be a Sega R360, which is R360 was like the original, you're doing 360s as an afterburner, Sega afterburner arcade game where you go upside down and sideways and around and around I seen one in Chicago at Galloping Ghost Galloping Ghost That correct I did see that it was in the back room i was right i was given a little sneak tour of that thing wow that rare that is rare it is rare and it sold upwards over around 75 wasn't it 65 to 75 000 in that range yes well i've been seeing the two of you for years uh mainly at indus that time of year i mean you're a big supporter both of that event and, of course, action here at Captain's. So we get to see that. But I want to go back to the banning pinball. I mean, that was a special place. Look at Cece. You got an instant smile. She has an instant smile and a tear. She has a smile and a tear. I'm a hobbyist, but I'm a little more, you know, what do you call it, pragmatic about it. You know, business-wise, I remember it. It was a great place for people. And what I liked about the museum and the fact that I was a part of selling the museum away is I got to watch a lot of that equipment go to great homes. I mean, most everything went somewhere where it deserved to go, which was really cool. What did you think of that auction when they sold everything off at Banning? I was blown away just like everybody else. None of us expected the prices.
    6:31
    But again, it was a big chore, though. Oh, I can imagine. And it was several days, too, wasn't it? Oh, it was six days of auctioning in the heat of August. Yeah, I think it was August. August, September. It was August, beginning of September. It was two three-day weekends separated by one week, but it was a total of approximately 90 days of prep that I spent almost every day in Banning. I know all the back corners, Jeff, of Banning. Believe me, you don't want to go there. The haunting. The hauntings. Yeah, the experience of the ghosts of the museum that were in there. I had to make friends with a lot of things in there by myself in the museum. It's a daunting place, a facility that size. That's probably, when you ask what's the weirdest thing you sold, the Museum of Pinball. No kidding. Yeah. And we watched in awe of, okay, we're trying to guess the prices way off because people, for whatever reason, certainly unique games, no question about that. But also, oh, there's that interesting thing of it was actually at the Banning Pinball Museum, which is very special to so many people. So I think that was a factor, Cece. Yeah, totally. And, you know, the place is just a great place. It was where all of our friends all met every year for, what, two times a year. You know, John, John the owner. John, right. He's a good friend. And it sucked to see it go, but it was just another experience. Then there was, you know, with the museum, there was a perfect storm. Like, I mean, the whole thing is a story, Jeff. Like, really. The perfect storm of the subject of why it was closing with COVID.
    8:18
    Right? Was it COVID? Yeah. It was. It was COVID. With the subject of that, and then there was a marijuana facility moving in. So then you had a museum closing, which was tragic. And that picked up media attention worldwide.
    8:34
    And the media storm that followed with that was amazing. There was Spectrum TV embedded with me there, Vice News, then the New York Times. Good Morning America and Good Morning USA is what set it off. Like Michael Strahan started talking about pinball. And then, man, the phones, the emails, everything started ringing. And then, you know, all of a sudden we were in thousands of people registered to bid for this thing. So it attracted people from every sector of every business, of every collector's dream. And then you can't forget that crypto was really big. I know personally a half dozen crypto millionaire slash billionaires that were involved in the sale and buying. So there was lights out on games just constantly. And that's why you just see these numbers skyrocketing is you had a handful of people that were just like crushing it. And then anybody that could get in in between. Well, it was a good history lesson because we remember that fondly and sad to see it go. But the people at Indus do a wonderful job now. They've got a great place in Riverside and Jim and Jay and Carl. And I'm glad that you guys continue to support that. Now, today happens to be a couple days before IFPA 19 at Jim Belsito's place. So the world is coming in right now. And I can see in the showroom right now, I can see a lot of players that are in the top 80. And one of the nice things, CeCe, that you put together is you've got this big tournament, a pre-IFPA 19 tournament. That's going to be a lot of fun. Yes, it's going to be a lot of fun. And I made it classics. So we won't have to deal with playing 30-minute balls on a stern. Well done. And isn't that funny because certainly you want to see these games be deep, and they are, and they're wonderful, and the code is brilliant. But in a tournament setting, it really is handcuffing. Yes. Last night we had Chris and Daniele and a few others playing Pulp Fiction which I going to have it in tonight but I did not put it in tournament play yet So they were Daniella I think was on a half hour with one ball Yeah half hour 10 million you know You know what you can do, and it hasn't been done yet. You know what you can disable? The right flipper. Try that.
    10:54
    No one's done it yet, I'm just curious. In classics, though, CeCe did add in all the 90s games. So we're running classics all the way up through the 90s, Williams Valley. Antique rules. 25 years or older. Oh, I like it. I'm looking at Electronimo here. I can see Melson around. I see TriZone, Data East Torpedo. You've got a great collection here, so it'll be a lot of fun, and it won't go as long. Well, I know you've got a time sensitive, but you'll get more rounds in, which the players like for that Whopper aspect. But what I see, and I see it from my home in Canada, is I watch Pins and Pirates pinball all the time. I see UCC on there, Jonathan Soon, and that's fun. You've got to be impressed with all the streaming. Yes, Jonathan loves streaming, so it's great. Come in, stream whenever you want. Yeah, he does too, and it's like open door for him and a couple others if they wanted to come in and stream. But Jonathan can come in anytime, coin up games, because he also does his Extra Life thing. So a little plug for John too. He does Extra Life Foundation where he does streams for people that donate and then goes over rule sets and stuff. So he spends hours here doing that, and we just let him run and let him run and go. And he's just a great addition here. Well, by the time you hear this, that event will have been done. But CeCe, what is this Whopperpalooza? It is a celebration of IFPA opening back up after COVID. So it started off as a one-day event. How much can we fit in one day? But Josh changes rules, so now we can't fit that many into one day. So we have three tournaments in two days. Three tournaments, two days. I love it. And Josh changed the rules. Okay. I think we're all in agreement here. Some of the rule changes are not the greatest.
    12:43
    I would like to see more efficiency. I'm also sick of long, long, long tournaments. I think players are too. Tim Sexton just posted a video. That was actually, I don't even know if there's trolling. It was actually put on the IFPA website. I saw that. Like, it's basically making fun of tournaments. It went out today. I don't know if you've seen it yet. I have not seen it. It's pretty interesting, to say the least, for a guy who's programming at Stern and wants to promote pinball. But that being said, he's concerned about the Whopper Farms, concerned about the dollar, concerned about how long tournaments are. I'll agree with the length of tournaments. The length is ridiculous. The endurance. As I get older, Chris, I mean, you've been doing this 40 years. But we came up with multi-table, where you can do two games, two, three games at one time. you're player one here player two here player three there the first time i ever saw that was here yeah and josh made a rule no more and you know what that was actually you don't get a bonus point you won't get that bonus point you still play it but you won't get that bonus point for doing those group match plays and because it was multi-table we are like the first we innovated that's the biathlon yeah sure yeah right why not i mean because we're playing classics you play 90s and you play a modern all at the same time. One, two, three, and then they say no more fun.
    14:03
    Yeah, there's that. Did you used to ever do flip frenzies? Yes. That was my favorite. Mine too, Chris. I know, and Cece did away with it because I think the rules change. It's not Cece's fault. You do it to... It's Josh. Cece works for me, so I have to turn to her and blame her. No, Cece's got the right blame. I love flipper frenzy. That was the turn. She would always say, well, what format do you want to do? I say flipper frenzy. The Max Matchplay, which is available on Matchplay Software, is actually really good. It's close. I've done a couple of those and it's good.
    14:37
    I wish they didn't do away with it. I've said this before. I'm a broken record. I wish they didn't do away with it. I wish they would have enforced certain rules in it. Have to have a playoffs. Can't have more than two people per machine so that the queues aren't long. Just to back Josh up a little there. I might take this out. Go ahead. so he didn't ban it completely he just made it worse he made no one does it made it worth less points yeah that's what it is it's worth less we had fast cues here too the cues were quick yeah i mean because we have so many machines available which is a key to that chris i'm going to tell you this cc here's the real truth about josh and the ifpa because that curmudgeon can't get out and play because he's got three little ones at home, he makes it hell for everyone else. That's the true fact. You heard it here first on Pinball Profile. And it's agreed on first by Chris Campbell. There you go. Thank you. A legend in the business here. Yeah, right. It looks like there was a big display here recently. I think you told me there was a car event here. A VW Bug was in the middle of the showroom? Oh, yeah. We had a car show with VW Trend Magazine and EMPI. they collaborated with us and did a car show. So we had like 50 60 VW cars out front and Porsches And then we had their special vehicle in the front in that dance floor area The dance floor. So it was the first is a VW and pinball rally is what it was billed as and called was the first annual VW and pinball rally where we had VW enthusiasts who really hadn't either played pinball or knew pinball come in and play in the whiteboard tournaments. They had a great time here. We had over 100 people inside, and they were playing the games. They loved the air conditioning. They loved the cars. You know, all kidding aside with Josh, he knows I'm just poking fun at him. But what you just described there are people that probably aren't traditional pinball people, but they're having fun playing pinball. IFPA doesn't matter. Whoppers don't matter. You've created a fun little tournament for me. That's why we all got into it. And it's good to see you expand that for these car enthusiasts. And now I wouldn't be surprised if some of them went, wow, look at that machine. That would look great. Well, they already have. And when you speak of expansion, so the captain doesn't normally just stop at like auctions and then let's have the room and let's have tournaments and then let's have a VW show. We've already been hosting winter formals for high schools. Nice. And you want to see an amazing group of kids come in all dressed up. They do their thing, and they run right to arcade games and all the pinball machines, and then we've got a dance floor in the middle of the floor. That's why we built that there. We had high school dances in here where they all played pinball. And then after, why not? Some of the parents, they may want something. They want to put one in their house. So we've expanded into renting the room. I'm very open to trying to get anybody and everybody to play pinball. Well, when this isn't being used, that's a day that possible revenue is not happening. So good for you. I mean, are there any other unique things coming up here? There's always something unique coming up. And there's going to be another surprise auction. So stay tuned. Go to my website to check it out, which is captainsauctionwarehouse.com. You can go there and see live auctions. Sign up on our email list. We have surprise auctions that are going to be listed. And then the captain and CeCe and the crew are going to be at the Pasadena Convention Center for the SoCal Gaming Expo, which is going to feature console gaming. But the captain is going to expose and bring pinball machines. I'm so glad you said pinball machines. There was a pause there after I'm going to expose. So anyway, I'm going to expose the crowd to a dozen pinball machines and arcade games. We're going to hold two days' worth of auctions inside the Gaming Expo. A big portion of the auction is going to be for Extra Life LA, so there's going to be some charity involved in it. But once again, we'll have thousands of people walking around all the vendor booths that are going to be able to go by the captain's booth, play pinball, be exposed to it, and we'll just have a lot of fun. So we're doing it all. If you're here in Anaheim, you have to check this out. Maybe you come for Indus next year. It's not too far away. Maybe you're flying in nearby, but come and check out Captain's Auction Warehouse. The showroom is lovely, and I'm sure Cece and Jonathan and Chris all have something going on. I always try to do a pre-tournament. Yeah. A pre-endist. Yeah, I always do a pre-pre because people want to do one at the game lab. Whoops, that happened once. Sorry, never mind. Once and done. The pinball profile played in America Tour. It's done. Don't you worry. It's all yours. You do the day before. It's yours. Yeah. So I know and they want to keep it because people want to be local. And I get it. This is an hour. Well, maybe 45 minutes from game. It was doable. But yeah. So we'll stay with a pre pre. We'll do the pre pre.
    19:45
    Okay. All right. You know what? Here's the karma for you. So I ran that a couple of years ago at Indus 2023. Come on over to the game lab right before pinball profile. It was sold out. I wasn't even there because my flight was delayed. I didn't get there until like the. That's right. Yeah, I had to have absentee, absentee, free, and this, this, this. Yeah, I think everybody stepped up to take over. Colin McAlpine, Andy Bagel, those guys were lifesavers, and I did wind up showing up with my little goodies, but if I had made my flight, I would have made it here as well. So anyway, come check out Captains for sure. I think Neil did it last year too. Neil McRae did that one too. He's got this UK Open in the fall. Does he really need to do that? I'll talk to Neil about that. Great. Anyway, thank you very much, and best of luck to you here at Captains. Thank you very much, Jeff. I appreciate it. Thank you. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Twitter, Instagram, at pinballprofile. Great Facebook group as well. You can also, if you'd like, not necessary, you can join patreon.com slash pinballprofile. It helps keep the show going. A nice way to say thanks. And I appreciate it to great people like Lua W., GME Law, Cliff A., Albert A., Erica's Pinball Journey, and more. Thank you so much for your support. Here at Captain's Auction Warehouse and Showroom, I'm Jeff Teel. Right, Captain, right Upon your mystery ship Be the mace and the brace You have it on your trip Right, Captain, right Upon your mystery ship