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Meet The Captain - Pinball Expo 2023 - Pinball News

Pinball News (Pinball Expo 2023)·video·19m 50s·analyzed·Oct 21, 2023
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Captain's Auction Warehouse founder discusses pinball auction business and retail showroom operations.

Summary

Chris Campbell, owner of Captain's Auction Warehouse in Anaheim, introduces his business at Pinball Expo 2023. Campbell describes his journey from moving arcade machines as a teenager to founding an auction house in 2008-2009 that revolutionized pinball machine sales through live streaming and real-time bidding. He also operates an interactive showroom in Anaheim featuring 65+ playable pinball machines across multiple eras, with Cece managing operations and organizing local tournament play.

Key Claims

  • Captain's Auction Warehouse was incorporated in 2010 but the business started in 1999

    high confidence · Chris Campbell stating his company history directly

  • Campbell was the first to introduce live streaming with real-time bidding integration to arcade/pinball auctions

    medium confidence · Campbell claims: 'I was the first one to basically introduce an integration of live streaming with real-time bidding in our auctions'

  • Captain's Auction Warehouse operates two buildings totaling approximately 50,000 square feet of secured facility

    high confidence · Campbell states: 'I've got my own warehouse, actually two buildings in Southern California that equates to about close to 50,000 square feet'

  • The Banning Museum auction in 2021 sold 1,328 games total, including 546 pinball machines, across two 3-day periods

    high confidence · Campbell provides specific numbers: 'we sold 1,328 games. 546 of them were pinball machines. We did it in two three-day periods'

  • The Banning Museum auction reshaped pinball pricing and influenced manufacturers to elevate rates

    medium confidence · Campbell states: 'I know there's some manufacturers in here that actually had conversations about elevating rates based on the Banning Museum'

  • Campbell's showroom has 65 pinball machines currently playable, with 45 additional machines waiting to meet quality standards

    high confidence · Campbell mentions: 'there's 65 plus another 45 that are waiting in the wings that she won't put in the room because it doesn't meet her standards'

  • Captain's Auction Warehouse auctions between 4-6 weeks with an average of 50-60 pinball machines per auction

    high confidence · Campbell states: 'we do auction between four and six weeks and the average has been right around 50 to 60'

  • The customer base for Captain's Auction Warehouse includes over 18,000 proven customers

    high confidence · Campbell references: 'over 18,000 proven customers that we email'

Notable Quotes

  • “I was the first one to basically introduce an integration of live streaming with real-time bidding in our auctions”

    Chris Campbell@ 5:22 — Claims pioneer status in modernizing pinball/arcade auctions through technology

  • “If there's anybody to blame for some of the price hikes when you're buying an expensive pinball, I'm right here”

    Chris Campbell@ 11:36 — Acknowledges the Banning Museum auction's impact on overall pinball market pricing

  • “What has gone up will never come back down. I think that soft is still in a soft, elevated position, and I don't think it's really going anywhere”

    Chris Campbell@ 12:41 — Describes current market as softening but permanently elevated pricing plateau

  • “I think there's one vending machine that's really clean and there's a really nice elevator soda machine that has energy drinks to sodas and that's it. No food, no alcohol, open to all ages”

    Chris Campbell@ 14:30 — Details showroom design philosophy emphasizing cleanliness and accessibility

  • “We do build champions in there and there's players that are here that go there super tough everything is like if you want to just go play some floaty bounce around pinball that's cool but man even the ems are kind of screaming down the playfield”

    Chris Campbell@ 15:09 — Describes showroom as competitive venue attracting elite players while remaining accessible

Entities

Chris CampbellpersonCecepersonCaptain's Auction WarehousecompanyRob BurkepersonKeith ElwinpersonLaura DotsonpersonTall BobpersonPhilperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Captain's Auction Warehouse operating at significant scale with 50-60 pinball machines per 4-6 week auction cycle, indicating sustained market activity and consistent inventory flow

    high · Campbell states: 'we do auction between four and six weeks and the average has been right around 50 to 60' with recent auctions at 71 and 68 machines

  • ?

    community_signal: Captain's showroom actively building competitive pinball culture while maintaining accessibility to casual players; attracts elite-level players and organizes regular tournament play

    high · Campbell: 'We do build champions in there and there's players that are here that go there super tough' and 'we have some of the best pinball players in the world that come play at our place'

  • ?

    community_signal: Banning Museum auction (2021) achieved significant marketplace impact with documented academic/financial analysis of pinball pricing effects

    medium · Campbell states: 'There were professors of finance that were talking about this Banning Museum. And it got worldwide publicity' and 'manufacturers in here that actually had conversations about elevating rates'

  • $

    market_signal: Secondary market showing consistent rotation patterns rather than collection liquidation; collectors moving machines rather than exiting hobby entirely

    medium · Campbell: 'it's not that people are dumping their collections they're just rotating they've moved on they've run out of space'

  • $

    market_signal: Campbell describes current market as 'soft' but 'elevated' with expectation that pricing will not return to pre-peak levels

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.059

0:00
Good morning, good afternoon, hello everybody. My name is Chris Campbell. I'm the owner of Captain's Auction Warehouse, located in Anaheim, California. Yeah.
0:13
And, you know, I make my living pretty much in front of kind of a camera and in front of people, being an auctioneer, but it still doesn't stop me from being nervous for a while here. I had no idea why Rob Burke really, really wanted to get me over here because I was like, I don't even know what I could say. He said, well, just introduce yourself as the captain. And I also have somebody that came with me, kind of like my right, my left hand,
0:44
Sergeant at Arms. You want to introduce yourself? I am Cece. Cece? cc the repair chick also known as the repair chick um you know i started uh captain's auction warehouse i guess you know it's it's meet the captain i guess the deal so i was like well when i'm nervous put together a bunch of stuff that you can just give away so like at least people can go you know i don't even know what the heck that was but at least he had some free stuff to give away and uh you know and i appreciate everybody who came to our meeting here today I hope there was enough swag to pass around If there wasn't enough swag bags I think we've got some more We'll pawn some off to you in the back alley afterwards If you'd like We're down on the floor So Captain's Auction Warehouse was I guess incorporated Well it was incorporated in 2010 But I started in 1999 To give you a little brief on me I grew up as a young guy, 14 I was going into bars, moving pool tables and various coin operated machines out of an arcade and some bars with a guy named Tall Bob and this guy named Phil these are great operators so I kind of grew up around the operating part of coin op not so much a collector but more of a hustler myself and so I've been around games and appreciated arcade games and pinball machines in particular since I was young. And, you know, with a very boring story over the next however many years, I cut my way through a lot of work and business, but I always had a gift to gab. And, you know, through circumstances, and somebody in the previous meeting mentioned 2008.
Banning Museum
event
Women Bells and Chimesorganization
Captain's Auction Warehouse Showroomcompany
Stern Pinballcompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Pinball Mapcompany

high · Q&A response: 'what has gone up will never come back down. I think that soft is still in a soft, elevated position'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Live streaming integration with real-time bidding fundamentally changed pinball auction market structure, enabling global participation and price discovery

    medium · Campbell claims pioneering live streaming for auctions and references its transformative effect on market access and pricing

    • 2:35
    In 2008, there were a lot of things that happened, and there were things that happened that didn't have anything to do with coin op. But I was in a business that was doing international trade in Japan. I was moving a lot of gaming machines and coin-operated stuff, slot machines and everything. And in 2008, when the economy took a dive, that consumer-driven business that I had really slowed down. And what I had to do was pivot in my business. And, you know, there were a lot of operators and people that were struggling at that time.
    3:12
    And so I started to develop an auction business. And I had a lot of operator friends that were hurting and needed cash. And, excuse me, guys, you made it. Thank you.
    3:32
    There were a lot of operators that needed some help. And so I created an auction house. And in 2008, 2009, it was a lot of handwritten stuff. There wasn't really the Internet streaming, anything like that. And, you know, long story short, I started an auction business that in our local area really took off. And, you know, I knew we had something there. And I'm going to give it to you for a second here. Tell them a little bit about what you were doing. When you first started doing your auction, I remember the girl from Storage Wars was your auctioneer.
    4:13
    I was a longtime customer. Yeah, Cece's been a longtime customer with us. She comes from San Diego area, and she would come up to our auction, and I hired an auctioneer that went on to do Storage Wars, a gal named Laura Dotson. And great gal, but I figured I'd hire somebody who was, you know, I guess she was energetic, I would say. And so she was doing the auctions, and CeCe would come up to the auctions, and she'd come in like a rock star. Big sunglasses, come in with Keith Elwin. You were working with Keith, and Keith is a pinball designer and stuff, right? And you guys were buying for San Diego That was before he was working for Stern And so they come in and I always saw Cece and I liked her because she was you know cool She was terminally cool And, you know, I mean, there's operators and there's people that are hobbyists and everybody, and Cece was, like, really cool because she was in both the communities. And, you know, it's funny that, you know, like minds they get together and stuff. And, you know, years later, as the business started to progress and what we did, I was the first one to basically introduce an integration of live streaming with real-time bidding in our auctions. And, you know, when that came about, it really opened the door for us to, you know, get out there. And there were more and more people that started to, you know, I guess you would say, see the auction maybe in a little bit different of a light. Because I was bringing in people that are here that have been to arcade auctions. Has anybody been to an arcade auction before? The live ones? In different parts of the country, right?
    5:58
    Sometimes good, sometimes bad. You know? Well, sometimes good, sometimes bad. And there's a company that was doing a lot of those auctions that was out there. That, you know, I had to help kind of change the way some people looked at auctions. because the arcade auctions and the pinball auctions were kind of, you know, subject to as is, where is all the time. And, you know, I like to believe that, you know, we created something, you know, in Southern California with the streaming to go along with the live on-site bidding. We created something that... But the big thing is that you have your own warehouse. Well, yeah. So we have our own facility. I've got my own warehouse, actually two buildings in Southern California that equates to about close to 50,000 square feet of secured facility for arcades and pinballs to be sold. And a lot of that success in our sales has been the fact that people can buy from our location and have the convenience of being able to pick up, take some time, get it shipped. Arrange shipping the next week. Yeah, range shipping and just a lot of convenience things. I've always wanted to put the consumer and the operator. See, I work both ends of the spectrum with an auction. You have people who consign equipment and you have people who buy the equipment. So that's your buyers and your sellers. We own very little of the equipment that's sold in our sales, but we do sell quite a few pinball machines every month. and they're generally going to great homes. I'm a, to get back to, you know, my core is, I'm not just in this for the sale. I mean, I'm an enthusiast, a collector, you know, a player, competitor, you know, distributor now for pinball.
    7:56
    You know, I kind of bleed my business and pinball to go with family, you know, with my family. Those are the top three deals that I got going. and uh so you know back to uh captains is like that's me so it was kind of hard not to come in here and just kind of promote my business but uh you know what um what i do like saying is you know i'm a part of this community and i enjoy being in it you know and i was really looking forward to this meeting and we were kind of joking it was i was almost going to pay people off uh you know to come over to the meeting because we joked we'd ask people hey can you come to the meeting because we're going to have at least four of us here or five of us here you know i mean really um you know it was my kind of our biggest nightmare when we would do the auctions before uh even before the internet is posting and advertising and then opening the door and seeing if anybody shows up and uh well we had to offer him the swag bags and stuff 10 to 20 um so you know that's that's kind of it with me um you know cc's done a heck of a lot of work um there's a lot of things i couldn't accomplish without cc she's like the right hand she's packing the bag she's like true blue captains when we go to a lot of events. Not as many of these shows, but we do go to some of the trade shows. We promote pinball play. We promote tournament play. We promote purchasing, getting into pinball.
    9:39
    We have a showroom in Anaheim also, which is an interactive showroom. We have games for sale and coin drop. It an all super clean nice environment pinball hall that CC has started the women Bells and Chimes in Orange County And she's a full-time TD as well as she is a paid employee for Captain's Auction Warehouse that does a lot of extra work on her time as well. You know, it's a 24-7 deal pretty much with us. I've pretty much moved into the showroom. Yeah, Cece lives at the showroom half the time, three-quarters of the time she's in the showroom, so we have to keep it really nice for her in there.
    10:27
    What else you got? Well, I don't know if we have much time, but I really... You don't actually. Yeah, we don't actually. Thanks for being here.
    10:38
    So I know there were people that asked about the banning auction. We did a banning auction in 2021. If you don't know what Banning is, it's a museum of pinball that was out there where captains and the crew, there were seven of us, and we sold 1,328 games.
    10:57
    546 of them were pinball machines. We did it in two three-day periods in the city of Banning, which is like a one-horse town. There were a lot of people, even the volunteers, that said it will never work. You can't get the Internet. You can't do this. You can't do that. It's going to be a disaster. You should just sell it all locally. Well, I devised a plan. I hooked up Internet. We had perfect streaming ability, and we streamed all over the world. And, you know, I think it reshaped a lot of the pinball pricing. I know there's some manufacturers in here that actually had conversations about elevating rates based on the Banning Museum. So if there's anybody to blame for some of the price hikes when you're buying an expensive pinball, I'm right here. has been proven because there's education documents that were written and discussed on college campuses in finance. There were professors of finance that were talking about this Banning Museum. And it got worldwide publicity, and I think it lended a lot to the pinball community, and I was actually very happy to be a part of that, as well as the crew, and we pulled it off. It was pretty awesome.
    12:11
    Thank you. So I think we have a couple minutes. Can we get some Q&A? Yo. Softness is a good word. I mean, I think a lot of it has to do with, you know, the atmosphere. The time of the year. The time of the year and the atmosphere of, you know, what's going on.
    12:38
    But I still see a strong demand. Big, strong demand, but, you know, what has gone up will never come back down. I think that soft is still in a soft, elevated position, and I don't think it's really going anywhere. But, yeah, good question.
    12:59
    Yes? What's the weirdest thing you've found in the cabinet? Oh, boy. Well, it's been a couple of things. some gross some probably could open up to litigation but i found uh you know a few strange things i tell you one of the coolest things i found was a bag of money yeah at three thousand five hundred and twenty three dollars in ones in a pac-man machine yeah i found some self-defense weapons in a pinball machine too yeah a lot of interesting stuff I found it and gave it to you that's three right there cool other questions to play right now there's 65 pins spanning the 70s 80s 90s I just checked the pinball map and And I think there's one on there. It's 65 plus another 45 that are waiting in the wings that she won't put in the room because it doesn't meet her standards.
    14:19
    We are on coin drop. So we still believe in the almighty quarter. We've got change machines. It is a super, super pristine showroom. There's one vending machine that's really clean and there's a really nice elevator soda machine that has energy drinks to sodas and that's it. No food, no alcohol, open to all ages, Monday through Friday. 12 to 9 plus tournaments. We have some of the best pinball players in the world that come play at our place and I work on machines and i don and i also the td and i don want to get a lot of complaints so i make sure that everything is working properly so yeah in in pinball um we like to believe that our showroom we do build champions in there and there's players that are here that go there super tough everything is like if you want to just go play some floaty bounce around pinball that's cool but man even the ems are kind of screaming down the playfield but they are really really nice cc puts a lot of pride in that work and and we keep an eye on it's a pretty high control showroom very nice always attended and always uh open and welcome especially to new players i was talking to pinball map outside and I ask everybody who comes in that I don't recognize and I really enjoy that pinball map draws a lot of people in.
    15:47
    We also have an opportunity to offer pinballs for sale. There's a lot of people that may want to trade something in or put one in their home. We're not opposed to that. We'd love to have you come and play. We've got all the new Stearns and the new Jersey Jacks are there as they come out to play, but we also have them available for sale as well.
    16:10
    Pretty cool. Yes? Do you have a minimum number of pinballs that you would auction off? A minimum amount? No. Actually, when I started with the auctions, I always kept it open to any amount of pinball machines is fine. I had a Williams Steve Ritchie High Speed in my first four auctions because the guy loaned it to me because I wanted to say arcade and pinball auction. I didn't have any pinballs. Nobody was coughing them up then. And he said, I'll give you this high speed, but I have to put a reserve on it. And so he wouldn't buy it back, but I put a reserve just so I could say I had pinballs. So the first I had one pinball machine four times. After that, it was never a minimum. And then I'd move to seven, and then I went to ten, and then the numbers were so good, I almost had to hold stuff back. And now you do not do reserves. Yeah, there's no reserves at our auction. They sell. Yeah. What about traveling? Do things have to be all to your warehouse? Yes. A lot of the success for the sellers, people that want to maximize their dollar,
    17:22
    unfortunately it comes with a price of you've got to get the equipment to our warehouse because a lot of the value is in the fact that we've got a secured warehouse. We take care of it. We market the item. you know we've got a huge customer base over 18,000 proven customers that we email that believe and and see our brand and and buy all the arcades and pinballs and it usually works out because I can always help with transportation as well people need to get stuff trucked in I've trucked in semi loads of pinball machines from different parts even different countries that brought them in and sold them for clients. Yes? What about things that aren't playing? Shop projects?
    18:09
    We sell projects. We prefer that they're at least complete. Because we love the history, too. I mean, I love having the history of those games and the pinballs as well.
    18:19
    Last question? Just the hammer's been thrown down. Yes? we do auction between four and six weeks and the average has been right around 50 to 60 we just had an auction last weekend with 71 pinball machines in it the previous before that i think it was like 68 and and it's like all the eras so you know if you wanted new used we pretty much have them all in there and it's not that people are dumping their collections they're just rotating they've moved on they've run out of space however they handle it but you know the great part is is we have enough uh you know respect in the community that people do bring their equipment and i know a lot of those operators and collectors that would never even think about giving somebody one of their games or trusting them to sell it and they bring them in so we got a great staff You know, the rest of my staff back home, they're working right now. They better be. And, you know, I think that's it. I got somebody standing behind me. I don't know if he's armed or not. We do get a lot of rarities, too. Yeah, we get a lot of rarities. So make sure before they cut us off here, captainsauctionwarehouse.com. Check us out for all your pinball needs.
    19:42
    Thank you. And Stern Pinballs.