The Impossible Dream

[fuzzyoctopus]

So since my husband actually updated his livejournal about this weekend, I figure I can do no less than post the story here.

Tuesday was our anniversary.  We decided to head up to Detroit last weekend and spend the weekend there. There were a couple arcades up there that had BEMANI machines J.T. wanted to play, and a surprising amount of Japanese import stores up there.  And a zoo, for me.  So to Detroit we went.

Meanwhile, he's bidding on a Beatmania arcade machine on eBay, that's still at a ridiculously low price. It's pickup only and the monitor is not working so it's not getting a whole lot of bids.  J.T. figures, hey if he wins it we can swing by Milwaukee on our way out of Detroit and pick it up and take it home.  Little did I know.

Since no one in the family owns a pickup truck any longer, we take his mom's Dodge Grand Caravan, with all the back seats taken off. On paper it should fit.  Then, surprise of surprises, he actually wins the auction for the arcade machine, for about $400, and only about $75 worth of gas.  So we take off early Monday morning and head up to Wisconsin. We get there and find out that yes - you can fit a 750 lb. Beatmania machine in the back of a Grand Caravan.  Very carefully.  Oh, and only if you take off the control panel first. The guy with the forklift who helped us get it in the van was laughing so hard - he'd never had anyone try to pick up an arcade machine in a minivan before and had to take pictures to show his friends.

The cabinet actually fit in with about a foot to spare, but then we had to fit the control panel in the back, which meant we couldn't close the hatch.  So we had to lash it down and drive 8 hours back home in 20 degree weather with the back open.  Then yesterday we enlisted some help and got it out of the van into the barn.  Unfortunately none of the doors in the house is wide enough to get the machine into the house, so it will be staying in the barn until further  notice.  We now are the proud (?) owners of a Beatmania machine with a monitor that doesn't work.  Again - fortunately, J.T. has a friend in Columbus who fixes arcade machines for a living, and doesn't think it will be too hard or expensive to fix.

Anyway, he's going to (apparently) be documenting this on his website for other Beatmania affecionados, so if you like you can take a look at it.

http://blog.jtkauffman.com/mediagallery/album.php?aid=3&page=1

[Archon]

Is Beatmania, in essence the same thing as DDR?

[fuzzyoctopus]

Well yes and no.  They're both part of the Bemani line, but whereas DDR has you "dancing", Beatmania has you "being a DJ".  You have five buttons and a turn-table and you follow the notes on the screen just as in DDR.

Oh, heck, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatmania

DDR is really the only Bemani game that most americans know, but there is a whole line of them.  J.T.'s next goal is to get a Pop'n Music or a ParaParaParadise arcade machine.  Both of those are really hard to find the U.S.

[JP Dogberry]

Para para Paradise really sucks IMO. What you want is Guitar Freaks and Drum Mania. Guitar freaks is really fun.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Personally, I agree.  But my husband is first and foremost a collector and he'd love the idea of having the only working ParaPara machine in the state of Ohio.  (There's a broken one in Bowling Green and that's it.)

Now come on though.  Wouldn't you think it was a little cool if one of your friends had something like this set up in the rec room?

[JP Dogberry]

When I have the room the money and the means, I'm buying some pinball tables.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I *have* two pinball machines. They're in my dad's basement, because I have not room for it.