My Mushihimesama PCB was ripped off

[Skykid]

Hey all,

My brother unwittingly lent my Mushihimesama PCB to Firebug (That's you, Mr Starkey) for his Heart of Gaming arcade in London, as it "needed more shmups". He claims that I gave my blessing for that halfway across the world, which I'm none too sure about and have no recollection of. Needless to say, my brother's a fool, didn't think to get it back in years, and, when recently inquiring as to whether I could pick it up (at my insistence the moment I found out about the 'loan') was met with the obvious: "Oh, I haven't seen that in a while".

Translation: I sold it.

I expect zero compensation unless god comes down from above and hands it over, and, even though I consider Mark to be an old acquaintance and one I would expect to do the right thing and replace the board for me, I haven't the highest of hopes for that outcome. So, can someone tell me what I'm looking at in cost these days for a loose mushi PCB, as I still have all the kit materials.

Thanks.

[XtraSmiley]

Wow, this is a crazy WTB thread.

I think I've seen a few sales in the last 12 months in the $1200 to 1500 USD range.

[Skykid]

Wow, this is a crazy WTB thread.

I think I've seen a few sales in the last 12 months in the $1200 to 1500 USD range.

For a loose PCB?!!

Jesus Christ.

[pablumatic]

Reminds me a bit about how 90% of all my original retro console games got "borrowed" by my own brother when he took them around to his friends' houses. Never to see them again. I know I never gave him permission either.

Oh well. I eventually re-bought a majority of them.

I don't think I'd shell out for a PCB of Mushihimesama these days though.

[Sumez]

For a loose PCB?!!

Jesus Christ.

I almost envy you being this much out of the loop.
Yeah, arcade collecting took a turn right off a massive cliff...

[XtraSmiley]

Wow, this is a crazy WTB thread.

I think I've seen a few sales in the last 12 months in the $1200 to 1500 USD range.

For a loose PCB?!!

Jesus Christ.

Well, the father left one day for cigarets and never came back, while the mom had a major drinking problem. It happens.

[Skykid]

I know why he sold it now. Pay the rent.

[SuperPang]

So he's replacing it, right?

[donluca]

I almost envy you being this much out of the loop.
Yeah, arcade collecting took a turn right off a massive cliff...

The worst part is that unless you resort to Yahoo Japan auctions or other Japanese websites you won't find the PCB you're after at all.

I have been looking for what must have been 8 years for a Hook PCB (Irem M92) and only found bootlegs in the past.
Now I can't even find the bootlegs.

And when one pops up, it is always 4 figures, at minimum.

And the worst part is that it is usually gone in short order.

I'm super glad I managed to buy all the PCBs I have when I did. To be completely happy I just wanted that Hook PCB and I'd be set.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I know why he sold it now. Pay the rent.

Did he bother to apologize about lying about what happened to it?

[Rastan78]

(That's you, Mr Starkey)

[AGermanArtist]

BDUM TISH

[XtraSmiley]

I almost envy you being this much out of the loop.
Yeah, arcade collecting took a turn right off a massive cliff...

The worst part is that unless you resort to Yahoo Japan auctions or other Japanese websites you won't find the PCB you're after at all.

I have been looking for what must have been 8 years for a Hook PCB (Irem M92) and only found bootlegs in the past.
Now I can't even find the bootlegs.

And when one pops up, it is always 4 figures, at minimum.

And the worst part is that it is usually gone in short order.

I'm super glad I managed to buy all the PCBs I have when I did. To be completely happy I just wanted that Hook PCB and I'd be set.

Cheap bootleg:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114323608076?h ... R4Kdo9fQYg

Korean version (some also call bootleg):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/386049397320?h ... R4Cdo9fQYg

Best option:

https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads ... ort.20129/

I love my Hook PCB (sort not selling), so I hope you get the game one day. Another option is the MiSTer, from what I remember, it plays very close.

[neorichieb1971]

Is this Mark from London UK lives in the Elstree area goes under the profile name "Fire-Bug"?

He came round my house a few times to fix up some cabinets about 10 years ago. I have a message unread for him in my outbox he is off the radar I doubt you'll hear from him again.
Last I heard some folk on here paid him money for projects which he never fulfilled and took their money. Things like Ikari warrior spinner joysticks and such.

The last time I saw him I drove him to some guys house and he bought about 10 MVS carts for conversion purposes, never seen him again.

Sorry to hear about your loss.

[Bassa-Bassa]

I love my Hook PCB (sort not selling), so I hope you get the game one day. Another option is the MiSTer, from what I remember, it plays very close.

What exactly do you remember to be different from the PCB?

[donluca]

Cheap bootleg:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114323608076?h ... R4Kdo9fQYg

Korean version (some also call bootleg):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/386049397320?h ... R4Cdo9fQYg

Best option:

https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads ... ort.20129/

I love my Hook PCB (sort not selling), so I hope you get the game one day. Another option is the MiSTer, from what I remember, it plays very close.

Thanks for the links, I really appreaciate them.

3 years ago that bootleg was 30€ shipped, but the bootleg has horrible sound due to the wrong sound chip and other stuff.

The korean version... it strange, the board is different and, regardless, I'm never going to pay that kind of money.

The multi for me is pointless because Hook is the only game I'm really interested in on that platform.

I'm afraid there will be a time where I'll just sell all my PCBs and get a MiSTer and call it a day, but definitely not today, nor I can see myself getting rid of them in 10 years.
Someday.
Maybe.

[Skykid]

I know why he sold it now. Pay the rent.

Did he bother to apologize about lying about what happened to it?

Not really. My brother contacted him to get it, since he'd loaned it to the arcade, and just got a 'haven't seen that for a while' kind of vague answer.

Is this Mark from London UK lives in the Elstree area goes under the profile name "Fire-Bug"?

He came round my house a few times to fix up some cabinets about 10 years ago. I have a message unread for him in my outbox he is off the radar I doubt you'll hear from him again.
Last I heard some folk on here paid him money for projects which he never fulfilled and took their money. Things like Ikari warrior spinner joysticks and such.

The last time I saw him I drove him to some guys house and he bought about 10 MVS carts for conversion purposes, never seen him again.

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Same.

[Skykid]

So he's replacing it, right?

I've never seen a miracle occur before, would be a nice start.

[SuperPang]

Maybe he'll give you one of his superguns instead.

[Skykid]

Maybe he'll give you one of his superguns instead.

That wouldn't quite settle it. Does anyone happen to have a direct contact for Mark? Email, whatsapp, something like that preferably. I don't use Facebook and I hear he's mostly unresponsive there, and being on the other side of the world makes phone calls complicated.

I'd like at the very least an explanation as to why my kindly loaned board vanished from his arcade and his care.

[neorichieb1971]

Do you trust him? Like I said I had a few meet ups with him on the grounds he fix my cabinets. But what ended up happening is that he came without the parts, tools and I ended up doing him favours like driving him around.

Then there was this issue with shmups members getting ripped off with projects that were also not fulfilled.

Then there is the aspect that he is a member of this forum and hasn't logged in for 10 plus years to see the aftermath.

I'm guessing when you let him have Mushi it was a much cheaper board in the $400 range. Still a sizeable asset to give so much trust with.

Good luck.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I'm guessing when you let him have Mushi

Technically it was the brother who lent it without Skykid knowing.

Skykid: how did your brother get a hold of your PCBs? It doesn't sound like you live together, is your brother looking after your place while you're away? Or is your brother into arcade stuff too and you loaned him a game, which he subsequently loaned? Loaning something already on loan to you is a big no-no as it's not your place to loan obviously... and if that's the case I'd go after him for the reimbursement. If your brother has access to more of your stuff because he's looking after your place, I'd question him on what else of yours he's mishandled. Before, y'know, you discover it's gone missing and have to track it down.

[pubjoe]

Hi Skykid.

Mushi value:
I bought one from Tops this summer. Checking back, I transferred £1212.24 with lowest possible exchange fees and I saved on import costs by shipping to a friend, who I gave £50 and plan to follow up by sending a big box of shortbread biscuits. So it cost a bit under or over £1300 depending on how you calculate the biscuit factor.

Shipped direct with import fees it'd have been around £1450 to the UK so it's probably fair to call that the maximum price.

Considering associated costs with Tops I think a friendly private sale might start at £1000 but I didn't see one near that for ages, so I turned to Tops.


Mark/Firebug:
I'm really sad to hear this. I met him after the supergun thing. I understand he bit off more than he could chew and let people down. Without knowing any more details I'm empathetic to this kind of fuck up happening and I'm under the impression that he eventually made good (?).

I like going to HoG and went there yesterday as it happens. Not sure if I'm forgetting more but I remember donating a 4-slot and lending Mark stuff before. My only annoyance was that when I leant him Tetris TGM (likewise, in cheaper times) it was installed in a cab with the joystick set to 8-way.

Are you absolutely certain about how this went missing? You're saying Mark lied to your brother, claiming that you gave your permission to lend out the PCB? Your brother then handed it to him, left it for years, this all happened without your knowledge, and you've only just found out now with your brother accepting a vague non-explanation of its disappearance?

It's quite an accusation about Mark. I see the comments above about dicking people around but this is quite different. His bills and equipment value are both so high now that even an overpriced Mushi PCB is comparatively insignificant. I mean, I dread to think what those five 103" plasmas cost to run alone.

Obviously you need to communicate to try and find out for sure wtf actually happened. It feels like we're discussing this with missing information so I'm sorry to add further. I just find it hard to understand why Mark would have any reason to do this. It makes no sense to me.

For what it's worth I've never seen Mushi sited at HoG.

[Skykid]

Hi Skykid.

Mushi value:
I bought one from Tops this summer. Checking back, I transferred £1212.24 with lowest possible exchange fees and I saved on import costs by shipping to a friend, who I gave £50 and plan to follow up by sending a big box of shortbread biscuits. So it cost a bit under or over £1300 depending on how you calculate the biscuit factor.

Shipped direct with import fees it'd have been around £1450 to the UK so it's probably fair to call that the maximum price.

Considering associated costs with Tops I think a friendly private sale might start at £1000 but I didn't see one near that for ages, so I turned to Tops.


Mark/Firebug:
I'm really sad to hear this. I met him after the supergun thing. I understand he bit off more than he could chew and let people down. Without knowing any more details I'm empathetic to this kind of fuck up happening and I'm under the impression that he eventually made good (?).

I like going to HoG and went there yesterday as it happens. Not sure if I'm forgetting more but I remember donating a 4-slot and lending Mark stuff before. My only annoyance was that when I leant him Tetris TGM (likewise, in cheaper times) it was installed in a cab with the joystick set to 8-way.

Are you absolutely certain about how this went missing? You're saying Mark lied to your brother, claiming that you gave your permission to lend out the PCB? Your brother then handed it to him, left it for years, this all happened without your knowledge, and you've only just found out now with your brother accepting a vague non-explanation of its disappearance?

It's quite an accusation about Mark. I see the comments above about dicking people around but this is quite different. His bills and equipment value are both so high now that even an overpriced Mushi PCB is comparatively insignificant. I mean, I dread to think what those five 103" plasmas cost to run alone.

Obviously you need to communicate to try and find out for sure wtf actually happened. It feels like we're discussing this with missing information so I'm sorry to add further. I just find it hard to understand why Mark would have any reason to do this. It makes no sense to me.

For what it's worth I've never seen Mushi sited at HoG.

Sorry, I've only just seen this. I assumed nobody was adding anything to the topic.

I don't remember giving my brother permission to lend my Mushi PCB to anyone. Regardless, that's what happened. It's all quite simple as far as I understand: it went to HOG, was assumed to be providing entertainment to its customers (which I'm not against, I personally put boards into Casino in London for its players many moons ago), and when it came to my attention that it had been lent, and had been there for an extended period, my immediate instinct and response was "well that's fucking gone then". I told my brother to enquire about it, and it was indeed, fucking gone.

Nice to hear the place is still open. Sad to hear that my property has been sold. If you never saw it, it must have been a swift sale!

I've not had any personal communications from Mark at all on the subject.

[pubjoe]

I saw Mark yesterday and regrettably ruined the evening by bringing this up. He was mortified and pissed off.

Your facts aren't straight by the way. Mark's reply to your brother wasn't a vague "I haven't seen that for a while", it was a specific "I've never seen that" (he showed me). Did it become vague in translation to you? You're publicly jumping to such a shitty conclusion with this.

I don't want to get too caught up in something that's nothing to do with me but why ask for contact details here instead of from your brother, who had just contacted him?

[neorichieb1971]

Mark is a member of this forum.

Did anyone ask why he hasn't read a PM I sent 10 years ago? I assume if someone met him he is still in the game of arcade hardware.

Glad to hear he is still knocking about.

[Skykid]

I saw Mark yesterday and regrettably ruined the evening by bringing this up. He was mortified and pissed off.

Your facts aren't straight by the way. Mark's reply to your brother wasn't a vague "I haven't seen that for a while", it was a specific "I've never seen that" (he showed me). Did it become vague in translation to you? You're publicly jumping to such a shitty conclusion with this.

I don't want to get too caught up in something that's nothing to do with me but why ask for contact details here instead of from your brother, who had just contacted him?

My brother says Mark forwarded him "some frustrated messages" meant for me, and then blocked him before any response could be made.

Are you joking btw. The board was loaned to HOG, it was in there, it was played by people who visited. What kind of "shitty conclusion" am I jumping to? I no longer have the PCB, it's gone, and the story is a simple one: It went in there, never to be seen again. It's part of a full kit, box and materials that I still have, and had a matching serial. It was NOS. It's not pie-in-the-sky make believe.

I know Mark from way back. I'm not having a meltdown about it, am I?

He's welcome to add his two-cents here. My property is gone, however, and I don't feel great about that. I hope that doesn't offend you. It's far easier for someone to say "I've never seen that" than it is for me to replace the thing.

FYI He may also not remember an MVS 4 slot I personally brought to him for repair once. It was a very long time ago now and I really don't care. But I never saw that again either.

[pubjoe]

I'm sorry your board has been lost Skykid. You're rightfully pissed off.

Maybe selfishly I have a genuine interest in what you say because I'd like to lend HoG a good value in machines. I've heard about way back supergun orders causing drama and as far as I'm aware that was eventually made good. I'd really love to know if I'm wrong. Beyond that it's hard to decipher anything over the years when people, as they do, add their bit into the lingering stink with nothings. Your situation certainly isn't nothing though.

So I'm coming across as a dick for having questions, but please forgive me for thinking it's a bit weird that your brother loaned out your stuff YEARS ago without telling you. I'll get to the annoying point, are you sure your brother didn't just lose it? Sure enough to accuse someone of theft?

[SuperPang]

Slightly confused as to why the two of you aren't proactively trying to get to the bottom of this directly. Can't be that hard to get in touch, surely?

[Skykid]

I'm sorry your board has been lost Skykid. You're rightfully pissed off.

Maybe selfishly I have a genuine interest in what you say because I'd like to lend HoG a good value in machines. I've heard about way back supergun orders causing drama and as far as I'm aware that was eventually made good. I'd really love to know if I'm wrong. Beyond that it's hard to decipher anything over the years when people, as they do, add their bit into the lingering stink with nothings. Your situation certainly isn't nothing though.

So I'm coming across as a dick for having questions, but please forgive me for thinking it's a bit weird that your brother loaned out your stuff YEARS ago without telling you. I'll get to the annoying point, are you sure your brother didn't just lose it? Sure enough to accuse someone of theft?

There’s a track record of disorganisation that goes back some way. I always liked Mark, I still like Mark, he’s a nice bloke and I’d always be happy to sit and have a game with him or a chat, generally. When it comes to the hobby we’re on the same page. But when it comes to keeping track of things - and things that may belong to other people - unreliability is an issue that doesn’t just extend to my own experiences.

He’s a busy guy and the person I blame most of all is my brother for his naivety and not realising that he’s loaning out something of genuine value and it’s HIS responsibility to make sure he gets it back. I never lent a board to Casino and left it there indefinitely, it was always a few months tops and I was in there regularly.

That said, the board belongs to someone (me), it’s in a business establishment in good faith and to help aid the community, and ultimately I’d hope it’s looked after and returned no matter what. That it’s disappeared is not surprising when I caught wind of the loan, and the duration of that loan. Saddening and disappointing definitely.

@pang communication efforts have been made, blocks occurred. Fuck knows. Someone somewhere has a mushi board with my serial on it. Hope they have fun and set a high score.