OK, here is the story. Have a drink, sit back and relax. It’s a long story, but I have to tell it.
I am in love ever since I first visited Level42 at his place back in early November. The target of my affection was this great Star Wars cockpit game. I never had seen one in real before, although I knew the game of course. It was a beautiful cab with a bit of (positive) sinister atmosphere around it. (The Force is with you) I knew right away that this cockpit game had moved from out of nowhere to number one on my cab wish list.
So I started to look around a bit but I soon noticed that these SW cockpits (and uprights) are not flying by like birds in the sky here in Europe. What made it even more difficult was the fact that I wanted one which at least is technically sound.
But then, on 1. Januar Zektor posted a lot of nice games and other items in his sales topic on Jamma+. Amongst them was a working SW cockpit. I was immediately as sharp as a knife on this topic. I asked Zektor to make a youtube video of the test sequence, let it view by Level42 and asked him for advice. It was clear to me, this was the cockpit I was looking for.
Unfortunately, at first he wanted to sell them during a Sunday bootsale!! However, a lot of jamma+ members did think that it was a bad idea because of driving distances and the fact that one might come for nothing (Oh, I’m sorry, I just sold the precious item that you wanted a few minutes ago). Fortunately Zektor agreed that the idea was not so good and he decided to put everything up on Ebid (something like Ebay).
That was a great idea, because the auction type of selling made it all very transparent for everyone. So, ‘my’ Star Wars cockpit was listed as the first item. I made an account on Ebid with my address and location (the Netherlands) and watched the auction. There wasn’t much happening for a few days, but I got more and more excited because the end time (6.00 PM Amsterdam time today) got nearer and nearer (obviously). Then, yesterday evening Level42, who is also in The Netherlands, posted in the sales topic on jamma+ that he wanted to place a bid on an item but he couldn’t because it wasn’t allowed for non-UK members!!!!!
That was terrifying news, but fortunately it was not done on purpose by Zektor and he agreed to change the specific auction items defaults to allow international bidders. Poeh, what a relieve. So I asked him to change it also for SW cockpit and some other items. Of course he wanted to do that, but he couldn’t change the SW cockpit defaults because there was already a bid placed. AAArgh!!!
But hey, I am Dutch and therefore very inventive. So this afternoon ( a few hours before the auction ended) I said to Zektor that I would make an UK Ebid account and I mentioned him my new Ebidname. So I randomly picked a UK name, address and telephone (from a Southampton pub). It worked, I was online on Ebid. Zektor wished me luck. But it worked only an hour or so because at a certain moment I wanted to place a bid, but my account was blocked. WTF!!! I tried to login on my UK account a few times, requested a new password a few times, but without success. Even my other e-mail account was blocked in their system because I didn’t get any e-mails with new passwords. Only two more hours left!!. So, what to do now?
But hey, I am Dutch. So I figured that if I would setup another UK account just a few minutes before the auction ends, it should last (should it? I wasn’t sure at all). I collected a new fake UK name and address, including phone number, made a new Hotmail account to register, and waited. In the meanwhile the auction bid was GBP 700 (from a starting amount of GBP 550). The reserve was met, so I knew that the cab would be won by someone. Then, with 7 minutes to go I made the new account. This took me 2 minutes and with 5 minutes to go I was ready again, and trembling like a drunken man. At 4 minutes left I did my first bid to check if it worked. It did and the new bid was GBP 710, which was the highest bid at that moment. Then I placed my proxy bid which I had in my head for a few days already (remember, the cockpit is VERY rare in Europe). In the last few minutes my bid was automatically raised to 720, 730, …… 730, ……. 730, and in the last second to 831!!
YES, it’s mine.
My proxy bid was just a very little bit above it. I have won a very nice looking SW cockpit in good working order, with spares.
Next to do is of course the pick up, which will be fun. I have a lot of miles ahead, go through the Euro Tunnel for the first time and end up with my number one cab (on even foot with DK). And if possible I will combine it with another pick up.
And to end the story, this game has good Karma, because it’s the first game where my wife supported me 100% to buy it. She even asked about the height of my proxy bid, and after I mentioned the amount she urged me to raise it. I didn’t, and it was a close call.
