Released in 1983, Midway's Discs of Tron made quite an impact in amusement arcades. Released in a special "environmental" cabinet which allowed players to stand inside for additional immersion, the game is worth around $10,000, due to the fact that it was produced in small numbers due to its size.
It's hard enough to find a working example of this machine in the modern era, but video game historian Tim Lapetino recently experienced something you'd assume was impossible in 2023 – a Discs of Tron cabinet sitting on the curbside, ready to be picked up and scrapped.
Lapetino's story has been recounted on The Arcade Blogger (thanks, Kotaku):
I was visiting my family in the Chicago suburbs recently, when my niece mentioned she saw “some TRON thing” sitting on a curb while she was riding her bike through the neighbourhood.
Of course we jumped in the car to go take a look, as it was just blocks away from where my parents and other family live. As we drove up to the spot, I uttered “What the &*@$?!” forgetting that my niece was in the car with us. And would you believe it – there it was. An EDOT was sitting by the curb.
The owner of the cab had dragged it down her driveway to the street in the hope that it would be collected as garbage, but, at 700 lbs, it was too large to be taken.
So Lapetino got his brother to help; the siblings got some ratchet straps and furniture dollies at a nearby store and rolled the cabinet down the road. Amazingly, upon getting it home, the pair discovered that it was in perfect working order.
For Lapetino, this was quite the find – and it was free!
Just to add context, this is absolutely my holy grail game! I don’t own any other arcade machines, but being a huge TRON fan and a lover of this game, this would have been my ideal game to (someday) own, and here it was just sitting blocks away from where my relatives live! I don’t really believe in coincidences, and this is an absolutely nuts story.