'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison bought an arcade game for $1,000 — then Chumlee destroyed it

Chumlee wanted to try out the game even though he knew that it was already shot.

PUBLISHED AUG 23, 2025

Screenshots showing Chumlee and Rick Harrison on "Pawn Stars." (Cover image source: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

Among "Pawn Stars" cast members, Chumlee sometimes gets good deals and also spots fakes thanks to his fascination with games and action figures. But this also tends to get him in a tight spot when he ends up committing blunders in excitement. Apart from overpaying for items without consulting an expert, he has even damaged shop property. Something like that happened after Rick Harrison purchased an arcade game that was popular during the mid-1900s. Chumlee wanted to try it out and completely destroyed it in the process.

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A seller had stepped in with his 1957 bowling alley arcade game, which was a smaller version of an actual alley. The guest claimed that back in the days, such a game was worth $1,200. The item looked to be in decent shape from the outside, but all of the wiring was shot on the inside.

The guest said that it had been turned on 40 years ago, which was not ideal. Retro arcade games have a big collectors market, but nobody wants to buy a game that doesn’t work. Fixing it up would cost the shop around a couple of thousand dollars, as far as Harrison was concerned. However, he believed that if he could keep the expenses at bay and restore it within $3,000, a profit could be made.

Screenshot showing the game. (Image credit: YouTube | Pawn Stars) — Screenshot showing the game. (Image source: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

This meant that the guest’s asking price of $6,000 was never going to be matched. Instead, Harrison offered him $1,000 for the game. This was too low compared to what the seller had asked for, but he was happy to let it go at that amount of money. He said that he had purchased it for $50, and so, he still made a pretty big profit on it.

Harrison might have been happy to have closed the deal at $1,000, but his hopes of getting the game repaired within an additional $2,000 were literally smashed by Chumlee. After the deal was sealed, the game was kept in a room that looked like a huge warehouse. Chumlee sneaked up to the game and picked up one of the balls.

Screenshot showing the damage done by Chumlee. (Image credit: YouTube | Pawn Stars) — Screenshot showing the damage done by Chumlee. (Image source: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

The game had not been plugged in for four decades, and the wiring inside had collected a lot of dust. If the game were in a bar, the tar from cigarette smoke may have also accumulated inside.

Chumlee still went ahead to try his hand at arcade bowling. However, instead of throwing the ball down the lane, he launched it straight at the machine. It shattered the game with a loud noise into several pieces, and the perpetrator silently left the room with a look of guilt on his face.