Addams Family Questions

Kryzsky

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I have an opportunity to pick one up, will need some work though. From what I can tell it's in decent shape, even for being stored outside covered in plastic all summer. CPU board is missing, topper is there, don't think and other major parts are missing. Will definitely take some work, I can imagine spending ~$300 on parts plus replacing the board and about 20 man hours. What would be a fair price to offer?

My main question though, I know it's highly sought after and very popular but what exactly about the gameplay makes it so fun? Sure the movie was alright but I'm thinking it's not the license that's made it so popular, is it the gimmicks, the sounds, the shots?


Thanks!
 
The game play and scoring modes are very entertaining. The showtime multiball with magnets, the 'Thing" hand and dmd animation package makes the game fun to play.
Prices for a working one can range from $2500-$3500. Some projects missing parts on ebay have sold around $1000ish range.
I would thoroughly check it out since it's been outside. If it's been outside all summer, then they must not value it much.
 
With it being outside (depending on if you live in an area with humid summers), I would expect a lot of metal pieces to be rusted. Will be a big project and I would offer around 500, but no more than 1000 since it will take 500 plus in parts and multiple hours of labor.
 
I actually bought a Whitewater off the same guy which was stored outside, no signs of rust at all. At first I was taken aback but at the time they had only been outside for 2 months tops and were covered quite well with plastic and tarps.

One crappy thing, the guy is a former operator who somehow heard that an Addams Family is a collector's item and can sell for $5,000. I'll have my work cut out for me explaining that's for a HUO in absolutely pristine condition, even then I'm not sure you could get 5K. This unit has been on location for years and needs parts/work.

Really would like to buy it, sounds like a great game to own.
 
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One crappy thing, the guy is a former operator who somehow heard that an Addams Family is a collector's item and can sell for $5,000. I'll have my work cut out for me explaining that's for a HUO in absolutely pristine condition, even then I'm not sure you could get 5K. This unit has been on location for years and needs parts/work.

Really would like to buy it, sounds like a great game to own.

Unless it has been fully restored with mods, you will not get 5 grand out of a regular addams. If he thinks it's worth a lot, then why is it still outside?
 
I know, couldn't believe it myself when he told me it's been outside. Sacrilege. He's not a real pinball fan, just an operator who is winding down, selling off gear and running out of room to store them.

He just sold his 2nd property and had to move them out of the garage.
 
I know, couldn't believe it myself when he told me it's been outside. Sacrilege. He's not a real pinball fan, just an operator who is winding down, selling off gear and running out of room to store them.

He just sold his 2nd property and had to move them out of the garage.

Operators dont care about the hobby of having pinballs in the home, and frankly dont care about the machines period, its just about making money to them. It's obvious, as he has stored them OUTSIDE, who would do that! He should at least have them in the garage or something out of the elements.
 
Operators dont care about the hobby of having pinballs in the home, and frankly dont care about the machines period, its just about making money to them. It's obvious, as he has stored them OUTSIDE, who would do that! He should at least have them in the garage or something out of the elements.

I would say I've definitely seen more poorly unserviced/maintained pinball machines in the wild than ones actually taken care of. However I happen to know a local OP that waxes each machine (over 100 on route) once if not twice a month. In fact I just bought a machine off of him. He bought it NIB in 2003 and other than the cabinet art being slightly damaged, the play field is immaculate and the game plays like it's new. I would say your blanket statement holds true for most but not all OP's.

Getting back on track - One thing I will say about OP's is I have yet to meet one that won't fight you tooth and nail on price. For whatever reason, all an OP remembers is what they paid and they forget that they need to take into consideration that it's now used and more importantly how much money they've made with the machine over the years. When you show/tell them what machines typically go for they'll say, "Well I can part it out and make more than that." Great attitude .... not. OP's are funny and about all I can say is befriend them. Humor them on their little game and eventually a purchase or two down the road you'll start getting what I call the "Good guy" discount.
And as far as TAF goes - remember they aren;t rare. If you have to replace the play field then you're looking any where from $750 - $1K. Now add your time into it ...... sometimes a person is better off waiting and spending the extra money to get a unit ready to play VS a routed worn out that needs a ton of money and work.
 
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One big problem is that due to the missing board you can't tell what is not working. E.g. the hand, power magnets, flippers, thing flips, ramp diverter, bookcase, etc. There are many extras on this machine. Thus that in itself means I'd be willing to pay less. Assume more things don't work than the seller indicates. Every machine I've bought has wound up having more wrong with it than the seller said.

It probably also needs cleaning, new rubbers, bulbs. Check for missing / broken plastics and other parts such as the cloud on top. Playfield too as already noted. I'd prepare a list of parts & prices ahead of time and show the seller as well as time / labor. Fully working ones needing some cleaning and worn areas on the playfield can be found for $2500 so work from there. I would not compare his to a $5000 one...no comparison.
 
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just picked one up for 1800.00

needs quite a bit of TLC
but its all there and mostly working except for the hand

there was an excellent example for sale nearby for 5,000
i think it sold
 
Sweet price. I'm sure it needs $200-$300 bucks worth of stuff and even then your still $1K less than it goes for. If someone got $5K they won the loto or it was an Adams Family gold. Good quality machines around here are worth $3,300, pristine examples $3,700-$3,800.

just picked one up for 1800.00

needs quite a bit of TLC
but its all there and mostly working except for the hand

there was an excellent example for sale nearby for 5,000
i think it sold
 
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