Advice needed...making an offer on a rare game

jar155

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Ok, so I found one my holy grails out in the wild. The thing is...this game is super rare, and I want to make the operator an offer on it. I just don't know how to go about it on this one, since there's not an easy way to gauge value for the machine. The game is an F-Zero AX, and it's in pretty good shape, but the monitor really needs to be capped. Seeing it in that shape makes me wonder if the operator is spread a little thin and may be willing to let it go for the right price. Heck, the AfterBurner Climax right next to it has been out of order all summer.

So, how exactly do I go about making on offer on this thing? Anybody know a ball park range for a game that's so hard to come by?
 
Those are rare here in the UK too. There is one on ebay at the moment at around the £2,000 mark.

I would start low and work your way up, start at say $1000.
 
Well there's two models of this machine. If it were me, the first thing I'd need to know is how much these cost brand new back in 2003. Contact a Sammy dealer first and find out. http://www.sammyusa.com/distributor
Then comes the speculatory math to guestimate how much money this machine modestly makes every month. Since the game was made in 2003 then you can subtract that amount from purchase price. The sad part is every OP I know doesn't think that way. They don't take into account how much money they've made, they only remember what they paid so YMMV. It's about the only formula I've been able to come up with to ensure a realistic offer is made. Good luck though!
 
That is not a rare game. They made plenty of them, and it's just a few years old. Offer what you're comfortable with, if it's worth a grand to you, offer that, if it's worth 1500, offer that.
 
That is not a rare game. They made plenty of them, and it's just a few years old. Offer what you're comfortable with, if it's worth a grand to you, offer that, if it's worth 1500, offer that.

Eh, what? Hardly any of them made it to North America. I'd wager that 99% of KLOV users have never played one.
 
I don't live far from there, so if you are serious about buying it I can go take a look at it. It's been for sale for months so I assume there is some room to negotiate but probably not too much. These guys are operators.
 
I can't believe you found one of these. I love F-Zero GX (the GameCube version) and I've been looking for one just to play for years. I can't find any that are even remotely close to Ohio.
 
Eh, what? Hardly any of them made it to North America. I'd wager that 99% of KLOV users have never played one.

Bullshit, it's still not rare. I worked for an op who had 4 of them out on route. Check the bowling alleys around the Winston Salem area, you'll find a few.
 
Bullshit, it's still not rare. I worked for an op who had 4 of them out on route. Check the bowling alleys around the Winston Salem area, you'll find a few.

Well he probably imported about 10% of them then. By some accounts the number is under 20 for the entire United States. There used to be several websites that were dedicated to tracking this game alone. Maybe a few more slipped in as they ran their course in Japan, but very few were imported originally. There's definitely less than 100 of them in North America.
 
What is this bizzaro world where F-Zero AX machines apparently exist?! I'm going insane! I would trade all my machines for one of these in a heart beat, seriously.
 
Remember that an operator won't care what needs to be done to it (recap/clean) nor how much he's made off of it already. All he cares about is what he paid for it, and that's how much he'll probably want. Most people know caps don't cost much, and if he has a on-staff tech, he can get it done for nothing, so it isn't a bargaining point....
 
I wouldn't say it's very rare either... I've played it at probably 4 or 5 different arcades. I'd say finding one for sale is rare though, but as they get older and stop making money, they'll probably start popping up. I actually was just talking to a friend about how I've never seen a Mario Kart arcade pop up at an auction. The game is pretty lame, so I wouldn't want it anyway (F-Zero is MUCH better), but it's still a little surprising.

Actually... now that I think about it... it seems like the west coast is where I've played the majority of both of those games, so maybe some Cali members have seen them pop up at auctions out there.

DogP
 
OK, I'm completely noob around here, so I could be *WAY* off...

But...

Just because 99% of KLOV members haven't played a game that was introduced in 2003 does not make it rare.
My hunch is that more than 50% of the members here don't care much about many (any?) arcades that were made/introduced after about 1997 or so.
No offense meant to those of you who do.
 
BTW - I see the Guitar Hero game in all the big places, but haven't (and won't) play it...
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RAPBIGICP1
e.
My hunch is that more than 50% of the members here don't care much about many (any?) arcades that were made/introduced after about 1985 or so.
No offense meant to those of you who do.

Fixed......


Sounds about right.
 
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