Am I insane?

Hypersport

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I checked this out today...
http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/vgm/2381672877.html

vanguard.jpg


but passed on it. Am I crazy? I wasn't nearly as nice as was advertised, but it was in very, very good condition. The short in the power switch turned out to be a disconnected annode to the Electrohome G07 -- I fixed it for the guy after trying to low ball him on the non-working game strategy. What is something like this worth? It did have scratches, and dings, and there was white spraypaint on the top and back, some scraches and holes in the sideart, etc, etc. But, there were no broken corners, and the inside was immaculate. The joystick looked like a frogger joystick, but I've never seen a real Vanguard before.

I bought this instead...
NewPurchase.jpg


Again, am I crazy? The coin door is bent, the sides are blue, the front is black, the wood has seen much better days, and it going to be a quite a project. BTW, I'm the one who started stripping the black paint off the front already... No, I don't really have that much time to burn, and I really thought that I would pass on the Pac, and buy the Vanguard.

What would you have done?
 
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Could you have gotten both? I probably would have gone with the Pac too. Vanguard is not a bad game and the side art is nice,but there's just something about having a Pac-Man arcade game.
 
Could you have gotten both?

Yes, that was the plan. I called both, set up first-in-line viewing, I grabbed the Pac first, then dropped that in my garage, and headed over for the Vanguard. I still can't believe I didn't buy the vanguard. I'm not sure why I passed on it -- I did leave a lower offer, but I'm sure it will be gone tomorrow.
 
Pac-Man all the way. Much better game, and there is plenty of merchandise that can be purchased to stack on the top of the cab. It is an iconic arcade game, you and your guests will love it.
If you get bored of the Pac, a Ms. Pac-Man PCB will pop right in. Resale value will be higher.
Replacement art is not cheap, I would paint it yellow, buy some t-molding and call it a day (just what I did with my Pac). A no-brainer, great pickup :)
 
Actually, this has a Ms. Pac board in it with the speed chip. Funny part is, I have a Ms.Pac cab with a Pac Board in it. I didn't mention it, but I think that influenced me to buy the Pac. But, I could have also had the Vanguard, so I'm still not sure what I was thinking when I passed that up. Still questioning my sanity....
 
Actually, this has a Ms. Pac board in it with the speed chip. Funny part is, I have a Ms.Pac cab with a Pac Board in it. I didn't mention it, but I think that influenced me to buy the Pac. But, I could have also had the Vanguard, so I'm still not sure what I was thinking when I passed that up. Still questioning my sanity....


Happens to the best of us. There are stories similar to this one littered throughout the forum.
 
Sounds to me like you should really create some room and go back for the Vanguard. It did have a lot of speech and that was a real rarity when the game was released. A friend of mine has one and seems to like the game enough to not resell it for over a year now.
 
What would you have done?

I would have picked up the Vanguard and passed on the Pac-Man. I know the Pac series is really popular and both Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man in particular are iconic games but I'm pretty bored with several of the first tier golden era games that get talked about endlessly. Pac-Man cabs are a dime a dozen, and truthfully the game play gets old pretty quickly. The only Pac game that doesn't bore me to tears is Jr. Pac-Man.

Vanguard is on almost no one's "must have" list, which is why I find it more interesting. Sure, there are plenty of games from that era that are on no one's "must have" list for a good reason -- many of them sucked. But Vanguard is actually pretty cool, and it gets bonus points for its power up sequence ripping off a Queen tune from their Flash Gordon soundtrack.

That Vanguard is still probably worth only $200-$250 considering its relatively nice condition. After just typing that I checked eXidy's price guide and his range is $150-$250, so I was right on the money. It isn't worth more because it isn't a desired game for most people, but I'd pick it up in a heartbeat if it was in my area. Besides, Centuri games are the shit (Eagle notwithstanding).

That's just my opinion.
 
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If your gut is telling you no, I'd trust it. The seller has already lied about the condition and working state, what else is he hiding? That Pac will be a rewarding restore for you.
 
Thanks for the link to exidy's price guide - I had not seen that before. Looks to be a decent resource.
 
Vanguard was one of the first I owned. I found it boring, it's too easy, and despite the graphics being decent and speech being cool, it's not that deep. I don't miss it.
 
I disagree with pretty much 75% of exidys price list. The wells gardener monitor alone is worth what he quotes.

Those look more like live auction prices. You can find some decent deals live with people lookin to unload.

Just my $0.02
 
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