Buy working or fixer-upper?

damadczar

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Hey all.

Being a new arcade collector myself, I was just curious. Do you guys buy games that work but just need a little love, or do you tend to buy lots of fixer-uppers? This question is likely targeted at the newer collectors like myself, but you long time collectors are free to chime in.

For example, I first bought a Gauntlet II in a painted black Defender cabinet with the intention of restoring it to Defender (or more likely some sort of multi-williams). The monitor had Defender burn in, and the original bezel (which was cracked in a corner), coin door and power supply, but otherwise it had been "upgraded" in some way. I got this thing cheap a decade ago for $75. Soon after purchasing it, the monitor went out. It has sat in a garage for the last 10 years and I'm only now working on fixing it back up.

In contrast, I just recently purchased an original Ms Pacman, with a restored CPO. The marquee is faded, and the side art is fairly faded and has worn a bit where you tend to put your hands. Various nicks and dings all around, and a replacement back door. But otherwise, it plays great, with the exception of some curling on the right side (likely the G07 needs a cap and/or Bob Roberts curl fix). Got it for $400. Some might say that it was too much, but the market where I'm at, it's hard to get a working game for under $200-$300.

Next, I picked up a Neo Geo MVS 2-slot for $60, with Samurai Shodown and Puzzle Bobble. I think the battery on the motherboard fried b/c it comes up with backup read error (can't write to 0055). Monitor comes on and neck glows, but no text on screen. Had to plug it into a spare monitor to see the error. Not sure what that problem is, but again, I'm new at this.

The whole point of this thread is to basically ask what the process is for everyone else? I'm in this hobby to learn more about electronic repair and do something with my hands (I have a brain-thinking day job). Arcade machines are something I've always wanted, so I figured why not?

Make sense?

Thanks for listening (err, reading).

Steven
 
More often than not I buy low... which means a fixer upper.

That's not the rule... just seems to be the case in the majority of the deals I do.

That's OK being that fixing these games up is 1/2 the fun.
 
I get cheaper, need-a-little-love games because I like to fix things and return them to their former glory. If I had the money and bought fully restored or mint games, I don't think I would like this hobby as much.
 
Once I had some repair skills and restoration ability I bought a lot of cheap fixer uppers. After a number of years and probably less than half of my projects being completed I am now leaning toward buying games that are in working condition and at least ok physical condition. I'm still up for a restore but it sucks when you have so many that you don't have the time or space to work on them.
 
For me I think it depends on the going price for a game.
If it's a title I REALLY want, but one that is going for an outrageous price, I might buy a fixer upper and piece it together slowly over a period of time to spread out the financial hit.

That said, usually buying a non working or empty cab ends up costing much more than what a functioning cab would have to begin with. It's all a numbers game really, but I also think when you put the time in to do a ground up build, it gives the game more meaning to you than if you had just picked one up fully functioning, but unrestored.

My Pac-Man for instance cost $20 for an empty cab that had been converted into a bally sente unit and was then converted to a rampart. So far I have incurred the following costs:
  • $50 in paint, primer, and bondo
  • $12 in new T-molding
  • $30 in a new control panel
  • $25 for a new CPO
  • $100 for a Pac-Man PCB
  • $20 for the marquee
  • $10 for a replacement joystick shaft
And I still need to obtain stencils, glass bezel and a new monitor which will all likely add another $425 or so to the total.
So when I'm done with this project it will have cost me $692 for a fully restored Pac-Man.

In my area, Pac-Man cabs sell for around $1000 in poor condition unrestored, so I think I will have done well on this one, but I imagine I could have found a nice condition working original Pac eventually for around $500 or so.

Another example....my Ms. Pac cab was $30 complete, but non-working at a church sale. $75 for a replacement monitor, $100 for a new PCB and it was working great. Still could use a new CPO, but otherwise is a nice cab and one I made out well on for a total investment of $205

There are a few cabinets that I know I will absolutely buy working as finding all the parts, controls, pcbs, etc for them will be a huge investment far beyond what one would pay for a working unit(Spy Hunter comes to mind).
 
My first two games bought were not working or barely working condition. Had one over two months and it at least comes on. Next game I buy will be working... That being said I do enjoy messing with them and I'm sure my next games will at least need a little love. I think that's part of the fun of the hobby. If you enjoy fixing them up then go for the ones that need extra love.
 
When I first started collecting 2 1/2 years ago I was:
1) so certain that EVERYTHING from my target era, 1970 to 1983, was extremely rare; that any of this both working and looking good was going to prove impossible to find, and
2) excited to finally have the kind of extra cash around to pursue the desire of procuring and accumulating my own private early 80's arcade,
that I ended up paying way too much for several of my first ten machines.

Live and learn. I have since vowed, SWORN to never again pay over $150 for any machine, even if pretty and working perfectly, and the past ten accruals I have made- following this rule- are worth probably 4 times more than the first ten (both to me and on the market), though I probably paid 3 times more for the former ten.

Most of the 21 I currently own still need work. Some of this is very minor; there are some sad machines I haven't even looked at since bringing them home. A few will probably end up being MAME machines before it's done.

I follow two rules: Nothing over $150 (with a very few exceptions) and everything as original as possible. I don't want new repro stickers and bezels and CPO's. If I end up needing these I'll buy and apply them myself. (Note that, for a grand M.A.C.H. 3, Computer Space, or even Pong I might break my $150 rule, but for very few machines other.)

Get your hands dirty. Try fixing up a junker. If you hate it you'll know from then on. If you love it you'll know from then on. If you're luke-warm on it you'll have to figure it out better as you go on.

I hear you talking about markets. The between-Houston-and-Dallas zone isn't the best in America, either. It's way better than most, perhaps, but it ain't what California, Chicago, New York, and Pennsylvania seem to be. Still, when I invest the time to do the research: VAPS, eBay (weak usually), Craig'sList, local papers, word of mouth, etc., and WAIT (Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait), I ultimately find another pure treasure for less than some men spend on aftershave.
 
I used to buy only the cheap fixer uppers because that was all I could afford. I enjoyed working on them for a while, but eventually got tired of it. It is worth it to me now to pay for one that is already in good shape.

I would do it the same way again though. It was fun getting the games and making them work. You also find out why they were so cheap. A lot of games are just not fun to play more than a few times. I would rather find that out on a cheap game.

I might have the space to add a few more games next year, and I am really not sure what I will add out there. The only keeper that I can think of is Area 51. I might get a couple of others that might be temporary. I was thinking about adding a few more pins, but I think maybe just one or two now. I need to try out some of the newer ones to see if I play them more. I really like both of the pins that I have now, but I don't play them all that often.

You really can't go wrong with buying cheap games. If you end up not wanting to do the work on them, try to sell them or even give them away. I have lost money or just broken even on most of the games that have passed through my garage. It doesn't matter. Once I figured out that I didn't want to try to make money, or even break even, on these games, I have enjoyed the hobby a lot more.
 
mr new

i am new to collecting and bought most of my games this year. i dont have the time to mess around fixing or restoring so i buy most of my games shopped and restored. if i see a decent game in working condition i will also pay a little more to get it (my black widow). eventually the person i buy my shopped games from will restore and shop these games for me. i recently bought a blue elf 309-1 from a fellow klovr and it needed 2 joysticks replaced, was not something i had fun doing-not a big deal, but i would rather have spent those 2 hrs playing instead of repairing.

i have bought a few non working games, one was a ripp-off and the other a space fury, imho i think these are pretty hard to find so i bought them this way and will send out to restore. sorry for rant!
 
Yeah I don't mind fixing up stuff. In fact this has been a great excuse to buy some tools I've always wanted.

Thanks for the feedback. At least I know I'm not crazy for wanting to buy cheap non working cabs and make them work.
 
Yeah I don't mind fixing up stuff. In fact this has been a great excuse to buy some tools I've always wanted.

Buy a pinball!

Seriously though, I buy both some cost more even though it needs work,some less. Some are turn key which cost more everytime.
 
I don't think I've ever bought a game that was ready to run.

I enjoy working on them. It can get expensive, but I can live with a game that doesn't look 100% as long as it's working and I can continually work on improving it.

Funny how things go, previously I couldn't afford to work on games but I had all the time and space to do so. Now, I can afford to put some money in to them but I don't have the room to work on them.
 
You want to hear a voice of experience?

If you see a game you want in good shape and you can afford it, get it.

I've passed up so many things that I would have liked to had because I'm a cheap ass bastard.

The older stuff comes around more and more infrequently. If you pass on something, then next time it comes around, it may not be as nice.

I've bought plenty of cheap stuff that I didn't even care about. You can put money into something and make it nicer, but lots of fixer-uppers will still be sub-par after work and money.

Kerry
 
I started out buying cheap messed up games.. and after 6 months.. what did I have?

A bunch of cheap mostly working games that didnt look very good.

Today I look for games in nice cosmetic shape. Its a lot easier to replace
some art vs restoring an entire cab. I found it was cheaper in the end to
pay a little more up front and get a nice working specimin vs paying on the
backend to repair and restore it.
 
Hi neighbor! :)

I'd ask yourself these questions:

  • What's your time worth to you? For example, you could spend 20 hours repainting a cab, or you could buy an already-painted cab for $300 more. This may not be unreasonable if you make $50 an hour. Help your spouse understand the tradeoff.
  • How rare is the game? I've nursed a few basketcases back to life because I really wanted them. What I hate is when I spend 30 hours on a game that turns out not to be that great.
  • Is the game cosmetically OK? Electrical and mechanical problems are much easier to solve IMHO. The best games are sometimes in beautiful shape because they died early and sat for decades waiting for repair.
  • Do you know someone who can repair it, or someone you can send the boards to? It sucks to sit on a game for years because you don't know what to do next.
Enjoy the hunt!
 
it depends.... i tend to buy most games as fixer uppers, usually somewhat working electronically but in rough condition, and repair/restore them.

vectors, however, i tend to buy with boards and monitors 100%, then rebuild them to ensure a long life.
 
I started out buying cheap converted Williams games and restoring them and had a great time. Next I went after a bunch of other games with the intention of flipping them once the were working and cleaned up. I hated that. So now I rebuild and restore Williams games and buy other manufacturers games already restored.

The one thing I have learned is to focus on something. It doesn't matter what and build your collection around that focus. You will have a more coherent collection and it will help you as you pass through the "I'll buy anything cheap" phase we all seem to go through.

There are plenty of categories to pick:
- I played this game in an arcade BITD, and I liked it
- Atari Vectors Rule!
- Williams, Williams, Williams
- Nintendrow
- Space is where it's at!

and so on.

I have found that the games that I like are always more fun to work on than just any old random JAMMA kick fighting side scrolling shoot'em up you picked up cheap.

YMMV.

ken
 
@YellowDog. A Theme huh? Yeah, I've currently been on the BITD theme, stuff I liked and was classic (why I got the pacman), or cheap and something I played a lot (the neo geo). But the original purchase was for the Defender cabinet, not the Gauntlet II board, b/c I could recognize that cabinet anywhere. Always wanted a defender.

Of the classics, I remember playing Defender, Robotron and Joust at the local skating rink the most. At the arcade near the mall, I generally played lots of sit downs like Star Wars and some other kind of driving game I can't remember the name. And Galaga. Loved me some Galaga. Oh, also really liked Donkey Kong Jr for whatever reason. I've tried to play that on mame to see if I wanted to buy it and I'm not sure why I liked it. Maybe I'd have to play it on a cab to get the old feel back, I dunno.

I do like seeing the rows of same styled machines in the home arcade pictures people post. Be nice to have something like that. But likely, until I get more than 1 working, I'll likely continue in the BITD theme, perhaps until a theme hits me in the face.
 
I try to buy fully working games when I can but that always equals more money which is sometimes fine dependant on the title. If I do buy a non working game I look it over very carefully before purchase so that I know exactly what will need to be done to it physically and financially. Always make sure you are not getting in over your head in terms of a purchase. When I was new to the hobby 17 years ago I bought everything that I could find that was cheap which almost never worked and i ended up being stuck with machines I could'nt sell,or could'nt fix because I simply didn't know how to troubleshoot. I don't know if you're this far into the hobby yet but,Wait until you get to full blown restorations!! To me those are the most fun and are always the games that you really take pride in and appreciate in the end.
 
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