Do you have a set budget when buying cabs?

sohchx

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To some collectors money is no object depending on what the game is. I have a set budget I promised myself I would abide by when buying cabs, $350 max no matter how rare the game is. Anyone else have a maximum price that they refuse to break?
 
I refuse to pay any more than $200 for a game. Mostly becuase my buddy has about 200 games that I can borrow at any time for my garage, but also because I can't justify the cost to my wife. Down the road, I'd like to open my budget up to $500 for some nice titles.
 
I don't have a set price for "any/all games," but for a specific game I wanted, I would research and figure out what the going market was. And I guess I would never go over $350 either... I like for working cab prices to be $50-$250 myself.
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And now that the market appears to have saturated its supply/demand, they're only going to get cheaper over time.
 
I budget how much I'm willing to spend on a game (including replacing art, repairs, high score kits) on a per title basis. I don't have a blanket figure that works for all games.
 
I've budgeted a monthly allowance. So if there's something expensive I want, I just have to save up. It's the saving up part that's hard. I usually just cave and buy the cheap project. But this year is different. No, really.
 
I have no set budget. If I see a game I like and it is at a price I'm comfortable with, I buy it. A set threshold will stop you from over paying, but will also limit you to what games you can purchase.
 
My budget is always the same. Cheap......It works out well since I am a cheap bastard. But its not fair to set down one price. I currently own most of my grail machines. And I didn't get them for 50 dollars. I have gotten machines for 50 dollars. But you get what you pay for. And more often than not, you could buy a nice machine in great condition for the same price as one you would fix up yourself. But hey, that's just my 2 bits.
 
I agree with a budget for your games. But I would say you should not limit what you want to pay for your games. Buy stuff, fix it up and sell stuff to build up your game buget. Then spend what you like on games that you want.

Its pretty insane to say you will pass on a quantum for $750 or a twilight zone for $1000 because it was out of your budget. If you can't afford to keep it, buy it, fix it, and sell it.

I have quite a few games. My investment is way less than zero... I was lucky to get started collecting at a good time when classics were cheap and easy to find. But they are still out there.

I think a lot of people spend tons of money getting their games to pristine shape. Thats a good goal. But I would say, find games in better shape and you will spend less to clean them up. If you have an ok tempest. don't restore it. Wait to find a better one and trade up.

I can understand wanting to spend as little as possible. But buying a tempest for $25 thats missing the monitor and pcb, is not a deal..
 
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i try not to spend over $100 on any game, just because i dont have alot of money to play with, but if i even call to look at a game, i try to make sure i have at least twice that, because it seems not unusual to go look at one game and they have others sitting there, and sometimes if you have the cash you can come home with two instead of one.
 
If it's a nice dedicated cab that I am looking for, there really isn't a limit. If it's a cab that I would flip or keep temporarily I like to stay under $200.
 
Buy stuff, fix it up and sell stuff to build up your game buget. Then spend what you like on games that you want.



I can understand wanting to spend as little as possible. But buying a tempest for $25 thats missing the monitor and pcb, is not a deal..

I would love to buy,fix and sell for what I REALLY want, unfortunately I have not gained the knowledge needed to do the necessary repairs. I can't just let the cab sit until I figure out how to fix it, I would never finish it. I want to be able to fix it right away within maybe 2 weeks max.

Why would buying a Tempest for $25 not be a deal? Not saying you are wrong, just curious as to why that would be.
 
I would love to buy,fix and sell for what I REALLY want, unfortunately I have not gained the knowledge needed to do the necessary repairs. I can't just let the cab sit until I figure out how to fix it, I would never finish it. I want to be able to fix it right away within maybe 2 weeks max.

Why would buying a Tempest for $25 not be a deal? Not saying you are wrong, just curious as to why that would be.

$200+ for the monitor $100+ for a working board just to get to a point where you can flip the switch to see if the rest of the cabinet is good... You can probably find a complete broken tempest for $200-$300 and working for $400-$600.
 
$200+ for the monitor $100+ for a working board just to get to a point where you can flip the switch to see if the rest of the cabinet is good... You can probably find a complete broken tempest for $200-$300 and working for $400-$600.

Ahhh I get it now, I forgot that was a vector monitor game. Is that the reason for the high monitor cost?
 
Unfortunately, I've bought games without being overly knowledgable...and paid more in shipping than most people here would spend on a cab alone. However, everyone's idea of a "budget" is different. I don't have a set amount, and I don't look at these as just "games" to play...I've got my 360 for that. To me, these are nostalgic working pieces of art, and as such, spending $500-1000 isn't an issue for me. Hell, when all was said and done, I think my Tron ran me $2k. However, I do have my limits (*cough* wife *cough*), and won't pay stupid money for things.
 
Depends on the game in question.....Im not going to say I won't spend over $200...because I still want a nice StarWars UR and I know that is not going to happen for less than $700...and thats if Im lucky......
 
And now that the market appears to have saturated its supply/demand, they're only going to get cheaper over time.


Survey: Do you think the demand will ever outpace the supply again? Or are we just old nerdy dinosaurs?


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(EDIT: Starting a new thread on this topic)


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My budget is the value of the machine. If I could land an Addams family pinball for $1500 I would take it. That thing is worth $2800 on the market any day of the week. Or a Dance revolution for $1000 bucks sold!

I would say you will change your rule once you get a bunch of games and you are not buying as many, you will then start to save up for what you want instead of volume. My first expensive game (to me at the time) was Killer instinct. I love that game. Everywhere I looked $1000 in an original dedicated cabinet. I found one for $500 and bought it, despite my budget limit. That was the last time I had a limit. Granted now the market is soft and you can get a lot for $300.

My limit......a good deal based on value.

Greg
 
Yeah, as much as I can get away with without the wife getting mad at me.

Most expensive was the Tempest, everything else has been pretty cheap.
 
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