Donkey Kong - Approximate Value?

OregonPacman

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Considering selling my DK. Had it for 4 years, new T-molding at the time, new side art 3 years ago. Good general condition, no cosmetic issues. Current E-bay prices seem way overinflated. Ideas on what I could expect to get for it?
 
Considering selling my DK. Had it for 4 years, new T-molding at the time, new side art 3 years ago. Good general condition, no cosmetic issues. Current E-bay prices seem way overinflated. Ideas on what I could expect to get for it?

$4-600 would be my guess. I sold mine for $800 over 2 years ago, but it was fully restored and we all know how the market has been since then.
 
+1
I sold one recently for $600 in pretty nice condition with a HS/DKII kit installed.
 
For me it would hinge on the definition of "good cosmetic condition". If you have a plywood cabinet from Japan, and the there's seriously nothing but a few minor scratches, then I'd value it subtantially higher in my mind.

Usually, someone says "good condition" and that means the bottom and back edges of the cab have significant amounts of paint chipping, there are holes from security bars, the speaker grill and bottom edge of the front panel have chips, etc. Of course it looks great on a cell phone pic, but in reality it's pretty torn up.

The way I look at it, everything but the cabinet can be fairly easily replaced, making full restoration to a mint game pretty freaking painless IF the cabinet is in near mint condition. I mean, what's a new DK bezel cost? $35.00. That's no problem. It can be shipped and installed with only a few minutes of labor. New T-molding? Minimal cost and labor. On the other hand, if the t-moling, cp, bezel, marqee, monitor are all mint and the cabinet is beat to crap, that means you have to spend hours and hours restoring the cabinet, and you loose the original enamel paint job in the process. Fairly new T-Molding, side-art, and monitor cap kit add about $50.00 of value in my mind. You see tons of DKs where that's the case. You rareley see an unspoiled cabinet and in my mind it would add several hundred dollars to the value. I think $600 for a DK in a mint cabinet with a horrible bezel, cpo, and marquee, and a fucked up monitor is a really good deal.
 
I picked mine up for $175, needed capkit and new marquee light bulb, side art could stand to be replaced. I got a good deal, though.
 
Since your in the Pacific NW, get Steve Wiebe to sign the marquee and throw in a copy of The King of Kong...
 
Sold my UR for either $400 or $500. Fully restored outside, original wiring/PCB/monitor in very good shape.
 
The cabinet is pretty good. There are some gouges on the left side, especially near the CP but the right side and front are without blemish. Marquee has a few scratches, as does the monitor bezel but there are far worse. I wouldn't say that it is minty but still damn nice. Unfortunately, it doesn't get played a lot. I can't get past the 3rd elevator stage and I have all but given up trying to do so. The extra cash would be helpful as well but I haven't yet decided what I want to do.

FYI: These pics were taken with a 10.1 Megapixel Casio camera not a cell phone (I am sure that plenty of E-bayers do it that way).
 

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$600 is a good solid price for one as nice as yours.. DK is one of the most sought after games IMO, it's a timeless classic.
 
The cabinet is pretty good. There are some gouges on the left side, especially near the CP but the right side and front are without blemish. Marquee has a few scratches, as does the monitor bezel but there are far worse. I wouldn't say that it is minty but still damn nice. Unfortunately, it doesn't get played a lot. I can't get past the 3rd elevator stage and I have all but given up trying to do so. The extra cash would be helpful as well but I haven't yet decided what I want to do.

FYI: These pics were taken with a 10.1 Megapixel Casio camera not a cell phone (I am sure that plenty of E-bayers do it that way).

Since it says "1981 Ninendo" (as opposed to "1981 Nintendo of America") you have the original program with the "ladder cheat." You should have the 4-Board set as opposed to the 2 board set found in later models. The question is whether the board set is original to the game or whether it was added a later time. What's the serial number on the back of the cab? Also, what about the numbers on the boards? TKG2 or TKG3. There are also numbers after the TKG3 that show which version of the board set, for example TKG3-06clk. There should be serial numbers on the boards too.

You might be able to get a better price if you talk up the collectors value. Do you know if any of the artwork is original? A lot of the older artwork has no trademark info or it simply says "Nintendo" or "1981 Nintendo" instead of "1981 Nintendo of America."

The buttons look good too.
 
I think that if you had patience you could easily get over $600 for it on eBay. Why not stick on there with a buy it now for $799 or $899? Stranger things have happened.

Collector price is definitely in the $4 hundo range to considerably much less.
 
Since it says "1981 Ninendo" (as opposed to "1981 Nintendo of America") you have the original program with the "ladder cheat." You should have the 4-Board set as opposed to the 2 board set found in later models. The question is whether the board set is original to the game or whether it was added a later time. What's the serial number on the back of the cab? Also, what about the numbers on the boards? TKG2 or TKG3. There are also numbers after the TKG3 that show which version of the board set, for example TKG3-06clk. There should be serial numbers on the boards too.

You might be able to get a better price if you talk up the collectors value. Do you know if any of the artwork is original? A lot of the older artwork has no trademark info or it simply says "Nintendo" or "1981 Nintendo" instead of "1981 Nintendo of America."

The buttons look good too.

Unfortunately, its not quite as rare as it might seem. Its a cobbled together reconversion. I have previously researched the serial number tags. Seems that it was born as a Popeye, and at some time was also a DK3 and a Vs. game. It was probably reconverted by the operator I got it from. It had no side art at the time. I put that on. The T-molding was new, though. The CPO is nice above the buttons where it is usually cig burned but the buttons themselves aren't that great.
 
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