Games you bought supposedly "non-working" that worked

Tornadoboy

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Games you bought supposedly "non-working" that worked

Sentient's Video Pinball pickup got me thinking about this subject, supposedly his was bought non-working but was only stuck in test mode.

What games have you bought under the pretense of them not working that either completely worked or had very little wrong with them?
 
I don't know if this classifies as non-working, but I bought my Double Dragon with no sound. The previous owner could not get it to work. I got it home and had a look. Followed the two wires from the speaker and they were cut. Followed the speaker output from the connector, spliced them back together and Voila, had sound.
 
My buddy picked up a california speed that the guy said he could get gas and brake pedal to work. My buddy showed up and turned the game on, It said calibrate steriing, brake, and gas. So my buddy turned wheel, steeped on brake and gas and worked perfect. The guy would just push button to skip calibration and it wouldnt alow the stuff to work!
 
Ms. Pac, paid $100, bought a bucks worth of fuses, works like a champ. Have been offered $500 plus several times, but it is the wife's favorite, and you gotta have one in the lineup! :)
 
Paid $75 for a MK cabinet with a "dead" PS and 25" K7000 monitor. PS had a lose wire, monitor needed a 10c fuse, and fluorescent light needed a 50c ballast. It wasn't a whole game, but I was tickled with the deal.
 
Years ago, I got several games from a cousin. Touchdown Fever (Q*bert cabinet), Karate Champ (Frogger cabinet), Vs. RBI Baseball (DK cabinet) and dedicated Exidy Circus as well as some extra parts. Paid $40 for the lot. The Touchdown Fever had the interlock switch in the coin door pushed in. Pulled it out and it worked. The CPU on the board for Vs. RBI was bad. Switched that out and it worked. IIRC, there was nothing wrong with the Karate Champ but was assumed non-working. Unfortunately, the Circus had been wet and disintegrated when I moved it (PCB was covered in acid anyway). By the time it was all over, I had done quite well.
 
I just picked up a Super Pacman that was dead, got it home and found a bad spot in the power cord. I put a new one on and it fired right up. A little cleaning and a good tune it'll be good as used!
 
I got an extra good deal on my Robotron because you couldn't move in certain directions. Of course I had a hunch what the problem was, and sure enough I flipped the actuator upside down and all was well!
 
$150 pac-man....there was no back door and I guess the guy forgot about the interlock switch. pulled it out and it fired right up :)
 
I got my Tempest for $50 non-working. It was just a matter of replacing the power cord that had been cut and turning the brightness back up on the monitor. :)
 
...

Too many to list, but once I bought a Combat by eXidy that had the front door open/interlock switch wasnt pressed :)

jon
 
I got a $45 Phoenix at a Thrift Store. Brought it home and turned up the brightness on the monitor. The side art on it was absolutely perfect. Someone should start the opposite thread - your WORST deal.
 
picked up a super man pinball machine for 100. noticedd it was missing the screw cap for the main fuse. bought one and works perfect.
 
I've had too many with minor glitches to list here. My favorite was a Bubble Bobble I bought for $20 because it was in a Joust cabinet. It turned out somebody had pulled the plug out of the wall by the cord and had pulled the wires out of the screws on the power plug. When I plugged it in there was no power inside so I checked the power plug. 30 seconds later the wires were reattached and it was powering up. I also found $9 in quarters jammed in the coin mechs and in the dust in the bottom of the cabinet. That was a good day :D!

ken
 
I bought a Millipede for $50 at a thrift store that was not getting any power. It was one of those "probably just a fuse" deals. Fuses were fine; they never turned on the switch. :)
 
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