Good or Bad?

playpin35

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Donor 2011
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An ad posted on RGP made me wonder how others felt. The ad is for a dot matrix machine complete minus the backbox boards and is being parted out. I'm sure the cost of boards would be a bit. However, with the increasing demand for dmd machines, wouldn't you try to find some boards or offer it complete to someone else to fix up? I hate to see a good machine parted out. What are your opinions on this?
 
Depends on the machine...plus, a lot of boards in pins are interchangable so easy to find replacement or a repro, even if it's a bit expensive.

If the guy pulled the boards to sell them separately just to make a few more bucks, he's a dick IMO, but it's his to do it with.
 
I was offered a dmd game a few months back for $100, plus another $100 to a friend that was going to bring it to me as it was a couple hundred miles away. Game was in nice shape, but all the boards were missing, including the display and translight (cannabalized for other games, I guess). By the time I figured what it was going to cost me to replace all the missing parts that $100 game was going to cost more than I could buy a working unit for. Yes, I can see parting a game under these conditions
 
I currently own 7 machines. Of these machines, only one was working (Whirlwind) when I bought it. Most of the machines that I have bought were incomplete, mostly missing boards. Bringing a machine back from the dead is what makes me enjoy this hobby the most. I also don't really have the money required to own most of the A title games.

I bought my project BSD missing all the boards in the back box and also the coin and flipper boards. I probably paid more for it than it was worth at the time, but it is hard to find good games here where I live. Over the last 6 months, I have picked up the boards I was missing from Ebay and Mr Pinball. All of the boards that I got were non-working (more challenging/cheaper) and cost me around $250. After buying the parts needed to repair the boards and other missing parts, I may have around $800 in the machine. I think that the machine is worth the money I spent.

I also have a Party Zone that I bought that was missing all the boards, other than the CPU board. I have probably about $700 into it, but there again I bought non-working boards. I think that machine is also worth the money I spent on it.

They both may not be collector quality machines or A title games, but the thing that matters to me is that I enjoyed all the time working on them. If you would buy working or new boards, I really cannot see how it would be worth the money spent. Luckily out of all the non working boards I have purchased for my machines (probably 50+), I have only run into 2 boards that I could not fix (too much acid damage).
 
An ad posted on RGP made me wonder how others felt. The ad is for a dot matrix machine complete minus the backbox boards and is being parted out. I'm sure the cost of boards would be a bit. However, with the increasing demand for dmd machines, wouldn't you try to find some boards or offer it complete to someone else to fix up? I hate to see a good machine parted out. What are your opinions on this?

I wouldn't part it out if the cabinet and playfield are decent and just need a cleaning. I went through a rebuild of a Dr Who that was missing most of the boards in the head, the translite and the DMD. Its nice to save games.

http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=7599
 
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