Got offered a Caveman pin, opinions?

ReWrite

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
3,513
Reaction score
1,485
Location
California
I got offered a Caveman pin from a local guy, after looking around a bit on line it looks like a neat pin overall. Anyone own one? How about you guys who've played it? Fun? He's calling it $650 in trade value, and it just needs some touching up work here and there, everything works as far as I'm told.
 
If you like older simpler games then it's a nice one. I like the art style and the weird cabinet. The video game portion is very well integrated in with the pinball action, much more fun than Baby Pacman.
 
$650 probably is a good number to use as going rate for them. I don't have the mr pinball price guide infront of me since I am at work however. Ebay info shows...

Boston pinball repair is your friend!
http://www.bostonpinball.biz/ebay1111.htm
It shows an average of 482, one might presume a higer percentage of these sold on ebay are non functioning when compared to other machines, and a working one is worth more. Probably 650 tops though, anything more then that and you are in blackhole price territory which many consider one helluva game for the money once you make it reliable with ground mods!
Toby
 
If you like older simpler games then it's a nice one. I like the art style and the weird cabinet. The video game portion is very well integrated in with the pinball action, much more fun than Baby Pacman.

I'm digging the artwork too. And glad to hear the video game's well integrated.

$650 probably is a good number to use as going rate for them. I don't have the mr pinball price guide infront of me since I am at work however. Ebay info shows...

Boston pinball repair is your friend!
http://www.bostonpinball.biz/ebay1111.htm
It shows an average of 482, one might presume a higer percentage of these sold on ebay are non functioning when compared to other machines, and a working one is worth more. Probably 650 tops though, anything more then that and you are in blackhole price territory which many consider one helluva game for the money once you make it reliable with ground mods!
Toby

Really, for me, it having 0 out of pocket price is well worth it. I've got an old beater motorcycle that needs some work that I'll never get around to, guy offered me the Caveman for it. Replacing something in the garage that I don't use for something I will use sounds promising :). Just wanted to know it wasn't a terrible game, or like a $200 game.

Also, how's the video part played? Looks Pac-Man-ish, and I've seen videos on youtube, but how do you move the guy?
 
Last edited:
Definitely better than Baby Pacman in general (although that's not saying just a whole lot in my opinion).

One of the better hybrid games (if not the best), but as many have said before, it's not great in either area typical of hybrids...

Video game portion is decent enough, and challenging, but doable, unlike Baby Pac. There's a joystick integrated into the lockdown bar area, and the two games are well integrated.

Tricky game to service, but if it's currently fully working, just do the mods to make it reliable and bulletproof, and I don't think you can go wrong given the trade you're looking at...

There's a visual pinball version, but if you've already seen videos of it you should have a decent idea of how it plays..
 
Definitely better than Baby Pacman in general (although that's not saying just a whole lot in my opinion).

One of the better hybrid games (if not the best), but as many have said before, it's not great in either area typical of hybrids...

Video game portion is decent enough, and challenging, but doable, unlike Baby Pac. There's a joystick integrated into the lockdown bar area, and the two games are well integrated.

Tricky game to service, but if it's currently fully working, just do the mods to make it reliable and bulletproof, and I don't think you can go wrong given the trade you're looking at...

There's a visual pinball version, but if you've already seen videos of it you should have a decent idea of how it plays..

I can't figure out visual pinball setup to save my life :(. But good to hear it's relatively fool-proof as long as I do those mods.
 
Also, how's the video part played? Looks Pac-Man-ish, and I've seen videos on youtube, but how do you move the guy?
You shoot the ball into one of two areas to lock it and start video mode. In the game you are a caveman in a maze with 5 brontosauruses. You want to run over all 5 of them to reach the next screen. When you run over a brontosaurus, it will turn into a t-rex, which will then try to kill you (and drain your ball) if it runs into you. When you run over the 5th brontosaurus, all the t-rex's will turn into triceratops that you then try to run over. There are four exits to the maze which will take you back to the pinball portion and you can keep exiting out of any of them (except the one you started in) at any point - unlike Baby Pac which locks the exits. Back out on the pinball playfield, if you hit certain drop targets you can turn the t-rex's into pterodactyl's, which you can kill for points. You can also make an extra ball icon appear in the video mode. So basically you can go into video mode, kill a few brontosauruses, run to an exit, hit some pinball shots to turn the t-rex's into pterodactyls, re-enter the video, finish them off, etc.

Also when you run over the fifth triceratops, you will go to the next level and all the t-rex's will turn back into triceratops. Since the t-rex's were chasing you, it's likely they are all now bunched together, so sometimes you can go on big "combos" and pass like 2-3 levels in one swoop if you're fast.

The maze doesn't change with each level, just the speed of everyone and the color scheme.
 
Last edited:
You shoot the ball into one of two areas to lock it and start video mode. In the game you are a caveman in a maze with 5 triceratops. You want to run over all 5 triceratops to reach the next screen. When you run over a triceratops, it will turn into a t-rex, which will kill you (and drain your ball) if it runs into you. There are four exits to the maze which will take you back to the pinball portion and you can keep exiting out of any of them (except the one you started in) at any point - unlike Baby Pac which locks the exits. Back out on the pinball playfield, if you hit certain drop targets you can turn the t-rex's into pterodactyl's, which you can kill for points. You can also make an extra ball icon appear in the video mode. So basically you can go into video mode, kill a few triceratops, run to an exit, hit some pinball shots to turn the t-rex's into pterodactyls, re-enter the video, finish them off, etc.

Also when you run over the fifth triceratops, you will go to the next level and all the t-rex's will turn back into triceratops. Since the t-rex's were chasing you, it's likely they are all now bunched together, so sometimes you can go on big "combos" and pass like 2-3 levels in one swoop if you're fast.

The maze doesn't change with each level, just the speed of everyone and the color scheme.

Thank you for a very detailed explanation!! This is very exciting! :D
 
Thumbs up and Karma for the good game explanation. Souns interesting, mayy have to get one myself one day. And to OP I know exactly what you mean about getting the bike oughta there for a pinball!
 
Star worlds arcade has one on the floor. It appears to be a consistent earner so it must have some long term appeal.

Personally, I can't get into the mixed video and pinball stuff. But that's just me....
 
Assuming I had cash in hand and time to get it, I'd probably buy it. You don't see these come up for sale.... actually the bulk of the system 80/80A/80B games seem to be gone - so when I see one that looks even remotely interesting, I try and grab it.

Its an old Gottlieb, so be ready to work on it. Pray the original battery was removed, or you may have some acid damaged boards to rebuild. (not a big deal... just work)
 
just played the Caveman game of my life...cleared so many levels eventually the color scheme turned almost black and white and didn't change from that.
 

Attachments

  • IMAG0889.jpg
    IMAG0889.jpg
    100.4 KB · Views: 32
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom