I knew it was too good to be true...

Scucci

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Gotta love eBay auctions.

I bid on some Pole Position boards that were taken from a working cabinet and placed in storage.

So, I bid on the boards, win the auction... I'm really hopeful that the boards are working because this will be my 5th (5th!!!!) set of Pole Position boards... I checked the sellers other auctions, and they seem to be on the level. If the boards aren't working, they tell you, if they're untested the tell you, etc etc... So I bid much higher than I normally would.

Then, I get an message on eBay from the seller... asking me if I wanted PP1 boards, or PP2 boards... ... I want the boards that were listed in the auction! The ones that were put away working, those boards... you know, the boards that were described as pulled from a working cabinet... those boards!

I'm feeling it already... ... my butt's already puckering for the massive reaming it's fixing to get... I can just feel it already.

Granted, I'm a generally negative person... but this just reeks of getting rammed in the anus with a sand-paper condom...

I'm going to be as nice to the seller as possible... but Jesus H. Christ, man....

Honestly, if it wasn't for eBay's retarded policies... I'd just ask for my money back and let them relist the boards.
 
Who was the seller?

I won a similar auction with a "working when it was stored" Burgertime board and the thing arrived with components that caught on fire at one point. The thing was beyond repair.
 
Who was the seller?

I won a similar auction with a "working when it was stored" Burgertime board and the thing arrived with components that caught on fire at one point. The thing was beyond repair.

I don't want to give the sellers ID because I haven't been officially screwed yet... could just be a misunderstanding and I don't want to put their name out there without cause. But, they are from Ft. Lauderdale, FL if that means anything to you.

And everyone else, please don't look up the seller on eBay and post anything here. It could all work out fine and I could just be a "doom and gloom" type of person... Chicken Little and all.

If I get the boards in and there's ANYTHING fishy about them... I'll post here. I've gone through all my PP boards and I know them well enough to spot anything fishy. If they come in and there's as much so as a weird looking chip on them... trust me, I'll make sure everyone knows.
 
Yeah...I feel you. I just won some Punch Out PCBs... described as "WORKING 100%"... the first email I get from the guy is "When you get the boards drop them in the cabinet... if there are any problems I'll send another board set... I have many." So I reply, "I thought these were working 100%?!? You DID test them right?" His reply... "Yeah, I tested them".

Now my problem is that my punch out cab isn't ready for me to just drop the boardset in. It may take a week or two for me to restore the cab to the point where I can drop the boardset in. Dude BETTER not be playing games.
 
Why don't you just send one of your non-working board sets to Dick Millikin?

I've talked to Dick about them, but I'm an idiot. For the money I've spent on PP boards, I could've had 2 sets fully fixed. lol

If these boards don't pan out for me... he'll be getting all of my boards, that's for sure. Hell, even if they boards DO work, he'll be getting my boardsets 1 at a time as I get the money.

This PP will be going on location and all the money I get from her (like my Tron) will go towards restoration and getting the other boards fixed.
 
Yeah...I feel you. I just won some Punch Out PCBs... described as "WORKING 100%"... the first email I get from the guy is "When you get the boards drop them in the cabinet... if there are any problems I'll send another board set... I have many." So I reply, "I thought these were working 100%?!? You DID test them right?" His reply... "Yeah, I tested them".

Now my problem is that my punch out cab isn't ready for me to just drop the boardset in. It may take a week or two for me to restore the cab to the point where I can drop the boardset in. Dude BETTER not be playing games.

That's what I don't get... it takes @9 wires to check a PP board set... 7 if you run +5 and GND directly to the boards. That's why I hate buying these "untested" boards... sometimes it works out, but anyone that collects games can wire up a real quick set-up to test boards, don't even need a full rig or anything. Solder the video wires directly to the edge connector for all I care, I can clean that up when they get here... but jeeez. The only thing worse is an untested JAMMA board... ... I refuse to bid on/buy ANY untested JAMMA boards.

I'm try'ng to write a response that is civil and everything... but it's not easy. I might have to sleep on it to give me a chance to cool off a little so the message doesn't have that "you have to be fucking kidding me..." taste to it.
 
Not to make you feel bad but I am the one who drove the price up for you, second highest bidder. I hope it works out for you but I decided to stop at $39. Like you said even at that price it is taking a chance for untested boards but I don't even have any broken ones to work with.
 
Not to make you feel bad but I am the one who drove the price up for you, second highest bidder. I hope it works out for you but I decided to stop at $39. Like you said even at that price it is taking a chance for untested boards but I don't even have any broken ones to work with.

No worries... you can't see my max bid I don't think... but I was prepared to pay more.

I just really wanted these because they were working when removed. That's better than I can say for most of the sets I have, they weren't working and I've atleast got a little something out of them.

Be glad you didn't win... maybe it's just me... but this is frustrating as all hell. But, atleast you know the seller now, just be careful with them, and ask a crap ton of questions before the auction ends with these guys. I thought it was pretty straight forward giving the description... but I guess I was wrong.
 
"Working when removed" is a huge red flag for me, sometimes you get lucky but I will not bid high on any auction that states that. I'll wait, my Pole is not going anywhere. Besides I have other games to keep me busy. ;)
 
"Working when removed" is a huge red flag for me, sometimes you get lucky but I will not bid high on any auction that states that. I'll wait, my Pole is not going anywhere. Besides I have other games to keep me busy. ;)

Yeah, that's why I checked their other auctions to see how they described the items. They had them listed as untested, not working, or working... so I figured they were probably telling the truth with this one instead of just saying "untested" and meaning "set off the fire alarm".

That's what's killing me too is my Pole Position isn't going anywhere. lol I have it, a Space Invaders upright, and a Crazy Kong cabaret in my kitchen. When they get fixed, they get moved to the "game wall". But the PP is really in the way, and it makes my morning waffle making into a chore having to squeeze in around it.

Honestly, I'd rather get Space Invaders working, but it's such a lost cause right now that I put it in the back, as finding working Midway Space Invaders boards is going to be even harder for me than Pole Position.
 
I cooled off enough this morning to send him an email, and I think I got my point across?

I was under the impression that the auction was for a working when pulled Pole Position 1 board set.

How many sets do you have and were they all working when pulled? I bid a fair bit over my Pole Position limit (I don't usually pay more than $15 per set, and I've been try'ng to get my cabinet back up and running for about a year now... so I have 4 non-working sets now) because you said it was working when it was put on the shelf. I just want to be sure that I'm getting the item described in the auction. The picture for the auction shows what could either be a modified Pole Position 1 set (two extra EPROMs added for extra game sounds) or a Pole Position 2 CPU board. Either way, I was bidding on a Pole Position 1 boardset that was working when pulled from a bad cabinet and shelved. I don't really care if it's a modified PP1 set (I can add the extra eproms myself if needed), as long as it is one that was working when pulled and shelved, as the auction described.

My first draft had to be edited several times because 4-letter words tend to make people get all defensive.
 
Buying a "working" board set is really a crap shoot.
Most sellers will plug a boardset in and let it "burn in" on attract mode and if it doesn't fail it's "considered to be" good. I would confidently assume that MOST sellers do NOT have the necessary hardware to fully test a PCB set (such as foot pedals and such). Nor do they actually play the game from start to finish to enusre it's solid.

So when you buy a working boardset, unless that seller is an AVID fan of the game and knows EVERY inch of the game - you might be buying a non working boardset.

Like it or not - that's just the way it is.
 
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Buying a "working" board set is really a crap shoot.
Most sellers will plug a boardset in and let it "burn in" on attract mode and if it doesn't fail it's "considered to be" good. I would confidently assume that MOST sellers do NOT have the necessary hardware to fully test a PCB set (such as foot pedals and such). Nor do they actually play the game from start to finish to enusre it's solid.

So when you buy a working boardset, unless that seller is an AVID fan of the game and knows EVERY inch of the game - you might be buying a non working boardset.

Like it or not - that's just the way it is.


When buying boards, if it powers on, doesn't smoke, has game sounds and video (without glitches)... I consider it working. As far as inputs and stuff like that goes, they rarely fail (IME, the only game I had issues with was Robotron). Everything else I consider easy fixes... hell, even if the game has graphics glitches, if they're EPROM related, I can fix that.

I got a message back from the guy, he had a "working when shelved" PP2 set to, which was what was pictured in the auction (couldn't tell if it was PP2 or PP1 with extra EPROMs added for sounds). Said he just wanted to make sure which board I wanted... Soooo... we'll see. I'm mainly interested in the CPU board, I have a working video board... just need to get a working CPU, but if the (miracles aside) whole boardset works... then I'll be really happy.

My Robotron boardset was bought from eBay, was a "working when stored" special... got the whole boardset for $60... plugged it in, worked like a charm (minus the I/O board having a bad chip causing the right coinswitch to act like it was on all the time). $1 later, fully working. So, I try to have as much faith as possible in "working when stored" auctions... IF it was working when stored, and was stored properly, there's no reason the game won't work a couple of years later (barring battery explosions).
 
PP boards

Tell him you will take both sets for the same price and i will give you extra$ money on top of what he will charge you to send the pp2 set to me. I am willing to take a chance. This kind of auction for working when stored boards has payed off for me more than it has not.
 
Tell him you will take both sets for the same price and i will give you extra$ money on top of what he will charge you to send the pp2 set to me. I am willing to take a chance. This kind of auction for working when stored boards has payed off for me more than it has not.

I can't, sadly... I have an auction this weekend, and a possible road trip for arcade stuff either Friday or early next week. I wouldn't have gotten these boards if they were "working when stored", since I need every penny I can get.
 
Whats the going rate Dick Millikan charges on average. Probably cheaper to send my pp2 board out to him instead of dicking with it for months.
 
For what it's worth, I know the seller on that auction.. his name is Aiki and i don't think you're going to get screwed at all. Have faith, Aiki's a good guy.
 
For what it's worth, I know the seller on that auction.. his name is Aiki and i don't think you're going to get screwed at all. Have faith, Aiki's a good guy.

If you vouch for him, than I'll stop worry'ng about it... but you have to understand where I was coming from. Just seemed weird... like a half bait-n-swtich.
 
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