MCI Air Ball.... How hard is it to get parts?

Shawn1976

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Wow, it's awesome to just see one of these.

The last one I saw was in the early-mid 70's when I was a little kid and it blew me away. I loved it!
 
Looked at Flippers.com and saw some parts, but didn't see anything making a specification on an MPU board.
What about what his selling price for a non-functional game?
 
It's good to hear that they are still out there. I haven't seen one in more than 40 years. :)

Would something like this ever appear at CAX?
 
I saw one of those last weekend in Banning. It's pretty cool when it's up and running.

It is up and running now.
I don't recall a Mpu board in it. I do recall a driver board In tHe machine. The one at banning has schematics. Lots of relays on the top of the machine.
 
Someone's selling one that is somewhat local, but he's mentioning on his auction that it's missing the MPU.
Can someone clarify if the game has an MPU and if anyone has any spare parts for this to get it up and running?
Also is the price for it way off base, or no?
Link:
http://m.ebay.com/itm/Mci-Airball-A...%3Afb24303f15c0aa138183c967fffc370b%7Ciid%3A2

So I have this logged into my price guide right now and from my records there are no indications that this title has been sold on eBay since 2012. So that kinda tells me that there are probably not very many of them around. The specimen in question looks fairly nice but as he has outlined in his description that it is missing what sounds like a major component which means you have a dead game right off the bat.. A dead game is worth a lot less than a working game. Don't pay a lot of money for a dead game especially for an EM game unless it has a lot of following for demand in the community.

I would think it would be more difficult to find off brand EM parts when compared to that of Bally/Midway, Williams, Chicago Coin etc etc. Between the rarity and the lack of parts made for MCI it might be a very long time before you come across another one that isn't trashed already or missing the part you need.

Is it a fair price ? if the game were complete and working that might be a fair price for its condition. Since none have sold I have nothing close to compare with prices. Its quite a unique game in its own way. The only thing you can do is watch and see if it sell in a reasonable time or take a chance on it. This is probably why the seller is selling it to begin with because he was unable to located parts for it. Or perhaps he got the game cheap and is trying to turn it around and make some money on it.

Before you decide to bid on this game there is something you should know about the seller "wiseowl70". The seller of this game has a habit of falsifying his items location both as a seller and the item he has at auction. Check his feedback and you'll see what I mean.. Also, ive recorded up to five multiple seller accounts linked with this guy indicating different locations he uses.

We know that multiple eBay accounts are not illegal to use but eBay does not put in any fail safe measures to keep sellers of multiple accounts from bidding against opposing bidders (Schill Bidding) or bidding on there own item. And they can also manipulated feedback from another account to make it look like they are in good standings. Im not saying this is what the guy it doing but ive been watching this seller for a long time and he puts a lot of EM games up on eBay and usually they don't sell because of his identity problem and the high prices he places on his games. He has had a few false sales in the past that looked suspicious. Just thought you should know. If you need to find out any other prices check out my EM price guide. Thanks
 
Bravo sir!
Thank you so much for this feedback.
I'm starting to get very suspicious of this anyways due to the fact on me emailing him numerous times with no replies back.
I'm not doing anything with it until I get a response back from him.

So I have this logged into my price guide right now and from my records there are no indications that this title has been sold on eBay since 2012. So that kinda tells me that there are probably not very many of them around. The specimen in question looks fairly nice but as he has outlined in his description that it is missing what sounds like a major component which means you have a dead game right off the bat.. A dead game is worth a lot less than a working game. Don't pay a lot of money for a dead game especially for an EM game unless it has a lot of following for demand in the community.

I would think it would be more difficult to find off brand EM parts when compared to that of Bally/Midway, Williams, Chicago Coin etc etc. Between the rarity and the lack of parts made for MCI it might be a very long time before you come across another one that isn't trashed already or missing the part you need.

Is it a fair price ? if the game were complete and working that might be a fair price for its condition. Since none have sold I have nothing close to compare with prices. Its quite a unique game in its own way. The only thing you can do is watch and see if it sell in a reasonable time or take a chance on it. This is probably why the seller is selling it to begin with because he was unable to located parts for it. Or perhaps he got the game cheap and is trying to turn it around and make some money on it.

Before you decide to bid on this game there is something you should know about the seller "wiseowl70". The seller of this game has a habit of falsifying his items location both as a seller and the item he has at auction. Check his feedback and you'll see what I mean.. Also, ive recorded up to five multiple seller accounts linked with this guy indicating different locations he uses.

We know that multiple eBay accounts are not illegal to use but eBay does not put in any fail safe measures to keep sellers of multiple accounts from bidding against opposing bidders (Schill Bidding) or bidding on there own item. And they can also manipulated feedback from another account to make it look like they are in good standings. Im not saying this is what the guy it doing but ive been watching this seller for a long time and he puts a lot of EM games up on eBay and usually they don't sell because of his identity problem and the high prices he places on his games. He has had a few false sales in the past that looked suspicious. Just thought you should know. If you need to find out any other prices check out my EM price guide. Thanks
 
Well I just got a call from him.
He's willing to sell it for $400, but I asked about the MPU and he mentioned the MPU to him was the "guts".
So he's going to be sending me pictures of what's supposedly missing.
If all the mechanical stuff is missing I'll be passing on that.
 
I've bought several games from this ebayer over the years and have always had great dealings with him. He's not a crook or a scammer, he's just not very organized.
He has a home in Gainesville and another in Indiatlantic. He doesn't "falsify" the locations of his auctions, he is just sloppy on his listings. Look at what he has posted now, the main pages say the games are in Indiatlantic, but the item descriptions clearly say that the games are in Gainesville.
He is getting ready to rent out his home in Gainesville and is thinning out his collection. I'm heading over there tomorrow to buy some stuff from him.
 
Well I got a hold of the seller and he allowed me to come and take a look at the game.
It looks like all of the parts are there except for one of the relays, the original orange ping pong ball and the relay driver assembly pcb.
Does anyone have a source to see if this stuff is available to see what type of cost we're talking on being able to get this game running?
I think I'll manage on getting the orange ping pong ball myself.
Also the bottom portion of the cabinet is trashed and will need to be re-done.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

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If the bottom of the cab is trashed the blower and the X,Y Motors are contain in the bottom of the cab.

A 9 volt battery will tell you if the motors are shot or not.

I think all the relays are the same..
 
No.
I'm referring to the base of the game.
The box itself that holds the blower is fine.
As for the relays, are these the same as the ones shown in the Photos?
I'm not really a relay expert...

Link:
http://m.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-41-DELTROL-CONTROLS-20550-82-USED-/331576341150?nav=WATCHING_ACTIVE


If the bottom of the cab is trashed the blower and the X,Y Motors are contain in the bottom of the cab.

A 9 volt battery will tell you if the motors are shot or not.

I think all the relays are the same..
 
From what I can read off your picture, 165F 20550-82 5a 3pDT 24 volt DC relay.

http://www.deltrol-controls.com/products/relays/general-purpose-relays-5-15-amps/160/20550-82

http://www.deltrol-controls.com/sites/default/files/brochures/160 Series 102011.pdf

The 165F series is an 5 amp flange cover with QC terminals

5A means that the relay has a rating up to 5 amps

The ones in the ebay ad are the ones you need but I don't think you need that many of them.

This should be your local sales rep.

Deltrol Controls - FL
Les Siler
p: 704.905.3403
f: 888.709.4829
[email protected]

I suggest forwarding the pictures of the arcade machine to them and see if they can sell you one of their relays.

any 24VDC 3PDT 5A QC relay should work.
I know the one in banning has relays from a different manufacture so I pretty sure it a common relay with a common foot print..
 
Awesome!
Thank you so much.

From what I can read off your picture, 165F 20550-82 5a 3pDT 24 volt DC relay.

http://www.deltrol-controls.com/products/relays/general-purpose-relays-5-15-amps/160/20550-82

http://www.deltrol-controls.com/sites/default/files/brochures/160 Series 102011.pdf

The 165F series is an 5 amp flange cover with QC terminals

5A means that the relay has a rating up to 5 amps

The ones in the ebay ad are the ones you need but I don't think you need that many of them.

This should be your local sales rep.

Deltrol Controls - FL
Les Siler
p: 704.905.3403
f: 888.709.4829
[email protected]

I suggest forwarding the pictures of the arcade machine to them and see if they can sell you one of their relays.

any 24VDC 3PDT 5A QC relay should work.
I know the one in banning has relays from a different manufacture so I pretty sure it a common relay with a common foot print..
 
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