price check- Original Galaga cab

jbrisenojr

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So i ran into a guy selling an original galaga cab online in my area. He sent me pictures as it sits in the storage and its pretty dusty but the cab seems to be in fair condition and the art looks to be in good shape. The only problem he says is it plays blind. You get sounds and lights but no screen, so monitor will have to be replaced or recapped and new flyback.

Anyhow, im meeting him tomorrow morning to see it in person and he is asking $350 obo... its my dream cabinet and i really want it but given its not fully working is his price fair? And what should i look for in person when inspecting the cab?

Thanks for the input
 
$$ wise, I think the monitor not working isn't a big deal. If a G07 and you can solder, a Bob Roberts dlx kit with cap kit, flyback, HOT is like $40? You could get a working chassis here for under $100 possibly. Condition condition condition. If the condition of the cabinet is solid, no swelling, no rot, bezel nice, etc.... that price could be great if it's a game you want. Thing with Galaga, pretty much everything has been repro'd, but if you're looking at quality screened repros - $50 marquee, $100 bezel, art package ?, $50 overlay.. it all adds up, so if the condition is something you'd be happy with, then the price may be fine! Many/most/all Galaga cabinets are made of an MDF, which tends to swell or mushroom along the edges when in bad shape. If it plays blind, but it's cosmetically sound, complete, and the original boardset is there, then go for it. Folks here can help you get it 100% working.
 
$$ wise, I think the monitor not working isn't a big deal. If a G07 and you can solder, a Bob Roberts dlx kit with cap kit, flyback, HOT is like $40? You could get a working chassis here for under $100 possibly. Condition condition condition. If the condition of the cabinet is solid, no swelling, no rot, bezel nice, etc.... that price could be great if it's a game you want. Thing with Galaga, pretty much everything has been repro'd, but if you're looking at quality screened repros - $50 marquee, $100 bezel, art package ?, $50 overlay.. it all adds up, so if the condition is something you'd be happy with, then the price may be fine! Many/most/all Galaga cabinets are made of an MDF, which tends to swell or mushroom along the edges when in bad shape. If it plays blind, but it's cosmetically sound, complete, and the original boardset is there, then go for it. Folks here can help you get it 100% working.

Thanks for the input. This will only be my 3rd arcade if i buy it so im new to the collecting game. Ill definitely check the mdf for water damage and make sure the internals are in working order. Galaga is my all time fav game and i would be willing to restore it, if need be since i would never sell it.
 
I would pay around 300 for a galaga playing blind all day long.. you can try to get it cheaper, try to get it for 300 or less.
 
If the cabinet is in nice shape, grab it for that. If it's a grail of yours, you won't regret that.

Can't see the sides, of course, but a set of sideart isn't that expensive. Here's the top notch, silk screened, authentic repro artwork for Galaga:

http://phoenixarcade.com/art.htm#GALAGA

Thanks for the link, im hoping the art is in mostly good shape!

I would pay around 300 for a galaga playing blind all day long.. you can try to get it cheaper, try to get it for 300 or less.

Sounds good, in my mind i was kinda thinking about trying to talk him down to $300 anyway just cuz i like to haggle.

I will post pictures later today if I'm successful in purchasing his arcade before someone grabs it from under me.
 
I'd definitely throw $300 on a blind Galaga any day of the week, especially if it looked like that. I've restored a couple that were in far worse shape than that one, from what I can tell by your pic.
 
$300 is fair plus you're going to put a couple bucks in restoring the thing. It's worth it having a nice Galaga especially if it's one of your favorites.
 
I concur as well, good price. I'd grab it myself if it wasn't so far away.
 
I'd definitely throw $300 on a blind Galaga any day of the week, especially if it looked like that. I've restored a couple that were in far worse shape than that one, from what I can tell by your pic.

$300 is fair plus you're going to put a couple bucks in restoring the thing. It's worth it having a nice Galaga especially if it's one of your favorites.

I concur as well, good price. I'd grab it myself if it wasn't so far away.

Thanks everyone for the input... I have brought the arcade home and already made some videos of the cab with my GoPro so everyone can see what I'm dealing with condition wise.

As it turned out he wouldn't budge from his $350. He had already had several others in line to purchase if I didn't take it home and so he wouldn't haggle at all. But i think its still good at $350 since its mostly all working except for the G07.

When i get the video posted on youtube Ill link it here so anyone can give me some feedback on where to start trying to fix this bad boy
 
Thanks everyone for the input... I have brought the arcade home and already made some videos of the cab with my GoPro so everyone can see what I'm dealing with condition wise.

As it turned out he wouldn't budge from his $350. He had already had several others in line to purchase if I didn't take it home and so he wouldn't haggle at all. But i think its still good at $350 since its mostly all working except for the G07.

When i get the video posted on youtube Ill link it here so anyone can give me some feedback on where to start trying to fix this bad boy

$350's not bad at all. Luckily G07 rebuild kits are super cheap
 
Let me point out something that was an issue on my project. The connector on the harness that plugged into the power supply board was literally crispy/burnt. Over the years, the connector pins aren't as springy, less contact, the plating wears down, and they act like resistors, which leads to heat, which leads to burn. You may not need to right away, but may want to eventually replace/repin the harness side connector and the male connector/header pins on the power supply PCB itself. Bob Roberts sells what you need. You can't just replace one or the other if there is burn. Hope you're ok there though.
 
The hum's probably because of the switching PS. I'd lose it and go back to stock, personally. But that's just me :D

The monitor....first thing's first: Is there any neck glow? I didn't watch the entire video (I'm on my lunch break). Also, are there and swollen/leaky capacitors on the chassis? Also check the flyback, make sure there aren't any cracks or holes in either the black plastic part, or on the rubber boot attached to the tube
 
Looks good... The plug you found looks like it goes to the filter pcb that has been removed..
galagafilter.jpg


On the monitor start by checking the 2 fuses on the monitor chassis...
 
The hum's probably because of the switching PS. I'd lose it and go back to stock, personally. But that's just me :D

The monitor....first thing's first: Is there any neck glow? I didn't watch the entire video (I'm on my lunch break). Also, are there and swollen/leaky capacitors on the chassis? Also check the flyback, make sure there aren't any cracks or holes in either the black plastic part, or on the rubber boot attached to the tube

I guess i got some homework for tonight when i get off work lol I will definitely look into going back to original PS if thats causing the hum on startup

Looks good... The plug you found looks like it goes to the filter pcb that has been removed..
galagafilter.jpg


On the monitor start by checking the 2 fuses on the monitor chassis...

If i go back to original PS will I need to grab another filter PCB if its been removed?

Psssh...yeah...if you wanna do things the EASY way, I guess checking the fuses COULD work... :D

ha ha yea i have a tendency to overlook the easy things and go straight into the hard stuff and realize it was a simple fix. The guy i purchased it from did say the monitor was fine till about 2 weeks ago when his kids were playing and the monitor just went black, so maybe its something easy like a fuse.
 
That's a decent game for the price. They made a lot of them but you see them for sale less often these days, probably due to people putting in a different joystick and a 60-1 board. If it was me I would simply get the monitor working and if the game otherwise plays, not do anything else to it. It's not in that bad of shape. Maybe the CPO could be replaced but it's not all that bad. Keep it original, there are fewer and fewer games that are still in their original condition. There is something about playing a game that is the exact same game as the one that rolled off the assembly line 30+ years ago and shows the patina of age.
 
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