Some Advice concerning a Pinball Auction -- Seems Suspicious

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Some Advice concerning a Pinball Auction -- Seems Suspicious

I don't own a Pin machine. I haven't pulled the glass and worked on one since I was 12 and even then -- it wasn't major surgery. Replaced some solenoids on my grandpa's 1970's vintage machine - with his help.

I've been wanting to buy a Data East Star Wars or Indy for a couple of years, just haven't pulled the trigger. This week, I saw this auction:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130773535493?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619

I've talked to the guy on the phone a few times and he seems agreeable enough. He almost seems too flexible.

The thing that concerns me is that he says he hasn't tried to power on the machine -- and basically refuses to on the basis of it has been sitting awhile and needs to be looked over first.

That just seems a little suspicious to me.

So, advice.. Going at this from Murphy's Law. What do you see as the worst case scenario on this machine? I pay the guy his $1800, pay Northern $400 to get it to 36527, it arrives -- what are the worst things that can be wrong with the machine and their potential cost / availability of parts to fix?

I'm not looking for a show-piece, collectible, so much as a in-home-use machine that I hope to pass down to my kids one day. Though, I do have this inclination to want to restore things to make them "near perfect."

Thanks in advance!
 
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I don't blame him for not wanting to power it up - who knows what has gone wrong in storage? Right now he has a 'it used to work'. If he powers up he might have a 'broken'.

The worst case is that something happened and all the boards are dead. That's not likely, but what IS likely is a battery leak. I don't know what batteries these have, but most machines have them, and they leak when they get old enough. So you've likely got some CPU board work to do at a minimum.

There's no way I'd pay to ship that game at that price with it not working. If I were you, I'd let this one pass, unless you can physically get there and inspect it.
 
I appreciate the advice!
Between your advice and a local tech I talked to, it seems like passing on that particular machine will be wise for now!
 
$1800 is WAY too much for a machine in unknown condition. Using his dates.....it's only been in storage for 7 years. Not a crazy long time in pinball years.

Lets see.....it worked 100% when put into storage 7 years ago, and all it should need is a simple cleaning/servicing.....yet he won't turn it on. He doesn't know how to service it himself and there is no techs around him......yet he routed a six year old machine for 7-8 years without any issues......PLEASE. I call BULLSHIT.

He left the batteries in it. When he turned it on it was dead, and now he's trying to milk a sucker by selling it as "untested".

Edward
 
$1800 is WAY too much for a machine in unknown condition. Using his dates.....it's only been in storage for 7 years. Not a crazy long time in pinball years.

Lets see.....it worked 100% when put into storage 7 years ago, and all it should need is a simple cleaning/servicing.....yet he won't turn it on. He doesn't know how to service it himself and there is no techs around him......yet he routed a six year old machine for 7-8 years without any issues......PLEASE. I call BULLSHIT.

He left the batteries in it. When he turned it on it was dead, and now he's trying to milk a sucker by selling it as "untested".

Edward

I agree, it's an $1800 game "working" anyways so I'd pass on it if I were you.
 
run away! Even if it was $1800 working you should pass.

That cab looks like it was left in rain/under water. Side art is flaking bad, side rails are rusting, screws on the playfiled plastics are rusting. The shot of the cash box and the rusted backbox wrench looks like it was in water for a period of time.

This ones cab is a bit rough, but it might be driving distance and its working.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Data-East-S...207?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item232319bef7

I don't think a DE star wars is worth $3k+. Game play is not balanced. You can just keep shooting the death star with the right flipper to score tons of points. That gets old fast. If you a star wars fan and have to have it, then go for it. But keep in mind that darth vader topper is going to run you $100+.
 
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Game play is not balanced. You can just keep shooting the death star with the right flipper to score tons of points. That gets old fast. If you a star wars fan and have to have it, then go for it.

My feelings exactly! I think it's a nice LOOKING game.....play wise, boring.

Edward
 
Wow. Epic Feedback here guys.

For me, I always wanted a DE SW or Indy for our gameroom, Just because I've always enjoyed those franchises.

This guy, really made me nervous with the whole "I'm afraid to turn it on, bit." He offered to deliver to me for about $800. I could do North American for half that.

He got to be a little.. desperate feeling.. in our txt exchanges.
He didn't feel really solid on price or terms, which might be good for me but it also raised the alarm in that he likely knew he was peddling in junk.

I don't know anything about pinball machines, really. I'm sure I could learn to maintain it but the local techs near me have all mirrored your sentiments.
(Steer clear, something's amiss.)

So, what happens when someone leaves the batteries. I mean, I get corrosion and leaking but heck, I didn't even know pinball machines HAD batteries. Is it a CMOS Watch battery like on an Arcade machine PCB or something else?

Again.. thanks for your advice and help. I'm sure you've saved me a ton of grief and headache!
 
So, what happens when someone leaves the batteries. I mean, I get corrosion and leaking but heck, I didn't even know pinball machines HAD batteries. Is it a CMOS Watch battery like on an Arcade machine PCB or something else?

Again.. thanks for your advice and help. I'm sure you've saved me a ton of grief and headache!

They are sometimes simple AA batteries in a holder on the board, but more often a ni-cad soldered to the board. The problem is that they are sometimes positioned such that they leak on and corrode important parts of the CPU boards, and if they destroy traces they can be a big pain in the <bleep> to clean up after and get the board back on-line. If they do in a hard-to-get chip, you could end up unable to repair at all.
 
Different manufacturers used different kinds of batteries. ALL SOLID STATE PINBALLS USE A BATTERY. A Data East Star Wars will have 3 x AA on a holder on the main driver/MPU board. If left long enough......they will destroy the board. This is (one) of the reasons why pinball replacement/reproduction boards have started popping up in the last 5-8 years.

Edward
 
Out of curiosity, assuming the worst... the playfield is jacked, the mainboard is toast from leaky batteries.. what SHOULD this guy be asking for this, as a fixer-upper restore project?

Best,
 
Out of curiosity, assuming the worst... the playfield is jacked, the mainboard is toast from leaky batteries.. what SHOULD this guy be asking for this, as a fixer-upper restore project?

Best,

It's difficult to say without personally seeing it......cosmetics go a long way in regards to pinball value. There's a handful of plastics that are always broken on a Star Wars. These have become very difficult (and/or expensive) to find. It's got very expensive/difficult to find stationart targets...that are always cracked/broken.....and the list goes on and on.

I'm gonna go with $800.

Edward
 
It's difficult to say without personally seeing it......cosmetics go a long way in regards to pinball value. There's a handful of plastics that are always broken on a Star Wars. These have become very difficult (and/or expensive) to find. It's got very expensive/difficult to find stationart targets...that are always cracked/broken.....and the list goes on and on.

I'm gonna go with $800.

Edward


Before you even consider it, I would ask if the game was ever out in the rain or under water. I think $800 is too much for that pin. I can't imagine over $500 without taking a good look at it. Keep in minda really nice one can be had for under $3k.

Since you can't fix it yourself, your looking at $500+ to get that working. With the broken targets and bad cab, I could see you dumping $2k in it to get it nice.
 
Before you even consider it, I would ask if the game was ever out in the rain or under water. I think $800 is too much for that pin. I can't imagine over $500 without taking a good look at it. Keep in minda really nice one can be had for under $3k.

Since you can't fix it yourself, your looking at $500+ to get that working. With the broken targets and bad cab, I could see you dumping $2k in it to get it nice.

Oh, I agree with you. I didn't catch the OPs comment....."assuming the worst". Assuming the worst, I might take it for free!:D

But yeah, anything left out in the rain.......is a parts machine, as far as I'm concerned.

Edward
 
Thank you

I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to say thank you. Your advice saved me from buying this machine at the wrong time.


About a month ago I found the machine locally, went back to your advice here about checking the playfield, the battery and I was able to end up in a really clean machine, safely thanks to KLOVers :)

Again, Thank you!
 
I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to say thank you. Your advice saved me from buying this machine at the wrong time.


About a month ago I found the machine locally, went back to your advice here about checking the playfield, the battery and I was able to end up in a really clean machine, safely thanks to KLOVers :)

Again, Thank you!

Congrats. Enjoy your new pin.
 
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