What do YOU look for when purchasing a cab or pin?

sohchx

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I was curious to see what each of you guys look for when buying a cab or pin. Do you have your own checklist of things you always look for when you are on location looking at the merchandise before load up? I always purchase full working games,but I wanted to get an idea of what I should look for if I come across a non working cab that I really want. I have stopped my impulse for buying these non-working games because I just don't have the knowledge to know what to look for but I am willing and wanting to learn. I know cars inside and out but I would like to become highly knowledgeable when it comes to these things like you guys have. If it weren't for this site I would be totally lost and probably not in the hobby.When I look something over I generally look for swollen caps,blown chips,frayed wires,working coin mechs and locks,sound,attract mode flaws. Then lastly gameplay and controls. I am leaving anything out?
 
Here's my list:

1) Price. If it's not in the range I'm willing to pay - working or not - then I don't even bother making the trip.

2) Condition. I don't mind some minor corner or edge damage, as long as it's not all waterlogged.... unless it's a highly desirable game and super cheap.

3) Complete. If it doesn't work, then I at least want every component to be there. Only free games can have missing monitors, power supplies, etc.

Other than than, I don't care. If I wasn't willing to pay the price they advertised, I wouldn't be there. When buying a non-working game, I don't do any diagnostics. I just look through it to make sure it's all there, pay the money, and load it up. I can look at it when I get home....
 
Condition is King. Swollen caps? Those are $.35 each and can be easily replaced by someone with no skill at all and a $10 soldering iron.

Everything else is fixable or swappable, but you will never get that original art back. Hi quality repro's can restore a game, but most will tell you that by the time you spend the money and time to restore, you could have bought a nice original and saved the hassle.

Buy a game for the condition it's in, period.
 
When I look something over I generally look for swollen caps,blown chips,frayed wires,working coin mechs and locks,sound,attract mode flaws. Then lastly gameplay and controls. I am leaving anything out?

woah. attention to detail is a must for you. I look at the arts first. Because that is what everyone will see. And some of the arts have not been replicated yet. Then gameplay. Monitor works? Fine. See the game running? Fine. I never open the cab at all.

Biggest thing would be smell. If the cab has an odor like rat crap or cat piss. I say pass it up.
 
Non-working?

1. Price, it's gotta be cheap. Realize for non fix-it types a broken game is worth less than 0 if they have to get it hauled away.
Figure what the game is worth to you, and add the price of what ever replacement stuff you may have to buy to get it the way you want it. Free game+ $200 PCB+ $50 ARII + $60 CPO + Monitor rebuild + other misc like bulbs, paint, and cleaning supplies = maybe not worth it.

2. Art, that stuff can be expensive to replace, if even available. I usually wont buy a broken game unless the side art is decent.

3. Complete. Make sure it's all there. Monitor (with chassis), PCB, Wiring harness, etc.
Hopefully just one main component is bad, but you dont know the history. Could be someones broken CRT tube, chassis stripped for parts, bad PCB, flakey harness, jammed coin mechs, burnt out bulbs, and bad power supply all shoved into one box.

4. Rarity. If it's hard to find or extremely desirable, you may just have to throw 1,2,and 3 out the window.

5. Heroic factor. Sometimes I feel that if I don't do something, the thing will get MAME'd or parted. Vectors fall into this category for me.
 
I usually look for completeness, major damage, water damage, and I also must make sure the inside doesnt have any dead shit in there. If there is anything dead or rotting inside the cabinet, either we clean it out right there with the sellers tools or I dont pay a cent for it.
 
these days I am mainly looking at condition. Ive been through too many hard restores in the past few years. Yes if you take on a project your off and running at a low expense...but then how much needs to go into it?? Now adays I'm looking for a well kept machine. Buy it and move it right in. Yes it costs more..but no headache.....projects can wear you out!
 
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All the keys with it?

Open the back door and look for signs of water damage (been in a flood? ), moisture/dampness (poor storage causing rust & corrosion), and rodents/insects.

Power cord ground prong missing or chopped off?
 
Condition is King. Swollen caps? Those are $.35 each and can be easily replaced by someone with no skill at all and a $10 soldering iron.

Everything else is fixable or swappable, but you will never get that original art back. Hi quality repro's can restore a game, but most will tell you that by the time you spend the money and time to restore, you could have bought a nice original and saved the hassle.

Buy a game for the condition it's in, period.

Then there are some of us who actually ENJOY the "hassle" of restoring a machine... for us, we'd rather pay the dough and take the time to do the restore than to buy something already restored or not in need of restore.
 
My general attitude to possible deals is in flux right now. Pretty much everything I've owned to this point has been a major project. That kind of thing gets old after a while. I'm tired of investing tons of hours. I'm tired of my gameroom (doubles as my work area) always being a mess from parts/tools being strewn about.

What did I used to look at: Price and price alone. I would justify away anything else.

What I look at now:
1. Is it something I really want
2. Is it something that would require minimal time investment
3. Is it something I could make a good deal of money on if I don't want to keep it.

I'm to the point of overlooking anything that isn't a smoking deal AND working/looking nice. I need to finish up my current projects before getting more.

Having said all that, I normally don't look too far into the machines when I go to buy. A quick once over is all you need if you've done your research in advance. Assume anything even remotely not functional will need to be replaced. If the machine is $100 or less, you can be pretty sure it will have issues.
 
Then there are some of us who actually ENJOY the "hassle" of restoring a machine... for us, we'd rather pay the dough and take the time to do the restore than to buy something already restored or not in need of restore.

Cool, Brother Frizz. Live how you want to live.
 
know what a game is worth and how rare it is before you get there.

If you find a water damaged cosmic chasm, you should get it at pretty much any price. But if its a water damaged dig dug, then you should think twice.

remember it can be 2x to 4x as expensive to find a game that needs to be resotred than it is to find one in nice shape.
 
... Power cord ground prong missing or chopped off?

For those of us that aren't all that technical... What does this signify? Is a missing ground prong a really bad sign? :confused: Or, rather, what does removing that prong do for the seller/machine?
 
For those of us that aren't all that technical... What does this signify? Is a missing ground prong a really bad sign? :confused: Or, rather, what does removing that prong do for the seller/machine?

maybe he just hates buying the new $3 plug end and taking the 5 minutes to put it on. Wouldn't bother me. Maybe there is some other issue that I don't know about. Either way, 3 of my machines were all missing the ground prong when I bought them.
 
At this point, I'll take anything that is rat/mouse shit free. After buying my 1st 2 games and having to fill a shopvac with mouse shizzle, I refuse to vacuum just 1 more little turd. I am glad that the Hanta virus was not apart of the "free gifts".
 
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