What's your best arcade scores for less than $50

4 yrs in the hobby.....so far:

Free: space duel, 100% complete, 7.5/10 cab, playing blind. It was face down on side of the road by itself in the trash.
Free: PP2, missing boards (but i had an extra set of boards).

$33 : complete paperboy, not working but had life
$33 : centipede, 9/10 cab, not working
$33 : phoenix, works but missing 2 sounds

$20 : mario bros slim body, complete, not working.
 
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It's hard to believe how many under $50/free games I've grabbed! When I first started out in the hobby there were two OPs that gave me empty cabs or ones with problematic CRTs for $0-$50 a couple of times. It's really what helped me go from 2-3 games to a home arcade.

Here are some of the more recent scores I have pics of:
$25 Working Big Blue with Area 51 [Pic #1]

Free:
Working MK1 in a Defender with 25" monitor + two mame rigs in one pickup [Pic#2]
No PCBs - Soul Caliber with 32" monitor [Pic#3]and Big Blue [painted black facing away in Pic#4] in one pickup
MK1 cab with MK2 PCB booting to error [middle of Pic#4]
MK1 with CPS2 Marvel Superheroes [Pic#5]

You gotta be fast - each of these I showed up first with a truck and a dolly in the middle of the day but was told there were tons of other people interested.
 

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Got a police trainer in dynamo red cab that used to a street fighter 2 CE for $60. Still can't believe I got it for that price and as what everyone says the seller was getting bombarded by messages showing interest. Great score
 
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About 3 years ago I was on a lucky streak where I was finding killer deals just about every week it seemed! Not free like many of you here, but I picked up a High Speed and Galaga for $50. Both worked as is but needed a little TLC. Not bad for $25 a piece! The guy I got them from had them in his marine shop for years and just wanted them gone. He listed them in a CL ad and the ad seemed a little shady or not legit, misspellings and all...of course there was no price so when I emailed him and got his number and asked him what he wanted I was shocked when he said $50 and not a piece but for both! I had to work that day and he agreed to hold them for me until the next day! Cool guy and super happy he held them!
 

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I was shocked when he said $50 and not a piece but for both! I had to work that day and he agreed to hold them for me until the next day! Cool guy and super happy he held them!
I would have left work, glad he held them, sounds like a real standup guy.
 
Very nice working original MKII for $16.67 (as part of a 3 game deal for $50!)

:D
 
My first buy was a $50 for a Galaxian Cabinet in decent shape. NO pcb and the monitor was bad, but it was a great first project cabinet.

My best deal was getting four cabinets from a laundry mat for $120. Joust Cab with a wrestlefest conversion, two Ms Pacman cabinets that needed some PCB work, and a Donkey Kong Jr in an orange Nintendo cab that needed a lot of work(New Bezel, Control panels, Side art, Capkit, and T Molding).
 
Got a free Street Fighter II (with the Accelerator ROM hack) in a Space Duel cabinet playing blind as well as a Megatouch Maxx bartop when I bought my SF Rush the Rock (luckily for me the software was hacked to skip all the hardware checks; the original motherboard was dead). The SF2 is more of a MAME 3-button setup now and I discovered that Megatouch works with the 3M 1500SS LCD touchscreen so I might part with the bartop.
 
Under $50 best deals for me were...

Dedicated Journey upright - Totally free and worked. Just had to get it out of the guys basement.

Dedicated Mario Bros.
Dedicated Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey
Arachnid Dart Board - All free from a co-worker and they worked. Just had to pick them up.

Gottlieb Atlantis Pinball Machine - Free, just had to pick up. Didn't work, but the cosmetics were amazing right on down to the cabinet, playfield and backglass. No wear at all and the head had never even been opened before.
 

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I was given a Ms. Pac-Man a few years ago that had been left outside and of course didn't work. Had to replace everything but it was a fun project.

Super Monaco GP and Special Criminal Investigation for 50 each. Man those were fun. Both worked perfectly.
 
Two Gauntlet Dark Legacy cabinets... one semi-working, one working. $50 out the door... and I got $19.00 in change back.
 
My last big haul I picked up
-Robotron
-Robotron cab with Stargate guts
-Centipede cabaret
-Marble Madness
-Xevious
-Defender cocktail
-Tempest cocktail
-Missile Command cocktail

All need some state of repairs.

Price? Free... /end thread/
 
"What's your best arcade scores for less than $50?"

I got 2 million on Journey on 1 credit once. That's $0.25 and a decent score.
 
I got a Spectar one time at auction for $10. Does that count?

There was another auction where I snagged a Tac Scan for $10.

Deals everywhere.
 
"What's your best arcade scores for less than $50"

For Pac-Man, I once paid 25 cents and got a score of a few hundred thousand.

Most games that allow you to continue, you can end up completing them for much less than $50. If it is costing you more than $50 you probably need some more practice. I think $5 to $10 should get you through TMNT just fine.
 
My NET score price or the actual price?

I got a DK JR with mostly working board for $100 - sold the board for $150, netting a DK JR cab for -$50

Lethal Enforcers for Free - $200 for the machine, but sold my LE board that I had in storage for $150, and took the $50 profit from DK JR to invenst.. only problem was a sound chip that could be bypassed -- worked great..
 
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