Where can I find price guides for EM games? Anyone here know about these things?

jehuie

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Where can I find price guides for EM games? Anyone here know about these things?

I've got a line on several of these and was thinking about making an offer. Anyone here know where I can find prices/values for these things? I can find pictures of them onlilne and they look cool. But nothing about prices so far...

Old EM Williams & Chicago Coin shooters. Thanks.
 
I think in original, unrestored condition, working, they'd be worth between $400 and $800. If it's a rare one, much more. If it's been restored, double or triple that.
 
I think in original, unrestored condition, working, they'd be worth between $400 and $800. If it's a rare one, much more. If it's been restored, double or triple that.

So can anyone tell me what some of the more desirable titles might be? I don't have a list of everything he has but I'm going to take a look today, hopefully.

What are some of the most sought after games in this category?
 
I think in original, unrestored condition, working, they'd be worth between $400 and $800. If it's a rare one, much more. If it's been restored, double or triple that.


I think these prices are about 2x what they actually sell for, but in line with what most people are asking. The difference between perceived value and actual value is part of the reason you don't see them change hands very often.

Frankly, they are not hard to fix assuming all parts are present. Broken machines are given away on a regular basis because few people have the patience to fix them. I have passed on quite a few offers over the last couple of years due to a lack of space.


The most valuable seem to be the 1970's Midway shooters like Gangbusters and Jungle Guns. Pitch and Bat machines are pretty popular as well.
 
I really don't think there is a definitive price guide per se. As always condition is a *big* factor on determining the cost. I use Clay's list as a reference as to what's out there...

I think the hottest gun game is still Haunted House. The real pricey EM games are the non-gun ones. Such as the ones your driving, or landing aircraft, or picking up things.... I know that description sucks:rolleyes:
 
One important thing to note is that the upright EM machines (that I have handled anyway) are WAYYYYYY heavier than an upright vid. Crazy heavy.
 
I really don't think there is a definitive price guide per se. As always condition is a *big* factor on determining the cost. I use Clay's list as a reference as to what's out there...

I think the hottest gun game is still Haunted House. The real pricey EM games are the non-gun ones. Such as the ones your driving, or landing aircraft, or picking up things.... I know that description sucks:rolleyes:

Ok so hypothetically if they guy has a Haunted House and/or some driving or aircraft games....and they are in nice unrestored (assumed non-working but complete) condition, what kind of offer do you think would be reasonable?
 
when i buy these games i check the plug first a lot of these ,almost all, need to be replaced as they are on their last leg but easy to fix. if you can, try turning on a game before you buy. if it just lights up try to work the switches on the games back doors to see what works. most of the problems are dirty contacts. good luck.
 
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I think these prices are about 2x what they actually sell for, but in line with what most people are asking.

Such a simple distinction that so many people screw up.

Sorry to hijack, but had to post this `cause I saw it mentioned on Pawn Stars last night for the first time, finally. Dude was trying to sell a Beatles album, and was telling Rick the owner that he'd seen it for $2000+ on eBay.

Rick: "Was that what they sold it for, or was that the asking price?"
Seller: "Um...asking price." (derrrrrrrr...)
 
Ok so hypothetically if they guy has a Haunted House and/or some driving or aircraft games....and they are in nice unrestored (assumed non-working but complete) condition, what kind of offer do you think would be reasonable?

Honestly, there is people here better than me answer that.. Maybe, can Aloc could be more helpful..

I probably go a couple of bills or maybe less, if he takes a mutliple discount if you buy one or more. Keep this in mind, "a lot " of these backglasses are next to impossible to find if broke! And some of these do have tape drives, so that's another factor.... It really depends on the machine.... Do you have a list of what he owns?
 
honestly what i know about em games ive learned from klov, from working on them to what to watch out for. but as for prices its just like anything else how much do they want for it vs how much do you want it and finding a happy medium. good luck
 
If you have a line on a decent haunted house I'd definitely be interested.

Ok so hypothetically if they guy has a Haunted House and/or some driving or aircraft games....and they are in nice unrestored (assumed non-working but complete) condition, what kind of offer do you think would be reasonable?
 
So I went and looked at the games. He's a nice guy but his prices were more than I was interested in paying. They were pretty rough in my opinion. Complete and partly working. Lot's of flaking paint though. Definitely could be fixed up but he's hoping to get $750 for Midway shooters in that condition. Some may be worth that...what do I know? Anyway, I'll post a list of games and maybe some pics a little later. They were jammed in two small storage units and it was impossible to get to some of them.
 
It sounds like he is one of those sellers who believe they are sitting on gold. Frankly, the values of these drop every day. Fewer and fewer people are collecting them.


That being said, flaking paint on the cabs is no big deal. The sides are stenciled in a pretty straight forward way and it just takes a little patience to reproduce the artwork. Flaking paint on glass is a deal killer, though. Very few of these glasses have been reproduced and touch-ups are never satisfactory.


I say keep his number and check back in a few months to see if he is willing to be more reasonable...
 
That's crazy. A good title still needs to be in good shape and if it is flaking and in crappy shape you'll dump a lot of money into trying to restore. How often do you see nice EM glass for sale? Not often. If its a bulk buy of 5 or more machines I wouldn't pay more than $75-$100 per machine and even that is pushing it.

Of course there are always exceptions, but it sounds like a shed full of work.
 
I'd be interested to know what was in there. Seems like most EM games are on the east coast. I have several upright EM games and have shipped them all. There are a couple I'd like to find if I could....

Tom
 
He has:

S.A.M.I - Midway
Night Bomber - Chicago Coin (missing or broken gear he says)
Arctic Gun - Williams
Haunted House - Williams (couldn't see it and he didn't have time to move stuff)
Gran Trax - ? Don't know what it is. He said it's an EM also, couldn't see it.
A small basketball game thing that I actually bought
A chuck-e-cheese "proto" called Magic Pizza
Some kind of Space Invaders clone (didn't see it)
Dune Buggy - Midway
Some old pins: Sky Jump, Bank a Ball, El Dorado

All rather rough but could be restored. They appear to be complete and based on his level of enthusiasm I'd say they were truly all working when he put them in the 20 years ago.
 
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