No Fear...should I?

[LLUncoolJ]

Local guy has a No Fear completely shopped (just finished), new legs and glass, rebuilt flippers and coils for $1600. He told me before the shop job that it was going to be $1400, but said it was cleaning up so nice that he decided to go the extra mile on it. I was all in at $1400, but not sure at $1600. Someday I will want to sell this thing and I don't know if I'll get that much back out of it.

What do you think? PBJ...I know that you could buy this machine all day long for $400, this is for the rest of us who can't hypnotize sellers.

[Jeff AMN]

It's steep at that price. People that like this game tend to still only pay around $1,200 for it unless it's in near mint condition.

[Q*Bert_OP]

I've got one and I like it. It's a mix between T2 and Getaway. The T2 aspect is all of the shots are identical in layout. The getaway part is the jump ramp which is like a player controlled supercharger ramp.

Watch out for a melted jump ramp near the back where the magnets are, broken ramps, and of course, a faded cabinet. Most of the flames should be a dark orange! Look under the legs to see the original color.

That being said, I paid $700 for a completely unfaded game with a mint playfield. It did need new ramps which cost about $300. My base game was complete, but did not work. All of the boards except the sound board had problems.

[Xiaou2]

 No Fear was at the Arcade I used to Manage.  At first, I thought it looked
boring... but over time, I got to really enjoy it.

 Decent flow, Love the voices & Guitar music, challenging to make all the mode
shots in one game.

 There are many pins which Id rather own... but, Id still love to add it to my
collection one day.

 I usually see people asking over $1200 ($1600 is not outrageous at all)
or more for a NF in good (not faded and beat to hell) working shape.

 Id say take a look at its current shape.  And then see if you can get anyone
to verify his shop-ability.  Some peoples idea of a shop job is simply to wipe down
the playfield - and thats without taking off the ramps.

 Have him run an error test report in front of you.  If its laden with errors.. then
either have him fix them before the sale.. or reduce the selling price.

 If you decide to have him shop it.. .have him show its current shape, and point
out what needs work.  Do not pay up-front.  If his shop job is good after you
review it... then pay the extra.  Otherwise, simply talk him back down or refuse
to pay until he shops it properly.

[LLUncoolJ]

The seller is Chuck @ CP Pinball. He has a pinball arcade here in STL and has 60+ machines set to free play for $10 dmission. I am gona go tonight and play and I'll take a look at the NO Fear. His machines are all clean, he takes pride in them. Flake has bought 2 from him and had good luck. In other words, I trust the guy to deliver a good product. However, I think it will be difficult to sell at that price when it comes time.

[Xiaou2]

IMOP,  No Fear = More fun than any Stern Pin made to date.
(And better music & theme than 98% of them too)

[Jeff AMN]

IMOP,  No Fear = More fun than any Stern Pin made to date.
(And better music & theme than 98% of them too)

 

Ladies and gentlemen, he'll be here all week. Remember to tip your waitresses.

[LLUncoolJ]

IMOP,  No Fear = More fun than any Stern Pin made to date.
(And better music & theme than 98% of them too)

 

Ladies and gentlemen, he'll be here all week. Remember to tip your waitresses.

Yeah, I have to say I played a few Sterns saturday that I would much rather have.


Wife took a shine to Fish Tales. There is one for $1750 on craigslist, maybe I'll look into that. It would keep the peace around the house...for a few minutes.

[Q*Bert_OP]

$1 says QBert's currently got his for sale.  I don't think his Steve Ritchie fetish is powerful enough to put up with this title.   

Looks like you owe someone $1 

It's not for sale...yet...though I've only had it running for 2 days before I folded and wrapped it for the TX pin fest this week...so we'll see if my opinion changes...

[shardian]

There is a No Fear local to me on location, but I have never went out of my way to see it. A local gameroom friend played it and told me it wasn't worth the trip...and that's not because it was malfunctioning either.

[LLUncoolJ]

So what about Fish Tales PBJ, other than the Fish on top going CLAK-CLAK-CLAK?  Keep in mind I have 2 little kids that like fishing...not that that should dictate what machine I wind up buying.

[nostrebor]

Hey Jim!

Wouldn't it save a bunch of time if you just post a short list of the pins you DO like?!

My 2 pennies... leave that NoFear alone if you're worried about getting $1600 back out of it.

[LLUncoolJ]

My 2 pennies... leave that NoFear alone if you're worried about getting $1600 back out of it.

Thanks for the input, yeah I've pretty much decided against NF. I got pics of the FT. It looks like it has a big piece of mylar over the lower playfield...the edges are standing out in the pics. I thought Williams quit doing that after the system 11's. Anyway, the cabinet has some fade too. I'm thinking $1750 is too high in that condition. Maybe $1500 would be more tempting.

[Jeff AMN]

Williams kept using mylar well after the diamond plate stuff became standard.

I wouldn't pay more than $1,200 for a Fish Tales. I've had one, and it was fun, but after an hour I could pretty much hit any shot on that game on demand. I do think it's quite a bit of fun for a family, but for me personally it didn't have a long staying power sitting next to the other games I had. The guy who bought it from me absolutely loves it.

[pinballwizard79]

IMHO I am not a fan of NF & $1750 for a NF is too steep unless its clean, shopped & free of fade/wear.

I would say $2500 for true collector or HUO but thats not what we have here. But for what you are describing I would think $1500 is fair if its clean, waxed, new rubber/bulbs & free of hacks. $1175 if you want to dump $125+ & a month of your time on it.

That FT Chuck has is ridiculously awesome, if you score that I will hate you.

[JeepMonkey]

I don't think I could pull the trigger on this one.  To me it is just an ok machine.

If you were going to have it for a while and really liked it, it might be worth it.

[shardian]

RE: Mylar.

My Bally/Williams WhoDunnit is 1994 and is Mylar.

[LLUncoolJ]

He emailed me some pretty high megapixil photos of the playfield of the Fish Tales. Just from what I can see, it needs at least $50 worth of plastics (missing), that's just what I can see. It needs shopped, and the edges of the mylar are very visable. Those things, along with the fading are probably going to queer the deal. I'm thinking I would need to get it for $1400 or less and I doubt the guy is going to come down that far, especially without seeing it in person. But realistically, we would have to agree on a $1500 starting point just for me to take the hour plus drive.

I'd post, but the pics are over 4MB each.

[LLUncoolJ]

So...which one of you asked the question? Kinda funny.

Ebay posting:

"Williams" brand FISH TALES Pinball machine. Rare less than 500 in existence. In very good condition with new rubber bands and bumpers. Locking box included. The right hand side of the machine is lighter than the left because the right side used face a window. Lock has been taken off so anyone can hit the free play button whenever they want.

Q:  Less than 500 exist??? Williams made 13640 of these. Where did over 13000 machines go???
A:   This question was already answered to another, and should be listed under questions, but if not yet, I got it straight from the Fish Tales owners list when I did a yahoo search, and this was a couple of years ago, so there may even be less. We all know that 13,000 were made, but that research site said that they only knew of around 400 left. (not 500,my boyfriend made a mistake)

[Jeff AMN]

That sounds like the local seller here that is claiming that his beat up EM with a broken score reel is worth more than $3,000 based on his research. I emailed him and asked him if he's ready to come down to $300 then we'll talk.

[lilshawn]

well i know where one "Fish Tales" is for sure...


in our shop.

only 498 to go

[smartbomb2084]

NO FEAR , it's taking a real beating here. Send me all the $400 NO FEAR games you have. All you average players can't handle a NOVUSed up NO FEAR. Its not about theme or music or the colors of the cabinet, its about making the shots when you have to.  If you can't score 100 BILLION on factory three ball then this game is just too fast for you. There isn't enough time for you to beat this game down and worry about how much the Skull annoys you.  SPY HUNTER?  PLEASE.  I don't think peanut butter and jelly likes ANY game!

[rusolinio]

No fear rocks! All those that hate it, are simply poor pinball players......and old.

[smartbomb2084]

Listen sonny, most of us OLD players have years of experience and practice.  As long as our glasses are clean we can hang with the best of you youngins.

[Q*Bert_OP]

$1 says QBert's currently got his for sale.  I don't think his Steve Ritchie fetish is powerful enough to put up with this title.   

Someone owes me $1.

This game sucks. Now that I have it shopped and modded, I wish I didn't. 

[Xiaou2]

It may not be the best game, but give it time.  As I said... it Grows on you.

 I didnt care much for it when it was at the arcade... Until I started to take the
game more seriously: Try to Nail all the mode shots, and get the most points per mode. 

 It was challenging to nail every mode shot, let alone get good points on them all.
And then every game ended with  "I know I can do better this time!"... hour or more later..
still playing. 

 Btw - If you really want that game fast, hand buff in some F21 on the playfield.  The
ball will fly around at lightspeed.