Should I buy this Space Invaders? (newbie)

[remo]

This would be my first cab.

I was at a flea market out in the country near my parents place and stumbled across a few coin ops for sale, one of which was a standup Space Invaders (the other was a generic two-player cab with a wrestling game in it).

The Space Invaders seemed like it was in pretty decent shape, typical wear and tear for a game that old. The side art was pretty much intact, just some odd scuffs and scratches here and there.  The control panel was pretty faded.  I didn't get a chance to actually play it, but it did seem to be working and the screen looked fairly sharp.

They were asking $200 for it, but I had the impression that they could be talked down a bit.  Should I do it?  My one concern is that, a few minutes after it was plugged in, the speaker started to give off a pretty loud buzz/hum/vibration (at least I think it was the speaker).  What would be causing that, and if it required repair what would be involved?

Any advice would be appreciated. (no, I don't intend to MAME it)

[fatfingers]

I don't know anything about anything, but I would think that $200 for a working, original space invaders would have to be a steal -- I know I'd be interested at that price.

[Edit: spelling -- originial??? sheesh...]

[MYX]

Part of owning old machines is learning about them and breaking them worse fixing them up. $200 sounds pretty good. If you can talk em down do it. Be cheap. Use the extra money to fix it. But the question, should I buy it... That is up to you. It is really cool to have an original in yer home. Plus, if your done with it, sell it around christmas on eBay and double your money.

[XtraSmiley]

SI is a cool cab, but the monitor is black and white so keep that in mind before taking the plunge.  I've seen better cabs given away free and I've also seen SI go for 2 grand.  It's a tought call, one you have to make.

Check ebay for pricing and condition comparisons and don't forget to take pics to post if you buy it!  Good luck.

[RayB]

That's a great price, even with potential problems. I'd say test it out with it on for at least 10 minutes, see what happens. If it wigs out for example, that's a good bargaining angle for you.

And whether you really liek it or not, it's something you can hold on to and trade for something you like better.

[remo]

OK, I went back and did some more digging and snapped this unfortunately crappy phone cam pic and this one.


The main problems it seems to have:

-It seems to reset when jarred/jostled/coin door shut/etc (I assume this is just something loose somewhere

-especially when it resets, the monitor has a tendency to fade out; hard to explain, but it almost looks like the sprites are ghosted with a bright drop shadow.  Monitor going bad?  How much would it cost to repair?

-Both coin slots had issues, wasn't able to use a coin to get a credit.  Fiddled around and eventually got a few, but the start buttons failed 99% of the time.

-the few times I actually got a game to start, the graphics seemed to corrupt pretty quickly -- each row of invaders turned into a straight line of pixels

-Sound did seem to work, but cut out as the graphics freaked out

-buzz seemed to be gone, maybe just some feedback from something else

I'm just wondering how much cash and effort would be required to turn it back into a reliable SI machine, and if it's something that an electronics newbie could attempt? (building computers is the closest I get)  I know there's no cut and dried answer, but any thoughts would be appreciated.

[RayB]

OK, point out all the problems and try to haggle a better price. Even if you can't and even in this condition, it's a good price.

There is a little bit of gamble here though, but nothing you'd lose your shirt over. All the problems you listed could be as simple as loose connectors. Worst case though would of course be bad chips, etc.

The reseting might be just the slam switch on the coin door.

The coins not working and buttons barely working could again be bad connections.

It may or may not be an easy fix. Either way you could still get your money back in a trade for something else if you wanted to go that route.

[koolmoecraig]

That's a $100 machine and i'm being generous.

Hardly anyone wants those things anymore unless they are pristine. The replay value is pretty low.

Every auction I go to they rarely bring anywhere near $200 and that's in fully WORKING condition.

[DaveJ-UK]

Even if you end up having to replace the buttons, coin mech, cap kit the monitor and replace the flyback that's going to be under $100 and SI PCB's weren't expensive last time I looked.

But if what koolmoecraig says is right then maybe it's not such a good deal (or maybe he's in an area with more SI cabs than people who want them )

[Havok]

I say lowball him - offer $25, point out all the problems, and tell him that they go for $200 in fully working order. Play up all the problems. He of course is going to counter, and stop at $100. At the very least you can take it home and just clean everything - that alone increases reliability.

Once it is clean, go through all the electrical contacts. Clean them up and re-connect tightly. You just might get a working machine out of that alone...