I just called my boss to explain why I won't be working/leaving the house for the next 6 weeks
Maybe we are more careful or honest overhere ?
The SW, DK, Asteroids and DKjr. all came from Belgium or Germany. The guys who sold the SW and Asteroids didn't have "equipment" (read vector monitors) around to test them. I know nothing about the e-bay seller that sold me the DK boards. Both mentioned untested, one worked right away, the other I think may be a small problem.
I've also bought two boards advertised as tested and working (DKjr. bootleg (Austria) and Popeye(Germany)) and both work fine indeed.
Only the MB came from the US. Seller told me it was pulled from a working game when it got converted (poor cab) and was stored by the operator ever since. He thought it would be working, but couldn't/didn't want to test and also sold it as untested.
Yes I've been pretty lucky
P.S. Funny story about the Asteroids board. I got it because I wanted to have a back-up plan in case the Meteor PCB couldn't be repaired. I brought it over when I visited Andreas (who masterfully repaired the Meteor PCB) and asked if he could test the Asteroids on his cocktail. He had a look at the board, and a second look and said: "I'm pretty sure it will work". I asked why he though so. He said "I repaired this one". He recognized some parts (like low profile x-tals) he had replaced. I did buy it from a German guy and he wondered how the PCB ended up there. This hobby is a pretty small community, especially overhere in Europe
O and the board indeed ran fine. I still am thinking about putting it in the Meteor cab at one point in time, so that the games are switchable. Although I didn't notice any difference at all in gameplay, it could be good for having a kit on the original Atari board...