Out Run PCBs--really this expensive?

[SuperGunGuru]

Hey all. I'm working on my OutRun mini and have a partially working PCB that'll probably need to need to replaced before the game fully works. It's close to being playable and should be as soon as I find a replacement for a broken steering gear. Anyway, I was watching an Out Run PCB that was on eBay last week. Here's the auction link: http://cgi.ebay.com/OUT-RUN-VIDEO-GAME-BOARD-BY-SEGA_W0QQitemZ6202948253QQcategoryZ13718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I have heard the board tends to go high, but I was kinda shocked by this one. Any thoughts as to why it would be worth so much? Seems like the board might be 90% of the game's value. Like I said, I'll probably be replacing mine since it has some graphical issues and no sound (unless simply reseating all the chips helps) so I'm curious if this is around what the board is worth.

[paigeoliver]

Yep, the boards really DO go that high.

The reason is that Out Run was Mega popular and the games saw extremely long times on location, thus almost none of them ever got converted. Heck, some of them are STILL on location (I bought one a few years ago that had a current tax sticker on it).

Since no Out Runs ever got converted (to anything other than Turbo Outrun, which is not a whole new board), that means that you have to kill a machine to get a board. Making matters worse is the fact that Turbo Outrun sucks, and a lot of owners want to go back to regular.

Add that to the fact that some locations are STILL running an Out Run machine, and that is where the price comes from.