Star Wars Cockpit or a Nice Pinball

[FrizzleFried]

NO...I am not interested in selling my Star Wars cockpit... but while I was bitching about not being able to afford a nice DMD pinball machine the wife pointed out that if I sold the SW cockpit,  I could afford a VERY nice DMD pinball and still possibly have some $$ left over.   That got me thinking... but I,  personally,  at least RIGHT NOW,  vote for the SW cockpit... but what would YOU rather have in your gameroom?

[ChadTower]

Dude, DMD games are a dime a dozen in gamerooms.  Not hard to get at all.  That Star Wars cockpit is a centerpiece.  It should be the very last thing you ever consider parting with, just before the kids, but after the wife.

[Level42]

Dude, DMD games are a dime a dozen in gamerooms.  Not hard to get at all.  That Star Wars cockpit is a centerpiece.  It should be the very last thing you ever consider parting with, just before the kids, but after the wife.

Think I couldn't have said it better. Especially with your working 25" Amplifone....

[Xiaou2]

Pins are getting expensive, and their values are rising every year.

 Starwars is great... but Id sell one in a minute for a good dmd.
Can play Starwars in mame.  Pinball can not be simulated
decently.  Its a whole different experience.  It also has a much more
lasting gameplay draw to it.  Meaning, you will play a pin much
more than a video.

[Level42]

Can play Starwars in mame. 

Dude, playing SW in Mame compared to playing it sitting down in the real thing with a real yoke and a real Amplifone 25" is like playing TAF on an Ultrapin.

[ChadTower]

Plus the pin market is not appreciating.  It has crashed heavily in the last year.  The collector quality A titles are still pricey but they aren't moving anyway.  You can get a whole lot more pin for your money now than you could in 2008.

[shardian]

I would take a NIB DMD pin that I enjoyed over a Cockpit SW. I've never even seen or played a real StarWars cabinet. I have zero attachment to it. Pinball on the other hand, I've seen and played many of them.

[Flake]

I dont know, I guess it all depends on your preference.  I voted SW cabinet - but only because i think its way less common than other vids and would be harder to replace down the line if you regretted the sale.  Chad is right you, DMD pins seem to be fairly easy to obtain (in my area anyway) although I dont necessarily agree with his pricing/market assessment.  I havent seen one SW cabinet for sale in STL in the last 2 years.

As far as game play goes, I like SW but probably would enjoy a nice pin moreso than a SW sitdown.  However, a SW cockpit is just COOL......but maybe just because you dont see them often.

Shardian - I dont know how much a SW sitdown is worth but I cant believe you would be able to purchase a NIB DMD pin for it?? 

FF - how much do you think you could get for it?

[FrizzleFried]

I am not entirely sure.   I think the last couple with Amplifones went for around $2,500 or so... but don't quote me on that one... plus it has the SW/ESB kit installed.

I'd certainly be able to get enough to afford a nice DMD pin with some cashish left over to perhaps re-locate a stand up SW.   That said,  I still vote SW CP... at least for now.   I just like how it looks in the gameroom.

[Level42]

Say it Frizz. It's the lagging that nags  you right ? 

[ChadTower]

I am not entirely sure.   I think the last couple with Amplifones went for around $2,500 or so... but don't quote me on that one... plus it has the SW/ESB kit installed.

That's about right for the cockpit with 25"... and it has held stable for years.  I was offered one in 2002 for $2000 and every one I've seen go have been between $1750 and $2500.  Usually depends on how fast the seller wants it to go.

You can't touch a NIB Stern for under $3750 without serious maneuvering and most of them go $4000-4500.  A NIB Williams?  Get your home equity line ready.

[Level42]

That's why they are importing loads of pinballs from Europe to the US. They are much cheaper here.

[ChadTower]

That's why they are importing loads of pinballs from Europe to the US. They are much cheaper here.

From what I've seen that dried up 3-4 years ago, maybe earlier.  Guys were bringing over entire containers of DMD pins for a few hundred a game.  That's how a lot of the big collectors got their long list of A titles.  Definitely not the case anymore...

[Ummon]

I'd say SW. A pin can, and likely will, come later. Of course, you could've held onto your upright SW and then done it in a couple/few years with less hassle.

[CheffoJeffo]

I can find a decent DMD pin any day of the week, should I be willing to put up the cash.

SW cockpit with 25" Amp ... not so much. 1 has come up within a 6 hour drive in the past 5 years and it has a big, bad burn spot that makes me somewhat glad that I didn't have the cash at the time. Maybe the new owner will eventually give up on it and yield to a lowball offer ...   .

[Xiaou2]

Dude, playing SW in Mame compared to playing it sitting down in the real thing with a real yoke and a real Amplifone 25" is like playing TAF on an Ultrapin.

 First, by Mame... I meant using a real yoke (eventually when one can afford it), with
later build of an actual custom cabinet. 

 Honestly, color vectors do not look that much more dramatic than a good monitor.
Its Black and White vectors that really look awful on anything but vector monitors...
mostly due to the fact that they dont make the double bright pixels found in
such games as asteroids deluxe.

 The experience may be a little dulled down, but one can hardly compare video
pinball to the real physical counterpart.  Not even close.

 Actually, I love the game... But Id never trade my williams Indiana Jones for it.

[TOK]

I went with the pin, but my opinion is totally skewed.

While I like Star Wars, its not a game I'd play a huge amount of. Black Widow is my favorite Atari color vector and I never got the hoopla about Quantum or Major Havoc. If I was going to have any cockpit game hogging up 1/4 of my game space, it would have to be a racing game like F355 Challenge.

I would probably only have one pin in my gameroom, so it'd get a lot of play. The "new" part is relative as well.  I think the machine I'd want most would be Pinbot (I'm making the assumption that the dot matrix people want is the foof under the score and not the score itself.  )

[FrizzleFried]

Dude, playing SW in Mame compared to playing it sitting down in the real thing with a real yoke and a real Amplifone 25" is like playing TAF on an Ultrapin.

 First, by Mame... I meant using a real yoke (eventually when one can afford it), with
later build of an actual custom cabinet. 

 Honestly, color vectors do not look that much more dramatic than a good monitor.
Its Black and White vectors that really look awful on anything but vector monitors...
mostly due to the fact that they dont make the double bright pixels found in
such games as asteroids deluxe.

 The experience may be a little dulled down, but one can hardly compare video
pinball to the real physical counterpart.  Not even close.

 Actually, I love the game... But Id never trade my williams Indiana Jones for it.

Double bright pixels?   

I am guessing you're referring to phosphor persistence.  You're also mixing up Asteroids as it was the original Asteroids,  not AD,  that produced a "glow" effect that is impossible to reproduce with a raster CRT.

[Level42]

Yeah, and did we forget about the Death Star explosion ? Just a couple of concentric circles on MAME.

Not like it was intended to be.

[ChadTower]

I think the machine I'd want most would be Pinbot (I'm making the assumption that the dot matrix people want is the foof under the score and not the score itself.  )

If it helps a year or two ago I helped a guy sell a Pinbot that was HUO and nearly NiB... man that thing had barely ever been touched.

[TOK]

I've been pricing them. Seems like you can get a decent working one for a little over a grand and parts are readily available. I don't have a pin yet, but that will probably be the first one I snag.

[LLUncoolJ]

Personal choice: I'd go pinball. I like SW, there is a cockpit at a local pizza place and I play it everytime I'm there. But like any dedicated arcade game, it is going to get old once you play it enough. You won't find a bigger Star Wars geek than me, so I get the sentimental angle too. I would almost always choose a good pinball over a great arcade game. Possible exception: Spy Hunter cockpit.

[shardian]

Sell the Star Wars cockpit while there are still suckers out there willing to pay big money for it.  Stick two pinball machines in the space it used to occupy.

I would also pass it on to better fund my arcade addiction. No regrets at all. Someone would be happy with it either way.

[CheffoJeffo]

If this was actually about money, I'm reasonably certain that Frizz could assemble a pair of xx-in-1 cabs in very short order, for very cheap, put them up on CL and generate the cash to buy a nice DMD pin. (Frizz -- have you misplaced your brain recently ?)

Some may suggest that there is a big moral step to be taken there and, while they are not entirely wrong, it is a much smaller step than letting go of a SW cockpit with 25" Amp and ESB kit.

[FrizzleFried]

If this was actually about money, I'm reasonably certain that Frizz could assemble a pair of xx-in-1 cabs in very short order, for very cheap, put them up on CL and generate the cash to buy a nice DMD pin. (Frizz -- have you misplaced your brain recently ?)

Some may suggest that there is a big moral step to be taken there and, while they are not entirely wrong, it is a much smaller step than letting go of a SW cockpit with 25" Amp and ESB kit.

Brother Jeffo... did you not read my initial post?   I'm not interested in selling the SW... just figured I'd throw this out there for discussion.  The wife's the one who  brought it up...but she knows not about what is "rare" and what is not in this community.

[ChadTower]

Hell, if he were closer, I have a very nice Revenge From Mars I'd trade him for it without hesitation and I'd be laughing like the Riddler for a month... were it not hypothetical.

[Xiaou2]

 I didnt know what the term was labled, and frankly, I dont care.

 I dont own an Asteroids.   I OWN an Asteroids Deluxe.   From which I can verify,
that such a thing as the players bullets are something like 10x the brightness of
anything else in game.    And That effect alone can not be duplicated.  It Could
be simulated,  but mame chooses not to do so... which is sad.

 (IE: If you turn the Vector controls up in mame,  it just thickens the lines and or
brightness... for Every object, and not just the player bullets  - as needed)

 Asteroids delxue also has glow to it.. but its reduced due to the blue Overlay
that rest on top of the monitor.   AD is 50x the better game over asteroids,
in looks (AD has awesome 3d blacklit art behind the mirror)   and gamplay.

did we forget about the Death Star explosion ?

 Nah.  I never cared for it.  In mame or on a real vector.

The wife's the one who  brought it up

 Maybe she just wants  SOMETHING in the house with some Balls.        

[CheffoJeffo]

The wife's the one who  brought it up

Maybe she just wants  SOMETHING in the house with some Balls.     

 

Oh no, he didn't ...

[FrizzleFried]

Actually,  the pins go in the garage... so she's stuck with me,  the nutless wonder,  in the house.   

...and here I thought "X" was the master of all reality... yet he admits to not knowing what phosphor persistence is?!   Is that a cow I see flying over head?

[Spyridon]

Why is there even a discussion on this? 

SW cockpit > pin

[JeepMonkey]

The SW definately has a much higher cool factor.  Lately I am less interested in arcade machines that play the exact same way every time.  Pinball rules don't change, and you are always going for the same shots, but at least there is a bit of randomsness to it that keeps it "new" longer.

Put me down for nice new pin (TOM, maybe LOTR) over SW.

[Paladin]

Off topic but for those that haven't seen it, check this thread in the software section for a vector specific emulator:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=73009.0

[Havok]

This is a tough question. I think that for replayability, pinball wins out. However that cockpit cab is just too cool, and coupled with the fact you have the SW\ESB kit, that bumps the replay factor up. So, in my opinion: for straight up looks, SW wins. For replay factor, pinball wins. And for the vector snobs - AAE is looking pretty good and is doing a better job than Mame in replicating the vector effect, you might want to check it out.

I think in the end though, you should keep the SW cab and wait for a good deal on a pin - the prices are finally dropping on them, so you can get a good title for much less than just a year ago if you are patient...

[Level42]

You can buy pins by truckloads. Even the good one's. Even over here I can get about whatever pinball I want.

How many SW cockpits do you know for sale right now ?

And no matter how you emulate it, nothing beats a real vector.