Yeah, this all worked out great. Thanks again and great work, Isaac / ripple !
Yeah, Isaac sent me a picture that he was sent of the game. I mean, who the heck lifts up a back box halfway up to show that the game "turns on" during a legit pinball sale!!
I could tell by what I could see on the playfield that it included the all mods that I had made/put in it and Isaac was good to ask for more pictures. When I saw the pic of the coinbox, it had included a few extras that I had originally put in there for the OP (Rick)...some complimentary rubber stoppers, some of the Pinmonk gels still in their package that I had not installed, as well as some dome covers in factory bags that I had not changed out yet. It all matched up!!!
At that point, I knew that that was the game.
I was the third owner of that game and after speaking with isaac, a couple days before these dudes were going to arrive, I spent much of the afternoon on the phone ultimately getting back to the original owner (who actually runs an arcade about 3 hours from my house). Turns out, it really wasn't even his, as much as it was his friends that also works at that arcade. But it just so happens that this arcade owner is fairly diligent with his paperwork and when I reached out to him, he was actually able to not only pull out a picture of the back of the game with its serial number, but he also still had the original warranty! Let's hear it for DreamTR (thanks again, Jason!).
Once we had that serial number, I was able to give it to the OP (Rick), and from there, the police were able to get that into the police report. That was a key move, because having that serial number in the official police report gave the Boise Idaho cops (where Isaac lives) the right to hold the machine.
I spoke with the Boise Idaho detectives the following day after the game was secured at the Boise Idaho Police station and gave them the official bill of sale that had associated documentation stating that this was money from Rick to me for the TMNT pinball machine. That was all the detective needed to work with Rick to get the game back to him. Got a text from OP/Rick yesterday...sounds like they have already released the machine and he has already spoken with Michelle at STI/CRST to get the game delivered to his house!!!
Unbelievable.
I've been calling it "CSI:Boise Idaho", haha
Awesome job everyone!!!!!!!!
-Chip