Would be helpful to know what you mean by "not work". Is the game totally dead?

Since you know the guy get someone to look at it and get an estimate to repair it and go from there

Need more information to properly assess this game. What does "not work" mean? Does not boot? At the very least inspect the MPU board for battery corrosion damage. Can you bring someone along with more knowledge to inspect the game with you?

Every time I've bought a broken pin, the owner always says it's probably an easy fix.
I've used it to my advantage a few times, because if it was easy then fix it.

Exactly. Not one time was an "easy fix" easy in my experience.

Could be easy, could be a pita.

Dmd is available, but expensive.
Dmd cobteoller obly used on 4 games.
Sound board only used on a handful of games.

If the dmd controller or sound board have issues it can be expensive and take awhile to get it.

Could it be “just a fuse”

Im am sure someone can fix it... unless its a steal i wouldnt bother.

Pretty mediocre game.

Yeah, I mean a totally completely dead game could just be a blown line fuse by the power switch. Easy and quick to change, and that could get you more info. I think they're usually an 8a slow blo.

Otherwise, the power supply could be totally fried. But I'd be doubtful that it would be totally gone to the point where nothing lights up or happens on a power-up. If it is just the line fuse, then that's a very quick, easy and cheap fix.

Even power supply boards aren't too expensive in the grand scheme, at least for most games. But you can't really diagnose much when the game is totally dead like that. Short of just checking fuses and looking for obvious damage.

Offer-wise, I say $1000 to $1500 is fair. I think Batman Forever's average-price is like $2500, so that gives you $1000+ of wiggle room in case you need to buy new boards or displays, and your time of course is worth something. And who knows might not be very much wrong with it. That's probably what I would do.

I need to move to SD. Last BF that popped up on FB marketplace here in Chicago sold for $3,500 same day it was listed. Nothing special about it, all original, unshopped. Prices for used pins are insane right now. I'd buy every BF I could find for $1-1.5k Fun game

ColorDmd has a 128x64 available... And iirc, just release forever color dots

You forgot:

-what the seller's cell number.

Purchase the game now. I would not want to be troubleshooting a game at someone's house. I am sure the seller will be very annoyed especially if will take more than one visit and a lot of time to get figured out.

Pictures of the boards with the power on will be very helpful.

Don't troubleshoot the game. Make an offer that you are comfortable with in the state that it's in. If they accept, load it up and take off.

If this is a project that you are not comfortable with, you aren't forced to buy it. Pass it along to someone else.

I apologize that this may be a super obvious suggestion, but it appears as though you are new to the hobby, and the way you worded this makes me need to ask. Besides just connecting to power, you did turn on the power switch, right? No offense at all intended, but I have known of people not realizing (modern) machines have a switch.

Best of luck. From what can be seen in the pics it looks beautiful. It's a fun game...I'm surprised by some of the negative comments here as BF is usually regarded as one of the better Sega games. Hope it works out for you and is an easy fix!

This! If you fix it they may charge you more since it now works or even change their mind and keep it. Grab it and go!

My brother had this game for about 6 years, so speaking from a little experience here. In my (and my brother's) opinion the game is great, a rare case of Sega actually punching as high as B/W.

Agree 100% with this advice, probably the best given thus far.

My brother's machine once went "dead"; upon power-up the only thing that turned on was the uncontrolled GI, everything else was dead as a doornail. The culprit turned out to be a bad (visibly leaking) 10mf/16v (if I recall correctly) stabilizing capacitor connected to the voltage regulator IC. (Narrowed down to power supply board by realizing that the only fault which would likely cause these symptoms would have been a dead 5v logic supply.) Apparently this is a fairly common failure in this game (the IC is also a common failure point), but fortunately the PCBs in this game are of high quality and tolerate desoldering/resoldering very well.

If this game could be bought for $1500 or so, I don't think you would lose money even if you are not able to fix it yourself given that it is in otherwise good condition, and if the "fix" is as simple as it was with my brother's game then you can feel a nice sense of satisfaction at getting a screaming good deal on a fun game!

Pinside has a price guide. It has BF at $2600 to $3000 and I have found most people ask more than top end of the Pinside estimate. I would use that range based on condition and knock off $500 since not working, but looks good otherwise. $1500 that others have said would be a hell of a bargain.

Someone mentioned the large DMD is rare. I have seen plenty for sale and a lot of people prefer that Color dmd better.

Not working condition I wouldn't go over $1800 for this particular game. I'd be hesitant at that amount even. A ColorDMD is like $475 if you need to go that route. For the DMD it's a matter of when, not if, it will have issues.

If you pick it up for $1,500, then decide you don't want it, I'll buy it from you for $1,600 and pay to have it shipped