Hi, so i've been reading the forum for a while; and now i'm finally looking for my first own pinball machine. I've been playing a lot in arcades and other places but i've never been on the owner side so any tip would be appreciated.

Today i'm going to see a guy who is selling some 80's/90's machines and my eyes are on TAXI. Is there any detail which i have to pay special attention while looking for a pinball? Any special detail to look on this machine?

Maybe i can take some pics of the machine and share it here so you guys can give me your opinions

Already saw a few pics on the page of the seller, i can see the playfield has some serious wear in the bumpers area, you can totally see the wood there.

The rest of the machine still a mistery i'll unveil in an hour or two.

Sadly this is a small country with not too many machines around so negotitatinh prices isnt easy, and find people selling is really hard.

But yes, i'll try to get the price down, thnx for the advice

So, back in home after testing Taxi. The seller was nice, had a lot of pinballs stored in his house, and he's selling Fish Tales, Super mario Bros, Terminator, Police Force and others.

Taxi seemed to work great, the electronics are looking good (for my noob eye) and the cabinet was great; on the otehr hand, the playfield was visually damaged. A lot of paint missing, and what worries me a lot, the previous owner added some decoration to the game, bad printed decals (probably home made in paper) and other stuff with glue directly to the plastics or the cabinet's wood :/

I don't know how much money or time i'll have to invest to remove all this things, also don't know where to get new plastics and etc.

Also, the game has a bell but we couldn't make it ring, just made one "ding" and thats all...

In the pictures you can notice the terribly made decals, the stuff glued on the plastics, and also a couple little cars the guy added to the game (not a bad idea, but really bad quality toys XD).

The price started in 1350 and went to 1150 by the end of the day.

So guys, any recommendation?

1_(resized).jpg

2_(resized).jpg

4_(resized).jpg

6_(resized).jpg

5_(resized).jpg

haha i wish, i can't get a new playfield here; this is the only time i saw one of this machines in my country, and importing a playfield must be really expensive (it's a heavy package, so expensive shipping + %60 or more in taxes) :S

I also like the "age" on the table, i'm a little afraid about the addons on the plastics, plastics can be destroyed under that stuff pasted with hard glue. But actually it feels like a great player machine, i'll go to test it again on monday

Fishtales was actually wrapped in nylon, cabinet and the backbox split. I saw some chromed legs that were looking like new. It was U$D1300.

Yeah i know, i've been looking for pinballs for like 6 years now (not too deep but always taking a look); and this is the first time i saw Taxi, and it could be the last too. The guy also have Elvira and the party monsters, and police force; both System 11.

Maybe i will

Thanks for the advice, i'll go to try it again in a few days and maybe buy it

Police force was something like 950, and it was in a really good condition. I dont remember elvira's price but probably close to 1400 in good shape too.

Seems i'll go for it