I'm thrilled to now be a member of this club!

After a couple months of looking, and a couple more months of waiting to pick my Congo up, I got it this past weekend! It needs a bit of love - it's got peeling inserts (which I intend to fix,) needs ball trough divot repair (probably,) and a new shaft for the gorilla (I already have one sourced.)

...but... it is a CONGO, after a bit of work it will turn out really nice, and it is MINE!

My latest PM to Blackbeard on Congo:

Picked it up Saturday morning, and got home and set it up that night. It needed some tweaking (and still needs a bit of work) but it's great! It has a really nice mix of flow and stop-and-go, and just about the coolest shot in all of pinball.

It was the game I most wanted for the past several months. I'd spent a couple months searching after the first few times I played it, and thought I'd built up some unrealistic expectations for the game in my mind. After getting it home, it was even better than I remembered.

If you weren't tired of Funhouse, I would say don't rush to make the trade, but since it seems like you've played your share of it I'd say absolutely make the trade! Congo seems to be in somewhat high demand lately, so if you don't like it I'm sure you'll have no problem trading it.

I paid $2450 for mine, and it had two broken pieces in the gorilla assembly, a broken left ramp, and peeling inserts (all of which are easily fixable these days, thankfully.) I was second-guessing the purchase before I went ahead with it, but don't regret it one bit. I can honestly say I think it may be the best-playing game I've ever played.

As other points of reference, I knew of a nice but unshopped one which had been unplayed for years for $2600 (which was going to be listed for $3k+ shopped,) and another one that was middle-of-the-road that sold for $2800 within a day.

http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog/gorilla-base-plate-congo-p-6522.html?language=english

I don't think think anyone was working on a full replacement mech, but these guys have most of the parts. Their stuff isn't perfect, but it's workable. (They don't have NOS Congo parts, just custom made stuff, but it does the trick.)

I went through the same thing, and got the same jerkoff response.

Ended up using super glue and a better locking washer. I also squared off the top of the shift a bit with a dremel tool (which was a pain in the ass to do, and probably not necessary.)

Mine has held up for probably a hundred or more games so far. Looking forward to the less-crappy version, though.

Not sure which switch that is off the top of my head, but most of the switches in there are the same, just the metal arm of the switch is different.

I'd check the switch in test mode, running a ball over/through it, and see if you can find where the inconsistency lies.

A properly nice one just sold for $3500 (maybe less if an offer was accepted.) I feel like there was one listed higher that either didn't sell, or sold way under asking price. I paid $2500 for mine, though I'm about $3000 deep into what's basically a glorified players game. I'd say what was once a wide range on this game has now narrowed to the low 3s for a good example.

I think I may have a nice original, from when I put my repro plastics on. If you're still looking, shoot me a PM.... I think that's one of about 3 originals that wasn't busted on my game.

I would also suggest looking into the base reinforcement piece someone developed and showed on the previous page. Let me know if you need any help on yours!