While plays may matter over time, the real question is the condition. Not all plays are equal.

Yes, lifetime plays can be reset on some of the older Spike 2 games depending on what code is installed.

When the game came out, software did not have lifetime plays in the audits, so every time you updated the code, the play count reset to zero. You could also reset the plays to zero yourself. Depending on when the game was manufactured, would determine which code was installed from the factory.

Once the software for lifetime plays has been installed, you would have to buy a new CPU for the game to reset them to zero. If you put a CPU in from a different game, the game count of the original game would come up and then whatever games you put on the machine would get added on.

I hope this helps.

Look at Iron Maiden's readme file and go back through the versions until you see lifetime plays added. You still won't know at what point that code was installed. Could have been last week.

You'll never know how many plays are on it. As someone said above, condition is king.

Correct.

And to add, as a seller, I wouldn’t have too much patience for the “play meter” rabbit hole. I mean I’ll send you a pic of the audit but once it comes down to the columbo routine on when exactly the code was updated and which code update records lifetime plays etc etc I’d probably stop paying attention.

Games like Maiden LE aren’t too hard to sell these days.

LE was originally produced in 2018 with software that could be altered. I am not sure which version of the software started the lifetime play count, I think it was around 2019 or 2020 that that happened.

Awesome game, we absolutely love ours. Good Luck!

LE's are made near the start of production. Assume the lifetime audit is meaningless on this title as you have no idea when the update that preserves it was applied.

The machine has its born on date stamped on the back of the cabinet.

But like all the posts above, the number is almost useless. It is all about condition.

Before January 2019.

You're just gonna have to let this one go. Ask for a good photo of the shooter lane. It's a pretty good odometer.

This game has at least 500 plays on it. Actually what looks like ball trails could be glare on the glass. Just look the game over thoroughly. Play count is pretty meaningless.

How many games is the owner saying is on the machine? We have been using playfield protectors for many years and have current games in our collection from 200 games to 4000 games with protectors on them. The playfield under the protector will be in really good condition if the protector was put on since new.

Best way to tell game count is by the coil dust where it is difficult to remove. I think the machine could be low play count as there is no coil dust in the switch slots or around the slings. Easiest way to tell is to remove the sling plastic to see how much coil dust is there. Machine could have been taken apart and completely cleaned too.

Yep. If someone starts being super anal about things like this, you just know they’re gonna be trouble down the track. “I found a scratch under the playfield!!”

Plenty of buyers out there, you just move on to the next one.

rd

The ball trails on the protector are a give away for sure. We are not good players so on that game it would take us 1000 games for the protector to look like that. For better players with longer ball times and 5 ball games, you could get there in 200 games or less.

You can clean the protector up easily with novus no2.

A playfield protector is going to have scratches all over it after a few hundred plays. One of the reasons why they suck. If it has a playfield protector on it, buy it. The play count is even more meaningless with a playfield protector on it.

I just checked our IMDNLE for you. We bought it NIB and fitted protector and shooter lane cliffys before plunging a ball. It has 1200 genuine 3 ball games on it. Not too long ball times, we are average players. We thoroughly clean our machines every 250 games (with Novus No1), inspect and tumble the balls every 250 games, use a damp cloth the wipe out as much coils dust as possible every 250 games, make repairs when needed.

Our protector has less wear than that. Like others have said, condition is everything.

Good luck. I am off to work.

The only way I am aware to reset lifetime plays on a spike 2 is to replace the cpu

That protector looks like shit. I’d imagine waxing it would make it look like that also. Agree w/ others that replacing the cpu is the only way to clear plays now.

Yea it’s possible.

Condition should be the only concern when evaluating a game. Just inspect it well, and you’ll be fine. A game with 100 plays could look like it has 1000 and vice versa.

It’s extremely difficult to tell the condition of that game because the seller can’t be assed to clean the glass!
It looks like they spit-shined it and called it a day lol!

Game looks really nice but seller doesn’t know how to use windex apparently

A play count can be reset easily by anyone determined enough, it truly is meaningless unless you are an operator. I’m sure they can be reset on anything.

Sounds like you should stick to NIB pins to eliminate any possible foul play(s) from any sellers. It would be a piece of mind for you.

Lol we found the seller! Randomly the ONLY PERSON to get downvoted by theadicts77
Lmao someone is offended about dirty glass!