Fathom Price?? W Poll

Why no $3,500 - $4,00 range? I wanted to pick $2,750

The price fathom is fetching is bonkers. It rivals the price of B-list (and a few A-list) WPC titles.

$7500. Sold mine 2 weeks ago to a very happy buyer.

Took me years to find a really nice Fathom, and now that I have it, it's my favorite 80's game. I've seen beaters sell for around $3K, so if you look at a really nice one I'd consider what it would take to make it nice... and factor that into what I would pay. Mine is fully restored and it wasn't cheap.. but to me it's worth every penny.

I'd say really nice ones would easily be in the mid-$4K's, and I'm speaking from being in the market to buy one over the past several years.

Every time I balked at buying a Fathom it was snagged up by someone else quickly at it's asking price, so I over time I just became ready to pounce.

My working beater, prob a 6.5 overall, cost about 3000 in trade value.
The new CPR playfield and plastics another grand.
So into it for 4 grand before even doing a PF swap and redoing the cabinet.
I would think fully restored examples would pull 5 or 6 grand, easy.

Sold my LOTR for 4K,bought a beater,2800.Then the restore,playfield,boards,etc.End of day I spent 6,500 for mine.

description means nothing without photos. Based on the fact that you are using numbers to rate but no photos I have no choice but to assume it is much worse condition to me than what you think. That is just how it goes. When someone is selling, then the problems often are invisible.

2500 is what beaters sell for. Last one was just a few months back and I actually think it took 2 weeks to sell at that price.
3000 gets you a fully functional game with NICE backglass but all the typical pf issues. I am going to assume your 8.0 bg means there is active flaking? If so, you automatically lose a couple hundred from this and 2750 is pretty spot on.

Above 3000 and you need to have a nice pf with monor issues and something people would be happy with not swapping.

5000 will find nice examples with 10 bg, 100% rebuilds, and likely a cpr pf swap already done. The reality is that those doing a swap and restore know they will never get that money out.

Fathom repo play fields are going for $1400-1600 if that helps.

Non working with lots of cosmetic issues $2000-$2500
Working with lots of cosmetic issues $2800-$3500
Working, shopped, some cosmetic but overall nice $3500-$4000
Working Shopped, very minor cosmetic flaws $4000-$4600
Restored cabinet, new playfield, new plastics, etc $6000-$7500

A very nice original one is gaining value as we speak, because most of them have been "restored" with new everything. It's much harder to find an original.

A restored early 70's Fastback Mustang or a restored 1970 Camaro and a 9.5 condition original of each vary DRAMATICALLY in price. Pinball is catching up.

Antiques are the same way. Restoration tends to harm value from any antiquity that is 90% original, in almost every case.

People won't care much until the originals are selling for 12-15K and then you look at your restored one worth 7K and think, man... I pissed away 8K on that restore. I could buy a new Stern with that money. LOL!

Without any pics at all, it's probably worth 4-7K+. But that will depend strongly on finding the right buyer for that machine.

let me know when that is suposedly going to happen, lol.

They sell for 6k if fully and professionally restored.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fsft-fully-restored-bally-fathom#post-3473754

What are people's opinions on original stock Fathoms? Backglass near perfect, cab with some scratches, and playfield with minor wear and maybe a few ball swirls.

Is an original stock game that is in really good shape worth more to a collector? I feel like with the CPR playfields they made for this, finding an original is getting harder and harder.

I will take a properly swapped CPR over an original.

I will take a properly clearcoated and swapped original over that.

It also sold within minutes. I bet he could've gotten 7-8k easily

It's an expensive game and only going up every day.

unlikely, but you never know. Plenty of people willing to over pay for certain titles. That seems pretty solidly the market for a CPR swap and full restore Fathom (including cab). I think that is the 3rd one I have seen for 6k (or under) in the past year.

I have been keeping eyes pealed for a restorable example and passed on the last 2 for 2k which were complete and good cores. I have debated just buying and already restored one by 5k or under is my range and I enjoy the restoration so would prefer to do it myself.

I have $600 for anyone willing to part with a perfect, flawless original backglass.

It is to me.

So what good is that one for someone that wants to own an original in mint condition? You can almost make one from scratch these days using repro parts. If that's your cup of tea, great. Not everyone thinks new and shinny clear coat is "better". It's different and faster for certain. "Better" is always a matter of opinion. My opinion is that original is better than a profesional restoration, condition being the variable.

I sold a pretty nice one four years ago for $3200 and immediately regretted it. Selling my Fathom was probably the worst pinball sales decision I have ever made.

Fathom is, and will probably always will be, a very in demand Bally game.

My opinion is this will happen when I have $11,999 to spend and I can't find an original one to buy for that amount in mint condition. 5 years, 10 years, who knows.

Why do some collectible things that sold for $12K 10 years ago now sell for $300K? Anyone have a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle Yenko 427 they want to sell me for 12K? Supply and demand is a hell of a drug!

Do you think that your 6K today will be with 6K in 10 years? If you do, you have more problems than can be ironed out in this thread.

There's no such thing as a mint original Fathom. Maybe restored as close to original as possible, but that's still not original. They didn't make many of them and they are 37 years old.

Very pretty game, but after putting up 6M+ on a restored example on my 3rd try, I'm thinking it may be a bit easy and overrated.

Any game is easy if it's setup easy. Likely has nothing to do with it being a restore.

Could be the settings on that game. It's easy to make it harder like having the inline drops reset between balls, bonus collection and such. When set up on the hard settings it's not a 6M point game, at least not in my house lol.

Bad choice of words. We're getting hung up on semantics here. Replace mint with "great". I've played on both a very nice original condition Centaur and a Fathom. I much prefer them over a restored example of either.

Funny though, the newer the machine, the less I seem to care if it's restored or original. That's probably because we are all spoiled these days with personal collections, shows, and the like where it's getting rare to see original condition machines in ok shape that play awesome, prior to 1990. Most of those games have all been turned over or parted out, or aren't much fun to play. Plus, after 1999, the collector and HUO players started to really gain ground. It's not difficult to track down most games made after 1999 in very well maintained, HUO condition. Hell, those are the games I am starting to see on location now, once home players start to run out of space but don't want to sell.

Save your money, wait for the Shay run.
You will save $300, and have a better quality, long lasting product than a 30+ year old original.

"People that throw money out windows, are not always attracting the right type of people who decide to catch it."
- TBK

I purchased mine last week for $850.
Don't let let market inflation fool others into believing that the "standard" price is over $1000. There are plenty floating around with connections.

"Understand that money is not always a successful motivator to pinball collectors, especially after they have collecting for a long time. This includes sales of games and parts."
- TBK

Exactly...

Dude, you are so full of yourself.

-skins

Your post saying to check shay would have sufficed. Instead you edit it and have to add your, I'm "40 going on 70" lecturing crap.

Anyone is welcome to ignore me, if you do not like what I share regarding information.

Many people find the knowledge useful.

People learn absolutely nothing from "group think", rumors, or speculation on a website, although it might be mildly amusing for a little while, but never indefinately. If you feel wronged, there was nothing directed towards you. Read the quote more closely and you may see matters in a different context of light.

Keep flipping.

I turned down a cash in hand offer of $7500 for mine at the 2009 Chicago Expo. It seemed like a lot of money for Fathom at the time, but it still wasn't enough to pry Fathom out of my hands. It isn't unusual for someone to offer a lot of money for a nice game at a show.

It was setup factory AFAIK, and was a fresh build on a CPR playfield (previous run) and played fast. I'm sure posts can be tweaked and EBs disabled, but definitely seemed easy to keep going once you learned the shots. Mystic is a bit nastier

i've restored originals and i've added and fixed clearcoat on the mirco/cpr ones. and i can tell you first hand. There is a big difference in the art between repros and originals. New ones, are bright, and most of the black in the middle of the playfield is gone. Looses it's dark depths anchor look and feel. Art wise, i'd rather have original. Unless the original is completely trashed, then i'd rather have a CPR/mirco (forgot who did these).

I bought a project Fathom many years ago with a repro cpr and repro backglass. Yes the cpr is super nice but i can't feel the nostalgia factor. I finally found a nice original playfield, restored it and sold the repro. Also found an original NOS backglass for big bucks, sold the repro !

I made the same for Centaur, i swap a repro playfield, few years later i found and restored an original and re-swap the playfield again
for the original, the feeling is much better

For my Fathom with all original parts (boards, plastics, display and etc), 7K+ if i ever decide to sell.

I had Neo restore my original and would do the same twice. Amazing job and amazing art.

I'm with you on the nostalgia factor. My fathom is original & partially restored, pretty good, but far from perfect. I have been tempted by a CPR repro playfield, but as beautiful as it looks, I know I would prefer my original, even with it's imperfections.

Did you get your NOS Fathom backglass from ebay in the US a few years ago for $400.00? that's the only one I have ever seen for sale out there, was going to buy the ebay one but as I was working out a cost effective way to ship it to Australia it sold.

I recently bought an original near perfect Fathom backglass that cost twice that!

Remake playfield is beautiful blue, nearly all originals are faded/yellowed to a sea green. Bummer part about this fathom you are looking at is the 8 backglass. The repro sucks and original is the only way to go. The playfield and cab can be replaced but the glass is a bit more special.

I'm going off the information of what I have sold four of them for. Take it for what it is I guess.

yes, not only is the blue way brighter, it replaces a lot of areas that were black in the originals. Side by side they are very very different.

it's true, the originals whites and blues have a yellowish tint to them due to the lacquer yellowing. All lacquered fields are like this. There is no way around it as lacquer yellows and clear does not.

Question.....is this a NOS playfield or a repo CPR/Mirco ?

IMG_0599 (resized).JPG

It's a repro. You can tell by the genuine Bally sticker at the bottom left.

You can also tell original playfields by "makers mark" date edge stamps in the front edge, and sometimes tied or stapled tags, no NOS Fathom playfield was clear coated (all were lacquered) unless aftermarket processed, and small variations in inserts, color and scripts, among other factors, such as ink screening colors. This is really a separate topic.

A 30+ year old games inserts are slightly color aged, unless in absolutely outstanding climate controlled conditions in a vacuum, due to air exposure of plastic, even if stored in a crate. Date stamps and inspections can be faked, but rarely done.

Maybe I will make a video to show differences.

Thanks for the info as I have a line on a Fathom from a friend I had helped out on some rare Mystery Castle parts, he doesn't live anywhere near me so I've only seen pics. He has an original Fathom with a bunch of new parts he was collecting for years to restore including a completely new cab, plastics, NOS back glass and this play field but I wasn't sure if it was NOS or not. Actually it was the Bally hologram sticker that made me think it might be a NOS PF. Is it CPR or Mirco?

CPR puts the Bally hologram decal on their playfields now. Probably a CPR reproduction, which isn't a bad thing IMO

Adult version playfield restore started several yrs ago.
Need to finish someday, but a pretty good start : )

Fathom (resized).JPG

Yes it was me I used the BIN button a few seconds after i saw the auction !