Dix Hills, NY
Grabbed one locally, which I plan on putting in some time and elbow grease in, to bring her back to life and to start being enjoyed again!
The game is in good condition (will clean up nice and make somebody very happy when done. The cabinet is nice (no major fades or paint loss...typically handful of small nicks and scuffs expected for pre-cleanup. The backglass is nearly perfect, except for the typical Gotlieb issue that the blue tint over the displays is "meh"....but I will put in the new films that are available. The playfield only has ONE wear mark (top arch of the PF where the ball comes out of the shooter lane, before it drops into a lane below)- not a huge issue, especially since it is so high up on the playfield rather than something you stare at during gameplay lower on the PF).
Biggest issue is that the game is missing the power supply board, which is $89 plus s/h...so I will call it $100 in hand. All of the other boards are there, and look to be "okay", no burns or hacks, but I don't have a way of testing, as the Close Encounters I will be selling has the Pascal board already (original board long since sold), and there is not a way to use the Pascal board as just a power supply board to allow me to test the other boards (asked Pascal directly).
Like the other games I pick up to fix up and get back in to the world to be enjoyed again, I will give it a nice cleaning/scrubbing, new rubbers, LEDs (typically a frosted white-tastefully added, and not too bright you need sunglasses to play), and whatever misc parts it will need along the way.
My question is (keeping in mind I will be selling when done), should I:
1) go with the $100 (lower) investment and hope the other boards are okay, as once I invest in just the power supply, it would make more financial sense to stay the course, and deal with the individual boards. To me, if any of the other boards don't work, it wouldn't make much sense to then add the Pascal in to the equation, as I already have the $100 power supply money tied up in to the game.
2) go for the $350(ish) Pascal all-in-one board (larger) investment, immediately, and know all of the "boards" are now not going to have any issues. Also knowing that the Pascal will likely be a selling point to many potential buyers, as it is a really good board, bullet proofs many of the system's issues, and is able to add MANY desired features to the game (such as lane change, ball time, attract modes, etc).
PRO for option #2: imagine I may even be able to sell the other boards and recoup some of the money invested, but without having a way to test the boards, I know they would fetch less as an "as is" deal, and I wouldn't feel comfortable not listing them with the warning of possible issues since they are not tested.
I have been trying to figure out which way to go, and have talked myself in to both options several times, only to convince myself to go the other way soon after making my mind up for one of the options....lol.
I'm really on the fence on which way to go, and figured, rather than leaving it up to a literal coin flip, I would ask which way you guys think is the best way to go.
Thanks in advance!
--ed
