Condition-wise, if it looks like it just came out of the box.

In my opinion, it's best not to get hung up on labels. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the condition. I've seen true HUO games that were in much worse shape than your average routed game.

You cannot. I've seen routed games that looked new and HUO games that looked like trash.

All that matters is current condition. Check the shooter lane. Look in the corners and "hard to reach" spots. Check the boards and backglass. Look for signs of use and/or abuse.

See above, but the games I bought new I have the paperwork that documents it was a new purchase.

Door kicked in. Big holes drilled in the front for a lock bar. Lockdown bar glued to the glass with spilled beer and pop spills. Worn, dirty playfield, Rusty balls, powers up and a few things still work. Smells like urine when you pry open the coin door.

Home use only. From a tough home.

LTG : )

HUO can still be dragged around, banged up, left in damp storage, or otherwise mistreated. The batteries may also have been ignored ... leaving a CPU (and other bits) corroded.

Barring the damp storage and battery scenarios, you can usually tell looking under the playfield and in the backbox. HUO will be generally a lot "sparklier". There's other telltale signs, but that's my 2-cents for now.

HUO is not always easy to tell. But things to look for that a routed machine might have-
Coin slots have scratches from coins.
Drilled cabinet for lock-bars, locks.
Coinbox dirty from coins.
Back of cabinet plastic slides are worn from being moved around.
Inside of legs and feet are filthy from mops.
Manual and paperwork missing.

If the seller has the original receipt and it matches his drivers license and the pins serial numbers and the pin looks new and the original manuals are there and it shows no usual signs of being routed, I guess that would convince me.

I bought my Tspp from seller claiming it was huo and he was second owner. And the condition was pristine so I chose to believe it. Not that it actually matters though as condition is key regardless of Huo.

Bingo, doesn’t truly matter, condition is king.

Its fun to look for evidence when they are old yet super nice, as I’m simply curious if it was shopped back into condition or was that way all along. Worn/scratched paint next to the flipper and start buttons are good indicators.

HUO is rediculous! Even if the game was bought brand new it can still be F-uped
Stuck in a cold garage, in a sun room
Cooking in the sun !

Or better yet ! It’s been home use only
After 20 yrs in chucky cheese

Condition is key regardless of background
Yes it’s nice to have a bill of sale but
Condition is key

I saw a Williams IJ years ago. Sat by an indoor swimming pool. Chlorine chewed it up. But it was HUO.

LTG : )

These HUO horror stories always baffle me.

Every HUO game I’ve found has been pristine!

Oldest was a gottlieb Central Park. Oldest digital a pinbot (500 bucks!)

Yeah my kids kept trying to break into it for the quarters. Moved the pins from the den to a much better neighborhood...the parlor. I’d like to see those punks find them there!

Home Use Outside. Got it!

It’s delivered in this

B4458186-CF4C-4162-A9B7-A82DA7AB57A0 (resized).jpeg

When the goodie bag is still stapled to the inside of the cabinet. Lol. I always remove mine when I get a NIB machine so I guess mine are not HUO.

Ummmm simple! You look at a machine and wtf is that? Kinda crusty. Oh shit! Pretty lights! I'll buy it. Take my money! Bring it home kinda looks crusty. Turn it on oh shit pretty lights! Damn you pound town!

As longer I am in the hobby, as more HUO pop up

HUO is for me with a proof: A bill, family pictutes showing "little x" and the machine.
Storys from CoinOps: "I bought this machine for my private use .. blabla" are no valid proof.

There might be several very nice games with low games on it .. but HUO ?

I am talking about BW games ... sure there might be many many newer games be real HUO

How do you tell if its (PROBABLY) HUO??? Two words...

Shooter Lane

Shooter lanes can be doctored with some 600 grit wet sand paper and a bottle of Novus to look like new. HUO means nothing. Matter a fact when a game is advertised as HUO it sends a red flag (to me). Shooter lanes are one of the best indicators of use. Also saucers and VUK holes. Some of the dirtiest machines I have seen where advertised as HUO and were documented.

I judge HUO on me knowing the person that bought it. After that, I judge by inspection because condition is king. Most of the time I assume the seller is lying unless I already know them as well.

Either way, HUO isn’t important. When I say I’m looking for a HUO game, it really means I’m just looking for a copy in really nice condition.

A lot of responses of "I've seen HUO that were trashed" -- You were probably told it was HUO, but it was a lie. Most real HUO games are much closer to perfect than any routed game. Sure there can be an exception, but the ratio is probably like 99% to 1%. A really nice routed game is much more possible, than a crappy HUO game. The only real problem with the term HUO is there are way too many sellers ready to claim HUO when it's not. It's extremely obvious most of the time IMO.

^^^This!!! If you are questioning whether a game is HUO based on how it was advertised??? Houston we have a problem! Truthfully, sometimes the current seller was sold a game under the HUO context but wasn’t smart enough to figure out the game is not HUO. That’s when you should share you knowledge and offer them several hundred less for the game.

I have 17 pins. 10 were purchased used in the '90s when they were only 2 to 3 years old and have been in my game room ever since. The other 7 were purchased NIB by me and have limited plays on them since I hardly ever have any visitors. I still have the factory cartons and packaging for some of the 7 in my crawlspace, although a couple I cut up while unpacking and setting up the game. (When by myself this allows me to use the cardboard to protect the game while I attach the legs.) I'm keeping these games until I die, but when my wife puts them all up for sale after I'm gone and claims seven are HUO you can trust her word.

Here is the shooter lane on my huo tz. Hasn't been doctored and anyone else who thinks otherwise can piss off
TZ.jpg

When someone shows up at my house and questions me if the game I'm selling is HUO I pull out my original bill and slam it down on the glass of said game and scream in my best John Oliver voice "IS THAT HOME USE ENOUGH FOR YOU MOTHER F#CKER!!!

QSS

John Oliver (resized).jpg

Wow, ......... I'm a thread killer!

I feel shame

QSS

Doctored shooter lanes? LOL

Never said all shooter lanes are doctored so please dont be offended. Your shooter lane is beautiful and would certainly win all shooter lane beauty contests.

Wooo Hooo! And if the condition of the game is crappy the buyer will walk....
Condition is KING!

Thanks for compliment and if you think that looks nice you should see the slot machine VUK hole because it would probably give you a little chubby.

I'm only offended if someone thinks a doctored shooter lane could pass as HUO. Simply sanding is not going to fix the problem unless you sand down to the wood to remove the ground in dirt and at that point it will need cleared again. I've seen people sell machines where I could tell they sanded the shooter lane and didn't disclose it so I stay away from them because who knows what else they are not telling me about the machine.

Naw,.... all my stuff is in excellent shape. I was just making a joke in the extreme sense about my huo games by using John Oliver as my platform to convey the joke. Probably only funny to me but it made "me" laugh and sometimes that's what matters. I would never call anyone a "motherf#cker" if they came to look at my games. There simply would be no reason.

QSS

yeah I never understood that one. What happens when you have to fix something?

They should have “unboxed, house use only, never played, just sat and stared at”

I've had people tell me in earnest their pin was home use only and then I explained to them why its not.

For me it's the other way around when you go to look at a pin.
It's more of "how do you tell it's not HUO".

The first two things I look at is

1) Is there wear at the coin slots? HUO environment won't have this unless the owner knows nothing about pinball and had no idea how to put the machine in free play.

2) Front of the cabinet especially lock bar hole wear. I had someone try to sell me a pin once as HUO. Granted it was a really clean pin, but I pointed out to them a mark on the front of the cabinet below the factory lock bar hole. It was from a padlock hitting the cab a few times. I told her this game has definitely been on route because it had a lock bar and pad lock at one time.

Like others have pointed out it really doesn't matter.
A HUO pin can be beat to hell or even worse exposed to the elements.
Regardless of provenance, it's all about condition.
I'm in the camp of ill take a really nice re-import thats super low plays over a HUO machine thats beat to hell.