I am usually not in the "selling" business. I can count on one hand the number of machines I've sold, but cash is tight and I can use some extra money for the holidays, property taxes and other fun stuff, so I'm reluctantly offering up one of my most-prized machines, a HUO Twilight Zone.

The game is 100% operational.

I know, I know, "HUO" is all-too-often abused and misused. I'll let you be the judge of this. I picked this game up from a woman who had it in her home since it was new. There is no evidence whatsoever the game has ever been on location. It's all-original and very clean. I've never given it a full strip-down shopping because it was so nice, I just set it up and played it. I've done a few minor mods to the game -- very minimal: tastefully-selected and placed LEDs, cliffy protectors for the rocket, slot machine and upper playfield side -- I have pictures of "before" the cliffy's were installed to show no wear, PBR reinforced greed targets, sw26 proximity soldered for more reliability and an external battery pack. Other than that, the game is original and plays like it was just taken out of the box, viciously fast and fun.

About the most obvious blemish on the game is one broken plastic across from the piano - instead of buying a whole plastic set, I made a reinforced piece of lucite - it's more of a design problem IMO that the ball gets bounced off an adjascent stand-up and tends to pound the plastic so I put a different piece there - it could be easily repaired. This game has a few minor dings here and there - it's not perfect, but it could probably easily be put in museum/collector quality - I just left it original.

Here are some early pictures of the game when I first got it several years ago (showing areas that have been covered up with Cliffys) http://imgur.com/a/uugLg#0

Here are some pictures I took yesterday: http://imgur.com/a/C3WrF#0

The game is located in the New Orleans, LA area. I would prefer to deal with someone picking the game up in person. But I'm open to other offers.

I'm asking $8500. Given that the average sale price on eBay in the last 12 months has been $6200+ (with one selling for $12,995) I think I'm not making an unreasonable request. This is the top-rated pinball of all time. Thanks for your consideration! I may also entertain trades + cash. One game I'm looking for is a WPT.
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I don't think I've removed the subway. I know it needs cleaning. I need to find out more about the slot spring - don't know about that..

I'll be honest, I didn't even wipe down the machine before I took pictures. I could have cleaned it up a bit and made it look a lot better, but basically I would prefer not to sell the machine, so I'm throwing it up quickly to see if someone will bite. If they don't, then I guess I'll keep it.

Now way is this a $6200 machine. No friggin way.

The Boston Pinball database of actual eBay sales as of last month has 31 TZs selling for an average price of $6144. That's the average price. There is no way my game is anywhere near average.

Granted, I deserve points off for selling such a nice game without taking an hour and cleaning it up... that's definitely bad on me, but as I said, I wanted to put it up for sale ASAP. If I start cleaning the thing, I'm going to think twice about why I'm selling it and back out.. so there's a method to my madness.. lol

The point I'm making is, this game is nicer than what the pictures indicate. If I spend too much time cleaning the game up, taking pictures, wiping everything down, I'm going to change my mind.

I know saying "HUO" seems to create conflict, sorry about that, but technically this game has not been operated. It plays super-fast and like-new -- WITHOUT having been refurbished in any way. No credit dot. 100% operational. The operative thing here is this is an ORIGINAL game. It hasn't been polished with a q-tip by a fan; it hasn't been molested with Hallmark ornaments, marbles or 3D-printed stuff. I'm not trying to hide anything by wiping down certain sections and making it look super-pretty here-or-there. This is an original machine that's been treated very well. To someone who really wants an original game that hasn't been turned into a trophy, this is the one. Someone will take this, and since it's their new game, they'll clean it up nice and have a very rewarding experience having a classic game the classic way it was intended (the only exception are the LEDs which I think are better and don't affect gameplay).

Yea, I noted that blemish on the head for obvious reasons. Didn't want to hide anything.

The game is what it is. The haters are going to complain no matter what. That's what they do.

I looked at the pic. I see what you mean.

What's really interesting is the slot machine kickout works perfectly... probably another testimonial to how little play the game has gotten that even without the spring, it kicks the ball out. I'll obviously have to fix that if I keep the game.

Are you new here dude? You're acting like you are.... what's up with that? Do I have to remind you?

Everybody knows that "HUO" does not equal "new". Nor does it equal "pristine" condition.

It merely indicates the game was not operated. Which means it wasn't manhandled, or had a bunch of drinks spilled on it, or has tons of navel-lint-embedded-coinage stuffed down the mechs. The pictures clearly show this game shows zero signs of being operated. An operated game has much,much more wear and tear. This game shows none of that wear and tear. ZE-RO. It may have a ding here or there on the cabinet, which could have been done at any given moment during moving, but that is a whole different issue than whether the game was sitting in some smoke-filled bar, molested by people for a period of years.

This does NOT mean, that the owners religiously-replaced the batteries, which is obvious in the picture. Again, just putting it all out there.

What you can tell about a HUO game is that, if there's no significant sign of wear in the common areas, that means there's likely no significant wear in any of the mechanical areas. That's an important consideration.

HUO does not mean the game doesn't have a blemish. You are creating a mythological standard which doesn't apply to "HUO."

Yes you are correct. I'm serious if I have an offer in the range I'm thinking. If I have to clean it up, it is possible my range may be more stringent or I may change my mind.

The operative thing is, if I make a deal with someone I'll stick to it. The more time that goes by, I have a chance to scrounge up money from other sources. If that happens before I have an offer, then I'll pull the ad. I'd prefer to keep the machine. But I also need to get some cash.

If it was in "perfect" condition, people would still be griping I guess I started the fire by using "HUO" which some people seem to think means "perfect" which it doesn't.

What my game is being sold as, is an original game that has a low number of plays that hasn't been operated. It's not being sold as "perfect." It could be totally cleaned up and made acceptable to many high end people on pinside who are into "trophy pinball collecting" but that's not me, and I'm not trying to pass the game off as that. I'm not into that. I get games to play. I don't care if they have a small ding here or there as long as they play like they're supposed to.

I think the problem here is we have different types of collectors clashing. I'm not HEP. I'm not selling a game that has been totally stripped and polished. It's just a great example of an un-molested, original game. That appeals to certain people.

Yea, I had a feeling I was going to catch heat. I'm not a CQ collector. I'm a player. I don't have the time to tear a machine down to nuts and bolts and polish every piece. Those of you who do, that's great, but no sense attacking me because my game doesn't meet your standards. I never said it was that type of game, and I have no intention of collecting those games. My collection is for playing. But this game could be polished if someone was inclined. It's not me. Once I get a game playing as original, that's what I like, whether there's a spec of dust or a chip here or there.

By the way, you guys out there who cherish "perfect games", that's awesome. I wish I had the time and money to have such a focused, finely-tuned collection.

But here in the South, there aren't nearly as many games in nice condition, and the project that I'm doing with our private arcade is a big job. I'm the main guy maintaining about 100 games, and it's supposed to be a hobby/side project that is quickly becoming all-consuming. I can empathize what someone like Tim Arnold has to deal with just keeping games going, much less trying to make them really spotless.

I guess I should have spent some time and cleaned the game up before taking pictures. To be honest, I kinda did it real fast before I could think about it. I did a video of the gameplay the other day and I forgot how much fun this game is. It had been stuffed into a back corner for six months unplugged while I worked on other games. I knew I needed money and I thought this might be one game that could bring in something quickly. I didn't know there was going to be an argument about what it was worth. I looked at Boston Pinball and saw $6200 as an average on eBay, not including shipping, and I think my range is realistic compared to that. So that's where I was coming from.