used them for a Green LCD DMD, good service, fast shipping, I was happy

Keith is a great guy and they will take care of you. Do not hesitate to buy from them.

I have used them. Very helpful and friendly - gave good free advice over the phone.

I've used them, fast shipping, product exactly as described. A+++++++ Would buy again.

Great company. I've used them and would definitely recommend them!

used them many times, never a problem, great at trouble shooting.

fast shipping and great inventory of parts that I could not find anywhere else...

Great people, very helpfull, I never had any problems with them.

I have purchased many boards from Keith... highly recommend!

I just added them to my pinball page of parts suppliers, my next order will be with them. They have some nice stuff.

Yes, K's Arcade is great. All my experiences with them have been very good.

I bought a board from them about a month ago and it came quick with no issues. My experience with them was great.

Keith and Patty are good peeps and have two awesome pups. I'm more of a cat guy but those pugs are awesome.

Keith is 100%.

Give him your money.

I've ordered from them a couple times. Excellent service both times.

Excellent group! Don't hesitate.

They have rebuilt a board or two of mine. Had zero issues.

Got my Hyperball boards working again. They are awesome!

I bought the same board and others from them.. They ship fast and products work as they should. No worries.

+1
Can't go wrong

Good to know.

Add to my trust-worthy list.

Ive gotten a few boards from them and I remember fast shipping

As if you need to hear this after those reviews... But they rock!

They were very nice, no doubt, but I still wonder if they actually did anything on my board for the fee....

You'll have no problems with them....very nice people and great service

Excellent.

So you sent them a non-working board and got it back in the same condition?

I'm just curious because I have a couple of bad WPC-89 MPU boards and was thinking of sending them to K's or someone to be fixed. Since I already have Rottendog replacements though, I might be better off just selling them to someone as-is.

Just used them for the first time last week to get a system 11 3 bank drop target. Fast shipping and the product works fine.

As others have said - good folks to buy from.

Great peps and my favorite part I always talk to a actual person when I call and they answer every time!

Pleased with their board repair of my System 9 MPU.

Thanks for the reviews. I need to get a new DE cpu board.

Pati and Keith are good people.. Have had many good transactions with them...

I had one time that made me suspicious and I was worried from then on. This is just my experience but I didn't do the deal and it could have all been a big misunderstanding.

Early on in my pin experience, I had a game with some acid damage. He wanted me to take some photos and send them to him. I did and he called me and said the board was completely trashed and not worth repairing. He asked me to send him the board in so he could put the old chips in a new board he would install them and sell me a new board. I asked if I could just send him the chips and he said he would be more comfortable removing the chips himself. I then noticed that he sold refurbished boards and that made me nervous that he was just going to do a simple fix and sell them and make double the profit. I ended up sending my boards somewhere else and the repair cost me $75 and the guy said it was an easy fix.

Now....It could be that the pictures were misleading. I am not saying that Keith is a crook, just that I am very hesitant to do business with him now.

Just ordered a replacement opto switch board from K's. I got it fast and it arrived 0acked perfectly. Installed it and it.works great. Next time i need something they are carrying i wont hesitate.

Hmm ya, hard to say. The place doing my CP boards just called and my CPU board is acid damaged on both sides :/ Repair was most likely not going to fix it more than a month. All the other boards checked out. So off to buy a new cpu. Not sure if my old cpu board is shipped back....I should ask. Well it is best to stick with your gut, it is usually right.

I would not be surprised if this was a common practice across all the places. I will try to keep all my business to Pinside members if at all possible.

I use clive @ coin op cauldron exclusively for board work... haven't had an issue. Great guy so far and I've had almost 10 boards now done. I agree. I'm glad there is a forum we can share experiences. The pin world is small but info about specific things can be hard to find.

I've ordered boards from Keith before. Great to work with and stands behind what he sells. Also has a pretty damn good inventory.

Good guy to deal with!

I would bank on it being a misunderstanding.

Keith is trustworthy and I would never worry sending him something of mine, if I didn't repair my own.

Here's probably why - I'm guessing you had a WPC CPU of some flavor.

If it was a WPC CPU, you would have had to transfer the ASIC chip, which is an 84 pin PLCC, and it is easily damaged if removed incorrectly or with the wrong tools. The ASIC is an EXPENSIVE chip.

If it's a WPC-S or WPC-95 CPU, add in a $30 security chip. Also easily damaged if installed backwards, or a pin gets broken.

The ASIC can be installed rotated 90 degrees if someone forces it, and that will damage the chip and the socket.

All flavors of WPC CPUs have a game ROM and a 6809 processor as well. Those aren't inexpensive either!

Or, when a collector gets a new rottendog board, installs the ASIC/6809/ROM backwards, and damages the repro board and the chips. Then, the person files a paypal claim, and wants to return a physically damaged board for a refund, and the board seller gets screwed.

If you send Keith your old board, he can transfer the chips, test the board, and make sure it works 100% before he sends it out. Then, he knows you will have the positive experience that you want.

I would work the same way if I sold repro CPUs. But I don't.

The solution here is easy - have him do the chip swap for you, and ask him to please return your original board with the new one. Something I'm pretty sure he would do without even being asked.

And, just to add to the discussion...

Alkaline damage is often time consuming to repair if it's progressed very far.

Time is money - especially when it's someone who makes their *living* repairing PCBs.

I take on a fair amount of alkaline damage repairs for my customers - but I don't do this for a living. I still do turn some away as unrepairable.

If something is going to take half a day to repair, and a technician is going to make a living wage, they can't repair a trashed CPU board for $100. Not a chance.

If they are going to charge you $200 to repair that board, and a Rottendog board is under $200 shipped, you're a fool to pay the $200. If you are bent on original, find a clean original repairable board and have that repaired.

Trust me, if Keith Apgar were not reputable, you'd see it all over the internet, much like goes on with MAD Amusements now.

MAD is not reputable. Keith is. Take it to the bank!

Keith is reputable. Clive is reputable. Rob Anthony is reputable. Chris Hibler is reputable. John Robertson is reputable. I'd like to think I am as well.

Thanks for the detailed info! Sometimes I thought it was just a rom chip swap....Pinball is always a tougher fix than that though

I appreciate the info as well. Like I said I did not know if it was a misunderstanding on his OR my part so I am glad that I understand why now. I did not ever want to smear someone's name and I hope I made that clear for whoever read what I wrote but it makes sense to me now.

Again, thanks for the clarification.

I'll throw my two cents worth in as well. Nothing but positive experiences here, and always very quick shipping... And I'm in Canada!

There are two people (other than myself) in the New England area who I would trust to do pinball board repair work, and Keith is one of them (Alan Davidson is the other); I've known both of them for years. (I apologize to any other competent repair techs in the area who might take offense, but I probably don't know you personally hence I can't include you in that count.)

Keith lives about thirty minutes from my house. I've been to pinball events he's hosted at his house, he's been to events at my house, we've discussed pinball repair issues ad nauseum, and I would not hesitate to recommend him. K's Arcade is Keith and Patti's *business*, not a side-line or hobby.

'nuff said.

When I had my system 9 board repaired it was a non-booting mess out of a strikes and spares (I think). Keith advised me that the supply of these is getting low and it was worthwhile to attempt to repair it. It didn't have any battery damage so that was a good start. He did offer to buy the board from me for parts if I decided to replace it. In the end I sent it to him before a holiday break. He had it repaired and shipped back to me for $88.

Since then I have bought several sets of displays from him among other items.

I ordered a new (replacement) DE main cpu board from K's (checkpoint). Board arrived quick and had the roms in it, nvram for no batteries. Works great! Glad I went with K's

K's is a safe bet. No worries there.