Wow I'm jealous. Great score!

So, for those of us with inquiring minds, what did you actually pay for the game? It looks like it's been played plenty as the playfield is pretty worn but if you can get it to work, it'll be a fun players' game.

Dave

depends on what he paid i suppose , and im guessing by the story he got it pretty cheap. by the way nice story i always like the ones with a good ending

cabinet looks good. Playfield is trashed. It's only a great score if you got it cheap. Backglass looks great. Not working in this condition, if you got it for $200 or less, you did ok. You have some room to fix things.

Just because the GI's come on, doesn't mean it's booting up. GI's will come on with practically every board missing.

very nice. covet this machine. hoping you got a killer deal with that playfield.

1500-1800 neo... Being Cali I bet he gets more...

Great find! I am surprised one can have such a trashed PF and a very good looking cabinet!? He played with rusty balls?

Fathom is a very good game, and a player's game. You may actually like it!

well ill keep checking back on the thread, in case you decide to reveal what you paid for it.

nice pin btw.

Did all those Bally pins come stamped with (I assume) the serial number in the cabinet like that?

20140607_085220.jpg Nice find. Only 71 machines made between our CL finds.

It's cool that you bought the pinball machine to flip it. Since it was obviously a game you aren't interested in and you are taking offers, I'm assuming you are going to make a lot of money on it.

I guess I wouldn't have bragged about. Why do some flippers get praised while others get jumped on? I don't care at all if people flip games, this is an expensive hobby. You obviously got it very cheap, to emphasize what a great deal you got and then not tell people what you paid is funny.

The only reason you buy a broken game you don't want is if it's well below market value, which is what you said was the reason you bought the game.

I can get plenty excited for guys getting new games, less so for their fix and flips.

Yes, they did. EFA3906 means Electronic Fathom, 2906th game off the line. Also, same serial number would be stamped on the head, too.

This situation would have made my year. Very cool find.

As far as starting a game, make sure that the game has three balls in it or it won't start. Could be something else, but this is one of those Bally games that won't start a game unless it has all the balls in it.

That is correct. Must have 3 balls in it. Also, this is most common part to fail. Only played a handful of games before the original broke. Found them in EBay.

1402152838967.jpg

LMFAO. I can't help but laugh every time I see a post like this. Love how some people get butt hurt over someone else's score. He found it. He bought it. He can do whatever the F:-)ck he wants to do with it. And just fyi, I scored mine for $300 and if I decide to sell it and make a profit, so be it. It's my decision. It's your decision to buy it or not. Get a tampon, you're flowing heavy today.

I totally agree! And I get a kick out of how people won't tell what they paid. It doesn't hurt your sale, it's worth what's it's worth, no matter if you got it for free. Ed

Good score and great story......... for you to give the owner cash for holding it Id say you got it for $50-$100

Well, I was originally going to say that we have no way to know if it's a great score or not without knowing what you paid for it. So, rather than say that, I figured I'd just ask what you paid for it and then I would formulate my own opinion on whether it was a great score or not.

I can understand you not wanting to say what you paid for it, especially if you're just flipping it as some will want to factor that into the price. They'll want to say "but you only paid $XXX, how can you justify asking $XXX" but the point is the game is worth what someone will pay for it. With the playfield as trashed as it is, this is a game I probably wouldn't have bought but if you can find someone who's willing to buy it, warts and all, and you can make a little money on it then you've done well.

Dave

Fathom is an awesome game. Play it and enjoy.

I really hope those $2k talks, were being funny. Sometimes on here, I do see outlandish stuff like that and they are serious, so it's hard to sort out the sarcasm.

I say what's the point in telling the story, if your not going to tell the WHOLE story.

First, I hope you got a bargain on it. Once you get it running do yourself a huge favor and play the snot out of it for a while. I realize you said you're more a DMD kind of guy, but Fathom is an exquisite game. Give it a chance and it will win you over.

Nope, a playable Fathom will go for that much.

Not my favorite game, and I would not buy one for what they go for, but the market is the market. When it sells it doesn't matter what you or I think it should sell for, or how much we would spend on one. There are enough people that want one, so he should try and get as much out of it as the market will bare.

You did the same thing when you sold off many in your collection, so why would it be hard to "fathom" why somebody else would do the same?

Great find. Fathom is an amazing game and for the price that they are going for these days, I'd give it some play time before you try to sell it.

You can get $1500 for it as-is. Fathom is one of the more-desirable early Bally SS pins and I would take it over just about any DMD.

I'm not sure you read what I wrote, but you quoted me? I only had two points. Pinside seems to bash the crap out of some flippers and then praise others. I guess if you're in the club you're cool. My other point was, if you are going to flip to the game, maybe don't brag about how cheap you bought it to the people you are going to flip it to.

Feel free to disagree. Nowhere, did anyone say he shouldn't "do whatever the F:)ck he wants to do with it." And nobody is "butthurt," I've never understood people who bashed people for "flipping pins" as damn near everyone on here has or does.

don't sell solid states short. I've owned most B/W dmds and still own a few as you can tell my my collection.
I've picked up a Warlok and FP2 recently and they are awesome games. they get played as much as any of my DMDs. Just as challenging in their own way. get it working, give it a chance and really learn the rules and see if it doesn't hook you. there's a reason it's worth more than most in that era.
Great find and congratulations!

I was at the NW Pinball Show today and was shocked to see that Fantasy Pinball has a Fathom playfield on display for sale. Pretty sure it was for the original advertised price around $700. They also had two High Speed playfields for sale.

I will take an early Bally SS any day over many DMD games out there.

PPS has them

I've had a lot of games, but as I've settled down to about a dozen and what has lasted and makes up most of my collection are the early Bally SS machines. I used to love the hunt for games, but those times are pretty much gone. Now I focus on restoring my old Bally's and making new things, like the High Speed clear ramp. Have a fully, top to bottom restored KISS, a Fathom with a new playfield installed and I have new playfields for my EBD, Centaur, Playboy and Eight Ball. Also have a nice Bally Rolling stones and a Strikes and Spares.

Good deal.

And the way I look at it, once that transaction ended, it should have no effect on the next transaction should you decide to sell it or use it as trading material. It did not matter to you what the seller paid for it, so it should not matter what you paid to get the machine, if a potential buyer wants it. I understood what you were saying about your experience in the post. There are some good deals out there. And some good CL stories. But like you said, for every good one there are 100 bad. I once posted on here that I had a good CL experience. There were zero replies. If it was a CL horror story there would have been pages of them. LOL. Anyway, good luck with your new machine whatever you choose to do with it.

What's the link?

http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-CA-1128-190&Store_Code=PP

$650

PPS-CA-1128-190L.jpg

If you get it fully restored and put a new playfield in it, you can probably get $1500 out of it. It's cool, but there are a lot better machines out there at the $2000 mark. With 3500 of them made, I wouldn't exactly call it rare.

Unfortunately, these older games are like that with most new collectors. The demand for them just isn't as high as you might think. It seems collectors today are into newer stern games and have no interest in fixing these older titles.

Why don't you show us all where we can buy a fully-restored Fathom with a brand-new playfield in it for $1,500.

ROTFLMAO!

In case you haven't noticed, you can't even find a repop playfield for under $1,000.

I'll give him $1500 for it right now.

Agree. More like $5k for a fully-restored Fathom. That guy is WAY off.

They do not go for 2k. And did you see the pictures of that playfeild? You will not get anywhere near 2k for this one in that condition.

Neo, I know you mean well by trying to educate others on the prices of machines. Unfortunately a lot of time you just have to let the market show what a machine's value is.

Most of us wouldn't pay that for this title but others will. Easiest to just let them go.

Congrats to the buyer for picking up a machine that could have sat for another 20 years or ended up in the trash.

chris

Yes, they do. He can get that much for it when he tries to sell it. There are people that will pay that, for that condition.

When you sold your pins, you asked higher than market prices because those were prices that you thought were crazy enough prices to induce you to sell. It is only logical others would do the same as what you did.

Here is one that sold for 2750, and it would not be what I call "minty"... and it is not in California which tends to skew towards higher prices.

ebay.com link: Bally Fathom Pinball Machine

I sold one last year with a nicer original playfield in it than the OP's is but the cabinet didn't look quite as nice for $2800.