Decided I wanted to pick up a third pin, so I was keeping an eye on (relatively) local listings. A 1975 Bally Hokus Pokus popped up. Seller was asking $600 but was motivated to move it, so I talked the seller down to $375. He said everything was working but it'd need new rubbers.

It was about 1.5 hrs away, so I had a friend nearby go check it out. Granted, he's no pinball expert (hell, neither am I for that matter), but I had him look everything over, cycle all the switches, etc. It had a few minor issues and damages, but overall he said it looked good and played well.

The owner met me halfway this morning to make the exchange. I glanced it over during the change, but admittedly not very thoroughly. After getting it home, going to unload, we saw all these little wood pellet things coming out of the cabinet in various locations.

Some quick research pointed directly to the frass of drywood termites. Dammit.

I called the seller back to see if he knew; he claims he only had it two weeks, and that he bought it to resell. I got the number of the guy who sold it to him, but he hasn't returned my call. I was hoping to ask if perhaps he knew and had it fumigated.

Lesson learned on not buying a machine without seeing it with my own eyes first, that's for sure. Based on pics and my friend's opinion, thought it would be good enough.

I've looked it over in much better detail, and I haven't seen a single living thing. Is it possible the termites are long gone? Or are they probably all so far in the wood that I wouldn't see any?

Also what are your recommendations? Should I go put it in my shed and bug bomb it? Will that hurt the machine?

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On your first statement -- let me be sure I understand: you're saying if they're ARE living termites, I WOULD notice? If so, how? I haven't seen or heard a living thing.

On your second statement, yeah that's my next concern I need to address immediately. So how I can tell if they're in there and if I need to get this thing the hell outta here?

Ok thanks for this input. I had already been pushing and prodding and tapping and whatnot and haven't found anything.

Still, you all are making me very nervous, lol. As circumstances would have it, later in the day a situation (outside of pinball) arose that is going to demand some time and finances. This machine still needs some other minor work & troubleshooting (though I already put new rubbers on the flippers, doh), so I'm not going to have time for it anyway. (My BOPP still needs some other rework too, and I'm keeping that one for now.) So perhaps I'd better just turn this thing around and re-sell it. <sigh>

Is there a way to ascertain if the colony still exists? I vacuumed it out as best I could so I could monitor it for new frass. Drill into a few random spots?

While I'm glad I helped ... I'm really not glad for either of us, since it seems we both may have gotten screwed here.

PM sent; I'll be getting my drill ready. Just need to know recommended drill bit size! lol First sign of a live bug and this thing is getting stripped for parts. As if that weren't aggravating enough, with my medical issue that just came up, now I won't have the funds to replace it with something else. I was really liking the look of all three machines together:

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Ok I've spoken with an expert and showed him some detailed photographs. Based on the evidence, he believes this unit has already been fumigated. Thank goodness.

I still intend to resell it anyway though, due to my medical issue that just arose. I won't have time/resources to put into this machine.

Wow, that's pretty rough, winteriscoming. Good luck, I hope it works out in your favor!

Although I was resting comfortably (after talking to the expert) about the lack of any living termites in my machine, I ended up reselling it anyway (since the rest needed more work than I had time/resources for) ... so that's one less thing to worry about.

The expert I spoke with expressed that he believed it had already been fumigated based on the following evidence:
1) the coloration of the frass (almost white),
2) the fact that I thoroughly inspected the cabinets several times and never once encountered a single living thing (nor wing, carcass, etc.),
3) that I wasn't finding any new frass at the areas I'd already vacuumed / inspected.

I'm not sure why you've jumped to all these conclusions and opted to be so mean about them. Like Stoomer pointed out above (and as I'd mentioned in this very thread), I ran into a medical issue the same week I got this machine -- which required immediate invasive surgery.

My wife credits this machine with helping in my recovery, because it helped motivate me to get out of bed because I'd really wanted to work on it. That being said, I did absolutely ZERO work on this machine with the exception of the vacuuming out all the frass, and attempting to clean the cabinet as discussed in the other thread you've clearly found ( https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/nicotine-so-gross-mean-green-ftw ). I had limited financial & physical resources (due to the surgery), the termite scenario spooked me, and I was still relatively new to the hobby at the time and not ready to take on such a project (this was my third machine, and my first two had been a batch deal). I owned the machine for less than two weeks.

As such, I don't appreciate your judgments and accusations.

I'm thrilled the machine ended up in the hands of someone willing and able to dedicate the time & effort to bring it back to its former glory. Congrats & good job on turning it back into a beautiful game!