I bet that'll clean up nicely. All of the RFM's I've seen have a bit of lifting in the back edge of the saucer exhaust triangle inserts.

should clean up nice. But i do see why your concerned.

Not my favorite game, but under 2k seems to be a decent enough of a deal for what should clean up very nice.

Saw that on ebay. I think it will clean up okay but will probably be players quality since the cab looks a little beat. At $2k, there's plenty of risk and you will spend quite a bit on an LCD conversion. Although, it could just be a fuse or a bad connector to the monitor. I would try to talk him down to $1500-$1700, then I think it is a good deal. I wouldn't expect an average to person to pay anything close for that dirty thing that doesn't work.

I think $2500 with the crt monitor and closer to $3000 with lcd. I bought my rfm for $2500 with a crt monitor and had no issues about paying that price.

2k is the average price for one as pictured. After a full shop job and fully working....2300 to 2500 imho.

Where is it, near you? For a fixer upper you really should look at it in person but you already know that. With the CRT not working I'd offer him $1800 because of that one issue which could be major.

I would not pay more than $1500 for that game.

Nothing on it is nice (cab and playfield are beat).

Many times when a game is so beat, it has a million hacks, hidden globs of glue, and drywall screws.

You can get a working game in better physical condition for a few bucks more.

This makes more sense. I honestly can't recall but wasn't a nice RFM a $2k game all day long before prices started taking off?

hmmm I was thinking 2000 was not bad, but vid makes some great points, better to be safe then sorry.

a bunch of repairing adds up in a hurry and you could probably find a better specimen for that price honestly

At $2k, imo, you are trading dollars in a best case situation and giving away about 30 hours of your time. That thing is filthy and has issues. You are not leaving any room for problems and by the looks of that there will be problems. For instance, I'll bet the glass is all scratched up and will need replaced and that has special glass that isn't cheap. It will add up until you have $3k in it and then you'll be lucky to get $3k when you sell it.

If you are dying for an RFM and you can't find any around you and a limited budget, it is understood but there's more risk there than most would take. Even at $1500, there is minor risk but you should come out fine as long as you're willing to put the time into it.

The fact that it is on your wishlist means you will pay more than you should for that game good luck! working on pinball is fun. Until it becomes an investment.....then it is a job.

If you really want the game, and think you will keep it, who really cares how much more it will cost to fix it up (within reason).

As soon as you start looking at this hobby as a potential ROI, you're probably going to lose from here on out.

Exactly. I would say just go for it, see how low you can get it below 2k, but I wouldn't lose it over a couple of hundred bucks. It looks like it will clean up really well and the price on these seems to be rising.

playfield will clean up nice. No wear on the tractor beams. 2k-2400 seems fair. it's your standard run of the mill RFM. Cabinet is nice and clean inside.

going to needa new flap ramp tho. That one is cracked on both sides. PIA to fix, but not horrible.

I'm with Vid on this one. Definitely closer to 1500. I've picked up nice ones in the past for 2k or under that were fully working.

better check if that drop target is there or broken. Looks like it's just a hole or the drop is adjusted way to low.

that playfield is dirty as shit, but there isn't wear on it. That hole looks great and the inserts look awesome. WIll clean up super nice. If it's not working, i'd go $1200 on it, just because you don't know about that prism card.

That is a $1500 RFM. Cleaning that up and fixing the monitor will be a good deal of work.

didn't see the part that the monitor has issues. $1500 or less is a good price then.

yea, I misspoke before. Didn't know there was issues. If it was fully working but just dirty, 2k would have been good. If the monitor needs a cap set and what not, go $1500. it will clean up nice tho and could be a nice looking game.

skip ramp looks cracked.

also check under the hood where the side martian stand up targets are screwed to the wood. some RFM you will find cracked wood where they are screwed into the playfield.

can't tell if the drop target is too low or missing

DIRTY game... diamond in the rough should clean up nicely

stroke of luck hole is NICE compared most route games

any cracked plastics?

Here's a few pics of my playfield just so you know what it could look like.DSC01171.JPGDSC01173.JPGDSC01172.JPG

I think you were generous at 1700.00 RFM stock in very good condition is 2400-2600. That one was a project machine (the kind I love) and would have taken some work and parts to bring back. If the PF was that dirty you can be sure the CPU section is the same.

yea, at $2500 your already on the high side. They are hard to sell for $2500. Hence why when it's all said and done, you want to be around the $2000-2100 range.

Don't worry - it truly wasn't that long ago that RFM was a $2k game in perfect working condition all day long, and I expect it will head back there. The release of NuCore gave the games a bump, as it made them less of ticking time bombs then they were, but now that is gone the danger of having one go bad with a super expensive fix is still there (and NuCore was also a super expensive fix, to be fair). $1700 was a MORE than fair price for it, and you may have been really lucky to have it slide away.

If you ever want to play RFM, come on over

Let me know thought cause I would need to switch it back!

Chris

I thought rumor around the campfire was that NuCore was not being made anymore ...?

You were smart to walk away.

The release of NuCore gave the games a bump, as it made them less of ticking time bombs then they were, ***but now that is gone*** the danger of having one go bad with a super expensive fix is still there (and NuCore ***was*** also a super expensive fix, to be fair).

The above is what I said. I highlighted the areas where I said that NuCore was not available. I know of nothing that says otherwise.

I agree that NuCore gave these games a bump, but I'm not so sure I agree that it's the better solution. I looked at NuCore as a way of future-proofing a pin2k investment. Unfortunately, now that they've apparently killed the product and terminated support without releasing the software as open source, is it really more secure/future proof? It's no less proprietary than the original and unlike the boards there's no one providing support for NuCore.

OP, that's the cruddiest RFM playfield I've ever seen. Didn't see a lot of wear around the scoop so it might clean up nice, but way better examples can be had for a few hundred more as others have said. I scored a very nice one (albeit still with CRT) for $2500 a few months ago.

I say you got lucky that you did not bite @ $1700.

Hey Dan,

I have asked many times and nobody seems to have the answer. Are these really a ticking time bomb? I have been in the hobby pretty hard for over 2 years and have not heard of a single Pin2K CPU issue.

At the same time, if there was an issue there is now a very cheap alternative with the Pinbox (bootlegged? nucore software). I bought a nucore but feel slightly silly that I spent all the money as it does not seem like it is or will ever be needed.

Does anyone with real insight/experience have info or evidence of Pin2K actually being a ticking time bomb?

I've had mine for going on 3 years *knocks on wood*...Honestly, like most things around here the whole repair issue with these is way overblown. Replace the power supply and CPU fans and you should be fine for a while. Plus, Rob Anthony can and has been fixing these so it's a non-issue in my book. If you want one, buy one and enjoy it. If/when it poops out, either replace it with via repair from Rob or the "free" version of Nucore lol.