Fish Tales
Williams, 1992We'll it's official, I just got my second pinball today. Last night I posted this topic, before the deal was done, but I deleted it just incase someone was thinking of trying to steal the deal. Not that a PINSIDER would do that. Now that it's in my basement it's time to share again.
Here is the beauty...
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Thank you for everyone's advise.
lpeters82 <-- Long time lurker, rare poster!
1K for a Fish Tales in great shape is a excellent price, in the upper midwest you should be able to easily sell a Fish Tales for $1500-$1600 if not a little more as they honestly don't pop up that often in these parts. Things to look out for include play field wear around the 4 fish inserts (most FTs that spent any time on route will have some wear here), on the 2 arrow inserts on the boat ramp, and in the lanes where the cross over ramps dump the ball out. It is also fairly typical to have significant fading on at least one side of the cabinet. I've had my FT for awhile and there doesn't seem to be many recurring mechanical issues specific to this machine (the caster ball lock and catapult are built pretty solid...that said make sure the caster works as repairing that assembly would be pretty costly).
What are you waiting on????? If it was local I would have it and be posting photos of the steal I got. 
I picked up my FT about 3 weeks ago.looks real nice with leds
and sounds good with the FF speaker system.What was nice is
it was already pimped out.The only thing I did was to take off
black flipper rubber and install the green ones.I got to say it is
a big improvement. The green on yellow flipper looks good.
I hope like hell you bought that thing. I turned down $1350 for mine last week and it has a very faded cabinet and some playfield wear. If I ever find a nice one for a good price I'll scoop it up in a heartbeat. FT and the other so-called "B-list" games have been shooting up in price lately as the MM's and AFM's are getting priced out of the average collector's reach.
Yeah, you could tell that the previous owner loved the game. The pictures were taken in from his house and if you lookin the the lower picture you'll see his room is a fishing theme. If you look close you can even see his furniture was covered in a fish fabric.
It was a little scary buying a machine without putting in many-many games, but as everyone here pointed out the price was right. So far I'm finding it to be a lot more challenging then I was expecting. Especially given the light, family friendly theme. The previous owner had it set very easy and I restored it to factory settings, but I'm definatly going to be switching the machine over to five balls to start.
Does anyone have any slope suggestions for this machine? I know it's personal taste, but if someone has put more time into it then I have, suggestions would be welcome.
Finally, in a forum search I noticed that someone had installed green/yellow flippers. Does anyone know where they can be purchased from?
Thank you again,
Quoted from Erik:Please don't remove lightning flippers! They need to stay with the game! Any of the retailers will have replacement rubber tho. Green looks pretty good on FT.
I'll try that first. I would like to keep it mostly orignial, but right now the drains are killing me. I'm thinking about adding some colored bulbs (mostly blue), maybe blue pop bumpers and green onto the flippers to complete the fish jaw.
"Woahhh!!! What a beauty!"
Congrats on landing such an awsome deal. FT is one of the most frustrating and difficult pins out there. Don't wuss out and swap flips though. May as well just block the outlanes or play with the glass off. 
Yeah, I'm a casual player, but I won't swap out the flippers. I'll just have to get better.
"davewth" - Nice to hear from other players in the SW WI area. For now, I'm going to sell my Jurassic Park, it's the one listed in Madison Craigslist for $1800. I secretly was hoping that at that askig price I'd be able to keep it for a bit longer, and figure out which game I was going to keep. I really just don't have the money nor "forgiving enough wife" to have a whole basement full of machines. Although my real plan is to somehow "wide up" with three machines. Don't tell my wife, but that's the ultimate goal.
Anyway, that plan backfired because within 10-minutes of posting last night I had an offer of $1500 with pickup today. Now I'm going to have to make a choice. I really do think that's a fair offer.
Quoted from lpeters82:Anyway, that plan backfired because within 10-minutes of posting last night I had an offer of $1500 with pickup today. Now I'm going to have to make a choice. I really do think that's a fair offer.
Depends on the quality of the machine. I've seen them go for $1800 or more in great condition. If there are issues 1500 seems ok. You can negotiate.
Quoted from northvibe:Love my FT.
I do miss it. I am glad it went to a good home.
Quoted from GoneFishinLvMsg:Don't wuss out and swap flips though. May as well just block the outlanes or play with the glass off. [
So, if the game was designed with standard flippers and williams decided to swap them out to shorten ball times, that's the way it should stay?
Quoted from pinheadpuckguy:northvibe said:Love my FT.
I do miss it. I am glad it went to a good home.
Yes we must keep the good pin's between good people 
Quoted from davewtf:So, if the game was designed with standard flippers and williams decided to swap them out to shorten ball times, that's the way it should stay?
Absolutely.
Quoted from GoneFishinLvMsg:davewth said:
So, if the game was designed with standard flippers and williams decided to swap them out to shorten ball times, that's the way it should stay?
Absolutely.
I agree with you but I don't think swapping back to what the original designer's intended flipper length is the anywhere near blocking outlanes. It's a shame some corporate dufous (sp?) completely disregared the designers' original shot geometry just to maximize profit.
I don't find that swapping the flippers makes a whole ton of difference. If you suck you suck, if your a great player your great, that 1/8" doesn't make or break your game. If your average, your average, it really doesn't make a huge difference.
Quoted from absocountry2:I wish I could find one here
Yep must be tough with only 20 pins to choose from 
You just got yourself a trophy pin!!!
Not only does the pin look extremely clean but the gold hardware too? That was a steal. I paid $1,400 for mine and it was in very good condition and played perfectly but needed about $300 in parts and work done on it. With all the LED's added and some other improvements, I've probably got $2,000 in it. I wouldn't sell it for less than $2,400. That's what it is worth to ME! Don't care if no one would give that much for it. I don't want it to ever leave anyway.
DO put the LED's in it. I've done that to a lot of my pins but FT and Goldeneye were the two that REALLY looked different and GREAT in appearance when I finished. So many opportunities with FT . . . lots of places for green LED's. Mine is extremely colorful and bright now.
Don't look back on this one. You've got a tremendous buy there. Congratulations!
Mike
Quoted from Pintucky:You just got yourself a trophy pin!!!
Not only does the pin look extremely clean but the gold hardware too? That was a steal. I paid $1,400 for mine and it was in very good condition and played perfectly but needed about $300 in parts and work done on it. With all the LED's added and some other improvements, I've probably got $2,000 in it. I wouldn't sell it for less than $2,400. That's what it is worth to ME! Don't care if no one would give that much for it. I don't want it to ever leave anyway.
DO put the LED's in it. I've done that to a lot of my pins but FT and Goldeneye were the two that REALLY looked different and GREAT in appearance when I finished. So many opportunities with FT . . . lots of places for green LED's. Mine is extremely colorful and bright now.
Don't look back on this one. You've got a tremendous buy there. Congratulations!
Mike
Hey Mike your right about FT and leds it really turns it up a notch or two.
The one I just traded for also has a set of Flipper Fidelity speakers.
The best part sound wise is the Monster Fish and Rock the Boat
I ended up paying $1100. I think I originally posted it was going to be $1000, but based on the great fokes here it seems like I did pretty good anyway.
Quoted from lpeters82:I ended up paying $1100. I think I originally posted it was going to be $1000, but based on the great fokes here it seems like I did pretty good anyway.
Hella good price,just played mine a few minutes ago,
High score so far is 575,650
You only paid $1,100!!! Man . . . for the pin I saw in the pictures, to me, you hit a Supreme Jackpot! Suddenly, I'm envious!!! Be proud, my friend. You found a winner there in TWO ways: The pin itself and the price!!!
Mike
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Fort Dodge, IA
Kamloops, BC
haha....
