If you are buying it, nope. Point out the battery leakage, the old yellow cab cap and pay dirt for it.

If you plan on keeping it, look to see if it still has the black NiCad mounted on it (it probably does) and look around said battery for alkaline damage. If it is a mess, don't bother turning it on until its been repaired. If it looks clean, go for it, turn it on.

Then plan on doing ALL the mods (ground, VUK kicker, new yellow cap, etc,,,) to make to bulletproof.

All in one type replacement board is 350ish, but cheaper non-all in one replacements are available. If the game was very very nice other than the boards I'd say up to 2k - but it likely has some playfield and cab wear here an there which would move it down to $1000 +/-depending on condition of glass, plastics, etc.

And if the damage is minimal, Great Plains Electronics sells a repair kit that contains a few of the normally affected components, if you know how to properly run a soldering iron.

You also might get lucky--I've obtained a few machines were the NiCad's had not yet started to leak.

I wouldn't even try turning it on until thoroughly going through the electrical system first, checking the wiring for damage or missing insulation, and making sure all the fuses are the correct values, and checking the bridge rectifiers. Then, I would disconnect all the boards and check voltages. Then the power supply. Then the MPU with just the coin door switches and displays. Then the driver board (without connecting the playfield connectors). Then the sound boards. Then the switches, lamps, and solenoids separately. Make sure to turn off the power each time when you are plugging/unplugging stuff.

I would probably go up to $500-$800 for an untested BH game that looks decent. Or, maybe $900-$1200 for a mostly working one, but unshopped. I probably wouldn't hesitate to grab it if the seller was asking $200-$400.

Once all the mods are done to it, they will run for a long long time. A few hundred dollars and a bit of soldering and you could enjoy it for years besides cleaning and rubbers

They really aren't that different "problem wise" from any other game from that era. Each manufacturer has it's own issues and there is documentation to bullet proof all of them. Gottlieb's main issue is connector related, once you get past that and have it running, keeping it running is a piece of cake as long as you don't do something dumb like work on it with the power on.

Steve
System 80, not just a job, it's an adventure