I gotta friend who has a three Addams Family machines. None of them were working originally and here is the story.

First machine was in the best shape. Playfield has minor wear around the electric chair. When it was handed to me to fix it up, it didn't even boot. Took about two months, but a different friend and I completely shopped it and got it working 100%. (It probably had 20 years of dirt and grime on the playfield, but after tearing it down, cleaning and waxing it, the playfield looked great.) We gave the machine back, and it went out on route. Did the same thing on another two machines (not Addams family, but a POTC and HS2), and I ended up getting a non-working Taxi pinball machine for fixing up the machines. (My friend and I fixed the machines as a hobby.)

So now my friend has two other Addams Family machines. Both have scorched playfields from magnet burn. I don't know how bad the scorch marks are because I haven't cleaned the playfields. He sees what the original machine is making on route, and decides that the machines are worth more selling vs putting them out on route.

So he asks me if he should sell them in the non-working state, or give them to me and the other friend to fix them up and sell them. He is a straight up guy, so if he gives them to me, he wants to make sure that he is being fair to me.

So what is the value of a non-working Addams family machine. Looking at his other machines, I'm certain there won't be any battery damage on the boards, but there will be a lot of things that aren't working. These include a lot of mechanical things that aren't adjusted right/need cleaned, rubbers will be completely gone (these machines have probably been in storage for 10 years), and most of the connectors will have cracked solder joints which will need to be rewetted. There will be a couple of issues on the boards that will need a few chips or two replaced. Some of the ramps/plastics will have cracks. Some connectors will need work. The machines will have been on route, so there will be dings and scratches in the cabinet.

So if he gets my friend and I to fix up the machines, how much are the machines worth then? The machines will work 100%, but the cabinet will still have the scratches and dings.

How much are people paying to get a machine fully shopped? Do people pay to shop machines? If I would hand a reputable person a non-working machine, and said, make it work 100%, but don't fix any dings in the cabinet, how much would it cost me?

I'm trying to get info for the guy. Do I try and work out another deal to get another machine in trade? I'm not sure that he has any other machines that are low enough in value that I can do another swap with him.

Thanks in advance for any advice/knowledge/ideas.

Thanks for the responses. The machines are never going to look new because they have been on route. Nobody gave me a guess of how much it costs to get a "normal" company to do a refurbishment. (Not just a hobbyist like me, where I value my time at $0/hr). Has anybody paid to have a machine restored from a non-working status?

So I'm guessing for regular restoration, they charge 1 - 2K. When I look at how much time I put into a restoration, my friend and I put in around 8 hours each week total, and it takes us 2 to 3 months. So that is about 12 weeks for a machine that is in pretty bad shape. That gives me approximately 100 hours of labor to do a restore. (There are some machines that we spent well over 9 months to restore and a bunch in parts, and at the end, the machine is only worth $400 to $600. We did learn a lot which was the fun part and now I know that I don't want to paint match anymore.) Money-wise, it was a losing proposition, but I'm really proud of the before and after shots of that one. (Nothing better than planking, mouse damage, wear damage, moisture damage, etc). I looked at how much time we put into it, and parts, and it just didn't make sense to start doing restorations for people that weren't friends. Great hobby, bad business model.

Again, thanks for all the responses. When I talk to the guy a little bit later, I can give him a better idea.