Unmolested like a survivor car , everything is mostly kept original except probably some rubbers and light bulbs. It's survived years of service and still has everything left from factory.

It means Rainbow Puke LED’s haven’t been added yet.

Maybe saved from the evil clutches of parted out?

And also make sure you check machine for burnt plastics from hot dirty dingy incadescents. Not that I'm a fan of rainbow puke, just a shout out to cool smds for keeping my plastics looking good.

Its another adjective used to justify a higher asking price. Other favorites are collectible, immaculate, and the most expensive of all -- rare.

"rare."

What a common term

Ohh, don't forget vintage and antique.

They can keep the plastics from warping, as long as they aren't too powerful. The do not make them look good since people use colored ones which make the plastic look like shit.

It means that the game has "The Eye of the Tiger"

So....only the EM; not Sinbad though huh?

Unrestored, original in pristine shape.

Hehe. "Vintage antique pinball machine from the 1930's in mint condition, very rare" (insert picture of beat to crap Raven).

Survived a flood and may need cleaning

Never heard this phrase, glad you asked. IMHO, terminology is so vague.

I dislike "player". To me a "player" is a beater that plays fine. Other people say a "player" is a nice game that just isn't HEP restored. Ugh.

I would have through a "survivor" was something that went through a flood (like acebathound)

... Altan

I thought the same thing as well. A pin that was lucky enough to survive a flood/fire.

The pop bumpers have spoken
Survivor One World Jeff Probst Reverse Duh Double Dare (resized).jpg

I honestly feel that ANY of the terms thrown around are complete bull$#!/. They are just junk words. Since EVERY person has their OWN view on what they mean, it really doesn't describe anything. I've CERTAINLY seen interpretation both ways....I've seen people think stuff was junk because it wasn't super perfect, and I've seen machines with no paint on playfield or backglass yet listed as like 7.5/10 or higher! See, again ... not just words....even numbers are interpreted.

Last "player's condition" machine I purchased seemed as such as it appeared working ok..... till I got it home and dug into it more. Was loaded with hacks, rust/corrosion, broken/missing/inncorect parts, targets that didnt work, damaged scoops, broken brakets, etc. I mean, pretty crappy sell in my opinion. But, it wasn't a high preasure sale on me and my fault for allowing words to be good enough instead of going over it more in person myself.

Point is....

Regardless of what someone else calls it, inspect it for yourself. Then call it whatever YOU want.

From 'couple turns of the screwdriver' to 'that things cherry!'

Added note direct to OP question....my interpretation of survivor would be as mentioned like a survivor car. Pretty original over all and still going. But, there again....is that 'still turns on, decent shape overall, but may need some overall TLC' or does that mean 'the thing is like perfect 100 percent'?

Looked at an a original classic car a couple years ago that was all original and listed as a survivor except tires brakes etc... had no exhaust, all rubber seals bad, and a number of other things. But...it had decent paint. Mint looking interior, original engine and trans, and I jumped in and drove around in it for a few minutes fine.

Survivor?? I think so. Mint perfect working....no.

Sorry for car analogy. I try hard not to do that on here.

Term doesn't really mean anything, like most seller terms.

I take it to mean "player's machine," which of course is also open to interpretation.

True indeed; however, let's not forget about imamaculate - a special label for pins that have been played 600 times or fewer in the last 12 years.

My favorite is "seems to be working" or "seems to be working 100%."

'Worked fine last time we used it'

"Ohh cool, was that recent?"

'well we are selling it for my uncle's friend who stored it in shed since 1984'

........
'but it's all original'

Survivor means used, may have issues, inspect carefully.

Same thing as huo, noob, demo, players, and every other term you can think of to describe a used game.

I picked up this here pin up off of a guy named Hank, he said it was on location at this bar in New Orleans and had a little water issue when some bad weather hit. Sure looked clean.

He told me it was a survivor!

Survivor is a word that is used with: Shipwreck, Trainwreck, Plain Crash, Pile Up, Earthquake, Tornado, Flood, Hurricane, ect... Insert conjecture here!
I really don't want to hear the word survivor used to describe a game!

Unless like what chad said above...better to hear survivor vs parted out....sometimes

To me survivor means an unmolested game in nice original condition. That's what I hope it to mean anyway. Of course as mentioned it's just a word and they are open to interpretation. Everyone seems to hate all the common buzz words, but most sellers want to give a game some type of defined representation. Or you end up with those non-descript ads that say just say "pinball machine". And no one likes that either.

Cant argue that

But, I also know that you are one of the good guys who prefers to under rate rather than over rate a machine (I mean that as a good thing....as in always very honest on condition/probs).

HONESTLY, I don't think too many people that arent pinball people intend to misrepresent at all when saying was working etc....they just don't know... but can be dissapointing.

It's been through the war and survived.

LTG : )

Ohhhh....Y2K

Nope, the most expensive word now is immamculate

It's a meaningless phrase. I pretty much always ignore everything when it comes to how someone describes the condition of a game.

I've had cases where someone has said "it's in really nice shape", but the playfield is completely blown out.

The average person hasn't really owned enough pins to really be able to describe a game's condition very well. Some collectors can have higher or lower standards when it comes to condition, and they don't line up with what you think about the condition of a game. And then there's also people who try to fluff up a game to sound better than it actually is.

Photos can also be misleading too. Sometimes they are framed or angled in such a way to hid certain things, or it's just blurry or dark enough to hide other issues.

Photos help give a general sense of what a game looks like, but it's always best to see it in person. But even then, you can sometimes miss stuff that isn't immediately obvious.

Survived a hurricane. Stay clear

I like this one!

He must be a car guy. That term is never really used that often for pinball.

Speaking of....

chicago.craigslist.org link

I wonder if the wood under all the paint is pine