A decent topper cost me $700 and took me over a year to find.

Other than the metal portion of the decal everything else is available on the topper. I revitalized mine for about $150,

New ramps alone are $850 shipped and a color dmd is basically $400. No topper isn't a super big deal anymore as most don't have them. Obviously if you do have one then you can add about $600 minimum to the price of the machine. Considering lately that I have been seeing people pay $5,000 for a Fish Tales you can only imagine what a decent Whitewater with a complete setup would run. The days of picking them up for three or four thousand dollars are gone

5K , 6K ?

i thought mine was expensive when i picked it up for $1900 in '08. yikes.

Bought mine for $900 (though that was in late 1996).

That 'metal portion' is the heart of the topper - otherwise the topper is dead, and the chase light is pointless.

If you ask 10 people, your going to get 10 different #'s

Best place to start is: https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/white-water and look at the average, currently $5,090 - $5,910

Another good place to look is at archived market ads to see the various prices and conditions and locations.

From there it really depends on where you are at. Out here in CA, so you will see that price jump a little bit higher for a WH20 in nice condition with a good looking topper.

For me, If I am going to pay market average for one it's gotta have a topper. I would also be fine buying one without, but I would pay $700 - $800 less.

I was lucky that I got mine last year for far cheaper, but it was a players that needed some minor repairs (but had a great looking topper)

Cool thanks .. I don’t see many going over the mid 5s ... while I can add some for all the new stuff I have to subtract for the unubatanium topper . Puts me at mid 5s, looking to trade a nice IMDN pro for it with a topper and other extras and I can’t see shelling out more than a few hundred bucks . Making sure I am not out of line .

I suspect you'll find that, overall, the complete lack of the topper is a big deal. Perhaps the tides have shifted some because people are realizing there's no clear path to a repro, but I doubt the market has shifted THAT much. It's an unobtainable part that may not be important to game play but it's part of what makes the game unique. Aside from the waterfall effect, it's the only place on the front of the game that contains the title. So, there's always been lots of talk about the topper and it seems like everybody who doesn't have one on their game REALLY wants one. There have been lots of threads about possible repros with tons and tons of interest but nobody has delivered yet. Moreover, really nice toppers are super-rare. Maybe 1 in 10 isn't all bubbled out. So it seems that people have come to peace with living with a so-so topper but probably not no topper at all. Even poorly executed repro toppers have gained some value.

So, if the guy you're buying from has the topper I would definitely get it, even if it's in bad shape. And I think it's fair to expect a pretty steep discount for a game without the topper. A game with a so-so topper is pretty much the norm. Games with really nice toppers tend to fetch a premium (assuming the game is otherwise nice). That's been my take over the past 10 years or so but I haven't paid close attention lately.

Ok thanks yea he said he has the topper but it doesn’t match the quality of the game ... which at this point I could always fix everything but the foil at least .

I finally got around to installing my pin2dmd and pinsound boards in my WH2o.
The Jakusu hillbilly mix is great.Highly recommend it
I wasn't into it at first but it's really grown on my FAST.
Just waiting for the full colour pin2dmd file now.Due this week on VPuniverse.

Any chance you can put a vid up of this mix, can’t find it anywhere to have listen or to download it.
I was thinking some Deliverance duelling banjos might be fun.

Maybe over the weekend.
He hasn't redone any of the music.
Just new callouts with voice actors.
I know endproduct is doing one also.

One more try before they head to ebay.

alright fellow wh20 owners. I nearly have all the parts needed for my restore. The last thing to sort out is the armor.

I was originally thinking of doing powder coated white but have since been talked out of it, heh.

Then I was leaning towards chrome (did my FH in chrome and I love it)

But my wife thinks we should do like a light blue powder coat.

Anyone feel like sharing any pics of theirs?

Much appreciated.

Then I was leaning towards chrome (did my FH in chrome and I love it)
But my wife thinks we should do like a light blue powder coat.

Mine come with all blue armor and coin door and legs.
Iv since changed to all chrome.
Looks much nicer

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Chrome is king. Stay safe,chrome looks great and will not go out of style.

The blue gets my vote!

I guess I 'm just in the minority...I prefer the traditional stainless (on virtually all machines).

I think the colored powder coating distracts from the rest of the machine, and the chrome is just too overpowering.

Arcadenerd925... I'm glad you were talked out of white. I'm on the fence about blue (not light blue tho) or chrome, I like them both. Sorry, not much help.

Kerry

I've always thought a translucent blue over chrome would look cool.

Does the topper have any effect with those leds in there?

Either works for me.

Stainless always looks great even after years of use and just fits the classic look imo. Painted trim does look good on some machines like super high end restores or new pins. However, one scratch or ding and it looks bad. Plus, I think it actually hurts resale value on the classics. People either don't like painted trim at all or don't like the color choice.

All painted trim looks like garbage, but I'd just assume black it out if you have too.
Chrome would be better I guess.

If you do chrome I beg you please don’t chrome the coin door.

It did, that was the way i got it. Its got 194 in it now

Im getting constant vuk ball lock whitsle and kick up with no balls in the lock.
Replaced few opto's , no help.
Second problem, I'm sometimes getting 2nd ball kicked into shooter lane.
Ideas?
Thanks

This ^^ I was thinking the same thing. Just not sure if I'm feeling a powder coated blue that matches the paint/decals. (just my personal .02)

Are those mirror blades? how do you like them on this title? that is the next thing for me to ponder.

Thanks for all the oppinions (and picture tac007!)

The great thing about this kinda stuff is that there is no wrong way as long as you like it. I agree, some options can potentially reduce game value, but in my case wh20 is a keeper. It's not going anywhere any time soon, if I am gonna tear this damn thing apart and put all this work in to it I know I'm not getting that money back. I just want to feel the same way about wh20 that I do about my FH.

Dammit! I was just looking at the FH and was lamenting that the only non-crome part was the coin door and that maybe I should take the plunge. lol.

Chrome door looks great i think

Yep mirror blades looks good. I also like the art blades

Chrome w/ mirror blades. White mountains which I like but some people are iffy on the color.

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Nice! very polished. My wife is into the white mountains but me not as much. Regardless that is an awesome machine. I like the mirror blades, for whatever reason I just cant get in to the art blades on this title. Thanks for sharing.

I don't know if I'd would ever go with white mountains or a chrome coin door.... but that looks spectacular.

I get that a lot of purists would just stay with warm white lighting or incandescents (I get it), but you were really able to get all of the colors out of the translate. What did you use there? Mine still looks fairly "yellowish", even with cool comet 2smd lighting.

Either way, you should do a restore thread! I really enjoyed and learned from your funhouse restore. One day I’d like to restore my WH20 too.

I inherited chrome when I bought mine but I have to admit it looks good

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My trade fell through guy decided to keep it now
☹️

Anyone want to make a trade or sell theirs ? I am in NC have a nice Metallica or IMDN see market .

I went on and installed Cliffy's boulder protectors + Mantis ramp protectors, removed the weird rubber from the boulder garden layout and waxed the Whirlpool to make it spin more. I also made my own boulder garden sign as this part was missing from my game and is not available anywhere. Here's the eagle sticker too for a comparison. Kinda okay for being roughly a 10 dollar solution.

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Kotka (resized).jpeg

Definitely moving in the right direction around the start button. That was a disaster.

Yup.

Finally got the vacation jackpot tonight playing with friends. What a rush!

Interesting apron