Not a member of this club (right now) but I'm interested in buying a White Water 
Any advice on what to look for when buying one?
(Topic ID: 57710)
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White Water
Williams, 1993
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Quoted from Lhyrgoif:Area where the VUK delivers the ball to the upper mini playfield. Best case there is a metal protector/cliffy there or the pf will be damaged.
Check condition of all ramps, they can be bought but there are 7? in total and it will be very expensive if replacing all. Look especially close at the whirlpool ramp (where the ball goes around in circles) and the two ramp entrances behind the green standup targets (ramp plastics get smashed by the ball).
I would also check that bigfoot works properly (turns head and divert balls).
Check condition of all mountain plastics, can be bought but not colored exactly the same as originals and also rather expensive.
Check playfield in front of "lost mine" kickout as that area often get really worn and missing paint.
Check topper works properly. The waterfall should look like the water is flowing when working correctly. A working original topper is unobtanium as spare part so if you find a game with a working one it adds quite a bit to the pin value. If the topper is missing then the price should be lower, topper is an iconic piece that shows the game name (game title is not present on the translite).
Thank you very much!
Think I got it:
-Playfield: VUK (can the playfield be seen without taking the ramp off?) and Lost Mine
-Ramps and mountain plastic parts
-Bigfoot
-Topper
What would you say is the value of a White Water with playfield damage at 3 noticable spots: 2 near Lost Mine and one just above the shoot again insert.
Also the 8 boat insert has a spot.
Cab is faded and touched up. (Needs new decals)
Topper is missing the dome (for sale at €140 near me) but rest is complete.
As far as seller says: ramps, plastics, boards and dms are in good shape.
It plays well according to the add.
Thanks for your advice
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Quoted from JimFNB:Even rough ones lately seem to go for $4k+ (US), so I would say if you could get it for around 4k then that would be good. The ramps and especially the working topper (even without the dome) are a huge plus. Get pics of the ramps behind the green targets and look for damage, and also look for cracked or chipped boulders. Assuming those are good, then take a base value of about $5k, subtract ~$400 for decals and dome and split the $1k cost of a new pf, and you get to around $4k.
Also, make sure the ramps are good. The first pic obviously isn't the best, but from what you can see of that ramp it sure looks dirty and cloudy. They should be pretty transparent. Good luck.
Quoted from woody76:I just picked up a really rough one in similar playfield shape with NO topper for $3500. I had to put about $400 in it to get it going and playing good and add a repro topper. Crazy part is it plays better than my $8000 restored one I had several years back.
Quoted from PinDeLaPin:What is a game worth? It's so hard to say these days. I think people have more money than sense anymore because the prices people are paying are obnoxious. I was literally set up to buy a couple machines yesterday and if I hadn't been there to see it with my own eyes I would not believe that this truly happened. A guy came in to an estate sale I was at and saw a Firepower that actually I was going to buy it did not work and this guy literally threw down $3,000 for it. It's like my dad used to say there's an ass for every seat. I was absolutely amazed how uneducated someone could be to lay down that kind of cash for a non working game thats really only worth about $1500 when fully functional.
Thank you all for the advice! As I'm still a student, I'm not willing to overpay a lot that's why I asked help hahaha.
The stupid thing with this pin, is that the add is up for over a month, it has been seen a lot and the price is not high.
So bit scared I'm missing something here..
The machine is only half an hour away, so thinking of checking it out.
And wow PinDeLaPin for the Firepower guy
Maybe he knows there is a few thousands of bucks in the cash box 
I have 2 options on White Water machines right now and both are at the same price, would like to have advice.
Would you rather have:
Game 1= 1 side faded, multiple switch errors, 1 scratch on playfield near lost mine, left ramp cracked trough the middle and playfield (everything) very dirty but does have topper.
Or
Game 2= new decals, playfield has wear in front of lost mine, no topper
Thank you all! I have asked the seller for better photos of the topper and a video of it in action..
The game is 2,5 hours away and for a small country like the Netherlands, that is a huge distance 
So have to be sure I really want it first haha
Seller of game 1 just told me the topper lights don't work. Is that most of the times something simple?
Quoted from Marten:Well, option number 3 is wait for an other to come up for sale. Seems like the 2 that are for sale are not what you are looking for.
It's not a life and death situation! They come up for sale all the time.
Give it a few weeks and you will end up with one that you'll be really happy with.
Thanks for the advice Marten! The 2 sellers actually backed out both, so will have to wait on option 3.. I wont be in the club for a while I guess.. Oh well, still have to sell my Whirlwind first to make some room haha.. But I'll be back here in a few weeks/months hopefully! 
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