(Topic ID: 61517)

Xenon 1st machine 750?

By ardvark666

10 years ago


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  • Latest reply 10 years ago by ardvark666
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#1 10 years ago

Hello all,
I have been into pins for a long time. Was in the process of collecting when I got married in 03. Needless to say I don't own any and prices have changed considerably. I have a chance to buy a home owned xenon for 750. It needs to be shopped but it works fine after its been on for 15 min or so. Since I have to break my new wife in slowly on the cost I want to make sure I don't overspend on my 1st one. Is this a good price or should I keep looking? It's a solid 6.5-7. I also want to add a Freddy machine in The future along with a stargate and a dr who. I just can't believe the market. They have data east machines away. Now I have to look at machines I never considered. As a reference I owned a tz in 1999. Paid 1250. Sold it for 1600 in 2001. Ooops

#2 10 years ago

it would be a great bargain here so its probably about the right price for there. if you like the game and it makes you happy my vote is that its a fair price and go for it.

be aware a new playfield will set you back 1200ish if you can find one. make sure you are happy with the one in it.

the original posts were not pink ( they fade funny) change them and put new led's etc and it will look great

#3 10 years ago

If it's in great shape, playfield and backglass, that's a Fantastic Price!

#4 10 years ago

I sold a decent 100% working Xenon for $1000 a few months ago in Central PA. It was fully shopped, had super nice backglass & cabinet but playfield had some wear. Just to give you some idea or a bench mark. Hope this helps

I loved Xenon but couldn't get past the playfield wear on mine so I decided to just sell it and keep my eyes open for a nice one.

#5 10 years ago

I'll have my eye on The Gecko's!

#6 10 years ago

Sounds about right in that condition but, there is no way to tell unless you post pics of it. Just a heads up, "hand holding" is not usually tolerated that well on Pinside...

I don't know what advice you really want about spending your own money. Don't really understand when people post things like, "I don't want to be ripped off, ect. when I buy my first game." You wouldn't want to wave a white flag while saying, "Come take advantage of me and sell me a pinball." If you are in this position, maybe you should take a step back and do some more research.

Familiarize yourself with THIS LIST:
http://bostonpinball.biz/ebay0513.htm

It's far from perfect but, for a really popular/classic pin like Xenon, it will give you a much better idea about how hard it is to find a game you are looking for in a specific price range.

Chances of paying too much vs. a great deal on a pinball..... 80% of the time (regardless of where you shop), you are going to be looking at an asking price WAY OVER the average selling price.
MOST OFTEN everyone's asking price is going to be more than what is on the Boston average list.

As others have alluded to, "restoring" a machine will cost you thousands. However, cleaning it up/shopping/rebuilding flippers/replacing a bad display,ect. may be done for 300-500 depending on how nice you want it to play and look.

"Shopping", "restoring", "refurbishing", and "repairing" all have unique meanings in pinball communities and shouldn't be interchanged.

#7 10 years ago
Quoted from spfxted:

If it's in great shape, playfield and backglass, that's a Fantastic Price!

I think I disagree. 750 for a Xenon FULLY SHOPPED would be a great price. You are looking at 1000 total to shop it well. Even if you don't count your time invested in shopping it to be worth any money at all.

#8 10 years ago

Don't know about US prices. All I can say is that Xenon is a nice pin... good start!

#9 10 years ago

OK, time for me to chime in
That price is pretty hard to nail without more information about the condition of the cabinet, playfield, and backglass.
I picked up my second one this week for around that much. It needs to be cleaned up, but the playfield is in really great shape.
My first one was a basket cast project that I got for $300.
Some nicely restored or mint original ones have broken the $2k mark.

So...prices are all over the place. If I had to ask two questions that would have the biggest impact on price they would be 1) is it working 100%? and 2) what shape is the playfield in?

I'm not far from you, and I'd be happy to help advise.

#10 10 years ago

grab while you have a chance......good machine and them the addiction starts all over again

#11 10 years ago

Wow, that's a lot of info. Thanks to all.

To reply, I don't need my hand held but I just wanted to be sure I'm not paying more than most.

The machine does work, it plays fine and just has some burned out bulbs. I will try to get some pics of it. It takes a while (15 min) to warm up and I never really dealt with pre 1989 pins so I assume this is normal. I plan on putting an led kit in it so it looks even better.

Also my idea of shopping is giving it a thorough cleaning, fixing any little issues, and re rubbering it. I will buy new balls since they are always worth the money. The problem with NJ is that we have so many arcade vendors on the shore that many pinball machines have been abused to the point that fixing them isn't always worth it. I purchased my 1st from a collector in PA because I was so afraid to buy a Guns N Roses from the Seaside Boardwalk.

Like many people, I am just a mechanical nerd. I have a soft spot for a few games and I am in the process of building up a collection. I am still in shock that the prices have gone so crazy.

#12 10 years ago
Quoted from snyper2099:

I think I disagree. 750 for a Xenon FULLY SHOPPED would be a great price. You are looking at 1000 total to shop it well. Even if you don't count your time invested in shopping it to be worth any money at all.

If you fully shop a turd, it's still a turd. Shopping adds ZERO value. When buying a game you should be looking at wear of the playfield, condition of electronics (especially corrosion and hacks) and the tough to get items that are artwork based - plastics, backglass, any unique parts/toys. These are what adds up in the long run. cleaning and replacing rubber parts or doing a flipper rebuild - a newbie can be taught that very, very easily. Evaluate potential game purchases looking at what is truly important.

#13 10 years ago

I will post some pics so it makes it easier. I wouldn't buy a machine that needs that much work unless it's a serious collector piece. I have done a fair amount of work on them in the past. My short story is that a TZ that "needed clock work" also needed work on pretty much everything else and caused a major issue with me and my father that ended in us not owning any more machines. Which is also why I'm not buying jointly anymore.

#14 10 years ago
Quoted from ardvark666:

It takes a while (15 min) to warm up

What? Mine took seconds to "start up" ....Gecko...is this normal, or a possible problem?

#15 10 years ago

Should not need time to warm up, a boot up takes about 5 seconds. Are we talking gassing displays or funky game operation?
Connectors on that era of Bally are notorius for being flakey. It's recommended that you repin the connectors, which is cheap enough to do, but tedious. Also be sure to check what the battery area of the cpu board is doing, any corrosion?

#16 10 years ago

Thanks. I will check the battery as well as the connectors. Owning something this old is definitely uncharted territory.

#17 10 years ago

ok holding hand time

#18 10 years ago

What's "hand holding" and what's the problem with it?

#19 10 years ago

Just to chime in here, it should take no time to warm up. Normal time from pressing the power button to being able to add credits/start a game should be maybe 15-30 seconds. When you say it takes 15 minutes to warm up, what do you observe during that time?
That's definitely cause for concern. Could be something minor, but absolutely not normal behavior.

#20 10 years ago
Quoted from ardvark666:

Wow, that's a lot of info. Thanks to all.
To reply, I don't need my hand held but I just wanted to be sure I'm not paying more than most.
The machine does work, it plays fine and just has some burned out bulbs. I will try to get some pics of it. It takes a while (15 min) to warm up and I never really dealt with pre 1989 pins so I assume this is normal. I plan on putting an led kit in it so it looks even better.
Also my idea of shopping is giving it a thorough cleaning, fixing any little issues, and re rubbering it. I will buy new balls since they are always worth the money. The problem with NJ is that we have so many arcade vendors on the shore that many pinball machines have been abused to the point that fixing them isn't always worth it. I purchased my 1st from a collector in PA because I was so afraid to buy a Guns n Roses from the Seaside Boardwalk.
Like many people, I am just a mechanical nerd. I have a soft spot for a few games and I am in the process of building up a collection. I am still in shock that the prices have gone so crazy.

previous post was making a joke........get with the program it's not that long.

#21 10 years ago

So did you get it?

#22 10 years ago

yeah what happened.......did you pull the trigger?

#23 10 years ago

I now have to wait until Tuesday because he is out of town. I am still pretty sure I will buy it. He sad that it takes a while to warm up because it has been sitting. That sounds like a battery issue or that it needs to be rewired. Ether way I will offer him less and see where we are at. If I pay 600 and put in 200 I'm ok w that. I do electronics by trade so I'm not too put off by it. I promise I will post pics when I get them and update my status.

#24 10 years ago

batteries wont do that .. they just keep the memory.
sounds like replacing the major capacitors will make a nice difference though

#25 10 years ago

Also. I know that there are other issues possible. But I'm trying to maintain good juju so I hope it's just a simple cleaning. If I need to but out the fluke 87 and some dead guy ale it's gonna take a while. So I'm thinking easy. I need it after the motorcycle I just spend 5 months fixing. That was supposed to be a 2 weekend project.

#26 10 years ago

I'm hoping its the caps actually. I didn't see if they were leaking or bulging but I hope they are. So long as its not a broken board or worse. I just dealt w that on my flat screen.

#27 10 years ago

face it mate... its a pinball machine .. its going to take months

the biggest issue is playfield wear and backglass condition .. if you are happy with that the electronics can be easily fixed.

#28 10 years ago
Quoted from too-many-pins:

I sold a decent 100% working Xenon for $1000 a few months ago in Central PA. It was fully shopped, had super nice backglass & cabinet but playfield had some wear. Just to give you some idea or a bench mark. Hope this helps
I loved Xenon but couldn't get past the playfield wear on mine so I decided to just sell it and keep my eyes open for a nice one.

Sounds like the one I had a couple years ago. Looked great with the lights off.

I'd buy another one in better shape for the right price. $750 doesn't sound bad if it's in good condition.

#29 10 years ago
Quoted from wayout440:

If you fully shop a turd, it's still a turd. Shopping adds ZERO value. When buying a game you should be looking at wear of the playfield, condition of electronics (especially corrosion and hacks) and the tough to get items that are artwork based - plastics, backglass, any unique parts/toys. These are what adds up in the long run. cleaning and replacing rubber parts or doing a flipper rebuild - a newbie can be taught that very, very easily. Evaluate potential game purchases looking at what is truly important.

When did I say shopping adds value? I was talking about COST out of pocket here, not value.

#30 10 years ago

The sound FX in this machine are great. Pretty much an Orgasm for everything haha. One is for sale in my area for $1750 sfbay.craigslist.org link

EDIT: Typo lol

#31 10 years ago
Quoted from Jean-Luc-Picard:

The sound FX in this machine are great. Pretty much an orgasim for everything haha. One is for sale in my area for $1750 sfbay.craigslist.org link

and maybe even an orgasm

#32 10 years ago

Xenon was my second pin. I bought one in 2009 for $500. It wasn't working but had a great backglass and cabinet. I love the history behind Xenon, first female voice, tube shot, and the double backglass with the infinity lamps chasing around the backbox is so cool.

Here's few tidbits I learned about when I restored that game in 2009. I don't remember how, but I actually had the opportunity to email Greg Kmiec about Xenon. What a great guy t begin with by even talking to me about Xenon. He told me that the proto Xenon had a plastic ramp before going to the mirror stainless ramp. There were other things but I lost the emails from a hard drive crash a few months ago.

This site has a ton of Xenon history, including an interview with Suzanne Ciani, and how she made the sounds and speech for Xenon. http://www.jeff-z.com/pinball/xenon/pics/pics.html

Ardvark666, I live fairly close to you. I have some extra xenon pf parts if you need anything or help with it LMK...
Rich

#33 10 years ago

A few burned out bulbs could also be drivers depending on if they are CPU driven. I thought I had just a few (around a dozen) burnt bulbs on a Space Invaders. Turned into several hours of tracing/repairing/replacing bad driver transistors, bad sockets, poor connectors. Sometimes burnt bulbs are just that, you don't know till you get into it.

#34 10 years ago

<img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c124/ardvark16/image.jpg" border="0" alt="Xenon photo image.jpg"/>

#35 10 years ago

Here are some pics. I will attempt to take my own but you can see the playfield has some wear. Not terrible but it's there. The rest of it is in vg shape.

#36 10 years ago

That playfield definitely has some nasty wear on it. Seen much worse, but still...if the rest of the machine works, $750 is maybe still a bit high.
Still curious on the "takes 15 minutes to warm up" deal though.
If you've got board/wiring issues and with a playfield like that, you're closer to a $500 game.

#37 10 years ago

I've got to agree with Gecko much closer to $500 or less in my opinion that wear is pretty bad but still an awesome game for a player.

#38 10 years ago

Cool. I appreciate all the help. Ill find out if he will take 500

#39 10 years ago

He's firm at 750 so I'm passing on it. If it needs anything new I overpaid. Oh well. Back to the search.

#40 10 years ago
Quoted from ardvark666:

He's firm at 750 so I'm passing on it. If it needs anything new I overpaid. Oh well. Back to the search.

Good luck dude. Hope you find the perfect first pin to get you back to feeding the addiction.

#41 10 years ago

I hate to say it, but you did the right thing. It's not such a rare machine that they never come up. Too many unknowns. Playfield has wear. It plays fine probably, but if you wanted to replace it, $1k. Battery damage? If the board is trashed, $200. Who knows what else.

Hard to walk away from a machine, but smart.

#42 10 years ago

It's never easy to walk. Sometimes it's easier to buy, but this time around I'm going to collect with patience. Luckily I live near the Silverball Museum which has very nice examples, Xenon included, so I know exactly what a nice one is like. This one is not a collector. I just hate waiting for a good buy.

#43 10 years ago

Mr. Gecko....maybe you'll have something for him someday....

#44 10 years ago

Not too much longer and I'll have to wait until after the holidays. That's the prob w the machine I just looked at. The guy confessed that he paid 1250.00 in Nov 1999. Ouch. Simply Ouch.

#45 10 years ago
Quoted from ardvark666:

It's never easy to walk. Sometimes it's easier to buy, but this time around I'm going to collect with patience. Luckily I live near the Silverball Museum which has very nice examples, Xenon included, so I know exactly what a nice one is like. This one is not a collector. I just hate waiting for a good buy.

I know. And I think we all feel that pain. And there is definitely a balance between patience and cash. That's what I got into with my first Xenon. It was cheap and I wanted one. And I got in so far over my head I almost walked away from the hobby.

#46 10 years ago

That's exactly why I stopped. And that was in the cheap days. I started off with a TZ and it was a terrible experience. I wouldn't even look at a machine that costs more than 2k now.

#47 10 years ago
Quoted from ardvark666:

That's exactly why I stopped. And that was in the cheap days. I started off with a TZ and it was a terrible experience. I wouldn't even look at a machine that costs more than 2k now.

If that fits your budget, that's all that matters. Price alone doesn't dictate anything. Price per machine does.

You can buy a gorgeous Xenon for $2k. That same $2k for an AFM...

#48 10 years ago
Quoted from NJGecko:

I know. And I think we all feel that pain. And there is definitely a balance between patience and cash. That's what I got into with my first Xenon. It was cheap and I wanted one. And I got in so far over my head I almost walked away from the hobby.

This is a point a lot of people looking for pins miss. I waited over 2 years to find a nice ALI in my price range and bam, last week I found and bought one.

#49 10 years ago

I have an update. He now says 500 is fair and will sell. Now I'm not sure. I told him I'd get back to him. I prob will but I'm also thinking of holding out for a TFTC or a Dr who. Ugggh

#50 10 years ago

Now that's a whole different thing. If you're holding out for another game, don't settle.

$500 is probably a fair price BUT you still don't know what you're getting into, so you may need to look at this as a project.

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