I have learned through many years of posts, sales, people, auctions, and similar experiences that there are certain words and phrases that you need to watch out for when buying games, boards, etc.<\/p>\n
The first one, and it is a biggie<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0– UNTESTED<\/strong>.\u00a0 Here is the truth: if dealing with a whole game, and it has an intact power cord, it is never “untested” – somebody tried to plug it in and power it on, guaranteed<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 When dealing with intact games, presume “untested” means “I plugged it in, it did not work” – in other words, “broken<\/em><\/strong>.”<\/p>\n Now, sometimes “untested” really does mean untested.\u00a0 For example, if someone just got a great bulk deal on a bunch of boards, and want to move them quickly, they may not want to go through the time and effort of testing each one.\u00a0 For example, it is not worth building an adapter for a board that sells for $50 working when I can sell it for $30 untested – I would spend more than $20 of my time and materials building that adapter.<\/p>\n Things like power supplies may legitimately be untested because they might not want to risk damaging a board because of a bad power supply (not everyone has a rig to properly test supplies under load).\u00a0 Same goes for controls, coin mechs, etc.\u00a0 Might not be worth the time to connect and try out each one.<\/p>\n In general, just presume that Untested<\/em> means the same as Broken<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 That way, you are never disappointed.<\/p>\n This is another one.\u00a0 “It worked 6 months ago when I put it into storage,” or “it last worked two years ago before I put it on the shelf.” Same as above – play it safe and consider that to mean untested or just broken<\/em>.<\/p>\n This is another favorite of mine.\u00a0 “It is broken and I am selling it for $100.\u00a0 It just needs this one little inexpensive<\/em> $30 part and then it will be worth $400<\/strong>, so this is a great deal<\/em><\/strong>!”<\/p>\n Bullshit<\/em>.<\/p>\n If you could make a $30 investment in a $100 item and quadruple its value, you would, right?\u00a0 Well, so would the seller if they had any common sense.\u00a0 So either the seller is an imbecile or is lying.\u00a0 Which do you think it is?<\/p>\n OK, benefit of the doubt – it really<\/em> only needs a $30 part.\u00a0 But how hard is it to get that part?\u00a0 And how hard is it to install?\u00a0 The head gasket for a motor is inexpensive.\u00a0 The labor required to tear the engine apart, scrape off the old gasket, clean the mating surfaces, install the new gasket, and put everything back together is another matter.<\/p>\n A Midway 8080 board like Space Invaders Deluxe may be missing its MB14241 chip.\u00a0 Without it, moving characters are just blocks.\u00a0 Cost of the chip?\u00a0 Maybe less than $30.\u00a0 But that chip is pretty damn hard to find!<\/p>\n And never perform anything more than a cursory inspection.\u00a0 If you find something that the seller did not notice, the sale price might go up.\u00a0 Same for performing repairs – the price goes up if a non-working item suddenly becomes working.\u00a0 Sometimes, the item is no longer for sale.<\/p>\n Now, that is not meant to imply that you should not do “the right thing” where appropriate.\u00a0 For example, if someone is selling a mint Ms. Pac-Man that will not power on for $200, and you see the reason it is not powering on is because the rear door’s interlock switch is out of position…\u00a0 well, I hope you make the honorable decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have learned through many years of posts, sales, people, auctions, and similar experiences that there are certain words and phrases that you need to watch out for when buying games, boards, etc. Untested The first one, and it is a biggie\u00a0– UNTESTED.\u00a0 Here is the truth: if dealing with a whole game, and it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8],"tags":[20,83,82],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-repair-logs","category-rants","category-resources","tag-arcade","tag-liars","tag-untested"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tWorked [time<\/em>] ago when I put it into storage, on the shelf, etc.<\/h2>\n
It Just Needs This One Inexpensive Part…<\/h2>\n
One other thing – Never Repair Before You Buy<\/h2>\n