Offered a pachinko

[who922]

Someone offered me this Pachinko. They wanted $50 for it! I said thanks, but no thanks. Right Call?

[Bartsimpson]

Wow, and it even says $40.00 right on it. Pretty dirty... I would have done the same thing and passed. Does it even work?

[who922]

I just noticed in the picture that it has $40 written on the glass!
______________________________________________________
We didn't even get to the working...not working part.

[birdbrain]

that one is a 10-15 dollar unit.

[wrkey]

I totally agree with BirdBrain.. $15 max... and that only if they have some balls to go with it. Obviously they do or they would be asking $50!

[outdoorenth]

Yuck. Definitely not worth it.

[wibbix]

Not worth that type of money but I have to admit, I want to snatch that box and fix'er up!!!

[birdbrain]

it's a pile of crap. but it is an ultraman machine

[who922]

Is ultraman who is in the middle there?

[luckydog]

yes that is Ultraman

[who922]

Ok, so I decided that since it has Ultraman on the front that I would make another offer. I offered $25 dollars. I think WRkey's generosity in his purchases forced me to do it. We will see what happens.

[wrkey]

See... kindness propogates itself! But then again... no kind deed goes unpunished.



Although, I think I would have made an offer too.. just because I hate to see a vintage machine stay trashed like that.

Although the wife would have a different opinion.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Bigdog]

In that condition, $25 is about right...gonna take A BUNCH of elbow grease to put it back into shape. Your TIME is worth something.

On another note, if that is the thick glass, the glass itself could be worth $10-$20 if you have another better machine that is in need of such...if you get the machine cheap enough, it might just be a good one to be scrapped for the parts if it's going to be too much to put it back together.

By the way, can anyone tell me about the "stopper" on this machine? It looks to be removable so that the ball can go all the way around and back into the tray...why did they make these machines with the extra rail on the right side if it wasn't going to be used?

Just curious if anyone knows.

[wibbix]

I thought it was to discourage abuse... that is, to force you to ease up on the launch. But then again, they might have made you lose the ball instead of reclaming it.

[wrkey]

Hey BD,

Here's my thoughts on the stopper. This is all just my speculation by the way. If you look at earlier machines (the single shot type) they have the full 'around the world' loop that returns 'over shot' balls back to the shooter. This machine could have been designed the way it was because either: A) the orginal design called for returning over shots, B)the Original design had the stopper but kept the return track for historical tradition (tradition seems to be a big thing in Pachinko land).

Thinking about option B, I fail to convince myself that this extra 'track' was there just for the sake of tradition.

So I tend to 'vote for' option A. This could be that the new machines were coming out with a stopper and the players were not utilizing this machine in the parlour and instead playing just the newer ones. Therefore the parlour owner placed the stopper on the machine to keep the players using that machine and thus extending it's life in the business a bit longer. It could also be that the last owner of the machine put this stopper there in order to 'match' the other machine actions they also owned. I think the latter may be the most likely case and thus the reason it looks 'removeable'.

Final thought: I would leave the stopper for two reasons. First I'd be afraid the screw up the cell and I'd have a hole I'd have to fill in. Secondly, when playing these multi-shot machines, I tend to shoot them quickly and having a ball come back around into the shooter area would piss me off too much.

I probably didn't provide any insight here.. .but then again... I just like typing!

[compirate]

I tend to agree with you wrkey. I think they were manufactured like that, and the parlors could remove it if they wished. Any player playing for money would aim their shots anyway so the stopper should never come into play. Also, the parlors aim is to make money, so they want every shot to go out the bottom. A shot going all the way around gets to be replayed, no money in that!

Almost all modern machines still have something like this, the outer ring ends at the 'stopper', and the inner ring starts after it.

[who922]

Well I either offended her with my lower price offer or she is stonewalling me. I've gotten no response since I offered $25. I may not be the new owner of Ultraman after all.

[Bigdog]

I have a feeling that another fixer-upper is out there and will make it's presence known...they always do.

[Bigdog]

Sometimes the temptation to buy ANY pachinko...regardless of condition...is so great that it defies logic. For some reason, it's almost as if you don't think another opportunity will ever come around again.

This past summer, I was in the midst of a buying frenzy. I bought 2 machines within a few weeks of each other for $50 apiece. Both were in VERY dirty condition and needed quite a bit of elbow grease. I am now putting one back together, and the other is still torn down. $50 wasn't bad, but from what I've seen on this site, I certainly got no bargain. Both machines are Nishijin B's and neither is anything special.

A few weeks later, I watched someone go from $50 down to $10 for their Nishijin B. Again, nothing special about it, but it was in better shape than either of the other 2 and for $10 I couldn't pass it up. Since I bought it, I haven't touched it, but again...it was $10.

Frankly, if 20 machines came available to me tomorrow in my area of town for $10 apiece, I'd buy them all.

Moral of the story is...there are thousands of these machines out there. Patience and persistence will ensure that over the next couple of years, you will have plenty of opportunities to nab several of them for a good price.

[wrkey]

I agree with BigDog. There is a high supply and only a few of us that purchase them. I suggest you give her some time to think about it. If it sells, I suspect we'll see it show up here before to long (everyone ends up here), if not, she'll come down on th price.

Good luck!