My 325 mile jaunt for Pachis

[Bigdog]

Well,

I am back. About a 6 1/2 hour round trip for Pachinko machines that I don't have room for.

They belonged to the recently deceased husband of the lady who sold them to me. Before I made the trip, I asked her if she would take $90 for the lot...she said "no problem"...I wanted to defray the cost of the gas, just in case there was something major wrong with them once I picked them up...there is an element of risk involved in 6 1/2 hours of driving based on a picture...such definitely has value in my book.

As it turned out, there were a TON of balls...I'd say 3,000 at a minimum...maybe as much as 4 or 5K. I didn't turn any of the machines on, and they are currently down in my garage...waiting for tomorrow's testing to begin.

These are my first "modern" machines, and I am probably going to be needing some help. Included in my purchase:

4 machines
1 ball lifter
a bunch of balls...

By the way, the lady had already sold one machine on ebay, and she knew that they were more valuable than what I paid...she indicated that they were not working 100%, so I took her at her word. In all honesty, I wouldn't have made the trip if the lifter were not included in the deal...apparently, that was worth the trip all by itself, and there were more balls than I had originally believed.

All in all, it was a long afternoon/evening, but a worthwhile one...thanks to all of you who goaded me into it...

[wrkey]

OMG he negotiated down for a ball lifter!

You da man!

[luckydog]

the deal just got better

[Moparformances]

congrats to u

and negotiating skills to boot

never pay full price thats my motto

[FTKServices]

Get deal !!!

[compirate]

never pay full price thats my motto

especially from a recent widow

[Sid]

Where was this located?

just curious as that sort of setup doesn't sound like an amateur setup, modern machines + tons of balls and a lifter..

sounds more like it would be someone who was very well versed in Pachinko. I'm thinking even a member.. and well if they are deceased.. just curious thats all..

[birdbrain]

they were on the Louisville Ky. craigslist.

[Bigdog]

they were on the Louisville Ky. craigslist.

True. The man who owned them apparently spent some time in Japan at some point. His wife was extremely nice; apparently she was in the process of downsizing for a move...like I said, she had already gone the Ebay route, but she was confident in the workability of the machine that she sold, and the weight of the machines (much heavier than the vintage ones I'm used to) encouraged her to just say "come and get them; I'm tired and don't feel like trying to box them up,etc."

Her husband also had a vintage machine that she was not selling...it was a mid 1970's machine, and a brand that I don't normally see...I can't remember at this point. It was very dirty, and in need of much work...all I could think at the time was that I was not the least bit interested in the machine...maybe the purchase of the 4 finally broke me...

With 14 machines, and warm weather coming (I can work on them in my garage), I'm actually thinking of paring back...we'll see how that grand idea works out.

Tune in next time when I magically have 20 machines and counting...

[dattia]

Yes, I also was wondering if we lost a member

[Bigdog]

UPDATE on my purchase:

The ball lifter works awsome! what a great piece of equipment!

As best I can tell, there are about 4 thousand balls.

On two of the machines, the LED screen does not light up. It may be a simple problem to fix, but I don't know how as yet.

On one of the machines, the shooter doesn't shoot the balls...again, could be simple, I don't know.

On another machine, the shooter works sproradically...very inconsistent, and this is one of the machines where the LED screen doesn't work...other light and bells work, but it is incomplete.

The machine with the ball lifter seems to be the most consistent...however, right now there are a bunch of balls jammed in the big payoff tulip. I'm assuming that there is an easy fix on this (kind of like the vintage machines), but until I dig a little deeper, I'm clueless.

All of the wires and chips are scary to me...I'm gonna need some help making these fully functional. Thankfully, I have you guys...

[birdbrain]

unplug clean replug

[Cystic]

Wow what a d(st)eal! Please post some pics. Farthest I have gone(so far..hehe) is 85 miles round trip.

But now thanks for MudFud I have learned of this site.

Search Tempest - Craigslist Helper & More!

and am looking at a trip to the middle of the next state soon.(Heavy Sigh)




P.S. You really do need the 12 step program.

(I read this after I posted your quote here.)


http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/vint...his-200-a.html

[MrGoodBurn]

Great deal!

Got any pics?

[compirate]

85 miles? 325 miles? 400 miles?

Try 10,903! (and paid to do it!)(and that was just one of many trips)

[birdbrain]

new in town drove from Florida to maine for a spinluck. i drove from miami to wash. dc to deliver one.

[Moparformances]

i think dave wins for longest trip i was tired after just reading about it

[BigBearSteve]

I drove an entire 6 miles to get one once

(actually, I didn't drive, my brother did)

[luckydog]

I drove 10 miles each way to get my Nurse Betty pachinko

[Moparformances]

well i got my first arepachi delivered