Possible First Table Purchase

[Silver Ball Kid]

Thanks Farside Studios, for rekindling my love for pinball. Five months ago I bought TPA. Now, I'm about to buy my first (as in there WILL be more) real pin.

I'd love to hear opinions and comments here from other pin owners (and anyone else) as I move toward a decision.

I am a brewmaster in a pub and I meet all kinds of people all the time. Through a stroke of good fortune, I have the opportunity to buy a 1976 Williams Space Odyssey table from a customer friend for $350.00 and the money was given to me as a gift by an amazingly cool person in my life so dough is in hand. I know the owner personally and I know that the machine is in "playable condition", at least as far as the fact that they say their grandson always wants to play it whenever he comes over (and the wife was grouching that "it is SO LOUD" when he plays it). They did say that there is writing in marker on the cabinet front where people wrote on it to keep high scores. Other than those two things, I haven't seen it yet so I can't say.

I am decently mechanically inclined. I have never worked on a pin before but I have the fever now and the means I really want to start buying and fixing/flipping pins as a hobby. One of my best friends is an installer for Pepsi who has Navy electronics training and spent five years of his life in the late 80s - early 90s as a vending machine/pinball repair guy. For part of that time he was actually a hire of an arcade as a tech. In short, I have a willing teacher who knows his stuff and has training on EMs and newer machines so he knows how player units work and all such things. The only thing we might be slightly lacking in is if there is touch up painting that needs to be done.

Obviously I am going to get more info on the pin and either get pix or go see it in person. A few questions I am looking for answers to are:

1. I see that the re-sale value on this machine isn't great. Should that be a deterrent? Matt and I intend to completely shop it, tune it up and go from there. I may end up keeping it or I may end up trying to "flip" it as I move toward something with a rule set I like better.

2. If I am going to attempt to flip it, what are any important things to be mindful of when working on the machine.

3. I have read a lot that Williams EMs are problematic. Any thoughts on this?

Any and all other comments are warmly welcomed. I'm excited and I think I will pull the trigger on this purchase.

Thanks and cheers!

 

[speedfreakz]

I tell people it is like a vintage car. Like to tinker and have patient to work on it? Can you get a schemematic for it?
From there it can go from a "daily driver" to "full restore", just don't expect to get "Barrett Jackson car auction money" because the game may not be that sought after.
Get the right cleaners and don't scrimp on bulbs and rubbers.
If you haven't found it yet go look at happ controls for a selection of stuff.
If you take a liking to doing it be warned you will want more.
Drop me a pm and I can give you more info if you want and maybe a lead on some more

 

[DanBradford]

just do it!

i started over 4 years ago and am now truly hooked (check my signature). i can't say much about EMs as i don't really care for them, except that they are very cheap, and if you choose to put many hours into shopping it, you will learn a ton but probably make no money selling it on. actually if you do a decent restore job you could end up investing a stack of cash in it, and you'd never see that back unless by some fluke you encountered a die-hard fan of that game, who happened to be rich.

do it for the love and the fun and the hobby and the challenge!
you will get out of this hobby what you put in.
you won't regret it.

 

[MonkeyGrass]

Ha! That's the same table that was *Almost* my first buy. Only because the seller never got back to me with a firm price, but it would have been between $5-650.

From the research I did, that is one of the best, peak-era EM's, and one that the designer felt was his best work.

I think it's an awesome table - the backglass is a pure work of art and I love the theme.

I'd get on that in a heart beat. If I found one playable at that price, it would be in my collection for sure!

 

[Silver Ball Kid]

OK, I will pick this table up this coming Saturday. How am I supposed to sleep until them?

Here are some pictures for you guys to see. From what I can tell and from the chat I had with my buddy who is selling it to me, it looks to be in pretty great shape. The person who had it before my buddy worked on it for 3 years and got it in complete working order from what I was told tonight. I hate that the legs have been repainted but I can strip them or send them off to get re-chromed if I feel like it. There is some minor paint missing on the backglass but I can get a sweet reproduction from the people at Classic Playfield Reproductions. They also sell a reproduction plastics set and I might pick that up right away if the plastics look bad. Just don't want to go throwing too much money around until I have it in house. I did buy some Novus 2, a new ball and some replacement lamps today so I will have it all in house before the weekend. Just want to clean up the playfield and get to playing!

I have been assured that this table is in complete working order and I can't wait to see it in action. Once I have it in my possession i will take some better photos and post them up.

Excited!