Price Check - Twilight Zone and Theatre of Magic

Talk about solid-state and DMD pinball machines
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teknix1
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Price Check - Twilight Zone and Theatre of Magic

Post by teknix1 »

Hi,

I'm in between places at the moment but I'm contemplating selling my Twilight Zone and Theater of Magic pins to fund another hobby. I bought them many years ago, TZ in 1999 and Tom in 2008. It's impossible for me to take pictures because they are packed away at the moment, but let me try to describe the condition of each of the machines. Both haven't had a tremendous amount of plays, I haven't played them a in a few years and they weren't under heavy use even when I did, I'm sure at some point I probably went well over a year without playing any of them. Both of these have been under pinwest covers for years, so no fluorescent damage to the decals.

Twilight Zone:
- Playfield is in rather good condition, has a few mylar pieces installed
- New clock board with LEDs
- A few problem plastics, I made decent but not perfect replacement myself: slot machine, piano. Still has one or two broken plastics
- Powerball detection doesn't seem to work in the slot machine, probably just needs adjusting, never looked into it
- Replaced one of the ramps years ago and now balls sometimes flies off the right ramp (most likely I installed some part in the wrong order when I put it back)
- Cabinet has a few rough edges but mostly nice, it was in some mall for a few years. Red in exterior decals are still looking great.
- Fixed a lock bar hole that was in the front with putty and a bit of paint
- Comes with schematics
- I think I installed the home rom on this one

Theatre of Magic:
- House owned by the previous owner
- Playfield is super nice, same with cabinet
- Home rom with tiger saw mod installed
- I replaced the trap door that was broken, that decal now has mylar on it
- Trunk is a little worn, could probably use a new one to be really nice otherwise working
- New auto calibrating ball saver boards
- I've seen a few DMD glitches over the years, nothing that never stayed, I think it's just a bad ground connection somewhere
- Same thing with one of the (not sure what to call them) lines in the matrix of playfield lights, intermittent, never figured that one out
- Gold ramps are a little used
- Trunk gets stuck, I hear the motor needs to be re-greased once in a while. never did that. Optos work so I figure that's all that's needed.
- Electric problem with the service buttons, they work, but not super well, can't seem to turn the volume down, probably just need new buttons
- Leg plate threads (inside the cabinet) are not doing well, had to use new bolts with nuts to have everything hold, I hear it is a common problem, probably would need a look over

I figure most pins of this age will have a few issues here or there, these could use a bit of maintenance for sure but I don't think any of the issues noted above are critical or should diminish the value of the machine buy a whole lot. I could probably fix most of these myself, I just don't have time for it. It would break my heart to let go of ToM, such a beautiful machine just to look at but given the right price, who knows.

Just looking for an estimate of how much they may be worth in canadian dollars please.

Thanks
Nic

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Murphelman
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Re: Price Check - Twilight Zone and Theatre of Magic

Post by Murphelman »

Condition really does make a difference. Fully working in good condition without broken plastics etc. all help determine value.

Good condition fully working TZ and TOM are similar in price It think. I think around 8k or so Canadian.

Pinside.com is a place you can start to get a rough estimate but mind you it averages the prices based all the sales on the site.
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Dave W.
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Re: Price Check - Twilight Zone and Theatre of Magic

Post by Dave W. »

As mentioned, condition is king and will have a big impact on asking price. The 2 machines you have are certainly up there in terms of price.
I see them sell anywhere between $7500 and $11000 CDN these days.

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Re: Price Check - Twilight Zone and Theatre of Magic

Post by Silverball »

I just sold my TZ a couple weeks back.

It had a nearly perfect playfield, a nice but not perfect (8.5-9) cabinet, basically a very clean,plug and play game with a few mods.

It sold for $8500 and quickly, which I feel was a fair price for the buyer and myself.

Could I have squeezed a few more hundred out of it if I was patient?

Probably but it had been here for almost 8 years and was time to go because I already had my eye on something new.
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Re: Price Check - Twilight Zone and Theatre of Magic

Post by cait001 »

$20, same as in town.
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teknix1
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Re: Price Check - Twilight Zone and Theatre of Magic

Post by teknix1 »

That's awesome, thank you for all the replies everyone, that really helped. I think I will have to find a way to get to them and take some photos.

The other problem is I don't quite know how to evaluate my machines, there are some broken things here or there as mentioned above, but nothing major or nothing that needs buying an expensive replacement. Is there a guide out there for something like this?

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