by Flack » Tue Oct 26, 2010 8:16 am
Shooting/Light Gun games are weird. Even more so than other arcade games, these machines seem to fall out of favor quickly with both gamers and vendors. Same thing with those golf games. It's amazing to me how quickly Golden Tee machines lose their value ... which is why so many of them get converted to newer models. It's getting harder to find old Golden Tee machines, just because (A) old models are essentially worthless and (B) they're fairly cheap to upgrade.
Anyway, light gun games are exactly the same. Nobody wants House of the Dead 1. Players don't want to play it because there are newer ones (2, 3, 4, etc.) and vendors don't want it because it doesn't bring in the money that a newer machine would. Add to that the fact that most newer shooting games have gigantic monitors, so an older one with a smaller crt isn't going to be worth much to a vendor. Add to the fact that those guns are expensive to replace and/or maintain, so unless it's in a location that brings in a lot of money, it's most likely going to be a money loser.
All that being said, $200-$250 isn't a bad price for one in working condition with working guns. Lots of those shooting games are compatible, so it may be possible to buy some compatible boards and swap them out from time to time. If I were a seller, unless I was in a hard spot I wouldn't sell one for $100 -- parted out, it's worth at least $200.
Shooting/Light Gun games are weird. Even more so than other arcade games, these machines seem to fall out of favor quickly with both gamers and vendors. Same thing with those golf games. It's amazing to me how quickly Golden Tee machines lose their value ... which is why so many of them get converted to newer models. It's getting harder to find old Golden Tee machines, just because (A) old models are essentially worthless and (B) they're fairly cheap to upgrade.
Anyway, light gun games are exactly the same. Nobody wants House of the Dead 1. Players don't want to play it because there are newer ones (2, 3, 4, etc.) and vendors don't want it because it doesn't bring in the money that a newer machine would. Add to that the fact that most newer shooting games have gigantic monitors, so an older one with a smaller crt isn't going to be worth much to a vendor. Add to the fact that those guns are expensive to replace and/or maintain, so unless it's in a location that brings in a lot of money, it's most likely going to be a money loser.
All that being said, $200-$250 isn't a bad price for one in working condition with working guns. Lots of those shooting games are compatible, so it may be possible to buy some compatible boards and swap them out from time to time. If I were a seller, unless I was in a hard spot I wouldn't sell one for $100 -- parted out, it's worth at least $200.