House of the Dead

[js]

Dear experts:

How much should a working HotD go for? There's a guy with one locally, he wants $250. Is $100 a lowball offer? It seems there's a lot of shit to go wrong with the light guns and all.

[Tdarcos]

Dear experts:

How much should a working HotD go for? There's a guy with one locally, he wants $250. Is $100 a lowball offer? It seems there's a lot of shit to go wrong with the light guns and all.

Ebay has something like 6 different HotD items up there right now, ranging from $2495.00 down to $75.00, you need to be more specific as to which one you're referring to, presuming you're talking about the game.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Dear experts:

How much should a working HotD go for? There's a guy with one locally, he wants $250. Is $100 a lowball offer? It seems there's a lot of shit to go wrong with the light guns and all.

It's pretty lowball. They tend to go for $600. The thing with light gun games is that you don't have to worry about changing TVs to an incompatible type: it will always have the same CRT in it.

With that in mind (and assuming this is your first arcade purchase) - they don't make new CRTs any more. Arcade manufacturers and such have people on shitty LCDs. They look terrible. So if there is a problem with the monitor and you don't feel you want to fix it (or don't feel you can find someone to fix it) then pass. But I don't think monitors are beyond you, not with all the stuff you've done with your car.

Any other component can be fixed or replaced. Is the one here a good approximation? http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=8153

[Flack]

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.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Straw, if you leave us hanging and don't tell us what became of your inquiry here, YOUR house is going to be the... er.... the ... um... argh. What a time to draw a blank!

[js]

Flack sez "Nobody wants House of the Dead 1. Players don't want to play it because there are newer ones (2, 3, 4, etc.) "

I want to play it, Flack. *I DO*.

jonsey: I would also like a splatterhouse machine.
In response to your inquiry regarding the house of the dead machine, I will tell you the same thing that the oh so stereotypical Craigslist poster told me:

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Splatterhouse is one of the rarest printed circuit boards in all of arcade gaming. It routinely goes for $300 or more. (That's just the board!!) I wanted one badly. Real transactions I saw with my real eyes were completed over on the KLOV arcade forum for that price.

If you ever get anywhere near a Splatterhouse game and the board is inside, pick that shit up.

[Flack]

Flack sez "Nobody wants House of the Dead 1. Players don't want to play it because there are newer ones (2, 3, 4, etc.) "

I want to play it, Flack. *I DO*.

Sorry, I should have clarified. I was talking about from a financial standpoint -- as in, kids going to arcades don't want to play it because there are newer ones available.

Don't ever let popular opinion sway what you want to own! Tust me, I have an entire collection of games nobody else is interested in, hah!

Also, Jonsey was right about Splatterhouse. That game has a huge following and those things are crazy expensive. You could probably build a complete MAME cabinet cheaper than it would cost you to get a Splatterhouse machine.