These folk have it up for 300 now. It looks like my visit and the earlier one by the friend of @pintableuser got them all excited. Hot property a completely knackered game.
Gone to Ebay Bally Skateball project.
- Thread starter pintableuser
- Start date
The folk have relisted the knackered Skateball with a price increase to £500 !!! Different photos, but same sellers.
They have now taken it home so that the more convivial photographic environment can emphasise the subtle beauty of this game. You can now see with the benefit of daylight how damp the conditions were it was stored in and the effect this had on the manual, the corroded internals, the true horror of the blue paint job, the "held together by sticky back plastic" back glass, how corroded even the playfield screws are, the (sun bleached ?) knackered pops and lane guides, significant cabinet damage ....
As an aside, what do you do you have to do the the red plastic lane guides at the top of the game to make them turn completely white ? The poppers are similarly incredibly aged by apparent uv damage. I have seen pinballs left outside at places like campsites in Southern France that were totally ruined by uv damage, bleached into oblivion. So I wonder if this poor skateball led an outdoor life in a sunny environment. We have just replaced our garden clothes airer, it took about 20 years of uk sunlight to turn its plastics white and brittle.
It is next to a pile of logs, so I wonder if this is a vision of its future.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-1980...142?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5b108849a6
They have now taken it home so that the more convivial photographic environment can emphasise the subtle beauty of this game. You can now see with the benefit of daylight how damp the conditions were it was stored in and the effect this had on the manual, the corroded internals, the true horror of the blue paint job, the "held together by sticky back plastic" back glass, how corroded even the playfield screws are, the (sun bleached ?) knackered pops and lane guides, significant cabinet damage ....
As an aside, what do you do you have to do the the red plastic lane guides at the top of the game to make them turn completely white ? The poppers are similarly incredibly aged by apparent uv damage. I have seen pinballs left outside at places like campsites in Southern France that were totally ruined by uv damage, bleached into oblivion. So I wonder if this poor skateball led an outdoor life in a sunny environment. We have just replaced our garden clothes airer, it took about 20 years of uk sunlight to turn its plastics white and brittle.
It is next to a pile of logs, so I wonder if this is a vision of its future.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-1980...142?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5b108849a6
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I like how it's described as a 'good restoration project'. Perhaps 'Expensive Restoration Project' might be a better description?
A real shame but I doubt anyone will pry this from their hands now. They clearly think it's worth more than it actually is, especially given the amount of money it will need to make it nice.
A real shame but I doubt anyone will pry this from their hands now. They clearly think it's worth more than it actually is, especially given the amount of money it will need to make it nice.
That SKATEBALL really is the saddest pinball I've ever seen 
I've had quite in depth discussions with the guy about it and he just doesn't want to let it go at a price that would give someone the opportunity to bring it back from the dead. I have a feeling the line in his listing about not offering him £100 to take it off his hands might be aimed at me 
He'll either get really lucky and someone will pay over the odds, keep it in his showroom as something to look at (which is what he told me) or just keep re-listing it over and over.....I might shoot him another cheeky offer
He'll either get really lucky and someone will pay over the odds, keep it in his showroom as something to look at (which is what he told me) or just keep re-listing it over and over.....I might shoot him another cheeky offer
That and the knackered Viking are giving 80s Bally's a bad name.
I've got that Viking (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181721023584) as I was interested in how much it went for (before I refreshed my Watchlist it was £164) but I now see the listing has been ended. What was going on there? £164 would be too much for me for that title in that condition.
I did not buy that piece of cr@p. but mad prices, mad games, mad scores ..... It's all pinball. Viking had a knackered playfield and back glass - too far gone for me, and too much money for a scrapper.
And eBay makes it worse, a hive of dishonesty.
But it looked like a seller with a number of games, so he probably knew what he was doing.
Contrast with the folk selling skateball. Who are not really selling it at all. They know nowt about pinball, think they have discovered a genuine Magna Carta, think everyone is lying to them, and think that being knackered adds to its authenticity. After all, who would put a repro plastics set on a magna carta ? And a genuine Magna Carta with an original manual, with genuine patina. TRIPLE JACKPOT !!!!!!!!!
And eBay makes it worse, a hive of dishonesty.
But it looked like a seller with a number of games, so he probably knew what he was doing.
Contrast with the folk selling skateball. Who are not really selling it at all. They know nowt about pinball, think they have discovered a genuine Magna Carta, think everyone is lying to them, and think that being knackered adds to its authenticity. After all, who would put a repro plastics set on a magna carta ? And a genuine Magna Carta with an original manual, with genuine patina. TRIPLE JACKPOT !!!!!!!!!
I offered £100, was swiftly rejected.
I've offered this numerous times and had a chat with the guy as well. The lowest he'd come down to is £200 even after I explained the cost and amount of work involved in saving this game and that he's selling to a very small group of people who have the time and skills to fix it (and that these people know what the game is worth). He kept telling me he'd rather keep it than sell it for what it's actually worth and that it would make a nice display piece for his shop.....but then he bangs it back up on Ebay and goes through the same cycle of price reduction until it doesn't sell again. Either he'll get bored and accept an offer eventually or they'll be an antiques shop in Rotherham with a manky Skateball in the window
It'll sell on ebay (probably for more than £300) as someone out there with little skills will THINK that they have got a bargain and that it'll be a "fuse" - to find it isnt.....
So where is this machine residing now as I am quite close to that area and could go and take some pics ?
I live more or less on the border of Doncaster and Rotherham. Can't be far away....
I apologise for asking.....
I think the game is back at the guys house now in Rotherham somewhere. It was at his antiques warehouse but he took it home to take better pics of it or something 
Sorry I hadn't realised but i'd basically just repeated what @ronsplooter had already said.I apologise for asking.....
It's your money at the end of the day so go and take a look if it piques your interest.
I never said I was going to buy it......was close by just could have done with a trip out that way.....
