Wanted The Addams Family Gold

[Durzel]

I realise I'm probably looking for a unicorn here...

Played TAF at a gaming expo recently. Ended up playing it for at least 2 hours, ignoring everything else that was on show Safe to say that I was pretty hooked.

Anyway, I've since been on the lookout for one, and then discovered there was a Gold variant. I'm basically looking at this as a cross between an investment and something I can play on when the mood takes.

I've got a reasonable idea of what they're worth, but understand that it's a sellers market. Would ideally be looking for one that is in excellent condition (I'm very much an end user, not a refurbisher/electronics expert), but one that is a players table rather than a pure collectors piece.

Don't really have a fixed budget in mind - it will be commensurate with the condition. That being said, I'm not really looking for reluctant "I'd keep it but if you're offering both your kidneys then..." sales, so if you're already motivated to sell for whatever reason then let me know.

I'm based near Bath, for what it's worth.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tucks]

Probably looking towards £8-10k for a gold. Normal TAF nearer £4-6k. Both in good condition.

Not sure about the investment aspect as can't see a gold being worth much more than that in say 3 years time (I may be wrong!) so if you want to play it and have some fun, normal TAF is your best option in my view. If you can pick one up on here for say £4k you can spend the other £4k on lottery tickets, beer or plain old hookers!

 

[Durzel]

Ha - I like your style.

You make a good point there about likelihood of appreciation. Unfortunately it seems regular TAF is going for £5500+ everywhere I've looked, and in that context it makes the Gold more palatable (20,750 vs 1,000)

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

I wouldn't bother with the Gold, if you can find one - imo it looks worse than the normal TAF, those 'gold' bumper caps ....uggggh.

A regular TAF just finished at 3.7K on ebay ....you really shouldn't struggle to find one under 5K.

Will had trouble shifting his Gold on here at around 7.5K - I think it went to someone in Oz eventually

Oh and welcome to the forum ....but a word of advice ....'investment' is a dirty word around these parts

 

[huggers]

Took me a good while to track down my Addams Family. It was always that must have game for me. Just has so much charm. As above, I wouldn't bother with a gold )although I love the way it looks) but for the extra money you could have another pin. Good luck in your search!

 

[Durzel]

Duly noted about the I word .. if it's any consolation it wasn't my preoccupation, as said I genuinely want to find one to play.

A family member had Funhouse and whilst I enjoyed it I never really took to it (probably didn't help that I seemed to be pretty useless at it, obviously the machine must've been faulty), whereas with TAF I was hooked. When I got my first Showtime I knew I had to have it.

 

[Durzel]

A cautionary tale I guess, hopefully will avoid anyone else getting scammed...

Was chatting to a guy called Philip Gold in America (email philipgoldpin@gmail.com) about a TAFG that he had up for $8900 including delivery to the UK. Asked for photos and got PIN001.jpg and PIN002.jpg. Low res, can't really make much out, but ok. Asked for a video of it playing - he sends me pin_0011.mp4. Alarm bells starting to ring, as that's clearly not a TAFG but a regular TAF instead..

Spoke to him again and he told me that "his son took a video of the wrong pin".... hmmmm ok. I ask for high resolution photos with a card with his name on in them, I get pin0011.JPG, pin0022.JPG and pin0033.JPG in reply. Not high res, and no proof of ownership.

Pointed out that his TAFG has teleported into a different room with different flooring and furniture, and I get accused of being a timewaster

The weird part is that a reverse image search on the images he provided don't show up anything, which was unexpected.

Is scamming a big thing in pins?

 

[ChrisH]

Yep scamming is common, be wary.....
Unless you have no option your best bet would be to buy from here, eBay etc. can be a minefield
I'd echo what others have said - I'd not bother with a Gold, the original looks nicer to me and if you really want to you can put gold roms in the original TAF (personally I wouldn't bother with that either!)

 

[RobZombie]

Yes it's very common. And you are setting yourself right up as a prime target to be scammed trying to buy a TAF Gold unseen from another country. Take the advice above.

 

[Tucks]

Madness to wire $9k to a stranger int he States and 'hope' he sends his TAFG. Hell, people have even lost deposit money to well publicized pinball start up companies so please, please tread carefully. There are some serious pinheads on here that have bought and sold hundreds of machines so ask, ask and ask again. We are all here to help and don't want to see anyone scammed.

 

[Spadge]

I'd just look for a good/very good condition TAF and run the gold ROM's, there's little to no hardware differences. I agree that the golding on the limited edition is a bit 'meh' but appreciate people's tastes differ. For a good condition TAF you're looking 4.5-6k I guess, depending on extras fitted like a colour dot matrix and general condition of the cabinet etc.

I 'upgraded' to a mint restored TAF and it looks almost new, although I feel my original TAF used to play a little smoother, this new one might if I put some hours in playing it!

 

[Tucks]

There's a TAF for sale on Gumtree down in Cornwall for £3.5k. Not sure if genuine or not......

+ others?

 

[carl lawrence]

A good few years ago there was a lot of people changing a TAF to a TAF Gold unfortunately it is easy to do !

So if it has NO paper trail ,than No buy IMO !!

 

[huggers]

There's a TAF for sale on Gumtree down in Cornwall for £3.5k. Not sure if genuine or not......

+ others?

Think someone figured out it was a scam. Same pics used in another scam. Not to scared the thread starter with all this scam talk. There's plenty of good sellers out there

 

[Durzel]

Thanks all for your helpful advice. And yes, stupidly until it became obvious that it was a scam I had been wondering how I was supposed to wire money to someone in the States and just hope that they actually sent the item. That's a problem with any kind of remote purchase I guess.

I've been speaking to a couple of places and I'm getting quoted top money (circa £6k) for a refurbished TAF, which at the moment I'm baulking at, but at the same time don't want to buy something that I end up having to get refurbished anyway.

 

[Durzel]

There's a TAF for sale on Gumtree down in Cornwall for £3.5k. Not sure if genuine or not......

+ others?

I did see that one, but spotted that it had been brought up in the eBay Auctions thread as a scam so disregarded it.

 

[Tucks]

If you've got £8k burning a hole in your pocket you could buy a TAF from Liberty Games?

 

[RobZombie]

Thanks all for your helpful advice. And yes, stupidly until it became obvious that it was a scam I had been wondering how I was supposed to wire money to someone in the States and just hope that they actually sent the item. That's a problem with any kind of remote purchase I guess.

I've been speaking to a couple of places and I'm getting quoted top money (circa £6k) for a refurbished TAF, which at the moment I'm baulking at, but at the same time don't want to buy something that I end up having to get refurbished anyway.

Be careful you don't end up paying £6k for a substandard 'restoration'. There are some restorers and sellers to avoid. For £6k you are at NIB price level.

 

[Durzel]

To think it seemed so simple to buy a pinball machine, but there seems to be massive price variations and massive refurbishment variations. Sounds like a minefield.

If you've got £8k burning a hole in your pocket you could buy a TAF from Liberty Games?

I wouldn't spend £8k on a standard TAF though.

 

[ChrisH]

It's really simple - go to Phil at Pinball Heaven and select the game you want NIB with great warranty

Where it gets more complex is buying the older games

The youngest TAF is 24 years old and is also very desirable, so you've got varying types

1. Basket case routed ones, probably non-working or in need of serious work.
2. Ones that are in OK condition, but with issues that need looking at
3. Decent ones with maybe rougher cabinets
4. Pretty ones that have been restored/looked after
5. Full on minty, 1000 hour, no expense spared restorations, maybe new cabinets, playfields - the works

TAF is also popular, and people know that so the price is higher, so people with type 1 basket cases assume they can sell them for type 5 minters prices (I'm clearly not talking about people here - I'm talking eBay) and the rather sad fact is with TAF they seem to be increasingly correct - I've seen some horror shows reach prices that seem nuts to me!

Highly recommend going to show shows, chat with a few people you'll get more of a feel for the games and you may even find someone with a TAF to move on, or who can point out things to look out for when buying
NLP is coming up and so is the Shine tournament at Tilt, there are also league meets - the SW league is your area (and mine since I'm about 20 miles from Bath!), and you're not far from Special When Lit either

Also when buying an older game (or even a NIB!) it will go certainly go wrong, this is inevitable, so paying £4K for a doesn't mean something won't go wrong 2 weeks in - they are complex beasts, with moving parts, its a case of when, not if.

Also does it have to be TAF right away, maybe look at a more readily available title, get used to owning one and then when the right TAF shows up do a trade or sell the one you've got?
That said there are lots of TAFs out there, and the right one will come along.....

 

[Durzel]

Brilliantly comprehensive reply, thanks.

I'm trying to gen up on the things to look out for. I think I've got a reasonable idea but I guess when it comes to refurbished prices a lot of the premium (in theory) comes from the labour and expertise. That said it's a bit disorientating seeing prices range of several thousand.

Thanks again.

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

Brilliantly comprehensive reply, thanks.

I'm trying to gen up on the things to look out for. I think I've got a reasonable idea but I guess when it comes to refurbished prices a lot of the premium (in theory) comes from the labour and expertise. That said it's a bit disorientating seeing prices range of several thousand.

Thanks again.

Buying one via a member on here is probably the best bet you have of getting one priced appropriately.





Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

 

[Durzel]

Yup, just need to wait for one to come up for sale Thanks.

 

[Dave Bishop]

One last thing is beware of imaginations. You can get TAFG Cabinet decals, reproduced Certificates and Plaques. You can spot the reproductions due to slight variances. Don't think you can get reproduction Gold Manuals
This is my TAFG- repro cabinet & decals, gold trim is new.. playfield, Certificate, Manual & documentation & plaque original.. but not ALL original.. does that detract from the value!? Depends on the person

 

[Dave Bishop]

There was a "gold" for sale, when asked for pictures I found the plaque to be repro, the certificate to be reproduce and he had no manual.. the key things which make it collectors edition.. I pulled out as he could not guarantee it was original.

Note: some playfield differences aswell. In the later gold editions - carpet pattern is 1 of them.

 

[carl lawrence]

@Dave Bishop really lovely machine you have

May I ask what is the carpet pattern please ?

 

[Dave Bishop]

On the playfield the carpet printed on the playfield from top right flipper going to middle ramp entrance.. the pattern on it is different from the original TAF playfield

 

[domlouis]

Here is probably the best place but here like everywhere else there are not many of them about.
You could try pinballowners. That also has a for sale section and taf comes up regularly. But again beware.

 

[domlouis]

Also might want to move this thread to the main pinball for sale thread. More likely to be viewed.
A quick search in France shows me 4 taf placed for sale today (usual caveats about scam). Price from 3.8k to 5.6k euros.
Not bad for a days work.

 

[Durzel]

Cheers all