Arcade machine...to gut or not to gut. that is...

my names char.....and I'm a scrap-acholic....
no im just messing. im still quite new to this whole hobby. normally i scrap some steel and some copper when i stumble upon it....okay you've caught me...pretty much anything worth a cent.

I've been given the opportunity of being handed a couple of broken arcade machines. I haven't had the chance to see what awaits me; I'm gonna go pick them up tomorrow. But, in the mean time, i was wondering if there really anything good inside worth breaking down. I mean what all should i really keep an eye out for? I'm assuming there's gonna be a couple mother boards, you know some computer type material with a high chance of wires; maybe some copper tubes or something ayyyyyy :winner: no but really, any type of information regarding this would be helpful along with appreciated.


thanks for your time.
char:recycle:

What are the names of the machines ? Your going to find low grade electronic boards and wires , a lot of partical board or wood .
If you can provide the names of the games and the condition I may be able to provide some more information.

I highly doubt you will find copper tubing in there welcome to the forum btw

Yes like he said no copper tubing. What types of games? If they are like racing ones basic you have plastic, wood, and glass and maybe a little goodies. Pinball machines are where resale is because they are easy to fix or swap parts. Think about flipping on Craigslist. Ask yourself if you have a way to get rid of the trash. These things weigh a lot for a reason. If you end up stripping some stuff could still sell such as seat, lights, controls, buttons. Pics would be nice

I too am wondering what machine ya got - depending on what ya got will also depend on wither you can resell it to a collector(some buy em working or not working). Welcome btw.

Please for all things holy, don't scrap them without letting us seem them first!

I worked for an amusement and ATM company for about 5 years. I've scrapped quite a few old arcades, cranes, ticket games, and atms. Like the previous members said....mainly boards with a lot of IC chips, CRTs, and wires. Some arcades actually have game cartridges like the old Nintendo's that plug into the board. These can be quite valuable. I remember scrapping out several Metal Slug arcades and selling the cartridges on Ebay for around $100 each. Good luck!!

main boards and sound boards for many games do well on ebay...

The monitors might be worth something if they function and don't have too bad screen burn. Some people turn old cabinets into MAME machines (you stick a PC inside and with the correct software you have an unlimited emulation arcade machine.

Please don't scrap it unless it is REALLY bad. Like was lost in a flood BAD. I hear people all the time telling me "Aw man I just scrapped out XX and made $Y!" when in fact XX is worth about 100x more than scrap. "Yeah, but the gold and copper" or whatever is the excuse. Put some research into it and make way more than being a scraphead. For example I ended up with 30 office phones froma customer. They worked, but no one wanted them. There is little to recover from them scrap wise so I was looking at wasted inventory space. Did some research and BAM found a company that bought the lot sight unseen and netted almost $200 for something I was originally looking at a loss on. Even the wood cabinets are worth something on Craigslist. If I hear you scrapped a 80's Pacman cabinet and made $7, I will find you and slap some sense into ya...