MINT games?

[Morgan Beckman]

After reading Brian's post extolling his mint Asteroids, I've decided
I want to see a picture of ANY MINT 1980s arcade game from someone's
collection. Everyone claims to have a mint this and mint that... put
your money where your mouth is. Post a picture of your mint-condition
game.

I personally don't think a single truly mint 1980s game exists.
Someone prove me wrong. -Just don't post pics of a game with lockbar
holes drilled in it, or you'll be laughed at by everyone. (Well, maybe
not everyone, but several people at least)

I have a couple VERY nice games, but none that are mint.

I'll be happy to remporarily host your pictures if you don't have
webspace.

[VaxX]

and what about that ms pac that was new in crate???

"Morgan Beckman" <morgan...@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:963f694a.04060...@posting.google.com...

[Weade]

And a couple of years ago, John Robertson of John's Jukes in Canada
uncovered a NIB Black Knight pinball machine. It was documented in GameRoom
magazine and was quite exciting, to say the least.

If a machine gets a blemish while in the crate, would that mean it is no
longer mint? If so, then a mint game would be extremely rare.

Bill

[Chuk]

> If a machine gets a blemish while in the crate, would that mean it is no
> longer mint? If so, then a mint game would be extremely rare.
>

Yes, it would no longer be mint.

[Joe Magiera]

I think this is going to come down to a person's preference in judgement. I
admit, I use the term loosely myself. For example, I've seen Morgan's
games, and before he posted this, I probably would have called a couple of
them mint. But on further thought, I have to agree with Morgan. While they
were nice (very nice to excellent in some cases), they weren't mint.

On the other hand, an NIB game that had some "factory" blemishes, I would
still call mint (obviously depending on the extent of the blemishes).

Yeah, come on people, anyone who thinks they have a mint game, let's see
some detailed pictures. I'm sure there are some out there. I'd like to see
them. I'll be fair as I can in judgement. If we can get a general
consensus, we can use it to factually present what is a mint game. I know
we'll never get unanimous agreement as I'm sure some people will go out of
there way to find some extremely minor flaw so they won't have to call it
mint.

Here's a related question, what about a NIB game that has a factory error
(not a blemish)? Truely blemish free, but something was made or installed
wrong. For example, say the coin door hole was cut crooked. Installed
perfectly with no blemishes, but crooked. Is that mint?

Joe

"Weade" <rip...@fast.net> wrote in message
news:BCE9D069.105F5%rip...@fast.net...

[Chuk]

> Here's a related question, what about a NIB game that has a factory error
> (not a blemish)? Truely blemish free, but something was made or installed
> wrong. For example, say the coin door hole was cut crooked. Installed
> perfectly with no blemishes, but crooked. Is that mint?
>

Not a chance. People around here throw the term mint around all the time.
None of these machines are even close. Mint means mint. There are no
excuses. Just look into the coin and baseball card businesses. If a
baseball card comes printed slightly off center right out of the pack, its
not mint. Even though its not the buyers "fault", it doesn't matter. When
people use the term "mint" in relation to arcade games, it should be taken
to mean "as nice an example as you are going to be able to find". This does
not mean its mint.

[Stephen Beall]

I have a MINT Kozmik Krooz'r. It was bought NIB back in 1998. I haven't
even taken off the protective film on the side art. :-)

YOu see some of it here:
http://www.mylstar.com/newlayout/mpkk.jpg

-Stephen

[Dane L. Galden]

"Stephen Beall" <myl...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9N-dnW9zX6Y...@giganews.com...

> I have a MINT Kozmik Krooz'r. It was bought NIB back in 1998. I haven't
> even taken off the protective film on the side art. :-)
>
> YOu see some of it here:
> http://www.mylstar.com/newlayout/mpkk.jpg
>
>
> -Stephen
>

That Ms. PacMan is pretty nice, too! Did Kozmik come with the blue Tron
handle joystick? What other games have the blue joystick?

Dane.

[Ron Lyons]

See, I wouldn't *WANT a Mint game, though. I like them to have at least a
little character to them, and not be worried about touching the thing. As a
matter of fact, almost anything short of water damage that's happened to a
cabinet doesn't really bother me much, scrapes on the sideart, cracking on
the control panel, stuff like that just makes it look authentic, to me.

Ron

"Joe Magiera" <joema...@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:wOZwc.6125$n65....@newssvr33.news.prodigy.com...

[Stephen Beall]

Yes, the KK is original. I think Tron and EDoT/Dot were the only other
games to use the blue stick.
The Ms Pac is an original FACTORY side art cab, #86,xxx.

-Stephen

[Weade]

I can and will agree with you on that one. Games go through a lot of tough
banging and abuse in their lives, and a mark on the cabinet is more of a
characteristic of the game. Ok, as long as the side is not completely
wasted or covered with graffiti. :)

Bill

[Brian Penzone]

I can say with 100% certainty that the Pac Man and Burgertime at Dave Thomas'
house are mint.

Brian

http://home.columbus.rr.com/irobot

[RayB]

I hear your point loud and clear. I'd tolerate the definition of "MINT" as
anything that hasn't seen any sort of damage. A game that was home-owned,
rarely played, never scuffed up in a move, is probably as close to "mint" as
I find acceptable. Anything else that has obvious weathering, and wear from
use or being on location is NOT mint no matter how good the condition is.
(Unless it was on location in some miraculous place where everyone played it
with kid-gloves! ;-D Unlikely!)

"Morgan Beckman" <morgan...@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:963f694a.04060...@posting.google.com...

[BrentRadio]

My friend has a MINT Space Fury cocktail. It was purchased by an op and came
from the factory with a rom error, so they stuck it in the back corner of
the wharehouse. It sat there until my friend bought it. It's never been
played by anyone, still shows 99997 one the coin counter. He replaced the
roms with new ones and the game comes up fine now. I'll post pics later.

Brent

[Morgan Beckman]

>
> I have a MINT Kozmik Krooz'r. It was bought NIB back in 1998. I haven't
> even taken off the protective film on the side art. :-)
>
> YOu see some of it here:
> http://www.mylstar.com/newlayout/mpkk.jpg
>

Wow. Obviously you can't judge by a single picture alone, but that's
the closest thing to actual mint-condition I've ever seen,
arcade-game-wise.

And yes, I remember the NIB Ms. Pac uncrating... very cool. You would
never have been able to convince me that Ms. Pacs had blue t-molding
without that webpage.
http://www.basementarcade.com/arcade/mspacman/tlnmpm/index.html

So, it appears Stephen has a mint game. Anyone else?

[John Robertson]

How about games that are still packed in their original shipping boxes
- NIB? I have a few that will be listed in the next few weeks for
folks to enjoy.

Early games, no Pacmans (Ms, Jr, etc.) or Galaga's though. Some
Williams B&W and colour games, and Nutting early pong style games
though!

John :-#)#

On 7 Jun 2004 04:13:44 -0700, morgan...@pobox.com (Morgan Beckman)
wrote:

(Please post followups or tech enquires to the newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."

[Dane L. Galden]

Can you email me a list of the games? (Also, where are you located?)

Thanks, Dane.

"John Robertson" <sp...@flippers.com> wrote in message
news:h5f9c0dsm06ln1tmf...@4ax.com...

[guinness]

Wow, very cool KK. I'm sure you paid a bit for it. You should get
the sideart peel satisfaction the way I get the "new TV remote
protective clear film removal" satisfaction.

tim (NH)

Stephen Beall <myl...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<9N-dnW9zX6Y...@giganews.com>...

[Mike Doyle]

I had (Ron in Texas has it now) a home use only Pengo a couple of
years ago and posted pics here. It still had the "Sega quality
assurance" stickers over the locks and came with an original cardboard
sign from the Pepsi promotion it was part of.

I'll agree with your point that the term MINT is thrown around too
often, but truely mint games do exist, I've owned them.

Mike Doyle

morgan...@pobox.com (Morgan Beckman) wrote in message news:<963f694a.04060...@posting.google.com>...

[Martin White]

I'm with Chuk on this one. Mint is just that. MINT.

I would call a NIB game that had some blemishes "unlucky"! Truely a
"close but no cigar".

We should also differentiate between original mint, and yes, it is mint,
but has a whole load of modern manufactured replacement parts. Again,
fantastic try, and i guess mint, but anyone can have that kind of mint
if you throw enough money at it.

Personally, i'm not fussed about mint.

I have one of the games in my collection that was one of the actual
machines i put money into as a kid. The monaco gp from 1979. I just won
another on ebay in VERY nice condition. Am i going to swap my pretty
ropey one for the nice one. Hell no! Then it wouldn't be the one i
played as a kid :O) I may not even replace all the damaged parts on
mine. It has the wrong gear knob for instance. But it has the gear knob
it had when i used to play it back in '80 / '81. So it probably stays wrong.

Anyway, i'm totally digressing now :O)

As far as i'm concerned the word mint can rarely be justified in it's
use. If it has a scratch, it ain't mint, end of story...

Martin.

[Martin White]

Now there i beg to differ. If it has a hole that was cut wonky at the
factory, but is still polished and without a mark on it. Sure it's mint.
Why is it mint? Because it's the way it was the day it left the factory.

It may have a minor cock up, but the cock up is the way it was the day
it was cocked up!

(If you see what i mean)

Martin.

[Josh McCormick]

Personally, I use a scanning electronic microscope to look for things
like burn-in on the monitor. If just the tiniest layers of molecules
have been burnt off from the slightest moments of use, BLAM! I
disqualify it. Same with slight bumps in shipping causing microscopic
flakes to come off.

Josh "Minty Fresh Goodness" McCormick

[Ron Jr.]

mike,
don't forget the moon patrol. i'd consider that one mint :)

here are a few games in my collection that are mint:

asteroids
robotron
moon patrol
pengo
stargate

mrs pac (except for some light rubbing on one side, she is minty in my
book---especially for a mrs pac). ask scott king about it :)

subs---brian kirby can vouch for this one.
qbert
bubbles
sinistar
pac man

popeye---this one came out a box 3-4 years ago.

wild western

super pac----the nicest i've ever seen.

frogger

i'll have to think on this later---back to work :(
heck, i really don't have any junk around :)
ronald

[RedWolf JC]

"BrentRadio" <newsg...@brentradio.com> wrote in message news:<Te2xc.58435$oi5.12181@fed1read07>...

Would that technically be "Mint" since the original ROMS were
replaced? Does "Mint" only apply to cabinet condition, or to
electronics as well?

Would "Mint" only be applied to original games (not restored), with
little or no plays on the counter? Is there a counter # where a game
goes from being "Mint" to "Near-Mint"? I mean not specifically, but
like anything over 1000, 2000, 5000, 100, whatever, would not be
considered, regardless of the condition.

[Ron Lyons]

"Martin White" <mar...@guddler.co.uk> wrote in message
news:iD5xc.12209$NK4.1...@stones.force9.net...

Still not mint, for the same reason he said, in any other collectible hobby,
factory mistakes aren't mint.

Ron
.

[Omar Vega]

Check out http://www.bombjack.org and navigate to STUFF-> NIB(New in Box)
Pics
on the menu. When I found that stuff it was mint. There were several other
"mint" games that came out of there also.

"Morgan Beckman" <morgan...@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:963f694a.04060...@posting.google.com...

[RayB]

You're right, factory mistakes are actually MORE VALUABLE! (take misprints
of stamps or coins for example).

"Ron Lyons" <Lyonsronni...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%s6xc.21484$2o2.1...@twister.southeast.rr.com...

[BrentRadio]

i can't find that link...

Brent

[BrentRadio]

http://www.bombjack.org/stuff/

got it.

Brent

[Dane L. Galden]

"RayB" <art_gu...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:EW8xc.14289$8k4.3...@news20.bellglobal.com...

> You're right, factory mistakes are actually MORE VALUABLE! (take misprints
> of stamps or coins for example).
>

That's only because the mint and the treasury attempt to hold back the
mistakes and not release them, whereas the manufacturers of other
collectibles don't care and release them. Occassionally factory misprints
of comics, action figures, etc. get talked up in value, but only if the
mistakes are considered cool or unusual.

Dane.

[BrentRadio]

http://www.brentradio.com/images/space_fury.jpg

Works perfect now. But he doesn't play it as he also has a very nice
upright.

Brent

[Weade]

Mmmm, I dunno... I also love the new "tv remote protective plastic peel"
satisfaction, but I think it would be more enjoyable on a NOS game. Just
knowing that YOU are the first person to see the true sideart that's been
protected for many years is quite enjoyable.

Bill

[guinness]

I'd throw down serious money for a NIB Stunt Cycle or Fire Truck. I'm
sure none exist.

tim (NH)

John Robertson <sp...@flippers.com> wrote in message news:<h5f9c0dsm06ln1tmf...@4ax.com>...

[John Robertson]

Vancouver, BC, Canada...

John :-#)#
www.flippers.com