Buying a Donkey Kong Arcade Cabinet

[hippoeater]

Hello everyone! Glad to be a part of the community!

I'm looking to buy a Donkey Kong arcade machine.

Any good recommendations?

I live in the United States - Ohio and I'm looking for somewhere that sells and can delivery a really nice condition unit.

Thanks and I appreciate the help!

Michael

[mikegmi2]

I found mine on Craig's List.  They pop up from time to time on eBay, KLOV forums, and other online listing boards.

As for a retailer that can sell you one and deliver it to your home, perhaps someone else here can help with that as I never looked into that myself.

Welcome!

[Shnypz]

Not sure if this is close to you

http://zanesville.craigslist.org/vgm/4634234813.html

The internal stuff isn't original tho.

[SanTe]

As for a retailer that can sell you one and deliver it to your home, perhaps someone else here can help with that as I never looked into that myself.

Don't buy retail, unless you enjoy paying 4-5x the going rate for a Donkey Kong.  A garden variety, complete, working, original DK should run about $400-$500 depending on condition.  A fully restored one would be $800-$1000.

Craigslist for sure (don't forget to check the surrounding areas that are within reasonable driving distance), but register on the KLOV forums and post a want-to-buy there, because there are lots of collectors in Ohio.  You'll have a better chance of getting an original DK at a fair price.

[mschwartz01]

Thats unfortunate... I just moved out of ohio... and I have 2 DK machines available right now...

[hippoeater]

Not sure if this is close to you

http://zanesville.craigslist.org/vgm/4634234813.html

The internal stuff isn't original tho.

Is that bad tho? He said he replaced the power supply because it was dead and the cables because they were old and ratty, he said he replaced the sanyo ezv monitor because it was troublesome with a wells gardner that was "freshly capped for a good picture" (not sure what that means).

He did state that the circuit board was original.

We settled on 600.00

Should I stay away from this one and keep looking or does this seem like a good deal?

Thanks!

[Shnypz]

Not sure if this is close to you

http://zanesville.craigslist.org/vgm/4634234813.html

The internal stuff isn't original tho.

Is that bad tho? He said he replaced the power supply because it was dead and the cables because they were old and ratty, he said he replaced the sanyo ezv monitor because it was troublesome with a wells gardner that was "freshly capped for a good picture" (not sure what that means).

He did state that the circuit board was original.

We settled on 600.00

Should I stay away from this one and keep looking or does this seem like a good deal?

Thanks!

I personally wanted a "pure" 100% original machine when I was searching for one. I ended up finding one on CL for $500 and ended up putting another 75-100 into it to fix up the joystick and refresh some of the cosmetic things.

The board is original which is important. I don't have much experience with the replacement monitor but I believe they used those in pacman machines and other popular CAGs. Probably not a huge difference from the Sanyo. The rebuilt control panel seems ok. I'm not a fan of the black t-molding (if that's even t-molding) across the bottom but that's only a cosmetic thing.

My biggest concern is the "aftermarket" joystick which I just noticed looking at the post again. It appears to be one of these https://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?sku=JOYRBMS4WH. If you are just looking to play DK, it would work fine. If you are looking to post scores, there are rules around using a 4-way joystick with a 4-way restrictor plate. Perhaps that joystick is "allowed" under those rules, I'm not 100% sure. I'd say hold off for now if that's a concern. 600 doesn't seem like a bad price, 500 would be better.

Hope that helps. I don't want to steer you wrong here.

Here's a pic of my DK for reference 

[jwade614]

Michael, I was considering getting that cabinet. That guy has nintendo joysticks. Ask him to give you one.

[hippoeater]

Michael, I was considering getting that cabinet. That guy has nintendo joysticks. Ask him to give you one.

The guy selling the one in the craigslist ad that is posted on here? What is currently in the arcade machine he has is not a nintendo joystick?

Edit - by the way , thank you guys for all the help! I'm not sure what I should be looking at/for or what would make for a bad machine.

I'm going to check it out on Saturday and if all looks good, probably pick it up.

Is the 4-way joystick with a 4-way restrictor plate a bad thing, from a play perspective?

[Shnypz]

Michael, I was considering getting that cabinet. That guy has nintendo joysticks. Ask him to give you one.

The guy selling the one in the craigslist ad that is posted on here? What is currently in the arcade machine he has is not a nintendo joystick?

Edit - by the way , thank you guys for all the help! I'm not sure what I should be looking at/for or what would make for a bad machine.

I'm going to check it out on Saturday and if all looks good, probably pick it up.

Is the 4-way joystick with a 4-way restrictor plate a bad thing, from a play perspective?

Yes, the joystick is not an original. Functionally, it probably plays just fine. I'm just not sure if that type of joystick jives with the score submission rules. It's also possible that the joystick is an 8-way which is considered "illegal". I'm guessing if the guy knows what he's doing, that's probably not the case.

If the guy has an original 4-way joystick (and it still fits into the CP), I'd push for that. Even if the joystick needs a little love, they aren't hard to fix up. Most of the parts are available from Mike's arcade and other arcade part dealers. My joystick was super loose and was missing screws for the restrictor plate when I got it. After some disassembly, cleaning of the bearing and about 10 bucks worth of parts, my stick was good as new. I'm considering a new restrictor plate since the one I currently have is getting worn down ($8 part).

Good luck 

[jwade614]

Michael, I was considering getting that cabinet. That guy has nintendo joysticks. Ask him to give you one.

The guy selling the one in the craigslist ad that is posted on here? What is currently in the arcade machine he has is not a nintendo joystick?

Edit - by the way , thank you guys for all the help! I'm not sure what I should be looking at/for or what would make for a bad machine.

I'm going to check it out on Saturday and if all looks good, probably pick it up.

Is the 4-way joystick with a 4-way restrictor plate a bad thing, from a play perspective?

Yep, the DK from that ad. I just got a text from him. He said he sold it. To you, maybe? He seems to think the nintendo joysticks are junk. I'd ask him to just give you one.

[Shnypz]

Michael, I was considering getting that cabinet. That guy has nintendo joysticks. Ask him to give you one.

The guy selling the one in the craigslist ad that is posted on here? What is currently in the arcade machine he has is not a nintendo joystick?

Edit - by the way , thank you guys for all the help! I'm not sure what I should be looking at/for or what would make for a bad machine.

I'm going to check it out on Saturday and if all looks good, probably pick it up.

Is the 4-way joystick with a 4-way restrictor plate a bad thing, from a play perspective?

Yep, the DK from that ad. I just got a text from him. He said he sold it. To you, maybe? He seems to think the nintendo joysticks are junk. I'd ask him to just give you one.

and if he has any extra "junk" nintendo joysticks laying around, I'll gladly pay shipping and handling to take them off his hands 

[hippoeater]

Can you buy the Nintendo joysticks anywhere?

[SanTe]

Can you buy the Nintendo joysticks anywhere?

New ones?  No.  Nintendo hasn't produced arcade games themselves since roughly 1990, so if you want original Nintendo joysticks for these old arcade games you'll have to buy old used ones from other collectors who have salvaged them from parted out cabinets or from vendors who specialize in recovering, restoring, and reselling such parts.  Such vendors tend to be really small operations, usually only one or two people.  Many of them are active on the KLOV forums, so that's a great place to post a want-to-buy for things like this.

[Shnypz]

Any update Hippo? Are you the proud owner of a DK machine?