Cheap pinballs are still available.. sometimes

Good pinball deals still happen.. but become more and more rare.

Checked out a Twilight Zone pinball machine that someone had bought in a local auction house.
At these auctions usually furniture is sold, pinball machines almost never show up.
The owner was lucky to be there at the right time, and got it for a very good price: 300 euro (about $450).
That's a steal..

The game is in reasonably good condition.
Service buttons were gummed up. Cleaned them and they started to register again.
Boards are exceptionally clean, looking almost brand new. No battery damage at all.
I get the impression this game was not on location for a long time, or it was a very clean location (not a bar where people smoke), as the inside was very clean.

Worst thing was that the mini-playfield was faded, above the magnets are red circles and letters, one was still bright red and the other had faded to almost white.

Main playfield looked good, no wear.
The game had some usual issues you encounter with TZ: slot machine plastic broken, target bent back.

Clock has a broken 12o'clock opto. Clock face was white with gold-colored signs.
No 3rd magnet or special signs on the mini playfield. 2 posts under the popbumper were installed.
This means the game is probably a very early production game. It was still on L-2 version roms.

All coils worked, except for 2 that had a broken wire.
Biggest problem was in the switch matrix, 2 rows are shorted to ground. Traced the problem back to the opto driver board under the playfield. The LM339 ic's on this board need to be replaced.

Sometimes I hear about people finding games for a very low price.. it's been a few years now, but this shows you these finds can still happen.