Case Study: Buying and Repairing a Mars God of War for Under €1,400
Step 1: Find an Interesting Listing
Start by searching for interesting listings on sites like your local classifieds, using search terms like "pinball machine" sorted by "most recent."
Step 2: Evaluate the Listing
Seller profile: The profile shows other users have had good transactions with this seller, which is a good sign.
Photo Analysis:
The playfield looks clean.
The cabinet is decent but could use some love. That said, note that the playfield is mounted on the wall and the backglass is displayed in the seller's living room — so this isn't a beginner. They likely want to get rid of it for some specific reason, which could be worth asking about directly.
Bottom of the cabinet: Note the filter capacitor (orange) has already been replaced, as discussed above.
The gray areas are moisture staining — nothing serious, but worth noting.
Under the clean playfield, nothing to report.
The playfield glass looks to be in good shape and has a protective film, which would go a long way toward preserving it.
The connectors have been redone, which is good news — though you can spot what might be an unusual ground mod attempt on the cable connecting the driver board to the CPU board!
You can also see that the MA-216 board has an SC-01 speech chip emulator like this one: 
At this price point, machines go fast (this listing lasted 18 hours), so it's essential to make quick decisions, ask questions, and, if it's a machine you're interested in and it isn't too far away, set up a viewing as soon as possible.
Step 3: Estimated Costs
- Replace the filter capacitor: €5
- Restoration kit (Lisy80 + Godri80) or GottFA80_Plus: €301
- Transport in a diesel wagon: €100
- Machine price: €950
- LEDs or bulbs: €20
Total cost: €100 + €950 + €301 + €5 + €20 = €1,376
A Few More Tips
Once you've got the machine home, the key is to reach out to us when your boards arrive if you ordered from us, or ask questions in pinball forums and Facebook groups. People are usually friendlier than they seem!
And above all, remember: a fool who keeps moving will always get further than a genius sitting still. So set your worries aside and dive into the adventure. We'll do everything we can to help you bring your pinball machine back to life!
