Condition Rating Guide

(by Dave Roberts)

5 - Tournament Standard
Everything on the machine works, including features that don't affect gameplay (ie GI lamps, TZ clock, Bouncing Martians in AfM/RfM). Playfield is clean, and flippers are strong and accurate. Unless regularly maintained, machines on location will probably only be in this condition for a week or two!

4 - Good
All gameplay related features work, flippers are strong enough to make all playfield shots with no difficulty. Playfield should still be clean, but maybe with a little dirt starting to show (ie ball trails on lanes and ramps). One or two feature lamps may be faulty (unless they are absolutely essential to gameplay), or there may be a broken playfield switch that can be compensated for, but the machine would still be in the Good catagory.

3 - Average
Game is playable, but may have some problems that limit the ruleset, (ie broken switch, a stuck ball that limits the number of balls in the multiball). The flippers will probably be showing signs of wear, but should still be able to make all playfield shots, even if they are not 100% reliable on getting the ball up steep ramps. There could also be a number of non working feature lamps.
The game is still playable and enjoyable for most (non wizard!) players, and players who are not familiar with the machine may be unaware of the faults.

2 - Just Playable
Failure of a major playfield assembly, or a switch that is critical to game objectives (ie mode start switch). Game should still be playable, but with a very limited rulesheet. You may have to wait for the ball search to kick the ball out of a playfield hole to start your 1 ball multiball. Playfield is likely to be very dirty, even to the extent that you may not know which of the few working feature lamps are lit! Both lower flippers work, but an upper flipper may be dead. Getting the ball up ramps at the top of the playfield is more a matter of luck than skill. After playing this game you may think that you deserve your money back, but you have doubts that the operator will agree with you ;-)

1 - Waste Of Time
Anything that makes the game unplayable. ie Dead lower flippers, ball is permanently stuck on a non working kicker. The operator willingly agrees to refund your money, even before you've described what's wrong with the machine.