golden tee machines

[Chunky]

can you convert these things and do some mame stuff? I see them around the area, older machines for pretty cheap. I've asked 2 places now and they said they can't really be converted to anything, thats why they sit in graveyards, or are going to arcade graveyards. I don't know wtf. but hey is it worth it for $125 or so?

[Ed Oscuro]

No way! You can find a classic cab for that much at very most, I think you should be able to find some used machines for $25.

[98PaceCar]

The earlier style golden tee boards can be brought as far as golden tee 2k2. The newer style boards can be brought all the way to GT Fore 2k4. I think that's right.

But as far as the cabs, it's pretty close to standard jamma or is standard jamma with an aux connector for the track ball interface.

Having said that, if you can get working GT machines for $125 you should grab them! Even the older versions (98, 99) go for around $200 - $300 at auction. The newest ones come close to 4-5 thousand. That style of cab would be great for mame. Very roomy inside and a nice big control panel to convert.

[Chunky]

The earlier style golden tee boards can be brought as far as golden tee 2k2. The newer style boards can be brought all the way to GT Fore 2k4. I think that's right.

But as far as the cabs, it's pretty close to standard jamma or is standard jamma with an aux connector for the track ball interface.

Having said that, if you can get working GT machines for $125 you should grab them! Even the older versions (98, 99) go for around $200 - $300 at auction. The newest ones come close to 4-5 thousand. That style of cab would be great for mame. Very roomy inside and a nice big control panel to convert.

Now thats what i want to here. Maybe these people think they can only be converted to only GT machines, and hence they can't convert to the new one, so it's worthless. well ok then more for me!

[98PaceCar]

Most of the ops I've run across come from one of two schools of thought.. either any game can be converted to anything (know one guy that had a Tron converted to Jr Pac Man... O_O ) or if it requires any work at all, it's not worth converting. Sounds like you've run across one of the latter!!

If the boards are complete and working, they should sell on ebay for a pretty good amount, making the cab even less. Just make sure the monitor is in good shape unless you know someone that can help you rebuild it.

Converting a game is all just a matter of how much work you want to put into it. Wiring a cab for jamma is pretty simple if you break it down into basic blocks (power supply, video, coin door, control panel, etc). But I'm pretty sure GT is already jamma so you should be ok there!

Good luck with them! I'd love to run across a deal like this sometime!!

[Ed Oscuro]

Really? So they're actually worth something? I would've supposed a real old cabinet would be a better bet, why's this worth the extra price? Is it due to all the hardware already being built-in?

[98PaceCar]

Yea, Golden Tee's are hot right now. Most of them are still op-able, so they are fairly uncommon in the normal market.

Main reason these are worth more is the fact that they are a bigger cab. I've never seen a dedicated GT with anything smaller than a 25" monitor. Just the monitor is worth the price of admission at $125! Plus, the dedicated units have a bigger control panel with track ball (usually the 3" variety). The control panel can be rebuilt on any machine, but that track ball is worth a good $40 or so, even if it needs new rollers and bearings. Also, you start off with a jamma wired cab, so to mame it you just need a j-pac and you are off and running. Prior to 86, there were no jamma games and each manufacturer had their own wiring scheme. Sometimes different from game to game even. That adds a lot of complexity.

When you start getting into the older cabs, there's sort of an inverted bell curve on them. The true classics (early 80's mainly, but some of the better mid to late 80's games) are pretty valuable unless they are water damaged. When you get into the late 80's early 90's games, the cabs aren't really worth anything since most arcade collectors don't actively collect these games or the games didn't have a dedicated cab. Of course, the newest games that are still on site in gamerooms are always going to be fairly expensive.

There's always going to be the odd deal where you can pick up an older cab for cheap or even free though. It's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time!!

[bensenvill]

Chunky,
hey I'm also from the chicago area. Where the hell are you finding these cabs for 125???? If you are, I WANT ONE! As far as a MAME cabnet, think of it this way, not having to build the cabnet alone whould be worth 125 (not to mention those monitors aint cheap, plus the coin mechanisms if you want to set it up that way). But if I'm not mistaken, the control board is jamma.
Well anyways, I'm dont have the connections in the arcade market, if you can hook me up with a decent cabnet I'm offering a generous finders fee.

[Captain Wrong]

Having said that, if you can get working GT machines for $125 you should grab them! Even the older versions (98, 99) go for around $200 - $300 at auction. The newest ones come close to 4-5 thousand. That style of cab would be great for mame. Very roomy inside and a nice big control panel to convert.

What he said. Hell, even if you don't want to convert it to something, cozy up to someone who has a bar or something and plop it in there and make some money. If I owned a bar, I'd be glad to have a Golden Tee (even an older one) for $125.

[Chunky]

wel now you know. Bowling and Bar'ing. They got the new Golden Tee, so out with the old. And unknown to me the cutie behind the bar just happens to be the co-owner of the bar/in the bowling alley. So if you think that i've overtipped her for the past 3 years, then maybe i'm not comming out ahead. so i said hey what about the old one there, and she's like got me, i wanna get rid of it. Then mentions an older one in the back still there. They work just smokey and no burn-in at all.

Nice big monitor, trackball, and hell a dollar mech. I'm just hopping for the one machine, if i can swing the other i will take a look at it and grab it anyway for someone else. i'll keep y in mind bensenville

[sidgoop]

If you can get lucky enough to find an Golden Tee cabinet, good luck moving that thing. They are built like a tank, and weigh almost as much! All the Golden Tees up to 2k used a standard jamma board, and all the Fores from 2001 - present used a jamma board in conjunction with a hard drive. All of them mount pretty much the same - under the control panel. This is the biggest mistake, as this is the part of the machine that gets the most abuse with people slamming the living daylights out of the trackball. That usually contributes to 95% off all the service calls I have to make on those machines.

[Flack]

There was just an article on games.slashdot that said that many Golden Tee players own home machines. Those that don't most likely just read that article too. if I had a Golden Tee (whatever year), within 100 miles of me I'd pick it up and put it in the paper the same day.

[leonk]

You should also check out the stats of the cab you want to buy at KLOV..

at this time, here is no simple way to connect a medium res monitor to a PC and get good authentic quality on it. You should be aiming at a CGA (regular) class monitor that runs at 15Khz.. it's the standard monitor used for the last 20 years and be able to play almost all games on it.

Games that have CGA monitors include MK series, Neo Geo series, and anything older.

Games that have medium res or better include games like NFL blitz and any of the new driving games.

[Emdkay]

Speaking of MK, this used to be a MK cabinet, but went through a transformation into Golden Tee '99.

http://www.emdkay.net/images_misc/Golden_Tee_99_Finished.jpg