Topic: Serial number tracing

[foosdragon]

Does anybody know how to trace the serial number off a coin op to find out the age of the table and anything else about it ?

[deadbarfoos]

i know quite a bit about it and so does BBTUNA that posts here

describe the table
(Ser# and what field logo does it have) and type of "cabinet" artwork, marble, brushed aluminum ,,etc ,,,the legs and feet are different from earlier models (wood/plastic ,metal feet / plastic feet)
scorekeepers are now yellow blocks with numbers on them ,earlier models had the wood beads on a metal rod with plastic posts ,or metal posts

a photo of the table would help

check this thread
http://www.foosball.com/forum/index.php?topic=2331.0

[foosdragon]

Thanks Ben, It's a light oak cabinet with the black wooden legs and black levelers on the legs. I'm having some issues with my photobucket account or I'd post a picture here. The serial number is 006799. The scoring mechanism is the beads. It has the six sided bearing nuts with the split bearings, and the center logo is the Tornado T with product of Valley below it. The serial plate states that it's a product of Valley from Bay City, MI, but there are no external labels or markings on the cabinet.

Johnny, quit smoking those roaches dude, and roll ya a decent doob, lol.

[snake eyes]

HELL YAH!! Foos at 4:20 anybody??


Snake

[bbtuna]

This history is more updated than the one Ben posted...basically same info but i have mailed down the dates with Tornado's help...
http://www.foosball.com/forum/index.php?topic=2704.0

you are driving a Blond buy your description

Blonde – 1997 - 2001 This was the first color change at Valley ... it matched their ZD-7 pool table - $400-$550
consistent all the same, plays much different than the Brown Marble or any of the other tables for that matter

[deadbarfoos]

when Valley bought Tornado and moved the factory to Bay City, they started making tables in mid?1997 they took the old brown marble like it was and added the little "hood ornament" down under the coin mech .next to the leg
it was a "Valley" (logo)  raised plastic piece glued on the surface of the laminate (this run was short)
im sure they will have the metal plate -"made in Bay City MI" etc with serials #000000 and up (started over when MiI made the tables)

which afterwards the Blonde tables (Taj Teak) were made , with that serial ,sounds like a 1999 or late 1998 ,

[foosdragon]

Charles and Ben, Thank you both for the background and great info. Charles, when you say that the blonde doesn't play like any of the other tables, that's not a glowing endorsement is it ? Would you say that it was a bad purchase at $500 ?

[bbtuna]

it is not my favorite table but its not a bad table, it is really just about play characteristics...if the table is in really good condition, 500 is not bad...I wouldn't pay more than that for a Blond no matter what kind of condition but I have played a number of pourly kept Blonds so I don't like them and wouldn't buy one

however, that doesn't mean you got a bad table, its still a coin op and if you clean it and make sure it is up to play quality, you have a table that will last your entire life if you want it to and you can learn everything you need to...the adjust ment from the Blond to Grey or Fridge is no more difficult than Brown Mrbl to T3000 or Cherry to Brwn or Grey...they each have a little character of their own but all are close enough to each other to make moving from one to the other no big thing

when you can post pictures, take a bunch all sides, close ups and so forth and let us take a look...what kind of condition is it in?  any issues?

either way, congratulations and welcome to the tournament table club