The original Hankin tables demand a premium price. They are very well made. Sadly, the ones Dad operated in the old days were sent to landfill. I cringe every time I see one on eBay.
I'm not sure if they sell kits, but Gamemasters, Pinball Factory and a couple of others that slip my mind sell machines that might be available as kits ?
Nino I've heard storys of semi's backing up in the tip and dumping 60 cocktails at once 
they where easier to chuck than keep i suppose and looking at the wear around the joystick on mine they would have made a ton of money, how many you reckon your dad through out? and on a side note when Space Invaders first come how much money would they have made a week in a good location?
I'm after another and will start looking soon and I love the wear on the control panel its part of the history.
Peter
I remember the first two Space Invaders uprights that went on location in Northcote. They were next to each other, and they were the strangest things I'd ever seen. Then the clones came out - Like "Super Space Stranger". The cocktail tables - I don't think Dad ever had an original table. They were all clones. First ones were woodgrain with black and white CRTs. They had coloured strips on the monitors. They were sent in boxes, that were shipped in containers. There was one container that was full of Space Invaders cocktail tables (clones). These were quickly unpacked and put on site. They only work that was done was the barrel locks were replaced with a universal barrel. Although it sounds like this is a good story, it isn't. For each table put onsite meant that a Pinball was removed. On some locations, there were 5-6 tables installed. Then the next "generation"" was the color CRTs with white woodgrain tables. These were really good. I'd say that there were well over 100 tables operated and I'd say they were earning very well. The good thing about the tables was that the Space Invaders boards were removed and then replaced with Galaxian, then Galaga etc etc.. So their earning capacity was always high. The Hankin style tables were heavy - they originally had Asteroids PCBs in them (still have these boards), but the CRT was massive. So these could be easily converted.
In the storage building, I have boxes of parts. Some of these boxes were the original shipping boxes that the Space Invader clones were shipped in. I will tape a photo and post in this thread. The clone boards are still in storage as well. There are single layer boards and then two level boards with a riser board in between. They still work, but I have no way (or interest) in testing them.
There were 10 cocktails left over from the old days. I sold most of them to AP members. I kept two really nice ones for myself. The last original space Invaders upright I sold to a member here as well.
Where did 90% of these games end up ? In Reservoir landfill.
so in a way, it is a SAD story, but there was no way of telling that amusement machines would one day be collectibles. Heck, my old man was GIVING them away to my school friends. In a way, he probably pioneered the "home" market back in the early 80's.
