Buying a used air hockey table.

November 8, 2007 4:47 AM

I want to buy an air hockey table.

This seems like the sort of thing that would be good to buy used. Are there any particular brands I should look for or avoid? Hidden problems to look for? Should I not buy used at all? I'm willing to spend about $500, though that is not set in stone.

posted by donpardo to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

I just got one - old, noname, very used - for free and it works and everything, so if I were you I'd check Craigslist and your local bulletin boards/freecycle/garage sale/weekly shopper paper - and I bet $500 will turn out to be way more than you need to spend. Mine had a couple of issues that you might want to be aware of. First off, the legs are made of really, really cheap pressed sawdust stuff and when I went to move it, one of them crumbled. It has been glued & screwed & wired back together in an unsightly fashion, which is fine with me (may not be with you) but at any rate be aware that your older air hockey tables anyway are often not pinnacles of fine quality craftsmanship. The other problem we encountered was that the pucks tended to get stuck in the goals because of this weird plastic lip that was kind of holding them in. We removed those; a bunch of pucks fell out (approximately 30 years of lost pucks, actually, we'll never need new ones now) and it's worked like a charm ever since.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:39 AM on November 8, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks. Craigslist is what I'm using and there are plenty there in my price range, I'm just looking for criteria to filter the results.
posted by donpardo at 7:51 AM on November 8, 2007

If the table was stored outside at all you will want to pay attention to the air flow and actually play a game or two on it if possible. Sometimes some mold/dirt/weird crap will actually get settled down in the tiny holes and can be incredibly hard to clean out... check the legs well as reported above. Take a measurement of the area you want to place the table. Whats nice about air hockey is you can place it along a wall nicely - well much closer than a pool table anyways. Enjoy the table fun!
posted by Mardigan at 8:07 AM on November 8, 2007

I'm just guessing, but you might be able to spread some flour or cornmeal or sawdust over the top and turn the thing on, checking to see if any of the air holes are clogged or not working.
posted by rhizome at 8:19 AM on November 8, 2007

Costco sells (although its not always in stock) a great version for about $300. We bought one last year at this time and use it very aggressively - its still in very good shape. As mentioned previously though, many parts of it are made of particle board and you have to be careful when moving it or you'll have problems in the future. And its heavy - we needed 2 guys to lift the table onto the frame while one guy was underneath, guiding it all into place.

After a quick Google search, I'm seeing the Costco tables being resold for almost the same price as we paid new.
posted by jeffmik at 8:48 AM on November 8, 2007