Repro or Refurb?

[Lashek]

I'm curious what the general consensus is on something.

When it comes to games with a damaged PCB (to the point it's not repairable - damaged pins, broken PCB where the pins are, etc), where does the line of demarcation come for considering it refurb or repro? Naturally, you can't really consider it "oem" since it's not using the OEM board.

For example, I have two Genesis games I was given but the PCB's were completely trashed. One of the chips was damage was a result of this (it ripped a pin off the chip - ouch).

If you were to take the OEM chips and swap them to a donor board, would you classify this is a repro, or a refurb?

If you use a custom pcb that is for homebrew/repro, is it then considered a repro? or a refurb?

The games in question:

Frogger:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/133746680032919552/233409969561534465/IMG_2139.JPG

Jurassic Park:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/133746680032919552/233394277609242627/IMG_2138.JPG

In my own eyes, these are refurbs. They are not a reproduction as they are using factory chips (even if they aren't that great of games), but they also aren't OEM, so I would consider them refurbished.

Both games are in original OEM shells as well. What are your thoughts? I only attempted these repairs as a joke as I didn't think they would work and wanted to mess around. Surprise, they work. Haha.

[shenske]

Reproduction for sure.

Refurbishment is restoring an item to its original state. Using internal parts that are not OEM would be a reproduction. Make a anecdote that the shell is OEM but first and foremost this would be considered a reproduction in my book.

[larryinc64]

Maybe just "repaired"

It's use of OEM stuff I'd say makes it not quite repro

[Lashek]

I don't plan to leave them in these boards, as the games aren't very good. It just got me thinking about it when I was trying to see if it would work.

These boards are so I can do some homebrew/translations, as I'm trying my hand out at this stuff. I'm not a fan of using donor boards if at all possible, simply because it means the destruction of an old game (even if it is a crappy sports title).

[wiggy]

if it was being slapped to a donor, then definitely refurb/repair.

Putting the mask ROM on a new board is a little trickier, but I would still call it a refurb/repair. The mask ROM is the only proprietary part of the board, so it seems to me that it can't be a reproduction when the only proprietary part isn't being replaced.

Still, it's odd seeing an original mask ROM on a new board.

[shenske]

Oh my mistake, I didn't realize you were using the oem mask rom. I wasn't paying close enough attention. I change my stance, refurbishment would be a suitable description.