No clue on the value but those pictures make me sad. Looks like a non-climate controlled storage unit so I'm going to assume most of those are now parts machines

No way will those be worth $125 apiece. If the backglasses and playfields are still in decent condition a non-working complete game might bring $200. That pile of stuff looks more like the $10 apiece range and most of it will probably end up in the landfill.

If this is the collection near Cincinnati , I understand them to be very rough.

I don't know what titles were missed in the list,but I already see a Knockout head in the first pics,and that is a premium piece and it is not listed.A few years ago at the Silverman auction ,many games sold for less then $100,but were parts,worn etc.If these pins have nice cosmetics,value would be approximating the total requested if not more. The Knockout alone in nice shape is 4K.The storage looks dry,even though not climate controlled,and pins should not be too damaged. Certainly if someone were local it would be worth it to explore. We need to contact Too many pins... to see what he thinks about the load. He has had experience buying lots like this...

Lot of decent vintage titles, many are more than a little rough, and more and more it seems storage units full of games are being liquidated and becoming a thing of the past.

Can't say I don't understand that as storage unit rental is now more than ever becoming big business, and prices to rent them are reflecting that.

So what was the question again? Where will I put all these and how much will it cost to store them until I get around to doing something with them? And then who will I sell them to once I'm done with them?

All those poor backglasses in there!!

Let alone shipping them to you

Looks like a couple of my storage units full of parts machines piled up in one big unit! I love parts machines & project machines but sadly most if not all of the stuff here is Woodrail and these days there is very little interest in woodrail machines or parts. I might be interested in the lot but not at anything close to $125 per machine. Maybe something in the $3500 to $4000 range unless I am missing something when I look at these pictures and even that is likely a stretch.

I bought close to 100 machines from the Sliverman collection (some at the auction but even more from guys years later that realized machines were just too far gone to save) and I have under $40 each invested in most of those.

Typically you can part out a woodrail machine and "harvest" a couple hundred dollars in good parts from most of them. The problem is it takes months to years to sell those parts, it takes close to a day per machine to do that work, you pay selling fees, paypal fees, storage rent, etc when doing that and taxes on the profits so on the average I make about $3 an hour parting machines out. I save what machines are worth saving out of each load and part the rest out as I have time. Being semi retired it is just something to do in my "spare time" but I do it more to help people acquire parts they need then for the money. If it was about money being a Wal-Mart greeter would pay 3 times better and would likely be more fun most of the time.

Have seller PM me if he wants to talk more. I need more junk like I need an extra hole in my head but I can't resist saving machines that can be saved and getting parts to people from machines not worth saving.

Will all that fit into a 53' box trailer? I'm thinking about $3000 shipping and then what?

This is a lot of machines if there are 100 of them. No way to quickly examine all to get a fair price. You have assume as is where is. 40-50 bucks a piece should be the highest for a bulk deal.... then you have to move them, store them, then salvage, restore, sell, part out to get your money back or even make any. A lot of work!!! And it may take A LONG time to sell that many project machines......just food for thought. Could be a nightmare or could be a few gems hidden in there. That’s the tough part to decide.

I have purchased in excess of 600 machines over the past 10 years and I have yet to find the "hidden gems". Typically all I ever find is a lot of work for very little financial return. Best of luck to the seller but the best advice I can give him or a buyer is do it all in one lot and be done with it. If seller decided to let a couple people pick through the balance will be much harder to sell. And if a buyer can't handle all of it they are better off just leaving the load for someone who can. It is hard to dig through piles of parts & machines trying to salvage anything worth saving quickly so it is better to do it right and save what can be saved instead of trying to do it quickly and making a couple machines that could have been saved into parts because of a stupid mistake.

Tell your friend to pm too- many -pins.he is the right person for job.i have purchased parts from you ( skip).and have been pleased with price and parts.when it comes to em 's.we can always use more parts and machines that are salvagable.i also agree that he should sell in one lot to keep parts and machines together til parts machines are separated from salvageable machines.lets face it .we need all the machines and parts out there we can get to keep our own treasures working.

The only way to give a correct price evaluation is to remove all the games in the center of the storage unit and then you'll have a chance to view all the games in the outer walls. Otherwise the buyer can't see what he is purchasing. Sounds easy, but a lot work if you don't have the proper amount manpower.

The way they are stored now i couldn't pay more than $50 a game ($5100), but If i could view the all the games one by one i could price them more fairly and the seller could end up with a larger offer. Maybe the best way to price this collection for more value is to sell them one by one. For sure it will bring more than $5100. Again a lot a hard labor and time.

I wish the seller the best.

Time is money and very few people will want to waste the necessary time to evaluate these correctly. Not only do you have to move dozens of machines you need to match heads to machines, check for completeness, etc. Realistically someone could spend a full 8 hour day just "sizing" up what is in that unit. The only way to buy bulk is to be willing to gamble - sometimes seller wins - sometimes buyer wins.

What 95% of people willing to spend time sorting through will want to do is "cheery pick" the best stuff and make an offer on just that. Once that stuff is gone GOOD LUCK selling the rest at any price. As I said earlier I have no business even considering these but I will work with seller if they are interested in having someone with experience helping them with this. But once I factor in travel cost & expenses of moving that many machines hundreds of miles I just don't see over $35 to $40 per machine unless they are full of silver dimes!

I was hoping a few more people might chime in about these. I would love to have maybe 1/2 of them for parts but I don't know if I would want the entire load right now. I just found out my storage rent will be going up by over 10% starting in October and I am already paying around $500 a month for storage. Adding another 10x40 unit would add another $250 a month in rent and at that point I might as well rent a cheap house for storage. CRAZY for sure!

Anyone else that has made "bulk deals" in the past have anything to say about these? Figuring all cost involved I just don't see much of a chance for any profit if someone pays much over $4000 for them. And even at $4000 it will likely take the buyer a year or more just to get back to a break even on them.

I think it's time for an auction.

Looks like a lot of junk unfortunately.

I once bought a load of about 40 EM and early digital games for good money, we paid around $400 a machine (and this was like a dozen years ago). But they were good titles in good shape and almost zero crap (there were a few Chi Coin games but even those were nice).

You are always gonna get some gems and some stuff you don't want in a package deal but this one ain't worth spending big money. Plus the move will be murder.

The people who tell you it isn't worth much are those that want to profit from it.

Just like containers. The same folks who do them, say they don't make money on it.

Typically auctioning decent machines brings decent money but when everything being sold (or the majority of what is being sold) is "junk" things don't end well. If you pull up Morphy's Auction results from the 3rd Silverman auction you can see what I am talking about. They had close to 500 machines at that auction (mostly bottom of the barrel stuff) and over 50% of those machines sold for under $25. They even had some they couldn't get a $10 bid on if I remember correctly.

Thankfully for the auctioneer & Silverman the first two auctions did pretty well but in the end that last auction was nothing short of a waste of time and money for the auctioneer. With his load I doubt if you would find an auctioneer that would even get involved. Typically an auctioneers expenses to do an auction run about $3000 to $5000 (between help, advertising, etc) - I know because I have had a couple auctions. So for an auctioneer to take these on he would need to expect at least a $12,000 to $18,000 gross sales figure just to cover expenses if he has to move them to do the auction.

That is where units like this become sad. More often than not someone talks there way in - cherry picks a few of the best machines & pays very little for them - then seller is stuck with the "real junk" and nothing decent to attract a buyer. Next thing you know the balance goes into dumpsters and sellers cost to empty the unit is more then he sold the better machines for.

Regardless of what happens here the best advice I can give the seller is DON'T SELL A THING out of that unit. SELL IT ALL OR NOTHING - get full payment before first machine is loaded and be happy it isn't costing money to dispose of them. As always seller has a right to do what ever they want to do but I will guarantee doing it any other way will not end well for the seller.

LMAO yeah right. Then YOU go buy this load for $12,500 an get rich off it.

Look at the titles listed, even if the games weren't toast - which looks highly dubious based on the photos - there are very few sought after titles in there. Most are woodrails and the woodie market is in the shitter, well off its peak from 10-15 years back.

And even best case these games will need a ton of work, plus the moving, plus the storage. Ain't nobody getting rich off EMs these days, we are just offering advice. Part of the hobby, once you've been in it for a while, is knowing when to walk away.

When I started out I'd buy almost anything and most people are the same way, as you go on you get a bit more selective.

If those were all 80s and 90s games, then you might have something. But a disorganized lot of project EM games? Eh....the value isn't too high on those. Maybe there's a few desirable titles in there, but not at $12,500.

As a lot, $2500 might be a decent offer--and even that might be pushing it. Yes it may sound like it's a lowball offer given the number of games, but there's a lot of rough projects in there, and the amount of time, effort, and expense to move, store, and go through that many games is considerable. Plus I'm not seeing any collector's quality pieces in there.

If the owner is interested in maximizing his profit, he should pull out the most desirable titles, sell them off individually (or in smaller lots), then sell the rest off in smaller project lots.

But, that approach is a lot of work for the owner, and it sounds like he just wants to get rid of everything. So, the pool of people who would actually be interested in an EM lot that large is pretty small, and it really needs to be worth their while to take on something like that.

There's only a small number of titles that actually command significant prices these days, and only if they are in nice condition.

Personally, I'd pass, even at $2500. I just don't feel it's worth my time and effort. Partly because I've been incredibly busy this year, and party because it is a lot of time and effort for games I'm not particularly interested in.

Have you ever moved 25 or 50 machines out of storage units? Two years ago I did two warehouse deals one involving 58 machines and the other had 26 or 28 machines. Driving 9000 miles transporting everything home 10 trips with my van and trailer because I couldn't justify the cost of a rental truck. Worked my ass of for almost a month salvaging what I could, selling off projects as project , and parting out the rest. And once the dust settled I made less than $3000 profit on everything.

You guys that think there is money to be made with a deal like this should try one! There is only one reason to get involved with something like this and that is to get machines & parts to people who will do something with them. As I said in an earlier post I love doing that but typically I net about $3 an hour in the process.

I highly doubt I would have any interest in these unless I was the sellers last resort to keep them out of a landfill. It is just way too much work for way to little return! But if no one else steps up to try and save what can be saved I would consider getting involved. And if I did get involved I would be more than happy to have anyone local come "cherry pick" from the load before I transported everything back to Central PA. As always my interest is only to keep parts & machines that could be salvaged out of the landfill.

If I wanted these there is no way I would keep bumping this post for more people to see it - I would have PM'ed the OP about them and then just let this post fall out of sight. I have bumped this post 5 times and just bumped it back to page one so more people would see it after it dropped off to around page 6. Would anyone with any smarts that was interested in buying these do that?

Wonder how many of them will actually work when setup? Crazy!

These belong to Jack, right?

They have been listed sooooo many times on mr pinball over the years.

Condition is king with old games and don't think these games are in that good a condition.

Plus each game probably needs a 100 hours work and more cash to make decent so think very carefully!!

Oh Christ Jack Koch? The cincy hoarder?

STAY AWAY.

STAY AWAY.

STAY AWAY.

been around forever trying to peddle garbage at top cost. Trail of unhappy deals.

You newbies scoff at us RGP old-timers but we have long memories...

LOL @ "Jack Koch is a Cock"

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/jack$20koch$20f-14%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/fdNeWh_21Zk/a86MIPngE3QJ

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/jack$20koch%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/SzFWqDMxiCQ/qV5Xjx_t7eAJ

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/jack$20koch%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/zH5a_nHwEYs/WCK7tu4VClwJ

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/jack$20koch%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/lSfsSP9J7pg/jA-55pYyKHYJ

If these are Jack's games, they actually don't look as bad as I expected.

From experience I can tell you doing things that way will not end well for the seller. Once stuff is "cherry picked" dumpster fees & labor cost to dispose of what will not sell will exceed what he gets out of the "better stuff".

I am lucky - when I part out machines I have a craft guy that takes all the cabinets & wood, a scrap metal guy that takes all the metal stuff and a buddy with a small dumpster at his place of business I can use for free for anything I can't give away. And even with all of that and working basically for free it is hard to make any money on a deal like this at any price.

In any event hopefully seller finds someone to take it all and the buyer gets as much as possible to people who will do something with it. What I always find really sad is when someone buys a deal like this and tucks it away in storage somewhere else thinking they will make a killing on it down the road. Over three years later I am still buying machines from the Silverman auction guys did that with their purchases. Over & over I hear the same thing "I don't know what I was thinking - I should have just tossed that money in the trash". "I moved all these machines, paid storage on them, and now I am selling them to you for less than I paid for them 2 or 3 years later". How does that make any sense or help the hobby? If the buyer can't process these in a timely manner he should just avoid the deal completely.

Looking at the big picture .I still stand by what I posted yesterday.they seem to be mostly wood railers ( lighted score).not my first choice.( personally would not own one )nice ones only topping out at$ 300 to $400 on face book or craigslist.So ,for what it's worth.every one is just going to want one machine or a couple parts.they need to go to someone who will put the machines,parts, on the market for all of us.

I'm not seeing a whole lot of volunteers to take on that project...

Not to "derail" this thread but just to give anyone who has done business with me in the past a "heads up" I'll be back to listing EM & Woodrail parts fairly heavy again in a couple weeks. After two years I am finally about finished helping my other son in NJ with his house projects and I am also just finishing up with the last of the project machines from those warehouse deal so it is getting close to time to start getting lots of great parts listed again.

I have tried to list as much as possible as time has allowed but shortly I'll just be doing the pinball parts again for the first time in over two years.

As far as I know I am one of the only people consistently listing Woodrail parts anywhere on the net. As I just said in my previous post I have not been doing as much as I had in the past lately but I'll be back at it again shortly. If anyone else is interested in doing it I'll be more than happy to give them what advice I can. But if you are going to do it you need to realize you better be doing it for the love of helping people save machines because if you get into it for the money you will be very disappointed.

I did this once and I would do it again. but maybe for a quarter of the asking price. Are these more of Jack's machines? I bought his storage units in cincy last fall. Who do I talk too about this?

That's why you have my vote.

Most likely guess would be 2.

Need better pictures of the games to tell what's there!!

Just of of curiosity are you doing something with the machines you bought or just stashing them away like most people tend to do when they buy in bulk? I guess it really isn't any of my business but I always wonder what happens with these large lots of parts because a rarely see anyone but me offering woodrail parts for sale.

From my experience with units like this it will be lots of heads without bodies, bodies without heads, machines with stuff cut out of them etc. When buying in bulk like this it is rare to get many machines actually worth trying to save. Most of the time the stuff worth saving is long gone and this is the stuff that wasn't worth fixing for what ever reason.

My guess would be ZERO - I don't ever remember buying an EM that had been sitting that actually worked when I assembled it. Maybe I am just buying the wrong stuff!

I was being extremely optimistic.

Ya,I agree it has to be about the love of the game.not the greed.we all have sold ( comics,ball cards and beanie babies ect.and chances are you ended up being disappointed. (The sucker),if it was get rich quik.im glad to see there's others who have learned these lessons and want to do what's best for the pinball community as a whole.

I have been storing them for as long as i need to before i can sell them. 3/4 of what was in the storage units (there was 2, huge) has been sold already.

I have been storing them for as long as i need to before i can sell them. 3/4 of what was in the storage units (there was 2, huge) has been sold already.

I ended up getting several good machines from the unit. Found 2 duette machines, missing back glasses. but complete otherwise and only 326 produced. That's why i do what i do, find many treasures that way and then get the rest out in the public to save other machines.

You know what? Go for it! If you're up for the work to restore them, then you're doing the Lord's work. Just don't pay 12K for them.

Then OP should not label it as 100 EM machines if they aren't complete. I give you lots of credit for trying to save the games.

Perhaps they are in Tennessee

download (resized).jpg

Lives in Loveland, Ohio just 23-25 miles North of Cincinnati

Glad to hear you try to do what I try to do and keep the stuff moving. One of the saddest things for me - since I have been in the hobby - was going to the Sliverman sale and seeing stuff he had hoarded for years (over 25 years in some cases) finally seeing the day of light for the first time in years and then just getting bought by people for pennies on the dollar just so they could do the same thing. At the sale I really felt sorry for Silverman because of the prices the stuff was selling for and knowing that he was only getting about 2/3rds of hammer price once auctioneer got their money. But as time passed and I started getting contacted by people who bought from that auction trying to sell me those same machines three years later it made me feel even worse.

I know people who purchase stuff have a right to do what ever they want with it but I see no logic in hoarding pinball machines and parts for years. Being very honest I have machines around I bought 4 or 5 years ago but for the most part I try to keep as much moving as fast as humanly possible. But I do set back nicer machines that are missing key parts hoping to make one out of two sometime down the road to preserve as many machines as possible.

My hope is seller finds a buyer that actually does something with these machines. As long as that happens I'll be a happy camper!

People just need to realize machines in units like this typically are not machines that will be worth trying to save for the most part. It varies case by case but in most cases out of 100 machines you will be lucky to find 20% worth trying to save from my experiences with units like this. That is the nice thing about modern machines with fold down heads. At least with those heads stay with cabinets 99% of the time.

In any event best of luck to whoever is interested in these. I know my number on them without seeing them in person wouldn't exceed $40 per machine. One other thing - I don't know where the count came from but it really doesn't look like 100 full machines either. From pictures I am thinking more like 75 to 80 machines total unless there are more not shown in any of the pictures. So I would recommend anyone making an offer make it based on a machine count NOT just an offer on the unit. (My count is based on knowing these units are typically 10 or 12 x40' and a full 10x40 unit holds about 75 machines).

When doing that machines don't have to be complete but machine count should be number of heads & bodies divided by 2. So if there are 85 heads and 105 bodies the machine count should be 95 machines. Figuring each 1/2 is half the value of any given machine. You could also make an offer based on full machines only and pay more for those with the understand the heads & bodies that don't match don't carry as much value. In that case I would think my offer would be a little higher for each machine.

The original post asked "what is the value of these 100 machines". That is what I am trying to help him establish. He didn't say if he was wanting to make an offer, if he was trying to find a buyer, etc from what I remember reading the OP quickly. So my purpose for post here is to try to help OP establish a fair market value on these.

I think the count includes doubles and triples of the same game...