Enjoyed reading this post. What's going to be interesting for me is dealing with four 50's woodies that I'm going to pick up sight unseen this week. I've only owned two woodies in all my years of collecting, so dealing with these puppies is going to be a lot of fun. None of them are ultra-collectable - all B/C titles (GTBs - Twin Bill, Pin Wheel, Easy Aces), and a WMS Fairway. Based on condition and whether I like them as players, I'll shop and keep or flip.

Will report back on how this all goes down.

Twin Bill is a great game, it is one of Sam Harvey's favorite or at least top ten woodrails.

Good to know, interesting. Can't wait to see these games in person and to play them all for the first time.

I'll definitely reach out once I pick it up.

It’s all about condition and the game really. I collect rare EM’s and have for years, and my collection consists of mostly HUO games, or games with very little play. I do feel that EM’s are going up in value, as it’s getting very difficult to find all original nice examples, such as my Poseidon nowadays.

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I read through a bunch of this... My thoughts... I think more people are moving into EMs now because SS games and DMD games are not affordable anymore... Not everyone had $3k to drop on a pinball. You can still buy EM projects here in the Mid Atlantic for $200 - 400... I have even gotten some cheaper... working machines in the $500 - $700 range all day long. EM is the way to go if you want to get into pinball as cheaply as possible. There are still some to be pulled from garages and basements that are in nice shape. I see the prices going up around here slightly but not by much... $50 - 100 here or there... and I think that is because more people are getting into EMs. I was never into them before until I wanted to get a few more pins without spending a ton of cash. I have two in my collection now. But I have had 4 or 5 others that I have fixed and sold or passed on to other collectors. I prefer 70s vintage with longer flippers. Gottlieb is still tops in my book. Easy to work on and built solid. I think theme is very important when talking pricing on EMs. I also think there is a future in EMs with retheming pins with bad playfields into custom machines.

I think one of the biggest trends I continue to see is the transition from selling on Craigslist to other platforms, primarily Facebook.

Prices do seem to be higher recently, especially for restored EMs. Prices around $2,000 and higher are getting more common. And with so many pinheads working on projects/restorations while staying at home right now, I’m thinking the increased price trend is going to continue once a bunch of those go up for sale.

Ugh

Took the words out of my mouth. Best two things I did with my Facebook account was delete my first one, then my second. Never looked back. I don't see anything wrong with listing things on CL or here on Pinside. Problem is, most likely someone who isn't into pinball and just has one game sitting in their basement for decades is more likely to post on Facebook and hope someone they know locally will speak up.

Exactly right. I’m in the same boat as you guys. Deleted FB long ago and now rely on friends and family to keep an eye out for me. Problem is whatever is posted is usually gone by the time I go through the trouble of trying to connect with the seller. You are right that convenience is king and I think it’s much easier to post a picture on FB than it is to create an ad on Craigslist.

Seems to me that showing up at a pinball show with some cash in your pocket is the way to go nowadays, plus you get your pick. But at this point who knows when the next one of those will be.

I ended up selling the 7 games together as one lot. The Easy Aces was hands down the worst condition of the group - playfield was beat up and had been disassembled with half the parts and plastics missing... otherwise I would have at least kept it and got it working.

So ... um... this is interesting. I bought that Fairway from Lloyd today. Wrapping up an EM Shooting Gallery project at home and was looking for something new to dig into. Never had a wood-rail before, I like stripping and refinishing wood bits so I thought it would be fun - plus the theme appeals to me.

Anything you can tell me about it before I go get it next week? I mean, other than I probably overpaid. LOL.

I sent you a PM about the game... if you decide to work with the additional features that were added to this game, you might have a very cool unique game on your hands.

It’s really true. I used to be an early SS guy but once I got a couple of Late EMs, I was hooked. The reason I always stayed away from EMs is that I thought they were unreliable and would be impossible to work on. Thanks to this site, I decided to take a chance on an EM and learned they can be reliable and fun to work on once you learn some things.

Around here if a late EM comes up for sale at a reasonable price, it’s gone within hours. Latest one was a Little Chief in fair condition for $500. It lasted less than 3 hours.

I go back and forth. I’m working on a SS game, and I get sick of monkeying with connectors, old boards, trying to figure out why a game won’t boot etc.

So I dive into an em. It’s a breath of fresh air! No boards! I can fix this game with nothing but a switch adjuster and a file. Then I run into some Bally that drives me insane, or a gottlieb AX relay that almost sends me to an asylum.

You can’t win! I’m taking up stamp collecting.