Heard also that there were not many woodrails there this year and that even with woodrails prices seem to be slightly trending upwards?

Sounds like a fun show - hope to attend sometime.

Uh, eat me. That was my Congo and it played great. I didn't check the audits but it was rock solid and had people playing it throughout the entire show until I switched it off around 6:30 Saturday. One problem at the shows is the power drops and weak components get weaker. I agree some of those EMs were total projects with prices that were 2X too high. I put an "optimistic" price on Congo and expected someone to haggle but nada. Party might be over on that title. I traded it toward a new game.

I liked the guy who had signs on his games saying "Help save my marriage. Buy a pinball!" I spoke to him for a little while. Really nice guy. Funny too. I had a good time meeting people there.

I thought some of the games were a little high, but then again, I feel that everything is negotiable to a certain extent.

Which one was yours? I saw 2 of them. One had green GI and the other one was white GI.

IMO I'd say the best place to buy a pin would be on here. I'll buy from a trusted Pinsider before I buy from a random stranger at a show. This way I know their reputation and exactly what kind of quality machine to expect from past transactions with other members.

Agreed. I have never understood how someone can trust another enough to just pay them thousands for something unseen in person. Unless of course you know the seller on a personal level. I almost paid another member $3k via Paypal in full for a machine before picking it up on Friday, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Yeah, the machine looked good in the pictures, but what about what I couldn't see? I also didn't like the feeling of being pushed to send the money because there was a line of potential buyers behind me, so I regretfully had to let it go.

Sold the pin I brought for $1000, which was exactly what it cost me several months ago. I bought it when purchasing another pin from a guy and figured I'd have fun with it for a few months and then use it to get into Pinfest for free and sell it for what it cost me.

I wish that were the case out here. I've been looking for a reasonably priced RFM for over a year now I just can't find one.

I was onsite sat from 9:00 until 2:00. We had a great time and had no issues whatsoever except one. There was a guy who had a tales of the Arabian nights machine across from the hobbit machines and next to a pacman upright vid. He seemed to take great joy out of the countless people who tried to play the game only to realize it wasn't set to free play but also did not have a forsale/ not for sale card on it. He had it set up where you needed to put quarters in in order to play. I saw a guy ask him if it was for sale ? His response was to yell at the guy saying its not for sale and don't ask again. From the way he spoke you could tell he was hearing impaired. A few seconds later Kenada walked up and started carefully looking it over. I watched mr angry eye him up and waited for what I thought might be the funniest thing I've seen in a long time but Kenada just walked away. Does anyone know the guy or anything more?
Very strange...

Did your Viper sell??

Didn't bring Viper because I brought and sold 3 of the juke/game touch systems and didn't have room in the van.

Ahhh okay, then yours wasn't the one that I saw, but thought it was lol. Either way it was good to see one out in the wild. Someone was always on it.

That's Mike Reader he I usually a very nice guy. He is a vendor so he can do what he likes with the games in his booth.

That game was set up in the free play area on Friday with $5,600 on it. I texted the guy a reasonable offer. He told me he wanted to hold out for full asking price. The game played nice but had at least 3 screw holes in the Playfield and was down most of the day. I later saw it on the other side of the show with $6,500 on it.

I'm not sure that is the same TOTAN. A friend bought the $5600 one...WELL below asking price

No that Totan was from the rockland pinball guys

I had the viper night driving on the back wall

The guys who stayed till 330pm got some real good deals on that back wall

Yes, his name is Mike Reeder and is hearing impaired so it seems like his yelling is his normal voice. I spoke with him late Saturday and was able to do a last minute deal on the Surfer he had in his booth. He did say the the Arabian Nights was a purchase at the show and was not plugged in when I saw it.

I don't know him very well but I don't think he would intentionally mess with anyone; just a little tough to deal with mainly due to his hearing loss.

If you don't mind me asking, how was the Surfer pin you picked up? I had hopes of attending, looking for the same pin, but was not able to make it. Trying to triangulate prices on Surfer pins to ensure when one does come up that I can make a fair and reasonable offer. Also, was it Surfer or Surf Champ? Thanks!

Selection was kinda awful this year, for buying and playing. The good condition games are always priced kind of high and that's to be expected and there's usually some really junky ones that are priced okay/low and you can snatch up a good deal if you're willing to put the work in but this year they were even priced WAY too high. There was that one Gottlieb Dancing Dolls with the cracked backglass, Barbie instead of the original doll, rough cabinet, and worn through to the wood in most parts of the playfield for $250 OBO and I would say that was the closest thing to a good deal you could have gotten this year on the lower end (only if you threw a lower offer of course) of the pricing spectrum. That thing wasn't worth $250 in the slightest of course BUT what I am saying is kudos to that guy for at least not putting a price tag of $600 on it. I was considering throwing a cheap offer on that but I don't have the room to be doing that kind of stuff anymore. I think the lowest price tag I even saw this year was a Flip-A-Card reduced to $400 Friday because it cooked itself and smoked and the guy cut the start switch off to prevent somebody from starting a game and doing it to something else, but it remained on. It sat like that for both days. I don't think I saw anything lower, even during that end of the show period where everything gets marked down.

Also, I put a lot of effort into tuning up my games I bring to any show (even without the intention to sell, and marked NFS accordingly) because that's what I consider it, kind of like a car show. You polish it up and make it run great. A "show". You don't show up in your barn find Edsel that runs if you use starting fluid just so you can get let in for free. Seems like a lot of the games show up in a very sorry state just to get free admission, or the others that do work half-decent are only that way because they're trying to get a sale without having real care done to the machine. Quite a shame. There were a lot of EM's this year but a lot of them just played awful or were dirty to the point of how I wondered why people even kept them like that in a daily home situation let alone at a show.

Looking forward to the York show. Smaller selection but way way better prices and all of the games seem to generally be in better condition. Sorry state when it seemed like there were probably nicer and better playing games in the flea market (which are usually not set up for a reason) compared to some games setup on the show floor! York always seems to have great deals, I always seem to pick up games there CHEAP, and they aren't even those rough examples I was talking about that should be those prices, they are fairly nice games that could even afford to be higher priced at that point. So, I guess that show not only has games for cheap but also games for cheap that are in generally better condition, too. Hoping for a nicer selection next year, both to play and to buy!

Of course some games did play really nice and were maintained nice to match and this is by no means referring to all or majority of the games, just more than a few unfortunately. I still had an absolute blast! I really enjoyed playing ForceFlow's Dyn-O-Mite and somebody's Rescue 911 even though a drop target was broken. There was an immaculate Surfer there as well, although it looks as if it might have had some incredibly well done playfield restoration on it. I enjoyed playing that many many times as well. jrpinball brought his really nice Blue Chip which was great to see too. Wedgehead row probably had some of the best playing EM's in the place, the few down towards the right end by my game were a blast to play and running great! Of course everybody had a lot of interest in that beautiful North Star that sat next to my Domino. It played beautifully.

EDIT: Yeah, the Surfer was owned by the man mentioned above. If I had the money I would have definitely bought that thing, it was beautiful. One of the nicest all around games I have seen in a long time if not ever. I had a very very short interaction with the man who owned it (Mike is his name, apparently, as stated above) towards the end of the show and it was positive one, we just joked for a minute. I've seen him around a ton between Pinfest and York just never got the chance to talk to him before Saturday. Seemed like a nice guy. Probably didn't mean whatever you thought he did, but who knows.

I kept coming back to look at the monopoly, but never did make an offer as I'm sure it would have been too low.

Do you get paid by the word or what?! Nobody is reading all that shit man you gotta edit.

My friend bought a very nice fully working and nice playing jungle queen for 400 right off the floor Saturday evening. And that's not a garbage title it's one of the best.

Here's how it works - the price listed on the game isn't what it usually sells for. There were plenty of deals to be had.

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That was my Rescue 911 I brought and sold on Thursday and the Pinsider buyer was nice enough to leave it on free play all weekend. Fun game for sure and that target must've broke during the show.

That hulk was the first game I ever owned. Bought it back this year.

Pascal board added skull shot and ball save to the rules. Nothing else and could be turned off. The real benefits to the board are things like coil lock on safety. Actual diagnostic tests. Freeplay option. Attract mode. Insert Lamp flash to give visual clue for switch hits Million point detection(rolling the game over is noted) and high score initial entry.

If you want to play it more it's now setup at The Sanctum

I know how the pascal board works. Not complaining I just prefer stock settings. Thanks for leaving the game set up all weekend.

Jungle Queen was a steal at 400 and a great deal at 650 since it was shopped and played well. I wanted to buy it Friday but I didn't have my van and didn't want to ask someone else to drag it back for me.

The Incredible Hulk game is much better than I anticipated and I'm glad you got it back so that we can enjoy it weekly. Definitely come check it out at the Sanctum which I appreciate more than ever after going to Allentown. We are pretty spoiled with the selection of games we get to play on a weekly basis.

That's funny. I was texting the guy all day Saturday offering him $5,300. He kept telling me wanted to hold out for full asking price. Understandable but it did have screws in the Playfield. When it went down I sent him another message and he wasn't answering me. I heard it went for much lower than that. His loss I guess

And I think a lot of the machines were priced high for that reason. Simple economics. Just testing the waters. You don't really want to sell it but if somebody is willing to pay?

Yeah.. it also wasn't booting anymore. He was messing with it and got it to boot with another CPU.

He should have have taken your offer!

As am I, and I had a much better experience at York last year. Everyone that I talked to that went to Allentown last year told me that it was the better show of the two and that simply wasn't what I experienced. At least from now on with going to York I'll be much closer to home. If I do decide to go back which will be a big IF, I definitely won't go on Friday like everyone said to, and I gotta remember to hit the farmers market for all of the deliciousness that I kept hearing about. I was just so angry and disappointed with the show that I left without even getting food or thinking about it.

Sorry dude, when I'm tired I type a lot. Will keep that in mind though!

Why is that? I definitely did think Friday was the better day regardless, at least for play.

See you at York!

Because I keep reading that the killer deals were done on Saturday lol. No one wants to break all that down and drag it back home and I can't blame them. I mainly came to buy not to play but came home with an empty truck. I'm still all played out from going to pinball at the Zoo

Most the good deals are done beforehand or Thursday evening and early fri. Regardless the show is much more than getting a deal ....its catching up with all the awesome people in the hobby and people ive met threw the years . Playing the newer pins and buying accessories is just a bonus. I hardly even played pinball bc I can do that at home or friends places .. The farmers market is also a big draw for many.

Mine was the normal looking one with the white GI and non-green DMD.

I think the prices this year were fair I had two pins on the floor a williams world cup and a big guns. I had 550 and 1250 on them but ended up selling them for less. I always say you can always drop your price you cant ask for more so why not start a little high. I made a few deals for friends at the show that just don't like to wheel and deal and I think they got very fair prices on the pins they bought.

I was also able to score some great deals at the Marco booth and the classic arcade guys and a few other dealers there. If you dont ask for a discount or bundle price you will never get it!
Joe

I liked yours.

After putting a few games on it, it convinced me to get one sometime in the future. If I had room, I probably would've bought yours.

Hey bj, thanks for bringing Congo.I noticed the pin balls that were in it had black stripes on them and it seemed like they were constantly spinning, what kind of balls were they?

Same here.Congo is definitely on my short list of pins to buy.if I had more cash on me I would have made an offer

I deal in musical instruments. Sometimes my customers ask my advice when attending the vintage guitar show. I like to say that a guitar show or a pinball show will give you an opportunity to find the guitar (or pinball machine) you've been looking for. You may not find it at a bargain price but you may have a chance to play several and choose. You can also negotiate. A dealer can not cheat you if you agree to pay a price, you have the option to decline.

I hadn't been to the Allentown show for more than 20 years. I went hoping to buy a Royal Flush. I ended up buying Card Wiz for $600 and had a choice of two. I feel I bought the better of the two and am happy with the price. The show was great and I look forward to attending next year.

I actually had the opportunity to go this year on Sat, but did not attend for this very reason. I totally understand the people bringing the games there have the obligation of staying there if their game it there, so they wanna leave early.

Maybe if you came and brought a game there would have been more.

Now that I have a car that can fit one, I'd consider it for next year. Only had pinbot at the time, and that is the game that never leaves my house.

I was going to mention card whiz as another top title that was available in good shape at a good price.

I don't know what people are looking for. Good DMDs are at a premium and hard to find anywhere - at a show with hundreds of pinball fans I don't see why it is gonna be any different. There were still good games to play and buy there up till the waning hours of the show.

It's a 2 player Surfer. The machine is in very nice shape, some marks on the cabinet here and there but the playfield is in amazing condition, no paint wear or any planking, no cracked plastics. The play meter says around 15,000 plays which I think is correct, Mike stated he has owned this machine for over 35 years (says he got it when he was 12 years old) and I'm assuming it didn't get played hard as a home use machine. He had $1000 on it and I was able to take it home for $700, which I think is reasonable for the condition and desirability of this title.

I played at least a dozen games I never played before so I consider it a great show. No line for MM , NGG, tron, or avatar. Not to mention BSD.What more can you ask for? Plus got to play a Fire! for the first time and star wars. Just wanted to thank everyone again who brought games.

Thank you for the details! That is exactly in-line with pricing I've seen over the past year while looking for a Surfer. The 2-player version is definitely more rare, contrary to what ipdb says. Plus, that's the version that has nostalgia for me and my family. My grandfather owned a Surfer back in the 80's/90's and I spent many a day playing that pin when visiting his house. I think you got a great deal on it - especially one that was taken care of as a HUO pin for 35 years! Congrats!

Depends what you're looking for, but I didn't find the prices any different than years past. Anyone that priced a pin too high, I walk right past.
Bought a hard to find Force 2 project in the flea area for $700, and it's now up and running very nice.

I brought a strong playing Austin Powers, and sold it for $2400

I bought a Capcom Breakshot in the free play area, beautiful condition and shopped nicely for $1600.
Bought a lot of other stuff too. First day there, there was a DE Batman fully working for $1200, good backglass, nice cabinet, nice displays, playfield was fair, I almost bought it but then someone else scooped it. It was a solid buy.

Just have to have a good eye and know what you want. It's not hard to recognize the good stuff priced right over the good stuff priced wrong.