What if pinball never had a resurgence and it all went the other direction?...you'd look at it quite differently then.

Uh, every pinball machine I didn't buy in the late 90’s at auction? When prices where reasonable and you could find a copy of almost any title that looked nearly NIB clean for $1200 bucks? Players machines for under $750? Project machines for $50 to $100? You mean those halcyon days of yore?

Mid 1980's. A friend in northern Missouri tells me there is a local operator getting rid of dozens of 30's and 40's pins. By the time I could get to them, a well known Wichita idiot re-seller had been there and took most of the backglasses and playfields out of the games and left the carcasses of some nice games. Such a sad sight. I was only able to salvage a Stoner Chubbie which I still have.

A guy in Kentucky texted me about a non working White Water and F-14 Tomcat he wanted to sell -- both for $1700.

I called the guy, we talked about the machines, he sent me pictures. If he was an hour or two away I would have been in the truck and on the way to get them. . . he was over five hours away and would not be available to meet up for a couple days. I made the mistake of showing him some goodwill and told him that his asking price was too low. . . he said to make him an offer and I told him $4K not knowing anything more than I could see in the pics. A day goes by and I get a reply back asking if I can go $5K -- more than I was wanting to spend on two unknown functioning games a full days driving away. Another day or two goes by and he says White Water is working and someone wants to offer him $6K if I am still interested (he'd prefer a local sale). I just said Thanks, but no.

Kept the text on my phone. . . just to remind me some deals are still out there.

I've since seen the F-14 listed for sale as a project here on Pinside so I know someone ended up with them!

Several years ago was trying to get my hands on a Swords of Fury for $700. It was being sold by a real estate agent who had it locked up in a garage on one of her properties. I kept asking if I could get out and see it and had cash in hand, but I was told they couldn't locate the keys. The communication was poor, response and return calls were slow, and the whole thing dragged out for the better part of a month. It was a bit shady, they sold to someone else out from under me. I was more upset because I let some other games pass by during that time.

Fathom for 400.

It didn't 'get away' as much as I was new to the hobby and didn't know very much, and I wasn't sure that I wanted two 'older' games as I already had Space Shuttle. I even went as far as talking to the guy and setting up a time, then decided I didn't want it.

That was really stupid.

Yeah the old “offering way much more money then they guy is asking” strategy often backfires. Well played!

The way I look at it, if I didn't tell him someone else would have. Who knows how many other people the guy contacted besides myself? I offered what I thought the games were worth to me. I know its not always reciprocal, but I do try to treat people the way I'd like to be treated.

Here’s how I like to be treated - if I put something up for sale and someone agrees to my asking price, i appreciate it and sell them the item.

I’d be pretty surprised if they offered me more than 2X what I was asking.

True.....while you were on your way to pick them up someone would have said, "I would've given you more than that" and the dollar signs would have appeared in his eyes. Then you get the text that he's been offered more money....and the auction has begun.

Dragonfist project for $450.

Never saw or played one and it was 4-1/2 hours away. Luckily, told a friend about it and he got it so I get to play it every now and then.

I was just reading reviews about this game:
"best thing about this game is that they didn't make very many --- they probably made too many as it is"
lol

That's because you probably do your research and are a smart seller. This guy didn't know the first thing about pinball machines -- they were his dad's and he was cleaning out a shop trying to help the family out. I know it was a gamble on my part and yes, I lost.

Exactly. Given the distance and potential time frame for pickup I knew the odds of someone else sneaking in were likely.

Oh boy, the other confession thread begins.

In 2007 a local operator decided to sell all his stuff, and put an ad in the paper offering pinball machines for sale. I called him up, and the lineup was TAF, Fire, WH2O, and F14. The System 11s were going for $700. The WPCs were marked at $900.

Guess which game I bought.

F-14 Tomcat.

Really.

He actually had another TAF on route, which I managed to grab for the same price when it broke down, but to this day I wonder who got the insanely good deal on the Whitewater.

Guy's name was Dave and this was in the upper peninsula of Michigan, in case it was any of you guys!

Recently a buddy messages me saying there is a fh on fb. Also had a tom in the picture. He had messaged but got no response. He doesn't have the funds and says i can have them if we hear back so i message. Within an hour he gets contacted by the woman and is told he can have both for 2500. He calls his father who buys them. Buddy gets nothing and keeps working on the machines because family.

Ticked since he brought them to my attention, says i can have them, then calls his father. Am told i get first call when his father goes to sell the fh...