I'm not saying all of these people were all idiots for their predictions (well, DUMP ALL YOUR GAMES THIS YEAR OR PAY THE PRICE guy might be in the running) but it goes to show you that nobody knows what the hell they are talking about and comparing pinball to other hobbies is pointless. Back them everybody was pointing to Jukeboxes - the same thing will happen! Remakes and aging killed the market!

No, it didn't happen because Jukes aren't pinballs. Just like guitars aren't. Or cars.

I was there in the early 2000s, and I never thought pinball was dying out. Just like today prices were always climbing, and people were bitching about the price of MM ("I'll NEVER pay $3500 for MM, you people are crazy!"). You can speculate all you want about how it was facilitated (I don't buy the barcade thing those specialize in video games and that home market never recovered) but the fact of the matter is pinball is thriving because NEW BLOOD entered the hobby and continued. The premise that "in 15 years we will all be dead and so will pinball" turned out to be complete horse pucky. It's what people were saying back then and it's what "Mr. Reality" is saying this very moment.

I don't buy it. Not at all.

Why buy pins? I heard Robin Hood (not Bernie Sanders) is pledging to re-appropriate pins from people with too many and divide them up among those who have few or no pins already.

Seriously though... if you want to speculate at what is coming next in a hobby that consists of 20-year old collectibles, like DMD pinball machines, then you should look at 30 and 40+ year old hobbies like collecting classic automobiles, die-cast models, etc.

As those other hobbies continue to mature, it's all about preservation and originality.

Cutting political satire. Well played and welcome as always.

Saying nothing of the sort (although I do own a jukebox! )

Your term "Everyone" is very off.... "everyone" doesn't go out and buy $2000 pinballs.

However, everyone (that does love music) will indeed buy something music related..that might be a record, a cd, a mp3, an ipod, a stereo system, or a jukebox...going right to jukebox is kind of extreme... I didn't start with a pinball...I started with an Atari 2600 back in the 70's..... I worked my way up.

My point was that it takes talent to play a guitar and it takes talent to learn how to play and those people are the lion-share of collectors market for guitars..is that a fair assumption?

It takes no talent what so ever to lug a pinball into the back of your truck and get it home and play it and then one day resale it.

Some of us are, but most of us are not, buying pins as an investment.

I don't know that the same can be said about guitar buyers....in fact I would wager that those people specifically got their guitar as an investment.

I buy pinballs because they are fun and I enjoy playing them and they remind me of my youth.

I am sure the same can be said of most guitar enthusiasts and chances are that the guitar they own at home is not worth a lot anyway..but for those that invest in guitars, it's really no shock that an investment could lose money. Isn't that the very definition? It's not called a "sure fire bet"..it's an investment.

go fuck yourself

I'm 50 , used to be an Op so have a large collection of Machines from most eras . i have no interest in the prices of pins . My main interest revolves around the odd spare part and tinkering with what i have ( So i can keep the machines up and running for myself others to enjoy )

I love when dumb people post just to show how ignorant they are. I hope you are trolling, because if not then you are a special case of stupid.

Yikes. I thought it was a good joke. Maybe should have been in the basement. lol

It was total satirical bait, but hey man... thanks for making it personal....

so you are definately describing yourself. IME there are LOTS of 30year old guys with disposable income buying up lots of pins. There are lots of 40year olds with kids still buying LOTs of pins. Hell, there are even 20 and 50 year olds buying lots of pins.

they are not buying as many 5k plus titles anymore but it is still insane to me how many 2k good players get snagged up in seconds! You age argument for the eventula death is factually wrong based on the number of younger than you guys buying lots of pins and building collecitons right now. Hell out local league has 3 teenagers that are very proficient in playing and some even owne their own games already.

I think people underestimate inflation when they look at the current market. If you bought a pin bought new in 2003 for $3600 and you resell it in 2015 for $5000, you've just managed to keep up with inflation. That's not a "bubble" by any stretch of the term. There will never be a pinball "bubble", because our hobby isn't driven by leverage the way the stock market and housing bubbles were.

If you want to be a political jackass, keep it to yourself and off pinside. It was personal for me the instant you lied and continueed to bring fox news on a pinball forum.

If u do a full shop job, it works 100% and it's priced fair, U should never have a problem.

Happy Holidays.

Its great to see so many enjoying Pinball machines , in the end to me ( these days ) the machines are about , family , friends , fun .

I hope these fellows in their 20s and 30s get as much enjoyment from the machines us of farts sell into the market when our time is up

Ok, so far we have you're showing your higher education speaking skills with words like "dumb," "stupid," and "jackass."
If you'd be so kind, please help this dumb, stupid liar of a jackass out with where you're getting this "Fox news" reference from, and more importantly what part of my sarcastic two-line joke is a "lie" and why have you not sought professional help for your anger management issues?

To everyone else - -sorry for the off-topic replies. I really thought the original political joke was funny and didn't know it would butt-hurt anyone. Back on topic!

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Political posts are always funny for about 50% of the people and they are insulting for the other 50%.
Same with religious posts.

A good rule of thumb for most forums I stick with are simple... no politics, no religion. We have facebook for that.

I agree with you.....just wish people had thicker skin. We 'should' be able to talk about anything.....clearly that is never the case online.

My family used to talk about politics and religion ALL the time when I was growing up....and they were fascinating conversations. My wife's family on the other hand NEVER talks about politics or religion.....or money..............shame really.

I dont come hang on pinside to talk politics and I definately dont care to have iggnorant political propganda spewed when the TOS specifically say to keep politics and religion off pinside. There are plenty of other social media outlets if people want to talk about those subjects.

The "joke" (can you even call it that?) wasn't funny at all and it did was open up the usual can of worms. People always think they can sneak in a lame political cheap shot in these threads under the radar and the same thing always happens. If everybody here did the same thing this forum would be quickly ruined. It's not about being "thin-skinned," there are rules here, this isn't 'Nam.

I said I agreed with him......"no politics, no religion'.

IMG. Too many boys on this forum obviously wear lace panties.

Because my little joke appears to be causing undue stress and keeping some away from their important daily activities, I've edited what a vocal few (without a sense of humor) have dubbed a 'political post.' It was a joke, but hey, I mentioned a politician's name... what-the-frick-ever....

So that the appropriate panties can be un-bunched, I've edited my post and substituted-in the pesudo-fictional character Robin Hood, on which the actual premise of the joke was based.

And seriously -- Whysnow wants to bring up TOS??? -- but seems to have failed to voice the objection when DaveWFT uses profanity? Nothing quite like getting the dose of double standards from the peanut gallery.

It's not about our choice of underwear. It's a RULE.

None of us get to get our stupid little political digs in, as much as we'd like to, so why should you? I'm sure we'd all love to do the snarky political thing, I know the joys. We've had lots of fun and some nasty battles over at RGP.

But it's not allowed here. So put your big boy pants on, or your lace panties, and get with the program.

way to equate femininity with weakness. and by the way, you did make an overtly political post, i don't know how you can pretend it wasn't. then when people didn't like it, you got upset and started slinging sexist insults. i thought men were supposed to be tough. who's got the thin skin now?

Hahaha! Ah yes, lest we forget every single person on this board is sexist. Thank you for the daily reminder!

Whoa stud. You're reading way too far into that one... Not surprised as apparently you did the same with my first post. Sexist insult? No sexism involved. But perhaps you could explain, since you and your buddies would apparently prefer to keep this going...

And hey, men are tough until you kick 'em in the nuts. In that regard, women can take a hell of a lot harder hit. Who's the stronger gender? Debatable when all is considered.

Really friend, my skin isn't thin and my feathers aren't ruffled. I only responded AFTER the personal insults and the profanity. But I guess that is a completely justifiable response for my joke, even it you consider it a bad one. I'm sure your position really gets you far in the life, and completely explains why you thought the joke wasn't funny. Really, it explains a whole lot...

Deathmatch, Deathmatch, Deathmatch!

(there is not a lot going on in the office this afternoon...)

Okay the negative back and forth exchanges need to stop please allow for this thread to get back on topic. That discussion ends now or ejects will be handed out.

On topic, yes I've noticed even very popular pins have become harder to sell. I attribute it to the steady flow of new pins being offered now and silly (sorry I hate it) preorder model.

The fact that even 50's pins are in the $1K range in decent condition tells you the market is healthy. Anyone who played those games new is probably dead or in a nursing home, so it's a new generation of collectors maintaining that price range.

Same for newer games.

Caitlyn Jenner now?!? I'll have you know she is STUNNING and BRAVE!

I haven't seen many 50s pins in the 1k range.

Apparently you've not been to craigslist lately...

In 10 more years I'm going to stock up on dirt cheap Ferraris from the 1960s.

Some collectors come and go. I was up to 13 pins and only have 5 now. Thinking about selling a couple more. Just don't play them. My 2 teenage kids and there friends get bored in about 5 minutes and move on to something else. Pretty much the same with most my family members except the 55+age crowd. Been collecting for 8 years. Have had maybe about 50 pins over the years. Small numbers to a lot of folks. I do believe there will be a point in time when a lot of the old timers sell off pins and the supply and demand will work in the favor of the buyer.

And me........

I hate the penny pinching pencil pushing.

Life's too short and it's just a hobby, not an investment for pete's sake

As a younger pinball fan I'm looking forward to the day all the oldies are in the old folks homes and I can buy up their collections

Maybe when they move in to the nursing home they can leave them at my place and I'll let them take day trips out to play them. Sure beats all the elderly around here who's only day trips are to the pokies to waste their pension.

Is that bad to admit?

Well there are a few titles that command a little more for their desirability but most wedgehead gottliebs or old williams are below $1000. It's the same with early SSs and DMDs. The most wanted titles will always be worth a little more.

$1000 is a bargain for choice woodrail titles in good shape compared to what they were selling for before that bubble burst. Some were paying three to four times that much several years back.

I have paid more than a grand for some and consider it money well spent as they get more play than the more recent games I own. And these are the keepers because they are next to impossible to replace. They were all made before I was born.

I sold a 1951 Niagara about 14 years ago to a guy in PA for $1K on ebay. Couldn't believe it but I wish I hadn't. Needed the money and the thing had backglass flaking and wear and I had stripped the cabinet to make it look 'nicer' but I wish I had it just because of how cool the art was and how different the play was. In today's money that $1000 would be 1350 basically. Not bad for a 64 year old pinball machine with gobble holes!

Just sold two machines today in Colorado. (Regional discussion anyone?)

No Good Gofers for $3500 after three days on Craigslist.
Johnny Mnemonic for $2250 after 1 day on CL.

Market seems fine to me.

I thought you were gonna sell me a B lister or 2 when I come out ? PM me with what else is getting cut PLS.

Yes Sir, I buy high because I must have and play it now, I sell low because I'm done and get it out of here, women and pinball. Just kidding, but it happens.

Taking-the-Bull-by-Its-Horns.jpg

Best post of this thread!

A weekend in Vegas is $1500
A weekend with a hooker is $2000 and attorney's fees
A year with a pin is $1000, max. Usually more like $300.

Live, love, play pinball

Pins aren't selling because Kaneda's not buying. End of story.

Because if he did, he'd have to sell the one he has now.

Or his piece of shit car.

But how do you know your worth as a human being if you don't have a "cool" care?

you could always try petty sniping at people with cool cars, apparently that's pretty satisfying. oh hey you guys are one step ahead of me.

The replacement Penis? Yup.