Quoted from Luckydogg420:I think that the availability of un-restored games is drying up; at least in my area. Most of the good restore candidate games that are desirable have been scooped up within the last 5 years as pinball has made a resurgence.
Now anyone selling a beat up game that has been in their basement for decades sees the price of the restored game market and immediately thinks their old game is more valuable than it probably is worth. This practice has raised the starting price for newcomers into the hobby; because they don't know the value of games, and think they can flip an "deal" that they find.
This trickles up through the entire resale market. People selling higher worth games think " if their getting X amount for that old game, then my better game must be worth more. Even if it's more then what they got the game for a few years ago. No one wants to leave money on the table for the next guy to collect on.
As more noobies enter the hobby, more money enters the market. they want a game right now to play and don't want to wait for a deal, so they pay inflated prices for games even if it's just a project machine.
Which is exactly why games in great condition should not be restored.
