I have not followed the recent trends in pinball prices much lately but I listed a Space Shuttle for sale this week and it got me thinking. It seems like some of the Williams System 9 & 11 machines and a few Data East machines are the "best value" in pinball these days.

You see EM's with asking prices 3 to 6 times higher then they were 3 or 4 years ago, you see newer Stern machines selling for more money used than people paid for them new. You see the Classic Bally & Stern machines selling for crazy prices these days. Yet most Data East & Williams System 11's have not followed that trend. I know there are exceptions to this but right now it seems like the best values in the pinball market are select Williams & Data East machines. Am I missing something?

In my eyes some of the Williams System 9 & 11 machines and some of the Data East machines are the best playing machines ever made. Why have these machines not gone up in value like JJP, new Sterns, and Classic Bally machines (or even EM machines for that matter)?

Laser War is a great example of what I am talking about. What a fun game with such a great light show and yet you can still buy one fairly cheap compared to other titles. Space Shuttle and Comet are a couple others - most listed under $2500 and they still don't seem to sell quickly. Yet people are getting north of $1000 for fairly common EM machines?

I am just amazed most have not skyrocketed in price with the way prices are going on everything else. There are very few Williams System 11 machines or Data East machines that are not a heck of a lot more fun than pretty much any Classic Bally or Stern but yet you can buy a lot of them for half of what a Classic Bally or Stern is bringing these days.

What is crazier yet to me is Classic Sterns are basically SS versions of Chicago Coin EM machines (even using a lot of Chicago Coin parts in some of them) and Chicago Coin was always pretty much looked at as one of the worst built EM machines that no one wanted? Don't get me wrong I love the art on some of those old classics but paying twice or more the price of a Williams System 11 or Data East for them just doesn't make any sense to me.

Are these great old Williams & Data East machines going to be the next thing headed down the "insane price increase" path?

I do agree with you as far as some of the Gottlieb 80 machines but I could only put so many words in the Title. I just find it amazing what some of the EM's & Classic Bally and Sterns are selling for.

What is making me crazy is I currently have my Space Shuttle - full LED's, hardtop, NVRAM, nice looking cabinet with a perfect backglass and all good electronics listed for $2750 here on Pinside and have not gotten one email about it? I know a machine with a hardtop isn't worth as much as one with a nice original playfield but I have seen them not working with blown out playfields for close to $2000. Bad timing on my part I guess? I have a solid reputation as a good local seller and feedbacks to back that reputation so it isn't me doing something wrong. Time will tell but I would really love to see someone enjoying this machine instead of it just sitting in our garage.

Funny we had a Jokerz in our collection a few years ago and we couldn't wait to get rid of it. I don't remember exactly why but there was just something about it no one here warmed up to. I remember I was kind of sad to see it go not because of the gameplay but ours was in exceptionally nice overall condition and I liked that about it.

Machines are kind of like food - thankfully everyone likes something different! Another machine that just didn't do it for us was Fire. We all tried our best to like that because it is so different but without pop bumpers it just didn't get it done for us?