This is crazy….was at my friends house and his wife came out to tell us the Qbert sold for $8800….Add the juice on that and total cost is about $11K!!! And if not a local buyer throw shipping on top of that.

I loved the hype from the auctioneer. What was it he said about Barb Wire…one of the best machines ever. You have to be skilled to play this game. I couldn’t stop laughing.

But to be fair the auction house is just doing their job…attract buyers and make the most money for the seller. To those in the pin/Vid hobby these prices may be high/outrageous but to folks with money just wanting a game for whatever reason it’s convenience…just bid till you win. There is a whole world of collectors with money that buy what they want when they want not caring about the price. Crazy to think there are that many people with that much money. Now of course who is really bidding these up and buying these games we may never really know…we have all heard shady stories of schill bidders and owners buying their own games back. If these are legit sales then they are making good money. This has been interesting for sure so far.

You mentioned Big Al and all I could think of is Toy Story LOL!

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This is just crazy…prices are all over the place. There have been a couple sleepers that actually sold for OK price but most everything has been ridiculous. I was almost ready to pull the trigger on 720 as it’s a grail game for me but with the juice and shipping it would have been $6K….and I am buying sight unseen. For that kind of money I would want a restored one.

This is just good entertainment at this point so will keep watching.

Exactly!!! There are tons of collectors not on Pinside/KLOV with plenty of money. Add in the general public that may have heard of this and anything can happen.

Look….at the prices we have seen it’s hard not to think it’s fishy…..many collector car auctions list them with reserve pricing meaning of the reserve price is not met then there is no sell unless the owner lifts the reserve. Notice there is NO reserve I have seen on any item. I can’t imagine the high end/rare games not having a reserve of some sort. It all feels wrong. And the auctioneer hangs on WAY to long after the final bid….And I get there are people with money but there are not that many dumb enough to pay these prices…I can see overpaying for certain items but every game has almost been way above the market….make your own conclusions.

And what’s odd is the new Stern LE’s didn’t go for super ridiculous prices. Yeah they were high but not like AF high. And CC didn’t fetch what I thought it would. AF, Joust, and Hercules were absolutely ridiculous. Hercules is cool but it’s a novelty at best…it’s the size of a pool table and not all that fun.

So to sum it up if you want to use this auction as your justification most of our collections went up by 50% LOL! I don’t think that’s the case as I think most one off sales will be closer to actual market.

Enjoy the show!

Hmm… so what does this really mean? I see they reported having 29K in assets….is that supposed to be the games? I also see about 219K in expenses…..is this money the museum spent to purchase games? If they are spending 100K a year buying games shouldn’t their assets be going up accordingly each year? If someone can explain what this means if anything that would be nice. If I interpret the 29K in assets as the games then the government is gonna want to know how you generate a few million dollars with 29K worth of assets. I would imagine the insurance (if they had any) was for more than 29K of assets. I have no idea what I am looking at or how non profits operate so not implying anything but asking for clarification on what this means if anything. There may very well be explanations for all of it. Need an expert on non profits and taxes to expand on this.

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Now that would make sense….he can own the games…..put them in the museum to use…then since they are his assets and not the museum he can sell them and report the income and pay taxes. That makes sense.

Sounds like Karnov and other locals have a pretty good perspective on the situation. Shame it’s gone as it sounds like a special place. People just like to stir the pot.
Some are upset because the auction prices were high…well games are popular and we have all seen the prices increasing so no one should be mad. Shocking prices for sure but it is what it is.

And I am not sure why/who said the volunteers should be mad…..not sure why they would be…volunteering is exactly that. It also sounds like John had ways of thanking those that did volunteer.

And then someone else mentioned games may have been donated and those people should be mad…who knows but it’s well established that John went to great lengths to buy games for a collection like this. Again that just sounds like someone stirring the pot…trying to make a story where there isn’t one.

Can’t wait for round 2 of this auction….it’s been interesting for sure.

It’s not to me, you, or many others. But it is worth $12K to whoever bought it. That’s a lot of Meow Meow Meow!!!

And that’s the million dollar question…who are the buyers? So a couple pinsiders have bought stuff but most people here are not gonna overpay by that much. It’s time to accept there is a MUCH larger number of people not active in arcade/pin forums that are buying games. Some of these games are pretty rare and if they don’t end up in a public location then it will be private collectors and there’s a chance still for people to see them. Collectors run in circles and network so it’s very possible we will know where some of these games end up.

Yeah…terms can mean nothing. Just because something has been in a museum doesn’t mean it is Mint condition. “Museum Quality”….that’s subjective as it does not mean Mint condition. Museum quality probably means a good example as it relates to a particular subject matter.

Mint condition is what collectors are hunting for when possible. HUO does not mean mint. NIB should mean the game is mint depending on how it has been stored and for how long.

Dude….if you have been at this 9 years you know the value of these games. No need for a spreadsheet. You know the value of these games as well as anyone else. Overpriced for almost everything….and I am not talking by a few hundred dollars. It is what it is….there are buyers outside of Pinside and the hobby. Just have to get over that. If there is something rare and you want it you have to be ready to pony up for it. Just the way it is these days.

These price increases are just a sign of the times. A new pro costs more than a premium and a premium costs more than an LE from just a few years ago.

NIB price:
Metallica premium $6400 shipped
Kiss LE $8K local pick up from distributor.

All the whales have had plenty of time to scope the lots in this auction and know what’s coming up. Hard to say if prices will dip on some of the less desirable games but it is possible. I expect the desirable games will still get top dollar. These are targeted for some buyers and not likely they blew their wad on something else.