Quoted from DaveH:This analogy still doesn't apply. A baseball card is an object you look at and hide away. Its entire value is that someone else might want it.
A pinball machine on the other hand, is a game. Sure, I collect them, but I play them. And Tron is a perfect example. I bought mine NIB, and it lost some value the moment I opened it. Later it was worth more, then less, and then more again. And none of that mattered because I think it's a very fun game. Right now, I could sell it and make a nice profit, but I wouldn't have Tron to play.
In the end, the "value" of my. Tron could drop to $2000, and I wouldn't care. It would still have the value of fun. This is the difference between this and cards. When MMr was announced, I almost jumped on it, but even though it was a big drop in price, I never considered MM to be 8k worth of fun, so I passed.
Agreed.
The "collectibility" aspect of the hobby is wholly expendable IMO. Stern is just trying to milk that segment of the market for all its worth. When/if that segment collapses, Stern will do just fine making machines that are fun to PLAY.