Okay, here's my whole take on the Brobra thing that happened the other week. Keep in mind I don't know the FULL story.
Going back more years than I can remember, I used to buy and sell pinball machines a LOT. I don't think I ever took a loss at the time of sale. Keep in mind this was back when 
pinballplusMN was happy to sell me a quality CV for $2400, which I did buy and polish up and sell for.....more.....in trade value to an awesome guy in WI who I did lots of trades with for a period of 5-10 years or so. With all the games I had coming and going, toes were bound to be stepped on and they were, fortunately very rarely. You do the best you can. You also do the best you can to not damage the trim in your house with a high volume of machines. That area I didn't have so much luck in.
Back then pinball wasn't nearly as cutthroat or desirable as it is today. I've thrown away things pinball related that make me cringe today. Mostly because of low value and nobody wanted it....and I had a lot of it. Now it's worth something.
From what I am seeing, Brobra is able to turn these games around a LOT faster than I ever could, probably because of this unprecedented demand. Now, I've had conversations with Brobra about his buys and sales and I'll just say it really seems like he's doing all this as a service to the community rather than a business. If you look at the pics, these games are all going in and out of his basement and that's a lot of work, even though a stair climber is used. Sometimes they even need a little work (I even fixed a flipper for him when he wasn't looking!) and changing all those LEDs out is not easy work either. Now there's all that driving and sleeping in peoples driveways. That's some dedication right there. The way I see it, Brobra is able to get these games to where the market is demanding them. A lot of people, myself included, get shy about using shipping services due to a lot of the unknown. Much better off having a pinhead move something with care rather than a forklift with a disgruntled dock worker behind the wheel. We all know the outside of the cabinets are just as important as not twisting the game the wrong way to have a playfield glass or backbox glass pop into a million pieces.
(As an aside Brobra was willing to help a mutual friend of ours who he hadn't met before, get a game out of their basement for them the same afternoon the help was requested!)
The prices the games are currently going for are out of my budget generally speaking, but I can respect the market. When you've been around pinball long enough it's hard to look at those games for the prices they are going for after you've bought and sold them for a fraction of the price. No, I'm not trying to turn this into a bubble thread/post. But what did bother me about that CL post was a few things;
1) An issue that wasn't really known by a lot of people was brought into public light as more of a smear than addressing the issue, if there really was one to be addressed. Maybe it was just an expression of opinion. I really don't know.
2) This area was far out of context where people are going to have more questions than anything. A different website too.
3) This 3rd point impacts ALL of us. This posting was in an area where people who are not into pinball (general public) might be coming to buy or sell a game. What kind of image does this present the pinball community in terms of gaining new hobbyists or the average Joe coming to sell their pinball via a WTB ad we see on CL? Stuff like this doesn't help ANYONE, maybe other than some really short term relief for whoever posted that. The point is, we have people coming into the hobby more than ever and for a short period of time in history, THAT might have been peoples first impression. If it was, you better hope they are into that sort of stuff.
Anyway, maybe this is me letting off some steam too but in a more positive presentation. On the east side of the cities the Brobra is among many friends myself included and I hate to see things like this happen to people. I haven't known him for more than a few months but consider him a friend. I even bought a game from him last time I saw him. Who knows, maybe he made a few bucks off me. But I don't care. I wanted an Egghead and he had one at a price I was willing to pay and I'm happy! I don't have any plans to sell it either and even if I did I don't he'd care if I made a few bucks.
That aside I don't see myself selling games other than a couple that might be duplicates among other local collections I visit frequently. I'm more interested in collecting older games many people haven't had a chance to experience and (pending covid) have people drop in to enjoy them. Soon I'll have 7 wedgeheads in my living room and someone needs to help make sure they are playing properly!
On a lighter note I did screencap the original CL post in question but prefer not to post in here for more than one reason. With Brobra's permission I could PM to whoever wanted to see it if you are <3+
IMG_2371 (resized).JPG
Reno, NV
