Prices are going to go up. Preowned machines are being sold to US buyers

^ you got it.

That's the nature of it.

When the Canadian dollar strengthens don't expect the NIB prices to mirror the US price equivalent right away either. It seems that whenever the dollar recovers it takes forever for prices of new products to fall in line with the US median pricing.

Bottom line is that the Canadian pinball hobbyist marketplace is going to be bleak for the foreseeable future. Even if you find a nice project machine locally it will cost you a small fortune to restore/shop depending on the parts you need to purchase and have shipped up from the States.

It's an unfortunate time.

Many collectors are not buying NIB because the code is never complete and in some cases downright "broken". It can take 2-3 years before decent code is made.
Don't discount the Canadian economy. Canadian income is still quite strong and the avrage home prices are still higher than that of the United States. Average in Toronto now has hit over 1 million. Canadians have good salaries with lots of equity in their homes. An extra $1500 for a pin that they really like is a drop in the bucket. I am still getting my MMr despite it probably costing me $12000.

Lol. The Canadian economy has discounted the Canadian economy, and that's just the reality of it at the moment.

I can't speak for all Canadians, but I guess I'm the 1% that does NOT feel like an extra $1,500 for a pin that I want is just a "drop in the bucket".

Well, on the flip side, every pin you currently own has significantly risen in value.

Yeah, true. lol

That only goes so far though. I like to trade or sell to finance the next project which gets more difficult when new projects become priced out of feasibility. But it is what it is. It's certainly not the first time the dollar has tanked and it won't be the last.

It'll definitely be the most difficult for someone new to the hobby, the acquisition phase is so expensive. Once you max out and are just trading up, there isn't as much to spend.

We will definitely lose lots of our used pins to American buyers. Be a very slow time for nib purchases as well. Best solution is to simply trade used games or be happy with what you have.

There's like literally 2-3 new pins worth buying in the last 5 years. I see nothing on the horizon worth buying, so I couldn't care less about that anyway.

As for used, I think you are jumping the gun as to how many will end up going to the US. Things will continue with about the normal price increase across the board.

I've never seen as many "sky is falling" scenarios as I have with pinball.

This is hardly new - back when I started collecting the dollar was less than $.70US. It was no problem then, you just didn't buy games new!

Yes it was very sad to see all the Canadian pins go south in the early 2000's. Looks like it's going to happen again...

Just about everyone I know says that Hobbit or MMR will be the last NIB's they buy until the $ rallies, and that's only because they paid a substantial part of it back when it was much stronger. The reality is to add close to $400 to every $1000 on a US price, that's just psychologically paralyzing after only a couple of years ago we were getting a premium on our buck. It doesn't help either that customs seems to be much tighter on charging tax at the border than they used to be.

Any pinball reasonably priced in Canada right now sells fast. More people are getting into this hobby here lately and less machines available. B&C titles will continue to skyrocket as that is what most newbies price ranges are. Once MMR and Hobbit are released A titles will no longer be on the rise as the market will be flooded with premium pins.

I agree with you there, we need some really fun games to fill the market. The reason these a-list games command such a high price is because we have not had as many super fun new pins to flood the market. Titles like Wrestlemania will ensure that the old A-list titles command a super high price. You would need to pay me a dollar to play that pin.

For me its so rare that a newer pin is a must have that I'm not concerned. If anything its opened a new world of machines to me as I'm looking at 80's stuff and even considering trying out the EM's so with the exception of Hobbit which I payed for already and Aliens LE and Predator if that happens I doubt anything will be worthy of NIB status anytime soon. 7K for a Stern pro means 0K for a Stern pro.

I think a lot of "new" game sales will be for stuff comming off route at the playdium store. WWE will hit movie theaters arcades and a bunch of mustang games will hit the market at reasonable prices. It will be the roll over of new games on route feeding the new game market. NIB sales north of the border might slump until the doller improves.

It could be a problem for me to purchase Pinball Circus,I hope that our dollar will be stronger by then

It's certainly a lot harder to get deals now. There was a Jungle Lord on Kijiji yesterday for $400 that was gone in 30 minutes!

well, if it makes you feel better (and given the exchange rate, it probably doesn't), but good deals don't exactly fall out of trees around here either...

lol whatever, haven't you bought virtually everything new in the last couple years

This game is a novelty at best. 10 plays and move on. Looks cool, that was the hook, but b/w realised it was not going to get played and canned it.

Even the prices on parts and mods...I just got my Color DMD delivered yesterday. Total to my door $631 CDN with shipping, exchange and taxes!

Is this the correct thread to ask "What is for sale in CAN?"

I am definately interested in what is north for the first time in pin buying.

Anyone selling? My understanding is that I don't have to pay any tax/import fees since the pins were originally made in US?

There is a thread here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/anybody-in-canada-have-any-pins-they-want-to-sell

I know of another one, but cant find it.

Also, I may have a POTO for sale if you are interested. Pm is your friend.

You do realize that these overly "strong prices and salaries" are the reason the Canadian dollar is declining, right? Compared to other economies, they are over-inflated, and this is a correction in the national market. I'm not sure I'd be tooting the strong CAN earnings and real estate at the moment. LOL.

No, it's because Canada is stronger with the dollar being around the 70 cent mark of the USD. Most manufacturing work is from the states, and with the dollar at par, we lost a lot of that work, as there was no reason for US companies to send to Canada when they could have it done for the same price in the US.

Our economy needed the dollar back to where it was before, for this sector. It sucks for pinball, but our economy is built around a heavy relationship with the states based on lower cost contracts.

The insane increase in housing in most areas (take the frozen ice cap of most of Alberta) baffles the mind, but it was doing that well before the dollar gained on the USD.

My PMD Creech LCD mod cost me about the same too