I've known a lot of wealthy people. Some of them very nice, some of them a$$h@les. Money doesn't define your personality. If anything it makes nice people nicer, and jerks jerkier.

Tell you what's rare to find though, a rich person who's patient. I'm sure they exist, lots of people on this mud ball. But why wait if you don't have to?

Anyways, here's what I don't get. If you have thousands and thousands of dollars just sitting around being useless that you can tie up buying deposits on pinball games ... why do it? I mean, it's kind of a crummy way to make money. Sure, you might turn $4000 into $8000 or something, but if you've got that much spare cash is that really a huge windfall? There's always a risk involved too, it's not a sure thing.

Seems like a strange way to be a bit of a scumbag to me I guess. Just day trade or something.

At least if you're rich and paying $3000 for someone's deposit to get a game faster you're just being impatient to enjoy a toy. The flippers are just being low key parasites on the hobby for this little dinky return, I don't actually get it.

This isn't about stereotyping personalities, it's about the reality of money. When you're rich you don't have to wait, because you can make things appear by opening your wallet.

Want a game? Rare or otherwise? Post a wanted thread, and make your offer high enough and one will appear. It's that simple.

"Regular people" hunt for games. For many of us the hunt is part of the pleasure honestly. You have a list of things you keep an eye out for, you check the listings regularly, you stumble across random things in the process. A laugh, a treasure, that game your friend wanted. Looking out for things is part of the hobby tradition.

Rich people show up at the Banning auction, see a game they want now, and pay for it. We sit there shaking our heads, because we know they paid 4x what you could get one for, but that would mean spending time looking. They can afford to not look and make it appear.

Huh, is that how it works?

Anyways, HEP working on a machine adds value to the hobby and the world. He does a lot of work and leaves things better than he found them. People paying him for his time is very reasonable.

What value someone buying up multiple pre-order spots to flip them for a profit adds to anything is beyond me.