Yup. Sad thing is we never know for sure if it actually sold or what the end price was. Yet you have some people use these threads as price guides

Turning into eBay around here.

I was wondering about that. It seems like they become “sale pending” forever.

At least ours are funny and pass some time, the old company line you're giving out is just boring

Not sure how else to put it. I got shit on here for listing a Congo for $5200.
It sold for full price.

Someone on pinside will crap on your parade no matter what.
I’m even guilty.

That would be an appropriate way to put it.

That is 100% an error.

But, no one knows for sure the actual number produced.

I guessed around 1200 based on there seem to be about the same amount in private ownership as Quicksilver.

Someone else says 2200.

Who knows.

Sure ain't 3943 though.

Right

I was one of those $2K buyers in 2017. I had just missed one selling in Texas for $1600.00. A little later, simultaneously, one came up in Oregon for $1600.00. It needed a back glass but had all new Altek boards. It would have been a great deal. And then one in Florida came up for $2K. I ran into timing issues with the seller in Oregon and was not sure if that deal would ever happen. The Florida deal sounded like a sure thing so I headed that way.

At $2k, I has to suck in my breath but they do not come around that often. I have never been sorry. Catcomb is the king of short ball times and when you occasionally get that killer ball you understand why you stand there getting beat up all the time.

Would I pay $5K? No. Too rich for me. Would I sell for $5K? No. Because I would have to go find another one.

For 3943 there doesn't seem like there are lot of them that come up for sale. I remember playing one a few times at an arcade and thought it was kind of a cool layout with the back glass. Mr Pinball and most price guides will state quite clearly that the prices are for a game in "good working order and shape". For anything above that restoration wise, its subjective. If the buyer and seller feel good about the sale then that's all that matters.

& That's also all that really matters... when a game does not have a known production value, like this one.... how often do they come up for sale? Not that often..... just like most valuable Sterns they sit in private collections until some unseen force causes one to come up here or there. I don't see $5500 either, but hey, whatever someone is willing to pay I guess. But just because one may sell for lets say $5000 does not automatically make them all worth anywhere near that. There will always be outliers on both sides of the price spectrum & those need to be thrown out for an average value.

I think 1200 production is wishful thinking on a game owners part.. If you look at sales history on Pinside, the Catacomb comes up more often, and I’ve seen a few Catacombs come up on Craigslist postings. The only Craigslist postings you ever see on Quicksilver is people wanting to buy one. Mr Pinball put that 3943 in their price guide listings for a reason. Haven’t purchased a 2018 guide , so I don’t know if that number still remains.

blockquote cite="#4746593">That is 100% an error.
But, no one knows for sure the actual number produced.
I guessed around 1200 based on there seem to be about the same amount in private ownership as Quicksilver.
Someone else says 2200.
Who knows.
Sure ain't 3943 though.

A lot of people use pricing on pinside to determine sell value of games.

Rumor has it- there have been quite a few games "sold" at higher than normal pricing in order to push value up.

Perhaps it's really not a rumor.

I don't see why anyone with any sense at all would give a flying f. Whatever people do is their own business. There is no such thing as "the right way to buy or sell or even trade something".

Catacomb is a cool game but I don't think it's worth the price of a NIB machine. Whomever does, good for them. If no one does, that's ok too.

Regarding production numbers, IPSND shows the lowest recorded serial number of #5085 and the highest of #5901, with one anomalous #785 which could just have the first digit obsured by the leg. I think a total of ~1000 or so games produced is highly likely.

Say it ain't so...say it ain't so.

Or the 785 are the first three digits missing the last. Which would increase the count significantly. My gut is there are more than 900 out there. I run into them, not frequently, but not rarely either. I’ll start paying attention to serials as I find them. Personally, I love the game. Great theme to tie in with the d&d crowd of the late 70’s early 80’s.

Seems feasible.

I dunno, I've only been here on pinside about 6 weeks, seems that all prices are high, not just pinside ads. Look at the for sale threads that link to ads on other sites. Those really can't be manipulated here. Crazy money compared to the 1990s prices. eBay is high, Craig's list is high, pinside is high, cheap machines seem to be rare. Even broken games aren't cheap.

I used to buy broken games all the time. It seems like most of the projects have dried up

It would certainly seem that our
cozy little pinball world has indeed changed
my friends, and changed dramatically.

I came here by way of the Visual Pinball videos I saw on YouTube. Once I figured out how this was done I built a visual pin. VP is where I found Big Game. And it made me want to get the real deal. I found and bought a BG from craigslist. And then I discovered Pinside. People were talking about these Classic Sterns. I paid attention and started watching pin vids on youtube. 3 years later my small house looks like a Stern operator's warehouse.

I don't know about anybody else but this is how I arrived.

VP, youtube, Craigslist, and Ebay. And don't forget Pinside. And Alltek boards.

Nice collection!!

I PM’d Rillo about the sale of this Catacomb, and he said he actually is in the process of trading for a Doctor Who plus he received some cash difference.. He didn’t say how much. Not really sure of the value of DW’s but I think Pinside values them under $3k. I think some Doctor Who fans might be surprised that they would have to give up cash to get a Catacomb, but then again, this sale was a bit of an enigma. Maybe the trader just really wanted a nice Catacomb and has enough cash that he doesn’t care. Must be a nice situation! My guess is Catacomb machines that have a nice playfield and backglass just jumped from $2k to $3k, and I wouldn’t be surprised that someone with a mint one will try to ride the wave and post one at $6k. We’ll see.

7,752 Doctor Who's produced. The guy who is getting the Catacomb will have an easy time replacing DW. Compared to an unknown quantity of Catacombs, cash aside, good trade.

I guess this listing/thread started a trend. Unrestored SBM’s with PF & cab wear apparently just jumped to be $2k+ games now as well. I’ve owned three of them, and never paid more than 800 bucks for one. Well, I guess I will when I want one next time.

2,750 CAD = 2,023 USD

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-silverball-mania-21

It’s Christmas! Might as well start a Bally trend..

For the longest time 10K by Christmas was a joke…now people are taking it literally.

Now that were are off the rails completely, what’s a player’s Strikes and Spares get these days?

I thought we were in the midst of some popping bubble or something like that

Typical Pinside. Drama over price. Good for the guy who got a good buck for his game. Nobody’s business

I just opened this thread back up and started laughing my ass off at those two posts...or maybe it’s the Johnny Blue assisting.

A players S&S is definitely at least a $3800 game at this point.

$4250 if you really have a thing for redheads

Ya baby!

It is possible that Rillo is a Lionman.

I'm officially declaring my Quicksilver worth ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

Must not be fully restored then.

1983. In one of my other lives, Corvettes were focal point. A friend had completed a mild restoration, or rebuild, on a ‘57 Vette with dual four carburators.

I can’t remember the reason now but he started panicking about the money he had tied up. He got, and took a $10,000 offer.

Two weeks later the car was sold for $12K. Today, that car would be up in the six figure range.

The year before at the Bloomington Corvette Convention I was talking with the owner of a ‘57 that had just received Gold Certificate. He told me he had turned down a $25,000 offer.

Later on, I was telling an uncle of mine about this and his joke was “That was where two fools met.”

Time proved him wrong.

Today, it looks like a pinball machine is going to set a high price.

Which party will time prove to be the fool? The buyer? Or the seller? How clear is your crystal ball?

Exactly!!

Well $25,000 invested in the S&P500 in Dec 1982 would be worth a little under $800,000 today. But of course there are other things to consider, like the enjoyment of owning the car or a pin.

I have a restored Catacomb with cleared PF, color displays (changeable with gels--the actual displays are white) and LEDs I'd sell for $7500. Pics available to interested parties.

So would I if I had one. Haha

Hindsite is a wonderful thing. In 1982, you could have bought 30 Year U.S. Treasuries yielding 14.5%. If you would have bought $25K worth of treasuries and let them ride until maturity in 2012, your $25K would have turned into $1.5 million. Ask me if I would like to go back and have a 2nd try at the markets and what would I do differently. DELL, CSCO, AAPL,MSFT,AMZN.

and so it starts, overnight...... everyone who owns a catacomb is now sitting on a gold mine.

I am laying low until really nice Flight 2000's shoot up. Maybe I need to start the trend.

Lol I have an average one I’ll part with for $4000...

As a F2k owner, I think you’re leaving money on the table. Someone should snatch this up

Stern's production schedule from IPDB:

9-79 Meteor 7939 units

1-80 Galaxy 4947
3-80 Ali 2971
3-80 Big Game 2713
5-80 Seawitch 2503
6-80 Cheetah 1223
8-80 Flight 2K 6301
8-80 Star Gazer 869
12-80 Nine Ball 2279

3-81 Lightning 2350
8-81 Split Second ???
10-81 Catacomb ???
10-81 Viper 438
11-81 Dragonfist 302

01-82 Iron Maiden 1200
??-82 Cue 6

With the numbers that are available, it is hard to imagine Catacomb being anywhere near 3000 units of production. Lighting came out with a mini bang in March and then nothing else at all until 5 months later with Split Second, as Stern was spiraling towards the drain. With a 5 month production gap and Stern gasping I'll throw my hat in the ring and say SS and Cat were both less than 1000 units each.