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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Arcade in Oklahoma City has an Interflip Dragon that was NIB until two years ago. So, I got to play a new one. I like Dragon. There is a PAPA video of two clowns making a joke of it. Dragon is no joke. It will clean your plow. It's brutal.

But it ain't no Catacomb.