Mermaid
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Added: 2022-05-09 16:48:08 UTC
Condition: Functional - needs minor work
False advertising! I cam here thinking “Finally I can get a Mermaid to go with my Merman and breed them, and for only 25k!” Boy was I wrong. In case anyone is interested, I have an unopened can of some kind of food from the 50’s. No label, but 100% original condition. While I would love 100k for it, I would settle for 25k. All jokes aside, its a pretty machine. GLWWTF?!
imagine it's a new account too. No touchups anywhere, is a negative thing, when the playfield is blown out like this one is.
If you want 25K out of this, you are going to have to send the playfield out for professional restoration, and rebuild everything to make sure it's running 100%. Can't do a quick wipe down with a dirty rag and new rubbers and expect 25k.
It is a rare woodrail. But clay also was the one trying to pump it up.
Quoted from CaptainNeo:imagine it's a new account too. No touchups anywhere, is a negative thing, when the playfield is blown out like this one is.
If you want 25K out of this, you are going to have to send the playfield out for professional restoration, and rebuild everything to make sure it's running 100%. Can't do a quick wipe down with a dirty rag and new rubbers and expect 25k.
It is a rare woodrail. But clay also was the one trying to pump it up.
And it still won't go for 25k
Mermaid has been pissing of price police for over 20 years and I’m all for it!
“An EM for $7000?!?!?”- some guy on RGP in 2004
Quoted from Haymaker:I don't know anything about wood rails, is this game really special?
There was a time when It was quite valuable but the wood rail market isn’t what it used to be.
Quoted from Haymaker:I don't know anything about wood rails, is this game really special?
Its a rare game, but it comes up for sale every so often which = rare but not holy grail or anything - it's attainable. Holy Grail would be Loch Ness Monster or Wizard Blocks or an original KingPin under 10 prod, under 5 prod, under 2 prod., Bell Fantasy - stuff like that which never comes up for sale. Rare gets thrown around too loosely, LE's are not rare, 1 of 50s are hard to find I guess but people get em, Batman SLEs are hard to come by, can go on forever. Mermaid - there were like 600 made and lets say 75% destroyed - still 150 floating around so Batman SLE would be considered more rare and Elvira 40th in the realm. This one is the only one for sale right now so the seller has that going for him. No clue the actual worth, lots of new buyers throwing around money so who knows.
So on the plus side:
Wayne Neyens and Roy Parker game.
Cool backbox animation.
Complete, working game.
Negatives:
Playfield wear.
Woodrails ain't what they used to be.
Google turns up this, which claims that a Mermaid sold for $22,000 in 2012.
https://www.greatestcollectibles.com/rebuilt-mermaid-pinball-machine/#.Ynlx_j7MKUk
So who knows. Maybe the OP isn't as crazy as it seems.
(Edit: I am not paying that kind of money for ANY game, but someone might.)
Quoted from bbble:Its a rare game, but it comes up for sale every so often which = rare but not holy grail or anything - it's attainable. Holy Grail would be Loch Ness Monster or Wizard Blocks or an original KingPin under 10 prod, under 5 prod, under 2 prod., Bell Fantasy - stuff like that which never comes up for sale. Rare gets thrown around too loosely, LE's are not rare, 1 of 50s are hard to find I guess but people get em, Batman SLEs are hard to come by, can go on forever. Mermaid - there were like 600 made and lets say 75% destroyed - still 150 floating around so Batman SLE would be considered more rare and Elvira 40th in the realm. This one is the only one for sale right now so the seller has that going for him. No clue the actual worth, lots of new buyers throwing around money so who knows.
Yeah I am aware of the solid state heavy hitters but when it comes to wood rails I know next to nothing. Thanks for the explanation!
Quoted from Haymaker:Yeah I am aware of the solid state heavy hitters but when it comes to wood rails I know next to nothing. Thanks for the explanation!
My bad, got a little into it, If I had to guess Mermaid is the Varkon or head to head joust in availability.
Damn! Lighten up. Give this guy a break. "Mermaid" is a highly desirable and the most collectable woodrail out there.
They don't grow on trees. It's hard to find one in *any* condition.
It just might be "worth" $25,000 to someone, and if not, he's taking offers.
Yeah, the playfield has significant wear, but the rest of the game looks pretty damn nice.
Obviously, none, or very few of the detractors here are into woodrails, but those of us who are, recognize the relative value of this model. Would "I" pay $25,000
for it? No, but it's certainly at or near the top of many woodrail collectors' wishlists, including mine. He'll likely get a good payday out of it if everything is legit.
Quoted from jrpinball:Yes. To anyone into woodrails, it surely is!
More desirable than Queen of Hearts?
Mermaid was the holy grail of pinballs for decades. I have only ever seen 3 come up for sale in 25 years and have had collectors tell me they would pay $10k-20k if I ever found them one. It's worth whatever someone will pay these days. Unfortunately most people that played this machine growing up stopped collecting over the last twenty years. Still a grail piece for many EM collectors.
Old guys been educating outraged mermaid price police since back in the RGP days.
It’s an incredibly rare game (I don’t know why anybody else is saying otherwise) with some of the coolest backbox animation ever.
In 20+ years in hobby I’ve never seen one with my own eyes.
As long as people are collecting wood rails it will be sought after.
Quoted from bluespin:More desirable than Queen of Hearts?
"Queen Of Hearts" is also very desirable, but much easier to come by. My brother has one.
I've no comment on the price, truth be told I think in this market I don't know how out of bounds the pricing is.
I just think the market ad has about 80% or more of the normal "SCAM" flags to it, and I doubt the ad is legit. No seller history, creates an account and within just a few minutes has a known, rare, collectible game posted in an ad with a high price. Has made zero other interaction with pinside. Even the forum software thinks the location is fake.
Maybe Russ at Pinrescue can shed some light on this. I don't know if he's a Pinsider, and I didn't see him at Pinfest.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:As long as people are collecting wood rails it will be sought after.
I don't know anyone that does, but the super whales that would buy this for rarity sake are going to want a HEP quality piece.
My father who is a big woodrail guy and route operator was lucky enough to find two Mermaids, one we completely restored and sold to a customer during the pandemic. Attached are some photos of that machine, it had 1 of the 10 Wade repro playfields, and a Shay repro backglass.
Yes it’s a rare machine and I very much enjoyed it, but sometimes you can’t say no when the price is right. And for those wondering, sale price was $25,000.
7C3BE80F-EF4F-465F-93D3-9D263A75886A (resized).jpeg1939AF39-7070-4C00-88B7-B531467774DD (resized).jpeg198AC49E-F35E-46FF-9B7F-1814A659A43B (resized).jpeg33C72EEE-4568-45F3-A42F-9DB577F9710F (resized).jpeg5A1BAAC4-929A-4F22-87A2-8347BBE545E8 (resized).jpegQuoted from wolverinetuner:In case anyone cares to know, VFW has a Mermaid.
Yes. I believe Clay had commissioned the repro playfield, and personally paid for the entire run of them. I don't think there are any left.
Quoted from Damonator:I don't know anyone that does, but the super whales that would buy this for rarity sake are going to want a HEP quality piece.
Well, you gotta start somewhere to get there sometimes.
We just saw a dragon fist with a sharpie smiley face drawn on Bruce lee’s face go for north of $6k
Quoted from ImNotNorm:Whales buying Mermaids. Sounds like a whole new world.
A new fantastic point of view!
Quoted from That370Z:My father who is a big woodrail guy and route operator was lucky enough to find two Mermaids, one we completely restored and sold to a customer during the pandemic. Attached are some photos of that machine, it had 1 of the 10 Wade repro playfields, and a Shay repro backglass.
Yes it’s a rare machine and I very much enjoyed it, but sometimes you can’t say no when the price is right. And for those wondering, sale price was $25,000.
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that one is $15k better condition than the other.
Quoted from jrpinball:Groan....
Sorry, I'm just hooked on sea puns. I'll scale it back a bit.
Quoted from CaptainNeo:that one is $15k better condition than the other.
I don't know. Spend a little bit on playfield restoration, and you'll have a very nice copy. There aren't many of these around.
I don't blame the guy for starting at $25K. He'd likely take somewhat less.
Quoted from ImNotNorm:Sorry, I'm just hooked on sea puns. I'll scale it back a bit.
And here I thought you were trying to make an Aladdin joke out of a Little Mermaid joke…
Anyone know of a video of the backbox animation? I would love to see it. I tried searching with no luck.
Quoted from skink91:And here I thought you were trying to make an Aladdin joke out of a Little Mermaid joke…
It was a twofer.
Quoted from Only_Pinball:Anyone know of a video of the backbox animation? I would love to see it. I tried searching with no luck.
The YouTube video doesn't show the animation, but it goes something like this;
the fisherman pulls up on the rod, and has nothing but an old boot on the line. Meanwhile, the fish is behind him, squirting him with water from it's mouth.
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