I agree with all this. Would be nice to see that Whirlwind back in my hands, though!

FWIW, I also own TZ "#1 on the run" signed as such on the bottom by Pat Lawlor. Yes, the machine posted here *is* prior to mine, but apparently Pat signed each of the first games off the production line like mine. As such, mine is the first *sample* game and is a true factory third magnet game.

I'll let it go for...$50k. *cough*

--Donnie

I own many and have bought and sold many more prototype machines of this era. I'd take anything above $15k and be pretty happy on this one. In my experience, the market on the protos has cooled off from five years ago or more thanks to the influx of some pretty bad ass playing machines from Stern as well as the other smaller new manufacturers (and the dumb remakes). I'd love to be wrong, as I have a proto SS, CFTBL, RS, and WCS94 I'd like to sell soon.

--Donnie

Yes, it has all the sample differences as documented many moons ago (but I honestly don't know off the top of my head anymore...which is why I really really laughed at all these "you obviously don't have the first sample because you don't know what you have" comments).

Nice to finally meet someone with another #1. I've never seen ANY others. Have you? Or know anyone online with any of the others? There was a time (up to Monopoly) that I had every Lawlor game, and most were prototypes. I've since gave up caring about that as a "thing" and sold the few I didn't care for as much. But I do have a Funhouse proto, Whirlwind proto, Earthshaker sample, TZ sample, Banzai Run with a proto playfield (playfield was found by itself by JohnWartJr and he sold it to me and I had Chris Hutchins put it in my game), SC proto, and TAF with sort of a proto playfield (I have the proto playfield and it's probably in that first handful or THE first, no way to know...it has way MORE mylar custom inserts than the OPs TZ and was absolutely beat to heck on location and as such not worth trying to "restore"...I had Chris strip all the proto parts and harness off and build an entirely new game around the hand made weldments and red PCBs and I LOVE IT). That's just my Lawlor games...I've got a few more, and I've owned probably 5 other Bally/WMS electronic prototypes.

Also, you guys who think proto collectors are stupid for paying more will never get it, so don't try. Enjoy what you enjoy. And if you find a rare quarter worth thousands because it's so rare, please be sure to take it to your local pinball location and drop it in a machine. Because, you know, you don't get rare coin collecting, either.

--Donnie

Me? Oh, I come and go.

--Donnie

I don't remember when I bought it, but it was around then. Either way, it's the only one I'd bet, so either you heard of it from the previous owner or me. But I was active on RGP for a long time, too, so that probably was me.

Oh, and I have the special "Income Tax" limited edition Monopoly. Also interested in selling.

--Donnie

Crap, now we have to change the name of our secret club. THANKS.

--Donnie

Doubt it because JWJr found it in a crate at a distributor. It was marked as a *new* BR complete wired lower playfield and in a WMS crate, but upon opening it up, they found it *slightly* used (more than play testing, but definitely not much) and it had XR7 playfield and red boards on it. So I think it somehow got pulled from a proto cabinet early on, then maybe just mislabeled and sold as a new one? Hard to say. It was plug and play and close enough to new that nobody who bought it as a new one would have likely cared, but it was obviously a bonus to find it was a proto.

--Donnie

It's definitely more of an acquired taste. That sometimes requires an alcohol chaser.

But you've done quite an admirable job both standing your ground and stirring the pot, so I'd say you'll fit in fine if you choose to stick around.

--Donnie

I understand where you're coming from on the "you need to be a contributor if you want help from a community" POV. I really do. I agree with it for the most part.

What I don't agree with is "I have ZERO compassion for..."

You don't know the seller's story. You don't know anything about him, really, other than he priced his pinball machine "too high." We've learned he may not know as much about pinball machines as many folks here. We've learned he either thinks his machine is worth way more than it is, or he's simply using an outrageous price to get attention (I'm pretty sure it's the latter, and I'm really sure it worked).

What I know is that it's entirely possible there are valid reasons for his price (even if the price isn't realistic). It's entirely possible he could become a valuable member of the community. It's definitely true that there's simply no reason to be mad at someone who only finds pinside because they are looking to sell a pinball machine and their first post is the advertisement for that sale. In fact, I'd bet there are plenty of people who made their first post that way and became valuable members of the community. Yet because you're put off by this person's first post and because you have "ZERO compassion", you're writing this guy off completely. And you aren't alone. Many people have done it.

Sure, some of the responses the OP has made have been a tad inflammatory. That's in line with my guess that he threw the outrageous price out there just to get a reaction. And he's sitting around laughing at most of these posts. He's got thick skin, or you guys would have run him off already for sure. I applaud that.

But what I *know* is that this place is full of keyboard commandos who would NEVER say the kind of stuff in person that they post here. If you're walking through a flea-market and you see this game with a $65k price tag, almost every negative poster here would simply take a quick pic and post it here to make fun of online. None of you who are being jerks would walk up to the seller and start spewing the stuff you've posted here. Sure, a few might ask "hey, is that the real price or a mistake..." with a much nicer tone. I'd wager pretty much none of you would just go laugh in the seller's face and call him names in real life.

This is why there are a lot of folks who are actually put off by this "community" and DON'T post here or pay much attention. Sure, you'll cry "their loss" and whatnot and that's fine. You're entitled to say that. But it's really your loss.

--Donnie