AC/DC LE was $6600 shipped. We bitched. A few years later, STLE was $7700 shipped. We bitched. Then Stern dropped the $12,500 B66. We bitched.

But...they...kept...selling. $12,500 became a norm. DLC $1000 toppers are becoming a norm. Us "old timer" hobbyists think it's stupid, but the buyers are there & don't seem to care.

I don't think I'll ever buy a NIB pin ever again...not because I can't, but on principle. I'd rather just keep playing my pins that cost "nothing" or my Nintendo Switch lol...all these new pins, no matter how expensive they are, are still untested & unfinished when shipping. Nah...I'm so far past the "paying to be the guinea pig" line at this point.

Sit back, let the NIBNEWBS & addicts waste their money...when they get bored & purge, maybe pick something up.

Pins aren't STONKS!

There won't be a crash. Pinball has now proven it's recession proof & pandemic proof. People in this hobby aren't living paycheck to paycheck & can afford to splurge on expensive frivolous things. During the last economic downturn, the pin crash was predicted as well...but people who had pins didn't need to purge them for liquid cash. That's the ONLY thing that causes a crash: EVERYONE in the hobby freaking out and purging collections at once, then racing to the bottom to sell.

Nothing about the current market suggests that will happen.

The only thing you'll see & are already seeing, which is relatively normal, is slightly lower resale prices of HUO newer titles. Since the manufacturers are now selling games at "flipper speculation prices" brand new, there's not really any way up on new games when selling used. So, a $9000 NIB game might sell for $8000 used. Hardly a crash, just normal depreciation.

Wow, well...that's a take lol.

I'm shocked that VR is still trying to be a thing. You're just never going to get mass acceptance...too many people just don't want shit strapped to their face so they can trip over shit and have people mess with them.

Irrelevant comparison. An extremely expensive coin-op “collectible” vs. a mass market video game type thing. There’s zero competition or connection between these two items. The original post said he thought VR pinball would take sales from real pinball. The fact that pinball is real and tangible in a digital world is what’s kept it from being replaced by other things.

Lol, the VR true believers have been saying this for decades. Look, I get it - it’s very cool. It’s competing with video games though, and people still love video games too much to make a switch to VR en masse. It will remain a niche with very passionate fans always trying to convince me to use it.

Exactly. I guess new buyers don't have the point of reference or experience of the prices of a few years ago....but as someone who bought a F-load of pins from 2007-2013, I can't NOT reflect on my previous buying experiences when considering a new game.

Maybe the newer hobbyists will find this interesting, or maybe irrelevant cuz they don't care and just want what they want...but here's what I paid for a bunch of my games:

Black Knight 2000 $700
Whitewater $750 (plus $300 for a topper hehe)
Dr. Who $1200
BS Dracula $1500 (HUO)
No Good Gofers $2200 (HUO, barely played)
Road Show $1800 (nicely restored)
Shadow $1800
Addams $2400

(Already that's 8 games for the price of 1 new one)

Some of my more expensive ones I couldn't believe I was buying: Cirque Voltaire & Monster Bash, $4k each.

Games I don't have anymore, but it's fun to think about what I paid for them:

Big Guns $235
BTTF $300
Goldeneye $650
Apollo 13 $800 (HUO)
Tommy $1300
GnR DE $1500

Oh, and here's a fun one...Wheel of Fortune NIB!!!! $2400 lol

Oh, pinball...I remember when you were fun to buy. Still fun to play! I'll enjoy my "cheapies".

WHAT THE F DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY BABY!?!?!?!?

At the time, new Sterns like Iron Man & Avatar were ~$4000. People were complaining that was too much for simpler games with less features and simplified rules. Still red DMDs...playfield supports were replaced with pegs. WOZ @$6500 was a bit "WHOAAA", but compared to Stern, it made sense for a widebody with a 27 inch color LCD and tons of mechanical stuff...it was offering what the hobbyists had been asking for. Funny how tastes & prices have changed so much. Now everyone hates widebodies, loves games with faster play & less features, and eager to throw more money at everything.

1000 people bought ECLE for $6500. More than "a few".

I appreciate the offer, but plenty of VR lovers have tried to make me strap shit to my face. It’s never going to happen...especially shit that's been strapped to someone else’s face during a pandemic. I wish it success for those who enjoy it, but it’s not for me.

Oh, believe me - I don’t expect modern goods/collectibles to be priced at what I paid. I’m just saying I can only base my perception of prices based on my experience....and I think a lot of us “old timers” come at it from that perspective, even though it’s not entirely relevant to what new companies have to charge for their product.

I was actually looking at ramp sets the other day...thinking of doing a little restoration & throwing a little more money into it.

As long as they sell 500 of the highest end version - they’re fine. 500 x $12,500 = $6,250,000

That’s already a success. Anything else past that is gravy.

Maybe they will - but GNR is such a hit, the factory will be busy for quite some time to meet demand. Perhaps when GNR sales calm down, pull a POTC vault & rake it in.

The pandemic has shown the reality of pinball buyers...”regular” working people weren’t buying pinball before pandemic & they’re not going to during or after. $9500 is the same as $10,500 = something they don’t have, and if they did, they whisker spend it on pinball. To the people who have the disposable income to buy pinball - they had the money before, and they still have it. $1000 doesn’t make a dent in their lives, so if they want a NIB pinball, they’re buying either way.

Define “tanked”. Hobbit was $7500 NIB. I bought one for $6500. Is that “tanked” or “normal”? When Sterns like Elvis, Sopranos & South Park were $3500 NIB, you could get them used all day long for like $1500. Seems like games that depreciate today still hold a significant amount of their value.

I used to go to auctions all the time, and those games absolutely went for those prices...they’re routed games so condition varies, but none were broken and awful. For a certain time, the only Stern Whitestar games that held value in the $3k zone were TSPP & LOTR...everything else was commonly $2000 or less.

You lucked out. Better to keep two awesome games like Met & TNA! Legit keepers.

The pin would have to hit every one of my buttons. An all time favorite theme, all of the assets integrated in an amazing way, great design, features, callouts, everything. That’s the only way I say “fuck it”. Even tho I like the band & the game looks neat...and I like music games... I’m not remotely tempted to bite on GnR.

I must fall in love at that price & expect a game that will be bolted to the floor.