Rarehero has nailed it with this post.

They just keep cranking it up, you “just gotta have it” guys just keep on paying the crazy prices.

I had a couple of Elviras on order for others in the States, they’ve been on order for months. Stern cancelled the order last month and said if you want them, order them again, but now they are $500 more.

I said “no thanks”

Not only is that “not the right thing to do”, it is probably illegal. It certainly would be here in NZ.

However, over in the Elvira thread everyone just said “oh well, I’ll pay the extra”. (!!!!!!)

WAY TO SHOW THE MAN! lol

Just insanity.

I’ll stick with my $1000 pins from the old days.

rd

Not at all, evidently ....

rd

I think this needs to be addressed ... yes, Snarnoffs R&M was 9500 — because he ticked all the available options, like direct print cabinet ($999) etc etc.

The stock R&M machine (all the same gameplay features) is $6999 plus shipping.

That is the actual price comparison, $6999 vs $10,500.

rd

Yes - that is a comparison.

But I made the other one just to clarify the RRP on R&M as several posters had mentioned it.

rd

Get a JP Pro instead and save even more bucks.

Actually ... for $10,500 you could almost get a JP Pro AND an AIQ Pro. Sorta a no brainer ...

rd

Yes.

rd
59A7F059-1714-4B7B-8D07-9043C57A86CD (resized).jpeg

(New dust free photo, just for Pinside!).

I’m a big balla.

But only in my trousers.

rd

Dude - your constant “stuff” is getting very, very old.

Please stop it.

I’m sure you can find something constructive to do.

rd

No, in general. The whole site.

Or, just keep doing what you’re doing.

Over to you. Your legacy.

rd

The $10500 USA price doesn’t include sales tax or shipping.

Not justifying the Aussie price - but you forgot about International freight, customs charges, ag charges, road freight, and GST. They don’t just magically appear in Melbourne.

rd

At $10,500 USD, I have no problems resisting buying any pinball machine.

I’ll leave them all for you guys. Enjoy!

rd

That would presume I want to sell some of my existing games to get new ones.

I don’t, really. We play all the old ones all the time. Plus we use them for big tournaments.

I’ve bought NIB games since 2010, the novelty wears off. Trust me.

With GNRLE being at least $18,000 NZD here, I would have to sell say my minty restored WCS, CFTBL and say DR WHO to pay for it.

Call me stupid ... but I would rather have my minty WCS, CFTBL and Dr Who than 1x GnR.

rd

We can’t muster 500 people here lol

But we do get 70-100 people for my tournaments. Most ever was 104. Remembering that NZs population size is similar to the state of Kentuckys.

Most pinball people visit my place a few times a year, there’s always 100+ pins to play, so there’s always “something fresh” that they haven’t played before.

rd

We probably drink half the bourbon they make ...

rd

If people won’t buy one on principle at 10,500, they ain’t gonna pay more for a used one.

They just won’t buy one at all, ever.

No big deal. Live moves on. You don’t NEED to have it.

I worked out some time ago - no pinball machine/material possession is ever going to change my life for the better. It’s just “stuff”.

So I have no FOMO for anything.

And it’s awesome.

When you figure out that marketers are constantly using FOMO as their main marketing tool these days, it’s very easy to step off the hype train.

rd

Lol.

Try rotordavenz.

It’s not that bad ... when all 110 (ish) are running (that’s a few times a year) the power for the day is circa $80. That includes all the normal AC and HWC etc etc as well. Pinballs don’t draw that much when they’re running.

Changing all the games to LEDs and also the whole house to LED lighting did make a big difference. Used to be over $100 a day. Plus the room is wayyy cooler. Makes a big difference.

rd

What’s happening with long term collectors like me and Joe (he has 60+ machines including machines on site) and plenty of others is we are getting “over it”

As per Rareheros post early in the thread, we’ve seen games go up in the last few years to almost double what they were ten years ago. With nothing else added.

In NZ, Tron LE new was $9900 NZD ... the new LEs are $18,500 NZD.

The last new LE I bought was Metallica LE for $12,000 NZD. That was my limit. All my newer Sterns are used, and I got a couple cheaper with IFPA rewards before NZ got cut off from that.

If the manufacturers cut off the long term guys, the guys that have kept the hobby alive for the last twenty years, who’s gonna keep them going when all the current batch of rich lawyers/doctors/etc etc get bored and move onto the next hot trend?

rd

In the 90s and 2000s there were a lot of ex route 90s games and SYS11s coming up here. They were all cheap - most of my SYS11s were around $1000 each, WPCs were 1200-2500 bucks.

But now they’re all in peoples houses, the prices have skyrocketed.

Pretty much all of my pre 1985 games have come from the States. Again, bought most of them for $500-1000 bucks each some years ago, before prices went crazy.

So yeah, there is a bunch of dough in that room, but not as much as a “new on the scene” collector would think.

rd

Things change. They’ve amassed over 30 years. They were mostly cheap.

They could all go tomorrow. No stress. Sold another one yesterday.

We have now gone pretty minimalist ... We’ve got rid of almost everything surplus now, except the pinball machines. It’s great.

The reason I keep the pins:

1: they give me something to tool around with in my downtime

2: I don’t need the money

3: where else could we hold the large NZ tournaments we have? There’s nowhere else here in NZ with the room or the pins.

4: I would have a very large empty room if they went.

rd

After a week of that work, you’d never want to see another pinball machine again.

rd