My solution is to not buy new pins (honestly I can't afford it, but even if I could I wouldn't, for the same reason I'll never buy a new car). I get games just as fun at a fraction of the cost of a new Stern. Why pay so much more & not really get much more? Some pretty good games can be had in the $2k range & even after many years can hold up better than the more poorly built newer Sterns. To me this is all just common sense & I'm not exactly going out on a limb here & saying something new.

Jpop makes good points though, & he would know. Surely it is harder to make profits on games when not nearly as many are being made as in the 20th century. Yet a new Stern was quite a bit cheaper just a few years ago & were higher quality I think, prices have certainly inflated faster than inflation itself.

Although you can't really blame Stern too much for anything because they are just going by what we, the buyers, are willing to pay. If we keep buying all their games at X price, then guess what they will keep selling them at X price or higher. As has been said a million times, it is simple economics, supply & demand.