Block Levi so he doesn't see this post .

Play for fun not for bucks.

More curious as to when will the bubble burst on bubble burst threads?

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Invest in drains. Mods: I am referencing ball drains, not topic drains.

not this again

Wow! A bubble thread!

You should consider not starting another repeat thread.

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https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/why-the-hate-for-newbies#post-6175042

22K Ghostbusters and 34K JJP Pirates are totally sustainable!!!
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None of them

Which pins are you speaking of? Woodrails? EMs? Early solid state? Or NIBs?

Wrestlemania or Transformers is he referencing?

At the risk of repeating what you’ve now been told several times, no. Nothing is going down right now, everything is going up. At the best of times (for bargain hunters like yourself) NIB pins would lose 10-20% on resale (still pretty good compared to most things). But that hasn’t been the case for several years now.

Can prices go up forever? Probably not, so stick around and at some point you’ll be proven right. But based on pins’ performance during the last economic meltdown (during which they continued to gain value), you might be waiting decades rather than months.

When prices drop, you should buy more to average out your losses.

I have a friend who is the worlds best hindsight investor. Every single backwards looking prediction he has made has come true. I asked him about the pinball bubble and he said, "what bubble?"

I'm surprised you can still buy a Comet for way less than 2k. This has nothing to do with your point,just sayin'......

This again?

In 2006, as a young man looking to achieve home ownership for the first time, home prices were at the highest price point ever. (And mortgage rates were about 6%!). I never thought I'd have the chance to own the home of my dreams and then 2009 hit, we all know what happened. Home prices now have greatly eclipsed the levels of 2006, although mortgage rates are low and probably to blame for that. Will there be pricing bubble bursts in the future - pinball and otherwise?

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Don't listen to pinsiders when they complain about "repeat" threads. The whole fucking site is roughly 98% repeat threads in one way or another. I'm out after 10 years of collecting and around 125 games in and out. Whats wrong with talking about it? its news, never thought that would happen. Oh but there can be constant "vs" threads which are by far the most ridiculous type on this site. Always remember they are many pretentious, oldschool, pinball fuckfaces around here, I outta know cause I'm one of them.

Whew! I almost missed today's bubble thread. That was close!
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My only loss on a Pinball was Thunderbirds. Sold for less than half what I paid. Upside I learned a lot from experience.

I’ve been collecting for eight years in that time much speculation about prices dropping but in reality they have only gone up. That’s life, have fun!

To actually answer your question, these games either lost 20-25% of their value or have not increased in value much at all:

Losers: XMEN LE, AVLE, Transformers LE, Wrestlemania (WWE) LE (and the pros too for the most part)

No appreciation to speak of: CSI, 24, NBA, Avatar, Rolling Stones, Big Buck Hunter, GoT (pros or LEs)

Of the losers, (which I’ve ranked in order of quality) all are fun with the first 2 being unsung winners in my book. I couldn’t say what prices are right now, but the market has seemed to decide they’re worth $5k or so, which is a joke considering how good they are and especially with the current pinflation.

Of the others, all are quite good although I haven’t played NBA enough to render an opinion. GoT, RS and Avatar (pros) might fetch $5k (Avatar LE was $5k or less even, forever) but the others have been $3 to $4k games for most of their lives.

My thread is better. Real world scenarios and a poll with 3 real answers

Pins in general have been seriously underpriced for so many years and have pretty much caught up to normal. The current shortage and covid and maybe cryptowealth and the captains auction have pushed some collectors items a couple K's high. 22K was mentioned for a GB but there's an LE with few plays for 17.9K, it's easy to pick the craziest asking prices for sensational effect but still the crazy priced pins are extremely few and they're not priced the way they are because of great gameplay, more of the opposite, because they were so poorly recieved production wasn't huge. It's not average players/collectors buying these, it's elite collectors. It's kind of outside the regular pin market.

Look on the bright side: You're lucky you sold it.

bubble battle?

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I can help with that: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ask-beelzeboob

Many will tell you to use the search function. But the search function doesn't work very well if you don't type in everything just so. And then you have to wade through 7 pages of search results that lead mostly to unresolved posts.

Maybe instead of asking something about the bubble bursting, you might try asking about how far, and how high, and for how long will prices keep rising. People will like that.

The questions I would ask are:

1A) How many people own their pins outright and how many have pushed on the monthly payment button?

1B) How many people are employed in jobs that will remain secure in the future?

1C) How many pin owners are retired, have no debt, and pinball has become their retirement hobby? That is me. If the pin market collapsed tomorrow I would still be paying my utilities, eating well, and playing my pins. I would not need dump them if everything fell apart.

2) How much stock market money is fueling the prices, and in some cases, a meteoric rise in prices?

3) How much of these higher prices are related to the pandemic?

Everybody is talking/complaining about how high pin prices have got. But there are enough people chasing and buying that asking prices are going nuts---but someone keeps stepping in a paying up.

I guess you could say that right now that pinball is a seller's market. And Stern sure is taking advantage of it with its annual price increases which lifts the ceiling for all pinball machines.

Here is one item that could slow the used pin market down: To ship one pin is now costing $600.00 to $650.00 a pop. USPS, FedEx, and UPS ship prices are starting to hurt. A medium size USPS priority box with $50.00 worth of insurance costs $17.00 to ship. And in extra insurance to $100.00 and you are looking at $20.00 to ship.

I have flapped my gums for way too long here but you thought you were asking a simple question, looking for a simple answer. It is more complex than simple.

Here is my math. I would like the market to stay hotter than hell as I have another pin I am building and I would like to make some money for my efforts, but now I am wanting a Ghostbusters and wish GB prices would collapse.
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Lets talk about the price/value proposition. I made a thread asking about how much your hobbies cost.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-much-does-your-hobby-cost

On a comparative measure, pinball offers a good value for your entertainment dollar. The absolute first value pinball offers is that to get some action, all you have to do is walk into your game room and throw a switch and you can immerse yourself in action all day long for the price of some kilowatts of electricity. Maybe nano-watts. Replace a rubber ring and a ball every once in awhile and you are still rolling.

Is it 15 degrees outside? Brew a pot of coffee and crank up the pins. Is it 110 in the shade? Turn the AC on, make some iced tea, and fire up the pins. In any type of weather, pinball is a hobby to carry you thru. Just like the Pony Express: " Neither rain, or snow, nor death of night, can keep us from our duty." Or a session of pinball.

Golf: You have to load up the clubs and irons, trek to the golf course, and pay those green fees. Don't forget to factor in all of the lost balls.

Fishing: Sure, you can get by cheap. String up a cane pole and get some worms and walk to the pond. Or you can go the Bass Pro route ( did you know you can finance a boat for 10 years? ).

There are all kinds of hobbies that cost a fortune. And there are a lot of hobbies that require you to keep feeding the money monster.

Pinball? Just plug it in and it is sitting there waiting for your beck and call.

You want the hobby that will cost you a fortune? Start restoring an old car and then feel proud if you get half of your money back when you sell. You have to find the right buyer who will pay up for your custom green and purple poke-a-dot paint job.

The only question you asked that can be answered is this one:

Answer: No ! Sure, some of these guys who have owned their pins for years are getting a nice ride, but the answer is still No !.

No one seems to understand inflation - there is no bubble. There is however a devaluation of the dollar and other currencies by the fiscal policies being employed right now.

25% of all dollars EVER created in the history of the country were created last year. Therefore at minimum you will see at 25% inflation in prices over the coming weeks/months/years. The only way to avoid it is to cull the money from the supply which there is no way in hell they are going to do that. It's the only thing keeping this illusion going.

That is why the FED wants to stop using the term transitory inflation, it's not going away. We are nearing the precipice, you may want to read up on Venezuela and see what happened to them when their government had similar fiscal policies.

Or Germany pre WW II.

Some are starting to talk in terms of 1970s style stagflation.

In 2021, is it possible to have a pinball pricing thread without an inflation rant?

It's def a nice new wrinkle on a very old suit.

Here's what I don't get...if pinball pricing explosion is due to inflation and bad economic management, which of course happened precisely the end of January, 2021, what explains the pinball pricing explosion during 2016-2020, when of course we all know everything was completely awesome with the economy?

Which is it, weeks, months, or years? You've created a pretty big spread there.

The US Money Supply tripled between 2000 and 2020, but prices did not triple.... prices went up 50% over that same period. You can not draw a straight line between MS growth and price growth there are way too many other factors at play.

Here's a question for ya.

I've finally reached my breaking point with prices up here. 9500 for a Stern pro and I think around 13, 500 for an LE, now unless its a dream theme of mine which is extremely unlikely I just can't see spending that much for a pin. I never thought that would happen but is has. What if in the States it reaches this climax and people stop buying them. I mean would any of you American collectors pay that much? Do the prices drop, or does the whole thing collapse?

Like gambling one should not place at risk capitol you cannot afford to loose . Buzzkil trying to run ROI calculations when you should be enjoying your game purchase .

If you buy high and sell high present pinball cost more or less a wash . If you try and start a big collection ( buy keep for life )presently you will face big headwind .

If " bubbles " burst likely bigger issues to face for all .

Enjoy the day Shane