It’s a better investment than a boat or a wife. Worst case, you’re out $500-1000. More likely it will hold its value over time.

I wouldn't buy a pinball machine as an investment.

The value is in if you like it and will play it.

LTG : )

You’re at an absolute peak in pinball pricing and sales are starting to show that things are slowing down. Not to mention our economy is showing significant signs of slowing down and bond sales are slow.

Pinball has had ups and downs in the past. I believe we’re at the absolute peak of an up. I would not advise this at all.

Tough to say at the moment. It was released in a very incomplete state. I find it fun, but is extremely lacking at the moment in "stuff to do." If you are purchasing the machine as purely an investment then there are better options. The market is beyond flooded with Pros and Premiums at the moment. Distributors are actually kind of pissed off at Stern for pushing out a game which is a bit tough to sell with the current code and gameplay.

Pinball machines aren’t investments. They are money making devises for the public that have become collectible.

Stocks, bonds, and real estate are investments.

A game at home is a toy. You may or may not make your purchase cost back, the real enjoyment is getting to play your toy. I have no regrets, I love it.

based on art and playfield design it does not, imho, have the instant classic appeal. great theme, but I personally doubt they are going to go up in value over msrp in the long run. I doubt it will drop to half, but maybe in the 5500-6500 price in a few years.

It’s an asset. Not an investment.

That is literally the definition of an investment.

Something an operator invests in, in the hope that it will generate a return on that investment.

rd

Yeah… If you’re an operator. OP clearly isn’t.

A pinball machine is not an investment
Its value will be based on its condition when you sell it
If you do not look after your game, it will show

Not a super hot title. Pros are the base versions.

Might as well ask if a Hyundai Accent will gain value. No.

Go buy gold from William Devane and Rosland Capital.

Most likely you are looking at $500 loss when reselling. The wildcard is if Stern raises prices again and the Bond code gets a lot better, you might play it for a couple years and resell for the same money. But go into it thinking break even at best with most likely losing $500-1000

I don't look at my pins as investments but I do look at them as relatively safe places to put my money. You get to use them as you wish and I find that if priced right, they are easy to sell. As always, its about where you buy in at and what you expect to sell at. Knowing the market is half the battle. If I were you and you really want that title, buy it used at less than msrp, if you can. The good thing about buying used is you get to check it out and it has already been played before you buy it. Its much easier to spot manufacturers defects this way. The good thing is that if I ever really need money, all I have to do is sell one of my games, although I don't like to sell my games!

I’d buy two. One to open and play, the other to leave in the box for investment.

Pinside: Don't buy a Stern pro as an investiment

Also Pinside: Almost every Stern pro more than a year old is listed for more than the original MSRP

I bet OP is working on a pitch to the wife to justify the high cost of NIB pinball.

Probably gonna do better then the stuff you have in your "safe" 401k so go for it. And by better will lose less % compared to inflation. Also tell your keeper that it reduces stress, "lol not" and you will live longer to earn more in the long run.

I give up.

But, one last time, current inflated pinball values will go down at some point.
Interest from the general public is high right now. That won't last forever.
It's not normal that the value of any manufactured product goes up when it's no longer new.
Please don't buy pinball machines as investments. Buy them if you want to play, fix, and enjoy them.

Best investment you’ll ever make. One thing this hobby has taught me is if you need money wait 10 minutes for the next wave of noobs that don’t know how to use a soldering iron and socket wrench to come along, and they’ll buy your Bond for $5,000 more than you bought it for as long as there are action figures and hot glue guns available.

Could I buy shares of this bond? I’m looking to diversify.

Pinball machines are investments if you pick the right ones....just like stocks. Some lose and some win. What the ROC is - that depends.

Bond is a great theme by a great designer. I feel confident on it.

Absolutely. Just make sure to attach every cheap Bond toy you can find to the pf and pinstadiums set to purple. That will instantly triple it's value.

Treat it like any other business asset. It will depreciate over time.

If you keep it in good condition, you can expect to sell it at a 500-1200 loss in 3-5 years, or trade it for another equivalent. Will you get $500-$1200 worth of entertainment from a machine in your house for a few years? If so, it's a great "investment".

Not necessarily. Timing is everything.

Not adjusting for inflation, I could see the less popular LCD HUO pros dropping below $5k.

Yeah - good luck getting 5k for a zeppelin. Turd sandwich.

For the less popular games like Zeppelin Pro there are less examples out there to buy which keeps the prices up. Are there any LCD era Sterns that can be regularly found for $5k or less? I'm not a huge fan of Zeppelin but if the Pros hit $5k or less I'd be really tempted to pick one up.

Without straying too far into the political, continued inflation, perhaps quite high, is almost guaranteed in the future. With the wild spending and money printing going on by BOTH parties in government, inflation is simply a fact of life, despite what our leaders say.

If this is true, pinball manufacturing costs will also continue to rise, maybe significantly, and corresponding new pinball list prices will rise as well. Raw materials, labor costs, energy, etc will all play a part in these price increases. This means that it is likely, but not guaranteed, that pinball resale prices will similarly rise. The saying is a rising tide floats all boats.

Assuming that the game in question is seen as desirable by homeowners, operators, and collectors, and is in good condition, it should participate in this inflationary price increase. In the case of Bond specifically, I personally have no idea if it is desirable having not yet seen or played one in person. It's a popular theme so I suspect if Stern does a good job, it should do well.

Of course, pinball price increases do not necessarily equate to good investments. Will the price increases keep up with the real inflation rate? If not, it may be worth more money, but it is not a good investment. Traditional areas considered good investments are stocks, precious metals (sometimes), land or property, and some universally desirable tangible items like very high end art, collector cars, Swiss watches, etc.

As others have said, buy a pinball if you really like it and want to play it. If it sells for what you paid for it or even more some years down the road, that's great. But it might or might not have been a "good investment"!

I wouldn’t “invest” in Bond until Lonnie is removed as lead programmer or a reputable programmer with a proven track record is assigned to this project. As it stands, Bond is a turd from a code standpoint.

I wish Stern would release a game called “Stock” so I could tell my wife I’m buying Stocks and Bonds with our money.

There WAS a Williams game called Blue Chip!

@Tango, don’t take the downvotes personally; there have been a lot of threads like this. You have great collection of older games. If you can swing it and you have the space, treat yourself to one new game to go with them. Here’s a place near you that has Bond, so you can play it before you buy it:

https://pinside.com/pinball/map/where-to-play/15889-revenge-of-los-angeles-ca

I’m not saying we’re there yet. It’s just my conservative guess. In 2019/2020 a bunch of stern LCDs could be had for under $5k. Yeah the NIB prices have gone up since then, so presumably used’s would too…but I wouldn’t tell a potential buyer that he can count on his pin always being worth more than $5k in today’s $ value. No I’m not predicting a bubble burst.

Not too long after their releases you could find HUO SW’s, Munsters, BKSOR’s, SThings, Aerosmith (probably a few others) all for around $4500.

But where is the peak. I tell people to imagine every 50 year old man having a pinball in their home. Now that’s not going to happen, but it highlights how much headroom is still in the market.

Perhaps use Black knight swords of rage thread help you on this decision. Unfinished/unpolished code and yet will it ever be finished??????? Buying an incompetent incomplete game seems a no for me .
Buy games you can afford that are completely done with code updates is optimal! Also buy games that do not use Spike is optimal for long life and easy to obtain parts .

Example - People still await a node board replacement for Game of thrones 2015 release Date and can not play without that part (not in stock)and have a 5k or more dead paperweight to look at . Joy !!!!!

Did this really happen? How long has the owner waited for availability of a replacement board?

Spike games have been reliable for me and my friends who operate pins. I'm not sure what you're suggesting as an alternative.

I remember those times well. I bought a NIB Iron Maiden "show" game when it first came out for $5K (and later sold for $4700) and the typical selling price for NIB Pros was around $5600. Since then the hobby has gotten way more popular (due to Covid mostly) and the price has shot up about $1400 on Pros which also brought all the used prices up. I don't really see it going back down unless NIB prices start coming down which doesn't seem likely or if a lot of people start exiting the hobby which doesn't seem that likely either. I think we may see price soften on some less desirable titles like BKSOR or Zeppelin but as long as NIB prices keep going up I don't see them going down too far especially since there were less of these less desirable games made.

Pinball machines are not investments. Also, your pinball machine will probably double in value over 10 years.

Like others have mentioned; Pinball isn't an investment. But that's not to say it can't or won't go up in value. Look at Stranger Things Pro & Metallica Pro so it really depends on how well you take care of it & if there's demand for it...

I wouldn't use that thread for advice, because many of the people in that thread are absolutely batshit crazy. I've played that game a ton and I never realized the code was "incompetent" but there are some people who are never happy and are in fact insane.

By that criteria literally every Stern ever made is "unfinished."

That being said, yes, Bond code is a hot mess right now, but that being said II, this thread is super stupid. Nobody knows what will happen to a game's value so if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. I hear Beanie Babies are recession-proof!

100% of 'investors' that bought Bitcoin in Oct/Nov of 2021 wish they had investing in NIB pinball machines instead. So there is that.....

In my 8+ years on Pinside I've never seen a thread title I hated and wanted locked on principle, more than this one.

Hold on there Bucko…BKSOR is now a desirable game!

I'm sure you're probably right.. It's crazy how some of these games change in popularity. A while back Munsters was considered "too easy" and a dud of a game and now they are a hot game. Only a matter of time before Zeppelin and Turtles get hot too I suppose.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/investment

Webster's describes investment as: the outlay of money usually for income or profit

This is such an asinine take. He's responsible for Stranger Things which has masterful code.