Not really the point of this thread, but I'm not sure this is accurate, HUO Hobbits are pretty affordable right now. Seems like once you're up into that $8k+ NIB bracket, games from most manufacturers lose a good bit of value on resale (except for the PPS/CGC remakes, thus-far).

Not sure this is accurate either. Are you saying there's a "macro decrease" in the number of NIB pinball machines sold in 2017 vs. 1994? If so, that seems totally plausible but also not relevant to today's pinball market -- TAF came out 25 years ago. If you're saying there's a decrease in number of NIB pinball machines sold over the past few years, where's the evidence? Stern moving into big new factory plus a handful of new manufacturers jumping onto the scene suggests just the opposite. Or are you predicting that this is the future of pinball?

If that's what most people think then they're missing out. It plays fast and furious and does that very, very well. Tossing a bunch more stuff on the playfield would not have improved the game.

Hope this isn't true, would be very disappointing for Stern to have a high-level employee taking "anonymous" swipes at the competition on Pinside. Especially when Stern's (totally reasonable) policy is to not comment on Pinside.

Is there a specific reason to think OP is Mr. Dankberg? Even though he took a seeming shot at the Aerosmith LCD implementation?

With those play numbers, NIB games didn't make financial sense at $4k either. So either you get some other benefit from owning games (like convenience and cheap beer costs) or you should save your quarters and play on location instead!