Quoted from TheFamilyArcade:I disagree here. I think it’s more that this hobby is full of sheep and macho dudes that want macho themes. As soon as there was a whiff of doubt and displeasure with Wonka (about theme, rules, whatever) a lot of people tuned out immediately (OMG, they changed brat Multiball to kid! I’ll NEVER buy this!! Nobodies lips are moving! Nothing is in sync! Aarrggghhj!!).
It takes time to get familiar with a complex game with a deep, well integrated ruleset, and few people bothered to take the time or couldn’t. Factor in playfield issues (and the attendant self righteous factor) and it snowballs. And with so many other games to choose from, it makes sense Wonka slid.
But now people have played it, experienced the theme integration and understand the rules. People realize it’s a great freaking game, and they want it. Duh. Compared to what other machines cost and deliver, Wonka is a no brainer.
There are more “pinball moments” in Wonka than any game I can think of. And it’s definitely a world under glass. Isn’t that what everyone wants? It also might be Lawlor’s best flowing game. In history. The positives outweighs the negatives by an order of magnitude.
Different people have different tastes. I don't like Wonka, had to play it in league. Doesn't float my boat.
People on here are sheep. There are patterns to values and desirability.
Game is announced to first few weeks/months its the greatest thing ever. All other games are now inferior.
People figure out the code has issues. Maybe it is just scoring imbalances, bugs, etc. The game takes a slow dive down the top 100. Code updates may slow or stop this, but typically the game loses interest as newer games come out. People dump the game so they can be other titles, prices go down. Once it stops being available new, prices spike for awhile. Good games, the price stays up, but otherwise it is a temporary spike while the stragglers who wanted it, but didn't buy when it was new scramble.
Other things that drive values, history of the game (BBB, TBL before production started back up). Flavor of the month (Radical getting attention streams jack its price up).
Bismarck, ND
