haha...AND if they run the actual sale price & not list price.

Where do "They" get this data from ?????

facepalm.

I almost wish this was true...

Woo Hoo! I'm rich!

image.jpg

Spanish Eyes; $200,000.00 by Christmas. HEP version; add $10k!

This is nuts.

You are!!

This "journalist" clearly knows nothing about pinball. They've been going up lately, but not 117% annually as the title suggests. That's ludicrous speed.

I lost money on the two machines I've sold. I tend to put a lot of money into my pins to get them in shape. Frankly, I'd be delighted just to break even. Of course, that isn't my objective. I have as much fun working on them as I do playing them.

As an educated reader.. one would hope you see there is no 'journalist' at all in this piece. It's a Press Release from the auction company.

It's an ad effectively.

Hmm . With this new information I've decided to go public with my Paragon . I will be selling shares of my Paragon 4 thousand shares total. Now of coarse I will be holding on to 2,020 shares of my paragon stock to retain 51% ownership to avoid any hostile takeover of it , But the other 1,980 shares are up for sale cost is only $1 each share, and you'll recieve an official certifercate indicating the number of shares you own . As the value of this game increases your shares will also increase in their value .Please PM me if interested .

This reminds me of a "Guide to Investing in Beanie Babies" booklet I saw in a store years ago. Those things should ostensibly have been worth a millon by now.

How many people are brave enough to admit that ???

Kwiki you have FOUR pins now! what a trip. If you keep going like that you will have 8 by this time next year. Gonna need more space

I have still never sold one. On paper...not so good. I realize I am "doing it wrong". They are too much fun to play even if they are not the best game ever. Hate to let one leave and think I might never play it again. Same principle behind why I just buy a new hard drive instead of deleting apps. I mean even Waterworld is like - damn I don't want to lose Dennis Hopper callouts!

For the mere cost of $1,900 I will prepare a private placement memorandum to help keep you in line with the blue sky laws of the fine state of Wisconsin for taking on investors in this endeavor. For references on my competence and quality of my services please see . . . Centerflank.

I'll have to go public with my centaur as well to afford my legal fees .

Investment not always. Money pit ... hardly ever.

from here on out there isnt money to be made unless you get a good CL find. Too many collectors now and the prices of the new pins are high. I really don't think prices will rise too much more in the near future.

Random thoughts-
It seems higher prices get paid by newbies buying from craigslist flippers. This only happens once or twice. Pins go up 10% during Chistmas and down 10% during the Summer. Pinsiders seem to get close to fair market value for their games. If I can get around what I paid for my pins that is super, but when I sell it would be to get another pin.
I would say if the economy stays Ok a 3-5% return each year is about right. That would mean a $2000 game could be worth $2060-$2100 a year later. If economy slows alittle the same game would be $1900-$1940. This is from now on, not in the past say 5 years ago.
Also investors hate big 300 pound objects that can only be sold locally alot of times because of $400+ shipping costs.

As long as the trend is up, it's an investment. Down, it's a hobby.

Currently the numbers of buyers are increasing as this HOBBY is attracting new members. The supply of older pins diminishes each year form both weather related events to no maintainence and discarded. The supply and demand of new pins is currently favoring the demand side. The economy has helped to maintain this growth. The last 5 years reflects a different picture from the previous 5 years. The thought that appreciation in prices will always continue has led many to view this like an investment. It's a HOBBY, supported by discretionary income. When the enonomy changes , which history proves it cycles , much of the current discretionary spending will stop. The resulting decrease in demand coupled with an abundance of supply will negatively affect pricing the belief that this is an investment will change. The economy is due to cycle again, and no one knows exactly when or for how long, history proves that it will. Spend fun money and enjoy the HOBBY!

I have read your economist type posts on this matter before, and for the most part agree and believe they are very well founded, but I'm not so sure about the above as it relates specifically to pinball.

We have seen the largest growth and demand in this hobby, during and just coming out of a recession. This is a small, niche hobby/business, but did anything else in any market new/used increase more in this time period? For most markets maintaining value/business was a lucky break.

My belief on this is there is no where near the supply for the demand, and so much so that in fact I think there is WAY more demand that most believe or would accept.

For example to illustrate this, who here has some pinball machine they want, and if the right machine/*realistic deal* came up right now, you have the money in hand to buy it and would make it happen? I would, a few times over, and I bet the majority of you would too. That is a lot of money just sitting there waiting.

The recession of course led to many having to downsize or liquidate, which we witnessed in some posts unfortunately, but the majority of the masses were still in a position to buy, and given the extremely high demand of these machines, had no problem eating up whatever came onto the market.

Until pinball plummets out of popularity (that's a whole other discussion, but something I do not think will happen as fast as others do given many, many in their 20s being collectors who never played in arcades as some of us did), it is still well regarded *on average* that the better machines came from the wpc era, and with no new supply, and the current supply dwindling, this really fuels the demand. What were some of these B, C and D titles worth about 3-4 years ago...? Where do you forecast that in another 3-4 years - locked in where they are now? Not a chance.

I think this hobby is at the far range of being challenged by large scale financial issues.

can we have a share holders meeting and play it? paragon rocks, i might be in

Of course! A few times a year share holder meatings , All the shareholders can come play it and make sure their investment is safe .