I guess you need to put a price point up. $500 games, $1500 games, $2K games, working or dead?

Cheapest is Bally Eight Ball, lots of fun for a cheap pin that had 20K produced. Bally Strikes & Spares, same. I've gotten several of each <$500 each that needed brought to life. Gotten working Eight Ball's too at that price point. Night Rider too.

If you jump to better titles like Xenon, Firepower II or Black Knight you're going to pay a lot more.

Hardbody all day and night. The game gets shit and no matter how tirelessly we champion it, it’s always pretty under-appreciated.

This is very similar to the other post, but FWIW, Hardbody is EXTREMELY under-rated and is great value. I love mine, it's not going anywhere for a while.

Genesis is also great for the music alone.

Two games under 2k that are worth far more than one would think. And Baywatch isn't too far behind. A little more are 3k, but totally worth it at that price.

Oh Hardbody. How I love you. <3

I put forth Bally Vector for your consideration.

Bally attempted to boost the collapsing pinball market by throwing every trick they had in one game.

Multi plane backglass.
Chaser lights around the backglass.
Voice.
Three saucer ball lock mech, with great multi ball programming.
Two level.
Three flippers.
Nine drop targets.
Two Out lane saucer saves, with one way gates.
Chaser lights in the orbit.
Two of the drop banks are programmed playfield drops blocking the left ramp.
Science fiction sound effects, all in a Rollerball esque science fiction sports theme.

Did Vector help Ballys fortunes?
Nope.
They would be bought out by Williams within several years.
But it was a valiant try.

Message from the Solid State Kingdom.

Dolly Parton. In line drops, good art, still popular celebrity. I see them creeping up in value in some areas, but that was a cheap game for a long time.

Gottlieb Hot Shots designed by Jon Norris. Its a really good game with IMHO one of the worst art packages I have ever seen. If you come across one its worth a play.

I'll second that.

Sadly I think it's all relative, a rising tide lifts all ships. Even the underrated games are at peak pricing for underrated titles. I actually think the competition is worse these days on pins in this genre. I don't think peoples budgets have risen as fast as pricing more and more people are priced out of the newer stuff and jumping on the hidden gems.

Baywatch, Meteor and Stars are under-valued pins. Baywatch gets a bad rep because of the theme, but has a great ruleset and flow. Stars and Meteor have simple but good rulesets, and are probably the cheapest desirable classic Sterns.

I do not foresee a crash more just a shift in the the demographic. There appear to be plenty of people in the hobby willing to spend top dollar. It will just harder to find pins for the lower and middle class of pinheads. I used to hunt for the good deal DMDs, your DE and Sega a few others that are just not popular. I know all I look for these days are SS era. My price point is exactly the same but the pins have shifted. Good deal DMDs cost what used Sterns went for, now used Sterns go for purchase price plus some of the tax, SS are going for what the good deal DMDs used to be or even more.

I genuinely feel bad for Jon Norris (well, as bad as I can feel for a guy that still got to have a career designing pins). He has some awesome, innovative playfields completely neutered by horrible art packages and half-baked rulesets. If Gottlieb had just put out half as many games during their later years quality would've gone way up and I think he'd be up there with the great designers.

Diamond Lady is my suggestion. Really fun shots, multiple strategies, good sound package. The goofy drop-target center post and art package are my only complaints.

Gorgar makes for a great home game. Short, very challenging. Requires making shots all over the field to do well - no shoot one shot over and over with Gorgar. The rules are pretty sophisticated for a game from 1979, yet they are easy to explain to someone unfamiliar with the game. And it is even more attractive when one considers average pricing for this game. Plus you get to own an industry changing game as it was the first one that “talked” to you.

Fireball 2 and Firepower 2. Vastly underappreciated compared to their predecessors, and yet I feel like both are actually better games. Firepower 2 moreso than Fireball 2, but Fireball 1 (Unless you're counting FB Classic, which isn't really the same and is VASTLY inferior to FB1 *or* 2 IMO) isn't even a solid state.

Unfortunately Diamond Lady is relatively rare, and this tends to push its price up.

Simple supply and demand. There's much less available in cheap unwanted broken pins. Entertainment and media such as Pawn Stars and American Pickers, internet sales sites as Ebay and Facebook and Craigslist encourage the few folks with junk remaining to ask top dollar. The influx of hobbyists with spending cash due to Covid has flooded all home entertainment. Opposite if what I had thought. If someone isn't spending $8K on a vacation, they are buying hot tubs, jet skis, pinball machines and you-name-it. Price reversal isn't happening anytime soon. Forget it.

Sad thing is he finally got back into the industry and was doing designs for Deeproot. I think 3 of his last 4 games never made it to production due to places shutting down.

Gottlieb was cranking pins out and the lack of polish shows, but some of his designs still hold up really well. I'm a big fan of Lights Camera Action and Gladiators. He always had his hands in the rules too. LCA is the first mode based game too, now every game is mode based.

There was a time you could get a Williams Flash around here for $100. I wish I had bought all 3 that I was offered. just bought 1

Gladiators is my favorite System 3 and a game I'd love to own at some point, that's exactly what I was thinking of with the flawed ruleset though... I think I've heard someone mention a patched ROM but not seeing anything with a quick Google? Have not had a chance to play LCA

It sucks we'll never get to see the Norris, Oursler, + Nordman games that were designed for Deeproot but hopefully Jon + Barry can get a contract job or two (if not a fulltime position somewhere) and I'm *very* excited to see Dennis's influence at American. 3 incredibly talented guys.

Judge Dredd. Mid 90s super pin with great art package and tons of shots. Great game. That thing can still be got for $3k right now… I was just thinking how that game is a great value in the current market when this thread popped up.

I agree. I can't believe this game hasn't moved up in price.

I think the designer might be the reason it’s not as desirable these days.

Vector is overvalued imo. Friends don’t let friends buy vector. It’s cool looking, nothing more.

Blackout.

I think there's value in some of the overlooked classic Sterns such as Trident--especially since it has new code. Hopefully, that continues on to more titles like Split Second, for instance.

Yeah, Vector is a Dog's Breakfast pin: Every possible feature thrown together in an unappetizing mess!

Frankly I'm surprised no one has mentioned Space Shuttle, still seeing them listed time to time around the 1k mark.

Indeed, the early MPU-100 Sterns have a lot to offer in terms of enjoyable layout and game-play. A little short on playfield features and rules, but still quite fun. For the MPU-100 games, I think Stingray & Stars are the best of the chime games, and basically all the SB-100 electronic sound games are great. I personally don't really like the sounds of the SB-100, which is the only reason I don't own one, but I had a Magic for a while before flipping it and gosh that was a fun game!

Every single sys 80A and 80B game with very few exceptions are undervalued. Some of the best layouts and unique rulesets make these very fun games.

Count down and Sinbad are really fun games

I think Space Shuttle is the cats ass! So good and my wife wanted one so bad she bought it with her own money, that's how good it is.
-Mike

One of the only pins I have sold since I got into this hobby, and it wasn’t because of the designer. The idea, art, callouts, etc. are solid - for some reason that I can’t entirely put my finger on, it just got old fast.

I play my "Galaxy" when I just wanna play pinball without all the extras!!

Judge Dredd is still going for like 3k

Its a good game with great 80's sounds and the bell cracks me up.

Even at that, a real nice, fully shopped out Eight ball is running $1200 to $1500 these days.

WAS is the major word here. The value on this one has been creeping up for a while. It's collectible for it's theme alone and desired for those 3 Bally solid state music pins. KISS & Rolling Stones being the other two.

Has nothing to do with it. It's just a more common game that isn't that popular. All pins are priced accordingly imo. Cheaper pins can be fun but I find they get old faster than other games. That's why they are cheaper. People don't often keep them long and they are often for sale.

I sold mine to a friend. Warned him beforehand that it got old. I think he is looking to sell it now himself. Just a sample set of two I suppose.

Fan from back of the day of the old Dredd comics, can't get into the pin after several tries. Just not to my taste as much as I'd like one just on theme.

Right on the money - I have Strikes and Spares (restored) and Night Rider, and (though definitely not undervalued) Evel Knievel (in restoration).

Sometimes you just want a little less clutter, get back to basics, and these games hit the mark. Easy to work on, and even the boards are cheap if u have to replace them.

You guys see the hammer price of the Dredd at auction. That was insanity.

$9500?! Obviously paid by someone who has never actually played one before.

I don’t know if it’s undervalued because I know it’s a well thought of pin, but Joker Poker. It’s still very affordable and extremely addicting. It’s all drop targets and “sharp shooting” which is great to have in today’s collections since so many of the newer pins are all about flow. It’s a very nice looking pin as well.

Undervalued: Hardbody, Stars, Meteor, and Flash.

Probably be $12,000 before you get it home.

I think ST:TNG is the most undervalued pin at an average price of $5,000. I believe it is the best of the superpins, even better than Twilight Zone and Indiana Jones. The reason this machine sells for so little (comparatively) is because of its difficult of upkeep. It is loaded with optos, and those two rotating phaser guns are difficult to keep working. Consequently, there are very few of these on route, and the ones you usually see at shows are not on the main floor and "sort of" working. The game really is loaded with the full voice cast from the show, a great mini game, 2 rotating phasers, a ship that fires the ball back at you, and over 12 modes to progress through. Still my #1 favorite game and my ST:TNG sits next to a Twilight Zone, Lord of the Rings, and Rick and Morty.

Another cheaper SS game that is really loaded but cheaper due to theme/reliability is Roadshow. Still $3500 for the pinside average, and the game Lawlor followed Twilight Zone up with. This game is loaded with 2 talking heads, but the theme isn't for everyone... well... anyone and reliability can be an issue.

In all honesty, I think all of the Super Pins are fantastic valued games coming from the peak of pinball with the exact depth that I like. I just wish they were not so darned heavy.

I would love a ST:TNG. A few years ago it was between that and Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones won out.