Yeah, the people who bought in the last couple years and paid stupid money for routed games with new rubber and a handful of LEDs (aka 'fully shopped'!) are the ones who took the hit.

The 2010-2011 crowd probably breaks even. Anyone before that is still likely ahead.

We're talking about a fairly small number of people who have a real reason to be upset. A lot of other people are upset because they're no longer winning the battle of the Joneses, and because their pinball wealth on paper took a dump.

Theoretically....?

ballyhoo.jpg

Absolutely correct. But likewise, I never bought a lot of the "I don't care what it's worth, it's a keeper" comments.

Just like people buying houses in 2006 saying they didn't care if the value went down later, they bought it to live in...

Obviously I hope pinball maintains some value, and I think it will. The vast majority of the market has gone up steadily but a few titles really launched into orbit. Even the steady climbers are getting kind of crazy, though. I bought a WCS for $1300, didn't even CLEAN it and a year later when I asked if $1500 was a fair price I had ten emails in ten minutes.