There is definitely something nice about owning a machine that is brand new and was never on route. This is precisely why the remakes have caused the prices on the originals to drop so much.

In comparison the significant difference is the 20 or 30 years age difference between WPC's, DE's vs. Stern, JJP, etc. In the same time frame w/ the modern machines there will be failures in mechanical & board/computer components. But considering the modern machine there will still be those accumulative issues as the machine is played. Though there is a huge difference in home use compared to a routed machine, w/ that steel ball slamming into everything, eventually things will break down.

Just imaging what pinball technology will offer in the same 25 years or so from now. Will the ball levitate or will a machine generate it's power source from an infinity battery? If Gary Stern could put a patent on the fore mentioned, he or whoever would be a billionaire.

It would have been the same thing back then too. Honestly if the new games were routed like they were back then, I doubt they would hold up as well. It will be interesting to see how many of these 2016+ games are still working 30 years from now. The big difference though is I get the impression more are being sold to home use (at twice the price mind you) rather than routes. I do not think they are a value. Far from it. Sure there are some nice perks that have come with the invention of LED and better dot matrix - but that is just evolution - and the same could be said for almost every manufactured product out there. That being said, everything is made to be disposable and throw away and simply cheaper. For all the advances and nice extras, you still end up with an item that won't last nearly as long. There's caveats to the pro/con to all of that though.

You know what runs better than my 1994 Honda Civic?

My 2017 Honda Civic.

I’d take a 90s pin over a refake any day

I'm cursious about the notion of older machines being more easily fixed than modern ones. It's not my idea I read it on here. An average person with little skills can replace a transistor on a through hole board. Follow a wire with a buzz tone dmm. Most average home use guys won't be able to replace surface mount components. Troubleshoot Ethernet data cables to node boards etc. what does than mean when they break down in a few decades?

That's kind of where I was going. Time will tell. It really depends on how long replacement parts are made - or if others make repros. Computer components are easy to replace, but full on boards are the tough part - and with as small as some of those parts (on the boards) can be these days, it still falls into the category of something not everyone is going to have the skills or comfort level to do on their own. Who knows, in 20 years it might be common place for a person to be able to make/replace those type of parts like replacing a bolt.

Yeah 3D print new afmr light board!

Yep. Somehow the've managed to build them with what looks to be much cheaper insides and electronics and can now charge twice as much for them.

That is progress!