Ferndale, MI
Yep, back up for me now.
(Topic ID: 294064)
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Quoted from wolverinetuner:On a related issue, are the price guides over? I really like that resource, but the latest 2018 edition is obviously fairly dated at this point.
Well, even if there was a 2020 guide, with the way prices have absolutely skyrocketed over the pandemic time, it would already be out of date for certain. It's moving too quickly to keep up, quite frankly.
Quoted from MrArt2u:I really hope he keeps putting out those price guides. I had an insurance claim with USAA a few years back. About 30 games were severely water damaged in storage. USAA would only take PRINTED price guide for price reference. Nothing online. No eBay average, Pinside price, expert opinion, it had to be from a published, printed guide. Mr. Pinball printed price guide to the rescue.
That's a *very* salient point.
Quoted from Thermionic:I think there is a certain buyer cohort that believes mods actually DECREASE the value of the game, thinking that a pristine "factory spec." unit with no history of owners tapping into or hacking the circuits is less of a gamble in terms of reliability. Also, it must be said that MANY mods are garish, unnecessary, and cheapen the look of the game rather than enhancing it.
I tend to agree in general with this outlook as I have seen some extremely dubious installs, however if one knows what to look for in terms of the quality of a mod installation or hack the risk is probably minimal. I do think it is useful to distinguish between legitimate "upgrades" (cliffys, toppers, ColorDMD, audio upgrades) and "mods" (ie. unnecessary toy store crap illuminated with eye-gouging blue LEDs); the former can add value, the latter often detracts in my view.
I'm one of "those people". I would rather a game be basically stock from the factory with as few mods as possible, with the possible exception of some Cliffy protectors (or other types of protectors), a necessary (by *my* definition...) functional help to the game (i.e. the Captain Marvel ramp mod made by someone here on Pinside for AIQ), or *maybe* (certainly not always...) an aftermarket display. Most aesthetic mods I want *no part of*, and I certainly don't want to have to pay for someone else's bad taste, improper/damaging installation, and general Pinball Dressup. Heck: I'd honestly rather the lights be incandescent than most of the LED jobs I see people doing...it's like people can't *wait* to show how blind they are, and how much bad taste they can force into one ridiculously now-defeated machine. Whatever dignity said machine had before The Idiots got their hands on it has long since been run out of the hemisphere.
I find it just as strange that people would want to *charge me more* for their bad decisions/choices/taste/abominations.
Quoted from Thermionic:You are so right about the machines being “defeated” and stripped of their “dignity” by the tasteless stuff!
These games are the product of entire teams of experienced, talented individuals, and I tend to think it’s much easier to ruin the goodness with doo-dads, ridiculous lighting, etc. than it is to enhance it.
And it's been going on for so, *SO* long, now. The sheer number of absolutely *ludicrous* "mods" for Twilight Zone makes me shake my head in absolute horror and disbelief...and these have been happening for, what, well over 25 years, now? I used to *joke* about people taking an old cigarette butt and taping it on the playfield one place or the other and charging $25 for "Rod Serling's Cigarette Butt From The Actual Show". It really doesn't feel *at all* far-fetched anymore.
I have come around a bit on tasteful, *neutral* LED bulbs being used in games, but it's really a case-by-case decision with them, too. They may be brighter, yes, but is that always a good/desired thing?
Todd Seaver may or may not have coined the term "Pinball Dressup", which I've completely stolen and use regularly to describe this phenomenon. If it sounds like it's a demeaning term when I use it, then I have accomplished my mission. Very, very few cosmetic/aesthetic mods get the nod from me. Protective mods? Certainly...that, we can certainly have a conversation about.
Quoted from pcprogrammer:The only thing I'd pay extra for is a color dmd, & invisiglass, not too much else. I guess I'm old school, I prefer as close to stock as possible. I won't pay extra because pinstadiums were put in, I'd prefer them taken out.
You and me both, especially on the last part. And I don't really care about playfield glass that much, either. With the color DMDs, I'm a bit more flexible, since gas displays' days are kind of coming to an end. The problems with color DMDs, though, are too hard for me to ignore, and while some are great (or certainly just fine...), some are horrendously awful and very much take away from the experience of the machine/game.
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