how is this possible?

My guess is smart distributors learned that Williams was going to close up shop and hung on to certain machines they new would be classics.

Wow 14.2K now....

Wow! It seems almost unfathomable that someone has been sitting on this for so long. It must have gotten lost in some inventory somewhere and wasn't found until recently.

Every now and then you read about pinballers passing away and the next of kin getting rid of machines sitting in cold storage.
Remember once in a pinball magazine that ran a story on a Black Knight still New in Box
sitting like forever locked away

Wait to they open it and see the battery leaked all over the board. The battery is still 12 years old and they are instsalled. Im guessing it will go to 20k? Who every wins this will take a big hit when they open it. It is know a huo pin and worth 9k-10k.

I was thinking the same thing.

It would seem to me that if someone wanted to purchase an MM for their own collection, it would make more sense for them to buy one that had undergone a high-end restoration and was completely rebuilt. This is assuming that they actually want to play the game, as opposed to buying it for investment purposes. Would you guys agree with this?

How about if someone worked in a packing factory or could get an industrial stapler, couldn't they just put new staples in the box where the old ones were located and retape the box? It could just be a decent looking MM reboxed. Really easy to fake and difficult to disprove.

I mean really, I could sell you any packaged boxed video game if I was to just reseal it in plastic shrinkwrap. Then double the price because it is unopened.

A game as popular as MM it is highly unlikely to be NOS, just for the fact that it is, as has been worth more than it originally cost for a long time now.

Just take a look at the staple holes,and tape on the box. Extra holes around the staples. Zoom in and take a look. If it was truely unopened, no extra holes. Plus a factory tape job would not look the way it does. Hmmmmm?
All I say is Buyer beware!

01.jpg 02.jpg

An industrial staple gun will put holes just outside the staple, thats where the claws bend the staple underneath. What I noticed is the print on the paper "HAWKS WIN, HAWKS WIN". it's about time they finally won the big one.

An industrial stapler will put holes just outside the staples but it would look something like this 0------------0 not 0-- 0-----------0 --0 the 0's are the holes. I googled industrial stapler, holes, and all of them look like the first one. Not one of the images showed a staple in between other (old) staple holes. Not unless williams used some (magic) stapler.

Staples look like this pic, not like the ones if you zoom in on the MM box.

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Staple Madness!!!! Anyone buying it for that price will take a peek before running off with damaged goods. So who is bidding on it?

I don't understand why the seller felt the need to take a picture with a current newspaper in it. In today's Photoshop world, such a picture is practically meaningless.

I realize that a buyer is going to want to look at it, but how could you tell that its just not a semi restored machine with battery damaged boards boxed up to look new?

Its B.S to get such a price on an unopened box(if true) just for the fact that you have to open it to prove it is what it is. makes it worth just as much as any MM in collector shape after that.

Or some scam artists trying to raise the price of MM because they are sitting on a few resto jobs, and after this auction they can raise their prices on other MM's they have. because" look at what a NOS went for."

That would be sad, really... just makes this pin only available to the "$ elite $" of pinball collectors now.

Well it's my understanding that in any 'hostage situation' (man or machine) one has to include a newspaper with the latest date possible - classic unwritten rules

Maybe he's just a Blackhawks fan.

Hostage situation? Don't tell me Gary Stern is in the box!?!

Get the Gimp.
The Gimp's asleep.
Well, wake him up.
Hold on. Let me unstaple the box with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. I'm gonna get Medieval on him.

I think I'm going to start doing that - adding a news paper photo to my C- list ads
Kind of brings a certain mystic or makes people want to take notice

It's probably that A-hole in Australia selling one made from parts left over from williams. Packed up in a box that was leftover too. Trying to scam someone else, just so he can pay back some other guy who is sueing him for being ripped off.

The post also says local pick up, he's in Milwaukee, so I guess a Chicago paper works? They must only brew beer in Milwaukee, and not print papers.

Then if you read lower he'll set up shipping. What? Something does smell fishy.

Almost 15K now.

I'm a little confused. Is he saying that you can come over, open the box and take a look at it before you place a bid? If so, I would definitely do that before committing to $15,000+. Personally, I think anyone who would give that kind of money to someone with only 23 feedback as a seller is insane.