I hope they are. People want the games, Stern should give them what they want.

If you did not go into this hobby with the contingency of being stuck with a machine or the possibility of them all being worthless, then you made an error in your financial planning for the purchase.

You are blaming the wrong people for the remakes. People want to play or own these games and the ones that have them are holding the originals for ransom at high prices. No one loses here but the A-list flippers. IMO.

I, and I'm sure others, understand oversupply. I think it's a stretch to equate pinball to a home, though. One you don't really need.

If a game isn't worth having forever, you should expect to take a loss or just resign to not buy it in the first place.

I'm for total market saturation as soon as possible with new companies and titles and remakes.

It'll be just like the early 2000's again with cheap machines for everyone again.

I feel bad for anyone who buys into these collectible machines with the hopes of making money. It's not a sound investment strategy for retirement

There are so many people begging for Vault editions of their favorite game that they can't find easily and/or affordable and every time one of these trades hands, Stern has missed a potential profit.

Contrary to what you say, snaroff, there are not a lot of LoTR machines trading period, much less around 4K. And God forbid you have to ship it.

Very good point. And one that we've thus far ignored. If you attract more buyers into the hobby, that'll eat into that supply.

buying a game that you don't really want to fix up and maybe use as trade bait toward another purchase later is OK.

Heck, not everyone can spend $5K in one shot.

Id even go so far as to say buying a beater and fixing it up to a good playing quality and reselling for a profit isn't the devil's work. As long as you're passing it on to someone for a good price.

Buying a game for $1500 and just holding it for a few years to sell it for 9K is the reason the remake market will catch on.

I don't think the real collectors have to worry about LEs being remade. I don't think Stern wants that hit to their image.

Sorry bout that I didn't clarify my statement. It wasn't directed at LoTR as much as some of the higher priced machines such as B/W DMDs.

Yeah. He listed B/W in the title though. I should have been more clear with the statement, though. English fail!

If pinball is an investment to you, you are doing pinball wrong. If these things go the way of the tulip and it destroys you financially, you are a fool for having invested so heavily in it.

Haha. If only it were true!

That's a nice statement you made there, but I'm not the one here worried about the prices of my machines.

The assumption that people are trying to profit is no assumption. Is it true of every title, absolutely not.

You cannot deny it is true with the B/W DMD games.

I believe a lot of people paid through the nose for IM right before the VEs were announced. The prices were skyrocketing.

Location has more to do with availibility as well. I have played more MMs than I have played LOTR. I just don't see them around here.

I'm sure that is not the norm in many places, just like the overabundance of LOTR is not true in my area.

I think you're spot on about games hitting the ceiling. Right now, there is only one machine that Stern is producing that is sold out of LEs and that's Metallica. I'm not counting the IMVE, of course because olny the pro was rerun.

I'm certain that you are conveniently leaving out the fact that the game was released and there have been many pinball expo's and conventions since then. There are also owners who let friends come by and play them. I'm sure the majority of people who gobbled the VEs up upon release had enough play to know they wanted it and were unwilling to pay the required prices to pry them from their current owners.

It's either the heat, or there really is something in the water in FL. Sheesh!

I think you need to retread the entire thread. I'd say roughly the consensus is 90-10 the other way around

Whoops. Must remember, coffee first, then Pinside. I apologize for my previous post.

Several people have said it and I believe also, that a correction is probably needed. Prices are just getting way out of hand recently. 20 year old, B-list titles are climbing in price so fast that people are saying, F it, I'll just pony up a little more to get a new one. Do some people really want the bottom to fall out of the market and don't care about the future of the hobby? I'd say a small minority do. I think most people just want to get a chance to own an IM or a LOTR or MM,MB, etc.

There is all this talk about it being hard to sell machines since the release of MMR. I think it's just coincidence with the prices getting out of hand. I have passed on 3 machines in the last month. Reason: silly prices. I show up and the first thing the guy utters is, I gotta get x for it because I can't take a loss. Sorry, I am not hear to bail you out since you overpaid for your machine.

I have an experiment, list b list DMDs for 2500 and A listers for 4500. I bet the market gets moving in a hurry. Sorry, I'm not going to pony up $3500 for. roadshow when I can get a IMVE for what, $5400.

Qualifier for my experiment: assuming a local buyer

But those creepy heads! If my wife didn't like it so much, I would never even consider it. I'd rather have Raven, Goldwings and Bad Girls all in a line.