I got a similar sense of urgency... About three years ago? Right as I started to notice CL postings declining. So I started buying everything that looked vaguely interesting. Had a big pile of projects in the garage. But that pile is all gone now. All fixed and added to the collection or sold.

Pickings have been getting real slim lately too. Can't remember the last time I saw a slightly desirable title under $600. I don't know what Levi is seeing but I'm not. I assume we're watching the same area...

Luckily wish list is getting slim as well. Mostly rare games that I've never seen for sale, or will never be able to afford anyway

I think it is mostly newbies. I see a "just got my first machine!" post on facebook with some random B tier EM every other day it seems. Some people are learning how to fix them... I've got three 'newer' collectors of solid state/DMD games I know out here (started collecting past year or two, teaching themselves repair) and they all have an itch to add an EM or two to the collection. The newer players in general seem much less focused on newer games to me, compared to all the late 90s/2000s collectors I know who have collections of nothing but modern games and WPCs

Last time I played Elwin on an EM... I had 110k, he had 220k. Time before that, I had 15k, he had 90k.

8 games total across two pinburghs, my only win was on a JJP PotC

Totally disagree. There's a ton of EMS that no one likes and that are probably <700 fully working. C tier. Then there's a bunch of games that maybe you could get 1k for a nice one. B tier. And then there's stuff like Fireball, Wizard where you can get 1-2k. There's probably even a D tier of unloved 60s games and wood rails

Could you list those notable exceptions?

And then title that list?

Right now that's probably pretty accurate, but I think it's a sleeper... I'd take a Little Chief over a Skyrocket

Yep, I'm feeling the same there. If a friend's visiting and they choose one of my modern sterns I sorta groan, we're going to be sitting there forever waiting for each person's turn. I enjoy them for playing by myself, but for hanging with friends I much prefer games with shorter (<1:30) ball times

I'm trying to get into them too, but they're hard to find, and even harder to know what ones will be fun to play or not since it's nearly impossible to get time on many of them) unlike many 70s ems)

I need to get back to fixing my Straight Shooter. Four flippers, plays fast, option for points instead of specials, and a "line up the lights" ruleset instead of "light all the things", feels like it should have potential.

I have the same issue even with many 60s games, trying to discern which ones will play fun and which won't without any opportunity to play them. I think a similar thing will happen with ems. Popular 70s games like grand prix will continue to command good and prices for a long time, but the ones people don't talk about or have in barcades or at shows will be forgotten more, and have the same thing happen to them that wood rails have where most players don't even really know they exist

My Straight Shooter has a jones plug to award 500,000 points instead of a replay for special

Yes, and the unit for score is 'points' in all games except, apparently, some other gottlieb woodrails which made a distinction.

How about *you* get the $200 dimension... and then bring it to york for me for $400?