(Topic ID: 171166)

Pinball Pricing - At what price will it end for you?

By Barakawins1

7 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

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Topic poll

“Can't afford a pinball any longer pole. At which price will you no longer be ale to afford?”

  • $5000 - $5500 35 votes
    29%
  • $5500 - $7500 39 votes
    32%
  • $7500 - $9000 28 votes
    23%
  • $9000+ 19 votes
    16%

(121 votes)

#1 7 years ago

Given the current NIB market pricing for machines. At what price will you no longer be buying new pinball machines?

#2 7 years ago

It's already passed me by.

#3 7 years ago

Long gone for me too.

17
#4 7 years ago

I'm out. I could buy, but don't want to on principal. It's like paying a scalper, but direct from the source.

#5 7 years ago

It's not about how much I can afford, it's about how much I'm willing to spend.

It's about getting value for my money.... both as an operator, and as a collector.

As an operator, $9k is far too much money for an unlicensed title and as a collector, $12,500 is far too much money for an unlicensed title.

#6 7 years ago

Well after being in on TBL and Dialed In......guess I need you to raise the threshold in the poll. I'm still buying. I will say I'm at my limit tho.
My collection is smaller than it use to be, but the titles are more expensive in it too.

#7 7 years ago

With the poor exchange rate between the US $ and the AUD $ , buying NIB is no longer an option
Spending $8000 (basic stern price) to JJP $18000 (dialed in LE), its just not happening

#8 7 years ago

I thought it was funny how much the price police jumped on people for prices on used games....

Now people are price policing new games......there are about 6 threads on prices. People need to get over the sticker shock and move on. There is another level of buyers outside of pinside. No one is happy to pay more. If you don't like the price then don't buy. It's as simple as that. If the games don't sell prices will correct on their own.

Based on the BM66 threads it seems the SLE and LE had NO problem selling regardless if it's worth the value or not. Looks like many are reporting DI is fun to play once you get past the theme.

All this means is all my games went up in value by $500-1000. If I sell a game and no one likes my price I will direct them to the nearest Stern/JJP distributor and they can cry at the new prices. The secondary market is gonna explode as many are priced out and seek out games they can afford. Supply will be short and demand will be high. Will be very interesting to see what happens......

#9 7 years ago

5K pro. 6K LE. Let's start a petition.

#10 7 years ago

Way beyond what I can afford. My pin list Reflects this.

#11 7 years ago

The new prices are more than I feel comfortable spending. I'm happy with the games I have. Even more so now.

#12 7 years ago

My feeling is that as a collector, you always wanted to be able to resell the machine without taking much of a beating. The room for profit or
break even is long gone. Pinball machines have done into depreciation value for sure. While the LED/LCD technology is nice and is being implemented, it's not necessary. The only thing a pinball machine needs is a scoring display and a nice color dmd. Even so, the price of
machines has been steadily increasing making the home owner and the operator step back. I don't think the rise in prices is justified. In addition, less quantities of machines will be purchased. Collectors were selling their game to make money for new titles. At the price of the new titles, they'll have to trade two older A titles and still have to kick in some money for a new machine. I think this is the sign of troubled
times for collectors, the average home owner and the operator. Let's see how things unravel. I know I'm tapped out and don't want to
sacrifice several Williams titles for a Stern title of today's value.

#13 7 years ago

Pinside=price of new, price of old, GB is great, GB is crap, fuck stern, price, price, price, price............and that's the end of new topics folks.

#14 7 years ago
Quoted from JJHLH:

The new prices are more than I feel comfortable spending. I'm happy with the games I have. Even more so now.

Yup. My entire Lawlor collection cost me less than 1 Dialed In. FGY, NGG, TAF, RS, RBION. I played them all last nite. I wouldn't sacrifice them for a new game.

#15 7 years ago
Quoted from Rarehero:

Yup. My entire Lawlor collection cost me less than 1 Dialed In. FGY, NGG, TAF, RS, RBION. I played them all last nite. I wouldn't sacrifice them for a new game.

I totally agree with this quote. Why sacrifice a good working collection for pricey new unknowns?

#16 7 years ago

Go to Vietnam and start manufacturing.Sad but anything made in US will be higher and increase in price faster.I'm talking out my a$$ since I don't buy NIB and haven't a clue where they are built now.

#17 7 years ago

Stern will continue to make fun playing pro's in the $5k range. No one else is doing it. It's a decent price for me as an OP because the games don't take too terribly long to pay themselves off.

#18 7 years ago

5k is my max as an operator.

#19 7 years ago

I don't have a lot of space, so for me I'm willing to spend a little more for a title I really want...

That being said, I think for us to see new machines on route the games must be less than $7000 and much closer to the current $5k price. For pinball to be sustainable new generations need to experience them. Otherwise, the hobby will flutter out once again. I know it won't happen but, if companies would embrace the idea of one machine vs. pro, pre, le, se, ve, etc. they could reduce overhead, keep costs even, and still produce an exciting product. At most they could have Standard and collector, with different cabinet art and a plaque. no need to produce multiple playfield, ramps, etc.

It will be interesting to see what the MSRP on the next stern title will be...

#20 7 years ago
Quoted from smokedog:

Stern will continue to make fun playing pro's in the $5k range. No one else is doing it. It's a decent price for me as an OP because the games don't take too terribly long to pay themselves off.

As a home buyer, I've been into Premiums and the occasional LE (if the price wasn't ridiculous). In the future if there is a Stern title that interests me, I might be a Pro buyer now.

#21 7 years ago

i've owned over 50 different titles but never bought NIB, and now they decided to gouge the market out of pure greed, i doubt i ever will. i'd prefer it if they sold loads more by making them cheaper but i think the wankers in marketing probably didn't like the idea

#22 7 years ago

Screw being a Pro buyer. Stern had jacked crap up with the tier system, and there is NO reason that Pro buyers should have to settle. The playfield chages in Got and ACDC really burned me. Fundamentally, ALL the playfield should be the same. If that was the case, the tier system wouldn't bother me, but the fact that some games play literally differently between the Pro and the Prem/LE is not ok.

Once again, Spooky and Heighway get it. EVERYONE gets the same game no matter the price...

Hell with Stern.

#23 7 years ago
Quoted from NPO:

The playfield chages in Got and ACDC really burned me. Fundamentally, ALL the playfield should be the same.

As an OP, I can tell you, the Pro's and Premiums/LE's earn the same. So, it makes more sense to purchase Pro for route.

As an aside, GoT Pro is a really fun game for the money.

Quoted from NPO:

Once again, Spooky and Heighway get it.

Not for $5K they don't.

#24 7 years ago

Vendors need to be able to buy these games and turn a fair profit on their investment. Hopefully, with the design, engineering, labor, fixed costs, variable costs, misc. cost, the manufacturer can have some money for future investment along with some profit taking. Home users need to find games that they can enjoy and afford. Supply and demand will dictate price for everybody.

#25 7 years ago

The last one I was willing to spend that amount of cash on was ACDC LE. Not doing it anymore.

#26 7 years ago

Last one I spent dough on was Kiss Le. I saw what happened there and never doing that again.

#27 7 years ago

Only buying HUO, I'm out of buying NIB titles. I don't have enough disposable income to buy new machines. Just because I can't afford it, doesn't mean there aren't people that can. When people need to fund the latest and greatest, or they need more space, I might have enough saved up to get a BM66 after the newness/excitement wears off.

Plus, I get to see what issues there are if any appear on these new machines. Code, ghosting, aux.boards, light boards, playfield issues, etc... are things I don't want to go through. My last NIB was a XMLE, I really like the machine now, but I did not like the first six months and all the issues I waited through. If I had waited, I could have picked one up for 2k less within a year of its release. I learned from my experience.

#28 7 years ago

It's not even a matter of afford (for me) it's about how much am I willing to spend on a big toy. For me there are very few pinball machines that are worth over 5k.....new or used. Especially when there are so many great games still in the 2-3k range (for now).

#30 7 years ago

It's the scale. On one side there is a new pinball machine - on the other side is $12,500 worth of (fill in the blank). Hell, in Arkansas that's a downpayment on a house, maybe two. Or a new reef aquarium. Downpayment on a Rolls Royce Ghost. Entire purchase price of Car for a kid. 60 guided trout fishing trips. 60! When it gets to be sooooo much I have to go with other side of the scale.

The silver lining for me is, for instance, I still have not owned TZ. I bet I could spend a year just on that one. Still never owned Earthshaker. The list goes on. So there are still many new to me pins waiting without having to go all 12,500.

#31 7 years ago
Quoted from Pickle:

The secondary market is gonna explode as many are priced out and seek out games they can afford. Supply will be short and demand will be high.

Agreed, used prices will be beyond insane soon. I'm out on principal, it's too much damn money.

Picked up what might be my last classic B/W four days ago. I won't be competing for used games with super inflated prices.

RZ will be coming in a few months, it will be my first and last NIB. I finally got to play one and will be happy when it arrives.
Plus I'm near max on space.

In a way it feels good to be done growing the collection, the money outlay was stressing me too much. For the last couple years I have been putting off important home and vehicle repairs, in order to buy a few more base games before I'm priced out.

Now I am priced out.

Let's see, BM66, or a new roof?
Dialed In, or a new furnace + AC?
Alien or a decent used car?

A pinball machine price should not be anywhere near the league of major home and car purchases.

Expect financing to be the new norm.
Thank the scalpers for ruining a cost effective hobby...

#32 7 years ago
Quoted from Rarehero:

Yup. My entire Lawlor collection cost me less than 1 Dialed In. FGY, NGG, TAF, RS, RBION. I played them all last nite. I wouldn't sacrifice them for a new game.

This. Exactly.

#33 7 years ago

Being the question is at what price will it end for you, the key word being will which could indicate any time in the future,

I'm going to say it could be over $100,000, which in 50 years might be the equivalent of much much less today.

#34 7 years ago

I'm out. Alien on order and that's it. Hope there are a lot of first timers around to pay these levels. I'm actually selling off a few and cutting back.

#35 7 years ago

The problem for me is with these high prices everything on the game must be near perfect including a theme that really excites me for me to buy in. Aerosmith and Batman 66 for example are ok themes for me, but I will never own them because of price. Will take something like Evil Dead, Mad Max or James Bond for me to consider buying at these new prices.

#36 7 years ago

Pro: 5k
Premium: 6800
LE: Not interested

I think even these prices are high, but they are probably close to the max I'm willing to pay. I certainly won't be buying experiment pins even at these prices.

I'd like to see Stern go for 6500 premium shipped, which I'd consider pretty fair.

#37 7 years ago

Full on squirrel mode. Afraid to let go of my games as they're getting a lot harder to get back. Maybe trades but that's it.

#38 7 years ago

I think the market will always be there for top tier, A+ games like mm, mb etc. These are highly collectible and people will always want these in their collections.

-2
#39 7 years ago

I can't believe all the people crying about the price of something they don't need to buy anyway.

How bout go down to a Ferrari dealership and whine to them about their prices. They'll tell you where to go.

#40 7 years ago

It already did. Pros over $5K will not fly with me. Sucks too because Star Wars is such an epic theme for me and I know if and when Stern does it, it's gonna be way north of $5K. Looks like I'll be looking for a nice used one later.

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