is that wood showing? For 10g's

I had the same reaction when I was there. I figured they were priced so outrageously high because they're all still money-makers for them. Its not worth it for them to sell for less. They'd just have to turn around and find a replacement once the pin left the building.

Is fester still stuck on the electric chair by a zip tie?

I can appreciate jackd104's reaction to the prices. But RyThom is right. Consider a stranger approaching you to buy one of your favorite pins that you didn't want to sell. Surely you would set an unusually high "take away" price that would make it worth it for you.
Also, when people continue to buy many pins off the floor at the higher prices, you can't blame Pinballz . And they do shop out, fix and clean up the pins and provide a free warranty for the buyer.

And to grastarsfan1, yes, Fester is still zip tied on for now .

^ THIS!

I spoke with the owner and he basically told me, he had no intention of selling the games, hence the pricing. If someone was willing to pay a big price tag then take it, but otherwise they're simply worth more to him making money in his establishment for all to enjoy. I can completely understand that.

That's common sense. He can't give people smokin' deals on machines only to run out and have to try replacing games 24/7

Honestly, those are cheaper than the prices at my local retail shop. The disclaimer being that their showroom pins are far from players pins and really nicely refurbished.

Same deal at Modern Pinball of NYC. Makes sense to me.

Are you there to play or shop?

I could be wrong, but I don't think I saw any Texas operator permits on the games. In Texas it costs about $60 for a permit for one game. So I'm thinking the games being for sale is a loop hole. If all the games are for sale then Pinballz is a showroom for potential buyers. Players are test driving games before buying them. So therefore no Texas operator permits are required. Pinballz puts stupid high prices on them so they won't sell, but so they don't have to buy permits. Is my thinking correct on this?????

I hope not, because that sounds like borderline fraud to me.

I think Phalcon is right. I think it is an attempt to avoid paying a license on each machine. The arcade becomes a showroom and therefore is not subject to the same rules.

As Mike wolfe says on American Pickers "What's your (I won't sell it) price?"

Yes, and if there is not a hidden motive, and he does not want to sell the games why bother with putting prices on them then??? If they are not for sale, just tell people "not for sale".

The odd thing (if they really don't want to sell the games) is that they list them all on their website for purchase with photos and everything. Cool arcade though.

I had the same experience. Darren, the owner, has always been friendly to me and said that customuers continue to come in and pay these high prices. I see no incentive for him to price them lower.

Fraud is the license fee to begin with. A relic of past religion creeping into laws that is now just free money for the city.

Like the PHOF, it's a must stop place for me if I'm in Austin. Good fun and nice selection of pins and arcades.

So then, you'd be against sales taxes on movie rentals, theatres, golf courses, concerts, performing arts, etc? There's sales tax on all that last I checked, given it's generally rolled into the price, but last I heard, every other business under the sun is expected to pay their dues. I very seriously doubt that Pinballz is making more money selling these games than what they get in coin drop. If that's the case, I don't see how they could possibly explain being a "showroom"...but that's me. I'm not in any way implying what they may or may not being doing is illegal, for the record. There's more loopholes in tax code than I care to think about, but it makes you wonder how the government would see it.

I didn't even notice them when I was down there for state champs. Someone else had mentioned they they didn't see them too though before this thread, so I figured after a second report might've been the case. Was kinda busy...playing.

My thought exactly.

When we were there last month I think I picked out four that didn't have the sticker on the apron. One was in the back corner, kitty-corner from Johnny Mnemonic. I did think it was nice how the sticker was stuck on a piece of printer paper instead of being adhered directly to the cabinet or apron, at least from a buyer's point of view.

Ok cool, I did not see them there. No funny business here then. I guess he's just making lots from people that will pay stupid high prices.

Cactus Jack's here in OKC does the same thing. Prices on all the games but you can tell they don't really intend to sell them. $4995 for NBAFB? $3995 for JD? LOL. Of course, there was no price posted on the Medieval Madness!

If any of you have the chance, Cactus Jack's is a really nice place to get your fix in. There are a ton of machines from 90's DMD games to the latest and greatest including a WOZ. They must have just got tired of everyone asking to buy their machines I bet.

"FOR SALE" should be in quotes

I was particularly amused when I saw a Genie "on sale" for eight grand last time I was there.

But hey, it's Texas. Everything's bigger in Texas right?

Still a must-stop for pinball enthusiasts.

Seems normal and ridiculous all at the same time. Seen this move a few times now more common than you would think.

I wonder if they've actually ever sold anything at the prices they advertise?

Yes. Many games have been sold off the floor.

They sell games more often than you would think and for the insane prices they are asking. They plan on opening a second location in south Austin so they must be doing something right.

I hope youre not being serious....you must hate playing pinball on route

Good for them! And lucky for everyone near Austin.

Yes, you're right. I totally do NOT support our local 20-cents-per-game location that has like 7 sterns on the floor, nor did I track down the guy that maintains pins at the local movie theatre and get him into our facebook group so we can let him know when things are busted and when we'd like to run tournaments at the location, and get code updated. I think I might have dreamed that I met him in person a few times as well.

Next time try to lay on the sarcasm a little thicker

I'll see what I can do.

Dang, was hoping they would get crazy and open a location in DFW. Just means more trips to Austin.

There was rumor of that a while back, but got stomped out pretty quick. Disappointing, but I can see the logic of keeping operations close to home. =|

Thats too bad. A place like that would for sure boom here. Lots of buzz about pinball here.

Neat. You just seemed so hell bent on making sure this guy was paying his 60$ per game, which is a rip these days. Je pays his fair sure on tax time. I support pinball on location and am against all game taxes,

I'm against someone getting their business shut down because they're trying to be a shady lawbreaking douche....which thankfully turned out not to be the case here. Frankly, even with my strong morals, if I found out it was the case that's exactly what was going on, I wouldn't be arsed to report it. I don't have an issue with the mere fact that taxes are collected on revenue, which is the case pretty much anywhere, but the issue is how disproportionate that tax is in regards to what most of these games bring in. Frankly, after seeing the prices Pinballz sets on most of their games, and how many bloody people were in there on a friday night, I wouldn't be shocked if 65+% of those games pulled 60$ in a single night. I don't think that .2% tax rate is all that outrageous.....course I have no way of knowing what other taxes Pinballz pays in the course of their business.

Apparently, they were toying with the idea of a third location. I believe thats in the far future/wishful thinking stage at the moment though. The idea was brought up and dismissed almost in the same breath when we had our conversation so I don't know any details. Not sure why it would make sense to open a third location in Austin so who knows, maybe DFW!

There's only one location in Austin currently, at least to my knowledge.

Was there tonight and Dungeons & Dragons had a "Sold!" sign on it. Price marked was $3k.

D&D not the latest. Batman de sold since

Glad I made a point to play it then...haven't ever seen another one...

AFM is missing - hope it is just getting a tune up and not sold...

I'll add this information to my Microsoft excel spreadsheet analysis as to why pin prices are still rising.

Apparently someone bought 6 pins at once. Genie and Banzai Run were amongst the casualties, both vanished overnight. I did see D&D had a sold sign on it, could be part of the 6. Must be nice to be able to drop a minimum of 18k just for kicks!

I played that Genie on Saturday! What a huge girl that is.

A friend of mine played Safecracker there early last year and I was looking forward to playing it but it was gone when I went.