I thought I read in a different thread that, despite popular belief, the Lola's are actually more rare.

From Pinball Database:

"According to Mark Ritchie, as explained in the book The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, at least 200 sample games were in the process of being shipped with 'Marilyn' before the change had to be made. He also explained the name 'Lola' was taken from a 1970s song about a transvestite, chosen to befit her muscular arms as depicted on the backglass."

At least 200 could be 2500...

For the record mine is a Marylin so I like it better.

There is a cool website that tracks machines by serial #, although they are logged by owners so only a sampling of machines made. If you click on the Game traits tab, you can see that many users show whether their Taxi it is a Marilyn or Lola version. It looks close to half and half from what I see. Here is the site:

http://www.ipsnd.net/View.aspx?id=2505

Even if Lola is indeed rarer, it's likely that Marilyn is still more desirable. She is, after all, one of the most iconic celebrities in American history.

Agreed. She fits more with the lineup of celebrities in the game than the more generic "Lola" as well. I heard somewhere that there may even be a few machines with the Lola graphics on both translite and playfield but the display still says Marylin.

That may end up being the case if a bunch of folks are swapping their Lolas for new CPR Marilyn playfields and backglasses.

BTW, Dave I have an original Marilyn that I'm thinking about getting rid of. Lemme know if there's any interest.

You may see more Marilyn for sale in the us since they were the early release.

Once production ramps up they ship a sh#t ton oversees and those hardly come back or show up for sale.

From what I understand there are less than 5% max are Marilyn, its documented pretty widely. just for now those come up for sale more often.

I think the "documentation" was less factual and more downplaying the potential legal issue of using Marilyn's name. If you check out the serial # database info, it suggests that over 1,000 Marilyn models were made for the US and over 1,000 were shipped internationally. Quantity produced is unknown, but if the serial #s are sequential (which is not always the case) then over 8,400 total were produced. I would estimate at least 25% of Taxi machines were Marilyn models, and it could be more.

I'll post to the Taxi owner's club and ask them to add their machines to the database, and maybe with more data we can get a clearer answer to this age old question! The database is here:

http://www.ipsnd.net/View.aspx?id=2505

Yeah your probably right. I did not think that Williams could down play it and would most likely have to avoid paying licenses to the already released ones, etc.

Regardless of which is more rare, I am in the crowd that prefers the Marilyn model. The only comment that I have to add is that it is often ridiculous how much people try to get for Marilyn versions. At the most, a couple hundred up charge for a comparable condition model is reasonable, after that - walk.

I've seen more marilyns than lolas.

Totally agree. When I see ads that say "Rare" I move on since no one needs to use that. If it is indeed rare (does not have to be pinball machines) the buyer knows its"Rare" in the title does more harm than good as its a red flag.

But Yeah Marilyn versions are cooler since the backglass is all stars and Lola does not fit.

As a dealer, I have had around 15 of them and few have been Marilyn models. I agree with another poster that suggests a $200 premium. I don't really understand all the hype, the games play the same, but get the one you want by all means! A fun game for sure.