I'll bite.

1. 500-900
2. 50-400
3. I don't usually look for pins in that category

You really need to be more specific with titles. I would pay more for a 1963 Big Deal than a Dealers Choice any day. Lumping them all together may work for DMDs, but not EMs.

EM Pins come and EM Pins go.If I like a machine and want it I will pay what I think it is worth to me, not to the general public or pricing guide standard of that time period. Folks may say after I bought it "you paid too much" or "you got that for a steal", which is their opinion, but as long as I am happy with the purchase that is all that really matters in the end, win or lose on resale value.

Ken

this... i wouldn't pay more than 300 dollars for a garden variety "pointy people" wms machine that was in the condition described in #1.... i likely wouldn't even pay 300... a lot of them simply aren't much fun, and i really don't like pointy people...

however, there are any number of 60's wms machines that i would pay more than 300 dollars for in "condition 2"... this would hold true for many gtb games as well...

i wish it was as easy as "any game that is in 'condition x' is worth $xxx"... but it's not...

I wish it was that easy! to many factors

Pricing thread?

that is, dare i say it, priceless...

What's the MM of EMs? Fireball? Royal Flush?

MerMaid

I meant in terms of popularity and price, you knucklehead.

I may be a knucklehead, but it is still MerMaid. $15,000 and up.

Nah, Mystic Marvel.

Nice Gottlieb wedgehead AAB's get more $$: Lucky Hand, Dimension, Gold Strike, Neptune

A nice Fireball will top any of those. Joker Poker even higher.

Minstrel Man

Wms Music Man!

Hey, I owned a Minstrel Man! I think I sold it for $50!

minstrel-man.jpg

It's always worth what someone is willing to pay.

seeing the machines out there at $xxx, doesn't mean that is what they are actually selling for (or that they will EVER sell at that price)...

unfortunately, you are asking a question that really doesn't have an answer... besides the multitudes of variables involved with the actual machines themselves, location plays a really big role...

for example, in another thread, there is a fine atlantis listed for 1200, in phoenix.. if someone listed that machine for that price anywhere near where i live, it would be gone in 5 seconds...

I've heard that people pay a lot for Charlies Angels.

Always about condition relative to price.

The same game might have a range from $100 - $4000 plus.

Condition is king!

Man, you weren't kidding - $20K for Mermaid! That's more like the BBB of EMs.

If you're looking for an EM analog to MM in which a comparable price is your only criterion, there was a Gemini on eBay in July 2013 where bidding topped $10k.

ebay.com link: itm

If you want to see the value of games that a lot of us in EM hangout already own, this should be a good reference.

http://pinrescue.com/forsale.html

Ouch.

I'm only demonstrating how things work in the other part of pinside.

There's another part of Pinside?

It's a mythical place where the value of your machine increases the moment you buy it.

Possession is always worth at least 20%.

Canadian or US Dollars?

I know of a space walk that sold for 25k us

The secret's out. Some EMs are more valuable than the most desired modern games. With no remakes in sight.

When they banned them and took axes to them, that certainly made them more rare.

sure didn't help... and they destroyed quite a few when making "tommy"...

i thought of something for the op this morning... while this doesn't specifically answer the question, it might help a bit...

if you see an em on craigslist near a major metropolitan area, and it has been there for more than 2 days, its a very good bet that it is either over-priced or not worth buying... the same holds true for many areas in the upper midwest as well...

You really do not have to look very hard to find dozens of EM pins in the $200-500 range.
Now they may not be 100% working, may have a cracked plastic, a few paint chips missing on the BG, some PF wear near the Pop Bumpers or KO holes and the CAB might be fairly scuffed up.
But with a few hours of TLC, you can normally bring these games fully back to life
and looking more than decent (if not beautiful) and most importantly have a lot of fun.
A WMS Fun Fest or Dealer's Choice or Satin Doll or Bally Circus/Big Show or Knockout or Galahad or GTB Duotron or Airport or Super Soccer or most any CCoin pin will certainly be on the low end of the price point as compared to most other collectible EM pins.
Single Players tend to command slightly higher prices than multiplayers, AABs more again,
GTB Wedgeheads and WMS reverse wedgeheads more $$$ again.
Animated backglass pins like Buckaroo/Crosstown, more $$$ again.
Then a lot depends on theme, artwork/artist and condition.
But certainly a pinball novice can get her/his feet wet in this hobby for not much initial $$$ outlay, then depending on how hard the fever hits, it can quickly scale up into the big bucks.

How much would you pay for a Mermaid remake?

One thing you might notice about Tommy...the games smashed at the end are almost ALL garbage titles.There's very few "good" ones in that scene (I think a World's Fair is one of them).

Mostly it's row after row of Chicago Coin or undesirable (even today) Bally and Williams titles. Many repeat models in fact.

Wondering if they got them all from ops or distributor leftovers.

As in made with real EM parts or an SS version like the KOD remake? I'm thinking you mean the SS version as it would not be cost effect for an EM remake IMO.

Ken

No, I mean a full EM one.

I don't get the Mermaid love as there seem to be so many better games in the 50's. Someone please correct me if I am wrong!

Is BBB the best game of the 90s?

Of course not. It's still the most expensive.

Mermaid is a cool game with an awesome animation effect and terrific art, that's what woodrail collectors value.

And, it's incredibly rare. So add it up and you get $15,000 or so.

I don't see the greatness of this machine either except that it was produced in low quantities, nice Art and Ruleset, but so were a lot of other 50's titles. I'm probably the wrong guy to ask as I love 70's followed by the 60's Gottliebs, so $2500.00 tops brand new for me just because it would be the first Brand New EM produced since 1979, so there is value in that alone to me and it does look fun, just not crazy $$,$$$.$$ fun for an original.

At $2500.00 my price new, these will definitely not be made as cost alone making these would most likely be $3000.00 and have to sell for $5000.00. I could just as well buy original titles in Cherry condition like Hit The Deck, El Dorado, Centigrade 37 for the $2500.00 price tag so that is why I can't justify spending more on my end.

Ken

good point...

y'know, i HAVE wondered where they got them all from...

Tommy was released in 1975. The filming would of been in 1974. The scene in the film, were the pins are smashed should be roughly 1962. A late teenaged Tommy. During that scene I wonder how many extras were cut by glass. As even some of the playfield glass breaks like regular glass, not like tempered glass.

Are you kidding? There are tons of projects out there, just look on craigslist. The only thing is people are putting crazy prices out there for projects. Doesn't mean they are selling for that, just make an offer if it's a title you like. They can only say NO!!

One price factor is location. This I can state as a fact. Here in Edmonton Alberta, a project EM pin can be had for $200. This does happen a few times a year. A game that actually plays and has noticeable wear can be found from $500 to $800. I have seen more desirable titles in playable condition for $900 to $1200. Locally here, I have never seen a perfect condition EM game, restored or in original condition, for sale.
The hearing of some one finding an 50's or 60's EM pin in a basement also doesn't happen much around here.
Half of the fun is the search.