Pinball prices kept going up during the last market drop. It's the type of hobby that doesn't seem to be too affected by the financial world.

You are right.

I think they are terrible.

LTG : )™

I dont think any emerging markets are buying Pinball machines.

I dunno, a Nigerian prince is always trying to buy mine.

In the old days, they used to mail you hand written letters with a blue ball point pen.....

The only prices coming down are the ones in my current collection. Everybody else's machines are still holding their value, apparently.

Thats right Boob, the $500 check is in the mail. Now send out that Funhouse.

Any other hobby I could have is just as likely to lose value as pinball. I'm not sweating it. If they do come down, it'll just make opportunities for people who at the moment are priced out. I don't see it crashing hard. That said..

Repeat after me: pinball is not an investment.

If you want to quickly find out what pins are worth more and appreciated rapidly, you must attempt a trade with someone. For sure they will inform/educate/persuade you into understanding your pin in trade is worth less than market but their pin is always magically above market prices!!! You get to go to sleep that night feeling like crap and thinking you are terrible at values. Then you wake up the next day realizing people are people and most of them just are not nice or even remotely fair when $$$ is in the equation

Okay...I'll go pack it up.

Don't be sad. At the rate it's dropping he won't be able to afford to play it. Laughs on him. You win.

LTG : )™

Meh, much ado about nothing.
Play your games and enjoy them.

I'll trade my striker xtreme for your AC/DC. Pretty fair value on the trade market imo.

Honestly, though...

I think a few machines are still trending upward. Most notably ACDC right now. MM has dropped due to the MMr release, and others in the top 10 seem to have leveled off. NIB prices continue to climb--disgustingly--but hopefully the end of that is in sight soon. I think it all comes down to each individual machine/title - there doesn't seem to be a pattern right now like there's been the last few years.

+/- 10% seems like the normal variability in pinball prices to me anyway. The stock market moves like that and it's the end of the world. Pinball machines are at least grounded in some sort of reality as there is very little leverage used to buy them. Most asset price issues arise from the over use of credit.

Truth!

Oh, and where IS houseofpin these days? He only seems to be around making noise when the market is on its highs. Anyone looking for a contra indicator should keep an eye out for HOP.

The last recession saw the biggest jump in pinball prices.

World economies are interconnected. If the BRIC nations sneeze, the USA can certainly catch a cold. It's my personal belief that the global economy never really healed from 2008 (or even 2000 honestly), and that there's a lot of pain coming to the markets that have skyrocketed the last 5-7 years.

Pinball machines are collectibles. Collectible markets don't 100% mirror the economy as a whole. The hobby has seen a huge influx of collectors. It would take a big percentage of the new collectors to back out of the market to effect prices significantly. What could force those collectors out of the hobby? Possibly a recession where a percentage of the collectors lose their jobs and lack significant savings to ride out the storm. But the games are owned for the most part free and clear and not on credit so your typical pinball owner is probably more the cash-only and 'save for a rainy day' type. Most people in the hobby also don't own the game because of perceived future value, rather they buy the games to play so the impetus to sell when prices drop is only for people who bought them with price as the primary factor.

I would be more worried about a freeze in new game buying vs used prices. That would destroy Stern, JJP, Spooky, Heighway. The last recession did not see a used pinball price fall, but it did see Stern significantly alter their games for cost, divide buildouts by 'Pro/Premium/LE' etc, and force Stern to take on an investor. The NIB manufacturers may not be able to survive a halving of their sales for a year.

It's like my mom always says something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

It's a good thing I'm not looking to sell any. Now, if I run out of electricity, that would suck.

I hope the prices all drop like a rock. I will finally be able to buy the last few machines I always wanted.

Cactus Canyon $200 by christmas

Oh crap! What if all the pinball investors bail out of the hobby? Oh there arent any so I think things will be Ok.

You mirrored my thoughts exactly!

Don't forget Zidware and SKitB too.

I wish prices were coming down, But when a Metallica premium costs 3k more than my LE did.... F that.

???
What's a nib Metallica premium going for now?

13.9k for a Metallica premium now.
AC/DC was 10.5k ... Luci was 10.9k

Pinball prices have been about to crash for 15 years now.

Have no clue as to what will happen with pinball prices, but I can tell you that world fiat currencies will all crash and that civil war will happen in most countries.

Kiwi Money... worth even less than Australian dollars!

LOL

I have been involved with collectibles & hobby stuff for almost 50 years and historically collectibles do good in bad economies because people need to put their money somewhere and don't want to put it into the market when things are headed down or uncertain.

New machines might be harder to sell and new prices might stabilize but older machines are likely to continue the upward trend or even start to go up in price faster again.

If done properly pretty much any collectible or hobby can be a good investment but very few people understand how to make a hobby profitable & enjoyable at the same time. I will say buying mods, overpaying for machines just because you want them, installing LED lights, etc is not the way to make the pinball hobby profitable. But buying smart and enjoying what you buy till you are tired of it then moving on will normally result in positive return.

As with any hobby - I don't see pinball machines as an investment but on the other hand they can be.

The day we see multiple pinball companies rolling numerous titles off the line and SHIPPING games. Only then do I see prices coming down.

I see the used market prices rising due to people getting fed up with the NIB price explosion over the past 3 years.