Label clearly says kiss pro. Looks like they put the wrong tag on.

Doubt they would let an LE go that cheap.

I see an LE plaque and shiny siderails(PRO has flat black siderails)

That's an expensive pro

Does TX have sales tax? If they do that would add another $300-$500 to the cost. Still a decent deal I suppose.

I called on it and left my number for the owner to call me back - the person who answered the phone said the only person that can talk prices is the owner & he did not know exactly where he was..... I'm not driving 2hrs each way unless I know it's the le price, and it being on a pro sticker - my guess is that's the pro price but might luck out.

Sorry folks - one of my staff put the KISS Pro tag on the LE... It clearly says "Pro" not LE, so no special Christmas deals on the KISS LE this year! Pin is still for sale but not at that price. Bad business model to sell pins at below cost
Pinballz

Pretty shitty deal for a pro

= good business model

Wow, yeah that's about $2000.00 overpriced for a pro. Sorry.

Ayyy, first post ever. After 6 years too. Congrats!

I'm gonna pop some tags...

Can someone say arrogance ? .....

Guilty as charged on the limited posts in 6 years (and i like a little ribbing when due) - Honestly I don't spend much time on Pinside because I don't have enough practical experience to provide the helpful guidance that many pinside members do provide for the pinball community, and even if i did family and businesses leave little time to even read all the threads and newsgroups (as negative as they can get at times).
But I am compelled to address two of the posts on over-pricing and arrogance... yes we do price our new pins higher than market (but also incl. warranty and support in that price), but then we also put these new Pro and LE pins right on the floor for all our customers to play. Not many places around the country offer a KISS LE or GOT LE to play. If I priced them at $100 over dealer price (which by the way is not as low as you might think it is - there is very little margin in selling new pins) they would sell very quickly, go into a private home, and then our customers would never have the chance to play these expensive pins. And of course the cost of maintaining over 100 pins at a location...we do need to make a profit to stay in business. Just wanted to give a little insight into the retail business part of the pinball world.

Your not gonna get any love here for pricing pros at $500 over MSRP. Best to walk away and let this thread die out. You are above retail/ebay/bendmeovertable pricing at 6495.

Criticize all you want. Pinballz is a nice location for its community. They have good games in a nice environment.

Pinballz is good people.

I wouldn't pay anything over MSRP for a car and sure as hell won't on a pinball machine.

I think that the audience on pinside will never appreciate the fact that a business that offers customer support, brick and mortar stores as well as service should make a profit. Pinsiders have very little idea how much dealers actually make on these games, if they did they would be much more appreciative that there are any dealers still doing shows or maintaining showrooms at their store.

Everyone says that they should get the world because they spent 8k or whatever. When retailers aren't usually even clearing 5%, its pretty sad how people still pile on them. Pinside sucks at appreciating what so many companies do for this hobby. They are not making money off NIB pins, its just the way it is.

So you never purchase a warranty?

$6500 for an LE doesn't seem that cheap either. Nothing i'd jump in the car and rush for anyway.

When I buy a nib pro its delivered for around 4700 and comes with expensive mods .Warranty is included and stern is available for support anyhow ,so I imagine they get them for 4 -4400 ? 6400 is pretty high markup imo and definitely heck of alot more than the 5 percent mentioned above, but if they sell than who are we to say anything and good for them and bad for the people who dont know any better lol.

Never.

Depends what le but kiss id pass at 6400

Pinballz is not a reseller per se. They are a 'barcade' and the business model of placing these new pins on the floor and pricing them high allows people to play these games until some 'unsophisticated buyer' actually pays the higher than market price. Without this, we would not have such high quality pins to play. Buyer beware certainly applies here, but if there are buyers willing to pay him for these games, what is wrong with that? He is in the business to make money and has found a profitable model. A pure barcade or pure reseller model has such narrow margins that most of these businesses either have to scale greatly to survive/thrive or die a slow death.

I'm just saying, don't troll the poor guy for making a buck - AND he is helping to bring back public awareness of pinball. It is businesses like Pinballz that will help keep pinball from fading into obscurity. Private collectors will not keep pinball alive past 1 or 2 generations.

How about stfu. You obviously don't have a clue what it takes to run a business. Not arrogance, good business sense.

This is the point I think people tend to forget here. Not everyone who wants a pin at home is on Pinside. Not everyone wants to learn the ins and outs. Not everyone wants to do repairs. Some people just want a no hassle game and have the money to pay a premium. More power to them (Pinballz and the buyer).

admin needs close this post. it was a post that is not true.

Pinballz is awesome place! Sure glad work takes me to Austin every 2-3 months and pinballz is part of the trip every time!

Agreed!!!
Plus for us know it alls, it's fun to laugh at 20k price tag on mm...

Leave pinballz alone , they're actually making a living on operating an arcade, actually a couple of them

I like going to the original pinballz when we can. Worth the drive from Houston to spend several hours playing pinball. Haven't been to the pinballz kingdom yet.

So you don't purchase new vehicles?

My problem with $6,495 for a pro is it actually turns people OFF from ever thinking they will buy a pinball machine. Stern provides a warranty and support. He does not say he provides a TNT type warranty or an in home setup and repair warranty, just that he prices pins high.

My point, my friend wanted to buy a pinball machine at Amini's at over retail and decided he just couldn't swing the cash. He heard I had pins and I told him the REAL NIB DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR PRICING, and BOOM he bought a pinball machine.

Correct pricing gets more people in the hobby not less

Exactly this, in the context of what Pinballz is as a business.

I get your post, but out of context for Pinballz. It's not retail game store. It's an arcade that will sell you their games if you "must have them". The owner, that I sincerely hope stays out of this thread, explained it to me once when I visited. People would come in and offer to buy the games that weren't for sale. Eventually they would start offering a lot of money. At some point he had to decide at what price it was worth it to sell a game and support it in the community. That number is not the NIB delivered price you get from a distro across the country. Sure, you get a warranty from stern. But just look at all the threads on Pinside about NIB games that were damaged in shipping or had a broken part. There are a lot of people in the world that want to just make one phone call and get all that handled for them.

I see no reason for us to become Pinball social justice warriors for customers that don't feel victimized. Customer service has value.

Ever seen the prices on pins in Modern Pinball? Games are sometimes 2x what they are worth. One questions for everyone...who cares? Nobody is gonna buy at that price and the person who does will not even know any better care. The main thing a lot on here forget is there are people who want gamerooms who will pay a lot extra for customer support. Some people are scared to change a light bulb on a game. Not us. But they are out there.

And not even NIB or HUO. It's freakin routed. Texas

Pinball doesn't need more people in the hobby to survive or (hopefully) flourish.

Very, very few of the general public are interested in buying a pinball machine for their home. Even less want to maintain them or mod them, unlike the audience here.

Whether the price is $4500 or $6495, it's mostly irrelevant. It's still an expensive luxury toy for most people.

Listen to Gary's stool speech...a portion of their business is indeed the (paraphrasing) "rich doctors and lawyers with three car garages" that want a single pinball machine for their home gameroom. These people don't read Pinside, and don't really care about price...they generally buy from a retailer, that probably includes a comprehensive warranty.

I would not want to be a consumer, paying $4500 for a new machine that would inevitably have issues. Stern's warranty is technically only 60 days (although they support much longer than that in practice) and even at that, they are *not* set up to handle a mass volume of calls from consumers. They also don't include labor, or offer on site repair. So, who would support these people, the distributors? Not likely, unless they are a retail establishment...which charges a lot more, offers an extended warranty/support, etc.

As a consumer, paying $4500 for something that breaks down and doesn't have a long warranty or support (like a new car) actually would *turn off* more people to pinball. They are commercial devices, not consumer ones.

Getting back on topic...why would Pinballz sell a machine with only a slight markup, if it's not their core business? Do you know how much work is involved in finding quality machines to put on location? It's a lot of effort/time/expense. This is why I rarely sell machines from my route or arcade.

Pinball needs more public exposure, and machines on the streets.

Pinballz is doing that.

-Mark

This!!!

Get out of your basements and support location pinball!

-Mark

Pinballz is great! I think the owner is originally from PA. Great guy and his model is keeping his business growing good for him! Merry Christmas All!

I like to go to places like that to try out the new games and then I buy them somewhere else at a better price.

This thread makes me LOL. There are two types of pinball buyers. Those who want to touch every part of the machine and those who don't even want to see the inside. It costs a lot more money to never lift a screw driver and this is probably who he caters too. My guess is these guys know their paying more and don't care. Don't go and get offended for someone who isn't even offended themselves. Just go and find the dealer that suits you best.

Rough argument you're trying to make there.

If they are going to charge me 2K over market price for a Pro, they had better be making me breakfast every morning and shoveling my sidewalk in the winter for a year.

I was there yesterday. Nice selection of pins from every era. If I was to make a suggestion make the games all either card swipe or coin or both. I bought a card then realized it wasn't needed for the games I wanted to play. I would also say most of the games needed a little TLC. Not that they were unplayable, just stuff like flippers being weak, balls worn and could use replaced, wipe down playfield etc. I know the place has a good local following, maybe they would hire some local pinheads part time to maintain them. I know Billy and I spoke about me doing this but it's just to far from home at this time.

One last suggestion... The lighting made it hard to see the playfield on a few of the games I played. Not sure what the answer is to that but there has to be a lighting that isn't to bright, dim or to much of a focused spot.

All in all it is a great place to visit, wish it was closer to New Braunfels so I could visit more often!

Thanks for having such a great place to visit!!!!!!

Chris Kruger

PS: what happened to my wozecle? Sold or moved?

Ok, so YOU won't be buying from them, it's a free market.

What do you care of their clientele that does?

It's been made clear in this thread the games are not "priced to sell" but the opposite, "priced to stay". That is their business model. And if the occasional customer walks in and wants that game sitting there, they can have at it.

Nobody complains if the price is too low and the owner looses money. Pinballz is awesome. I was there last summer and was blown away. Pins everywhere of all kinds from all eras, new and old. They had pins I had never seen and all the new pins of the last few years. True, some pins needed a lot of work but that is kind of a given with so many pins to maintain. They price pins high to keep inventory because they operate as an arcade, not as a straight retailer.

and I thought I was fueling up for a Christmas Eve drive to Texas to snag this gem... damn

ITS AN LE!!!!! It has the drop target. The picture clearly shows this!!

When I lived in Austin I played at pinballz all the time. Great location. They're not in the business of selling machines. The tags are an "everything has a price" price. The owner doesn't want to sell machines and prices accordingly. When some rich Austin brat wants one, he/she overpays, big deal.