Here are two articles from GQ that get into Supreme. TLDR: Billion dollar streetwear company. Carlyle Group paid $500M last year to buy half the company. Huge in Japan.

Stop thinking of this pinball machine as a pinball machine. It is a very limited, very big, very expensive collectible that just happens to be a pinball machine.

https://www.gq.com/story/supreme-billion-dollar-valuation

https://www.gq.com/story/inside-supreme

Like it or not, a Supreme pinball machine has probably one of the higher ROI’s compared to any other machine out there. Buy it, sit on it a few years, and flip it. Easy money.

Lot of people on here are stuck in their ways. Supreme valued at a billion dollars is worth what, 15x the entire pinball market? Maybe 20x? You don’t have to like their product but you should respect the brand and business they have built.

Thank you. I am not a financial advisor, bur think about money a lot.

This collectible has a higher upside than most pinball machines out there (TBL, etc.). The value is not that it is a pinball machine or a particularly good pinball machine. The value is that there is an extremely limited and expensive product that is unique in a collection of limited products that a hot company releases on a semi annual basis. The fans of this company have disposable income and want to have the weirdest, most limited collaboration that this company (Supreme) puts out. I know it is hard for pinball people to grasp this, but stop thinking of it as a pinball machine. I’d speculate that this sells for 36-40k before buyer’s premium.

Just to explode some of your heads

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For context, this is a 3rd party sale. I think 12 of these machines were made, and they sold out instantly. From what I have read about Supreme, they limit everything that they release, and do no re-release their products.

^^^^ This guy gets it.

You are correct.

Check my earlier post. Carlyle Group already bought in last year for half for 500M. One thing to be valued at a certain price, another entirely when somebody signs on the line and hands over that type of money.

Not taking up for Supreme at all and think it is ridiculous. However, it does not change the fact that they are very profitable and have been so for many years.

Hypothetical terms is where this all falls apart. Everybody knew that WeWork had too much of a multiple. That is why when people did their diligence the IPO imploded. SoftBank is taking over them for a much more reasonable multiple.

A quick search in the fashion industry is illuminating. Lord and Taylor got bought this year for 100M. Finish Line got bought for 558M. Christian Dior got bought in 2017 for 13.1B. Coach bought Kate Spade for 2.4 B and Stuart Weitzman for 574M. These are all major brands. For Supreme to be valued at 1B with a cash infusion of 500M from Carlyle speaks to their relative strengths and perceived value. As to why they took outside investment, you will have to look into that. It could be that they wanted to cash out, it could be that they wanted to gear up for horizontal expansion or acquisition (the whole fashion industry is going through big M&A right now), it could be a lot of things. Regardless of what any of us on a pinball forum thinks, fashion people thing Supreme is a big deal and putting their money wear their mouths are.

Yes

Because I am day drinking, and for the uninitiated, I will say this one more time. This is a collectible that happens to be a pinball machine, not a true pinball machine as you think of it. Nobody buying this gives a shit about rule set or that this layout has been used before. It is very limited and by a brand that has a lot of cache with a certain market (that are not pinside), and this third party auction will go for a fat chunk of change.

For the people that are closeminded pinball people, this will make no sense to you. It doesn’t have to. You were not the audience for this when they originally sold out, and you are not the audience for this auction. Just like classic cars, baseball cars, beanie babies and other shit. If somebody wants to spend 10s or thousands of dollars on this that is there prerogative. Your opinion, morality of haves and have nots, and the price of tea in China means jack all related to this.

Buying Supreme is no weirder or more ludicrous than pinball people buying the shit that you do. This is like the world’s dumbest nerd fight.

Pinside will drive anybody to day drinking. I’m just going to go back to the basement and post gifs of semi-clad women and jackasses doing semi-clad and/or jackass things.

I step away for a bit to get dinner and cocktails to only come back and see this bullshit still going on? Time to go start night drinking...

Let’s put this in terms so that so the dullards can understand. If you collect Lionel trains, Ertl die cast, John Deere, telephones, oil cans, gas pumps, diner stuff, jukeboxes, Coco-cola, advertising, buttons, depression glass, spoons, anything with the words “Franklin Mint” on it, Hummel figures, Steif Teddy Bears, lunch boxes, slot cars, Thomas Kinkade paintings, Norman Rockwell plates, Hess trucks, Life magazines, and literally thousands of other sub genres then I have a few truths for you:

You are old.
You are collecting stuff that has a diminishing collectors base.
You have invested money you will not recoup.
Some people think you are weird, delusional, and off for spending money on junk and living in a museum when that money could be spent on other, better things.
And you don’t care what these other people care. This is what you like, damnit, and you will spend your money however you like.

I probably got you riled up right about now. Good. “How dare he talk about things that are near and dear to me, that are true collectibles because they are old and remind me of my childhood, and have value?” Do you see the hypocrisy yet in you poo-pooing Supreme, and Magic the Gathering, and whatever else is the flavor of the month collectible that younger, more in touch people have? You ask why somebody would pay for something with the word Supreme on it and they would ask why would somebody buy something with Esso on it. “Durr, durr, why would somebody spend 20 grand on such a piece of shit pinball machine with the word Supreme on it? They could instead build a room that looks like a diner and garage on Route 66? Those are real collectibles and are classy unlike something with a logo on it. “

Some will get this. Most will not. I will go back to being an asshole and return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Depends. Do they still have the tags on them?

HA is charging ridiculous fees for this. I am on the HA mailing lists and have seen very little advertising. I wonder if they are calling people directly since there is a lot of pop art in this auction?

So 37k reserve with fees. That is right I. The range that I thought this would sell I. (36-40k). We shall see...

That’s what my gut tells me as well.

For all of the haters bitching about the value of this pin because it has the word Supreme on it, it is no different than people dropping coin on other games like Magic Girl, Nip It, etc. All are limited, and don’t live up to the “value” of the game. The only exception is that people are trying to draw the line that Supreme is “bad” and that other pinball is “good”.

Regardless of the results of the auction, here are the hater’s two possible responses. It won’t sell, and they will say “Told ya so. Who would buy such and ugly piece of shit?”. Or it will sell, and they will say “What the F? Who would buy such and ugly piece of shit?”. Feel free to copy/paste whichever response best fits your case, haters.

What’s up haters? Still sad that such a piece of crap is selling for more than some of your holy grails? I stand beside my original guess that hammer price is between 36 and 40 k.

Hey @o-din, how much are you going to buy this for?

Well, that’s that. Hope the new owner likes what he bought.

Hammer was 31K so am assuming $7,750.

Will this get you more laid than the immamaculate Baywatch?

Holy hell there are some humorless naval gazers in this thread. The people buying a Supreme pinball give two shits about your opinions about how overrated you think this pin is or how too cool for school you are that you don't buy brands. They wanted it, they had the cash-ish to buy it, and they are happy with their decisions.

I thought everybody on here was about growing pinball and shit. I guess they only mean that when it is a theme that they judge "worthy" and at a price they think is low enough.

Seth Rollins said it best:

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We get it, you hate Supreme and only douchenozzles like it. You are a sucker for buying marketing. Blah, blah, blah. Guess what, there are tons of things that fit into this category. Diamonds for millennium have been virtually worthless until the diamond industry was created and said that not only should you give a diamond as a show of love, but it should be worth x amount of your salary. Diamonds for industrial purposes are cheap, but cut it and polish it, and you can sell it for way more as a show of love. Gold, silver, platinum, rubies, all fit into this category. Hell, why would somebody pay 5-6x for sliced pickles when you can get a whole one cheaper? Let's not even get into organic and artesianal foods...

Marketing happens everywhere and we all fall for it. To say otherwise is foolish.

Note: I am not a Supreme fan and would never pay that much for something. However, to each their own.