At first I was thrown by the chain link fence but I agree, its a diversion. If someone breaks into a house, they are looking for small items, jewelry, computers, cash, etc. Sounds like they came prepared with a handtruck for the PIN. Who would bust a nut stealing it, knowing they could get caught at any moment. They must have known the value. Then to cover it up they take bed and fence. Who the heck steals an antique bed, except as part of the diversion?

I don't know your neighborhood, but sounds like it was done by a local, one who knew about the machine and also knew you were in the process of moving. We all know its not easy to move a pin, even one wrapped up. You have to be prepared to move it with the right sized truck/van , handtruck, and/or the right manpower. I don't know if there are any storage facilities nearby, but I would have police check tapes to see if anything big was moved in the night of the robbery. If it were me, I would stash it in a storage unit for a while.

I don't think it was stolen by a hack. I think someone who knows its value took it. Thats a lot of risk and effort for $1000. It took planning to heist something that big.
Someone knows the value and will probably hide it for a good year before listing it somewhere.
If they are caught, they should be charged with a major theft as opposed to a misdemeanor. $20,000 puts it in the major theft bracket doesn't it? Not just the misdemeanor $1000 bracket.
I think a newspaper article on the theft would be a good idea. It will let the thieves know they are in for serious trouble when caught, not just a slap on the wrist, also it will alert anyone to keep an eye out for a BBB.

sooo they expect someone to show up in public, in bad part of town, with 11 grand, without ever seeing the machine? Tread lightly, don't scare them away. Definitely have police involved. As someone posted earlier, its a major crime because they know machine is worth 11 grand now.

This whole thing stinks to high heaven. First of all, some thieves happen to have the right equipment and manpower to steal a pin right out of a garage just at the right time. The have no idea of the value and don't even spell it correctly. They also leave another pin there right next to it, but take the time to steal a bed and some chain link fence. They then post immediatly on craigslist, find out the "real" value and expect someone to meet them in public and fork over 11 grand without laying eyes on the machine or even seeing pictures.
something is not right here

The CL ad must be a joke or the dumbest thieves ever. They want someone to show up in a public place so they can get a sick laugh out of it. Odds are the machine is stashed somewhere. Stolen by someone who knew about it and its value.

Its still a 300 pound machine. You have to have the manpower and/or equipment, plus the right transportation. What were they prepared for, a safe? Then why go after bed and fence. It would have taken same amount of time to grab the other pin. I'm just saying, they had to be prepared or they are the luckiest thieves ever to happen on a $20,000 machine

because we're talking about a pinball machine mumber one. I would think no pinball machine in the world is worth someone getting hurt.
number two, at $20,000, this is now a major crime with real jail time involved, something the thieves would probably like to avoid and could possibly involve guns.
number 3, "moving: is a bs excuse used to justify why they are selling machine instead of saying "just stole machine, need to unload" so probably not their house

exactly, they must have known what they were going after, left the $3000 machine, and grabbed bed and fence as smokescreen.

I hope op gets machine back, crooks are in jail, and everything works out. but this story has taken bizarro twist with the cl ad and talk of guns and hanging.

I disagree unless it was known beforehand you were moving a pin, why bring a handtruck? For a waterheater? for a washer and dryer? Thieves want to get in and get out asap. jewelry, cash,computer, playstation. Except for a safe, why bring a handtruck?

In texas, yes, when robbing a house, there could be a safe or gunsafe inside. It is possible the robbers brought a handtruck for that reason. Personally, its not something i would bring to a robbery. Get in, jewelry,computers, game system,cash, art, something you can snatch and run,and get out. Anything that needs a handtruck, too risky and too time consuming. Imagine a robber nervously ransacking a house, stopping and saying, hey, here's a pinball machine, get the handtruck.
I agree with beezleboob and I said it before, the whole story stinks.
Is it possible, yes, but not likely. Robbers, who just happen to have a handtruck, happen to rob a house where the person is in the process of moving. They take one pinball machine , a bed, and some fence. A 20,000 dollar pinball machine just happens to be all prepped and ready to go.
As for the craigslist ads. sounds like they wanted to see how many emails they could get at offering it at $5000. Then they upped the joke to $11000. When emails slowed down, they re-baited the hook at $5000. Its too bizarro to be real.
stinks stinks stinks all around.

On second thought, a handtruck makes no sense. If there's a safe or gunsafe, a sledgehammer would be used to open it. You don't have time to drag a safe around the house while robbing it.
so if a handtruck was used, they knew a pin was going to be stolen.
craigslist ad is a joke. A very poor one, but still a joke.

Would you take a furniture dolly with you to rob a house? What are you going to steal, a couch?

All the heist movies I've seen never had a hand truck in it? If anything, they chained the safe to a pick up and drove away.
So they were prepared for a safe and said what the hell, lets take this pin instead since we we went to the trouble to bring the handtruck?

or is it more likely it was someone who knew the pin would be there?

First of all, don't apologize for not posting immediately, its obvious you have a lot on your plate right now. Take care of things on your end first. I hope everything works out. You're absolutely right, $20,000 is not worth the risk of anyone getting hurt. Good luck.

pillow (for neck or butt)
book

some nice colius growing there. Looks better than my yard.
He could have brought sand in and made it a "beach house"

free tomatoes and herbs if you play your cards right

pay no attention to that mold. I'm sure they will pay for its removal when they leave.