Is Stern still assembling machines for Chicago Gaming?

I agree with Hilton, 8000-12,000 a year depending on demand. Not even a drop in the bucket compared to the Bally/Williams glory days.

No. They did the first run of MMr only.

Spot on. Money is nowhere near the issue. Anyone who can afford ten machines can afford 20.

There's this giant ass oracle used by pinside. A big fleshy one. Anyone can summon its power.

It's gotta be big to hold all the made up numbers Pinsiders grab when trying to make a drunken argument.

BOM? Production numbers? Pinball company employees' salaries? Pinball profits?

Just reach on into that big ass and pull the numbers out. Any old number will do.

Boom! Argument substantiated.

By ass.

Crack open another cold one, and repeat.

What's strange for me is despite all the new games being sold, I haven't bought a single game this year, new or used. That's unusual. The last new game I bought was Ghostbusters Pro. Before that was a Medieval Madness Remake, and that isn't really even a "new" game.

When I have bought games I've been buying older B/W titles and older Sterns and running them. There's still strong demand among players and the general public for older titles. Keep in mind that to a lot (if not most) of the general public, any pinball machine is "new", even if it is a 25 year old B/W title.

I also have some friends that are willing to buy new games and run them at my locations, so that has saved me from buying new. But in each of these cases I would not have bought a new game anyway.

I've bought a few used Sterns over the last couple years at reasonable prices, but they haven't appreciated in value as in the past, probably due to all the new games being released. A couple of them have dropped in value and a couple have held steady. I'm not complaining, just an observation.

I'm not saying I'll never buy NIB, but I certainly haven't been doing it lately.

Thats BS antique prices crashed late 90s stores closed shows closed no bounce back

"You see, pinball is kinda like cars...."

Honestly, who cares if Stern goes out of business? There will always be at least a boutique-level demand for new games that will be serviced by the Spookys of the world.

As hobbyists, we need to worry about parts availability, not NIB games.

very good point and oddly the largest manufacturer also has the least parts availability.

I've been saying that for years - the health of the pinball hobby isn't dependent on the industry or new games being produced. Only newbies who think the hobby means buying brand new 9K machines think that.

That being said, if anybody is going out of business, it ain't Stern. There's like 8 other companies that will be going tits up first.

Or is it 9? I haven't checked the news ticker yet today.

I love reading these threads...it's like entering a time machine and appearing on RGP in 2004...

Pinball numbers are up due to cultural changes, before the last couple of years, when was the last time you guys remember seeing pinball in bars? Personally, I've only seen jukeboxes, but now there are bars all over the place with pins. While I do think we have the kind of people in the hobby that buy games and put up for sale in a month, I don't think it's all that prevalent. I will worry when the economy starts to crack. Right now, with full employment figures, most people are doing ok, so I doubt you will see anything resembling a price crash soon. To Iceman's point, when the market starts to slow down Stern will be sitting on a nice pile of cash to wither the storm. I'd be concerned about the start ups, they will certainly feel a cash crunch.

PS: we have enough pins now to last through our lifetime. So what ever happens, happens.

Does Chucky Cheese count? The one near me serves beer.

Curb your hyperbole. Lots of people will care.

Lucky! I have one near me also, I asked why they didn't have any pinball machines and the manager told me that there wasn't enough interest.

PS: are you retired yet?

They are not going to get this Robert Earl reference Iceman.

Thought your post was a very interesting/insightful one and I agree with it. I honestly don’t buy any NIB pin without factoring in 25% possible depreciation in my decision to purchase

Two more days... maybe.

Now that's winning! For those of you guys thinking about retiring early....look up IRS rule 72t, you can thank me later.....

Anybody who pays $3500 for a Medieval Madness should have their head checked!

I don't know about the price of cars but thinking if prices crash they will bounce back is for fools

What?
That makes no sense...

Historically pinball does well in bad economic times.

Every one seems to be talking price no one talking space the strong NIB market needs a strong HUO market behind it. The market correction may not hit for some time but when it does both the NIB and HUO will be hit hard

With 1000s of pinball machines being produced, how come I still can't get one of those

"Experts of Dangerous" pinball machines? Surely someone else could have picked up that license by now.

Noone knows why O-din.

noone (resized).jpg

You should've sold your Woz for $9.1 and repurchased another at normal used prices. You missed an opportunity.

Those other games cost a couple thou less NIB than Woz. Quality isn't the factor for holding value.

When multiple owners decide to sell and there are no longer interested buyers, then you'll see how well prices hold. There are a lot of Woz's.

JJP games are priced too high and smart money buys used JJP games.

Probably the dumbest thing I've ever read on Pinside.

umm..Stick around.

How many total post are there like this on Pinside? Same subject.

Still no one knows total of actual games produced at Stern.

Personally I've lost most of the interest I have in NIB Sterns. I'm all set with a few project pins.
Can't wait for some new title to come out and people are in a hustle to sell of old games.

The market's not as bad as was thought.

Dow has only lost approx 600 pts today as opposed to yesterday's 800 pt. drop.

Here’s one way to look at it. All those barcades and arcades that are making their money back in plays won’t be too worried about a collapse in the market. They can simply sell for what ever they can get out of them. Just like all the operators of old.
On the opposite side you have all the home buyers that are gambling on their games holding value. These would be the ones that will get hit the worst.
I’m one of the lucky ones that got in long before the price hike so could care less. Prices go up or down I’ll still own my games.

Most people I talk to are overflowing.

Although, occasionally I see a thread about "what game should I fill this empty space with?"

I kind of think the lack of space that collectors have may drive prices down somewhat as they get more selective about what they want to make room for.

Have pinball prices ever actually gone DOWN?

I think we're getting back to a more balanced reality where NIB purchasing is like purchasing off the lot of a car dealership, and no longer will HUO games of recent titles sell for just 5% off their price.
I initially clicked this post thinking it would be a total celebration, because WOW it's amazing to see numbers like that. Here is to hoping this also means the international market is also expanding and enthusiastically taking on the NIBs.

Really good day to buy

Sure.

Instead of getting thrown in a dumpster many ops seized the opportunity to sell them for pennies on the dollar of what they originally paid after the game had made many times the original purchase price back on location.

I thought we were talking about NIB here, or at least the general market trend

How are those pork belly futures looking?

I don't think the new retail price of anything ever goes down- the latest Cars, TV's, appliances? What does happen is new stuff gets marked down, discounted, closed out, put "on sale", etc.

I can't think of the last time I've ever seen this from a pinball manufacturer. Maybe a "fake" sale, like $200 off.

(Yikes, 545!)

327 million people in the U.S.
I could see that being a reality. It's 0.07% or less of the U.S. population. I bet pinball sales are around 0.001% of the population.

1200pts ? I don’t think so

When people's 401ks are worth 1/4 of what they were, and others at their job places are starting to get their pink slips, and their house is only 1/3 paid off with a second mortgage to boot, then comes the time to put off buying that new Beverly Hillbillies SuperLE pinball machine.