I had a tendency to look at your question in reverse.

What game has the most monetary value for long term equity of resale?

If this is the case, right now the game would be MB based on pinnacle growth of pricing in the market.
If you base it on pure retained value, BBB or TBL.
If you base it on high growth, TOTAN, ToM, or TAF, which has been this way for years.

I could run down all sorts of observations based on the last 5 years of the market, but if you want the most "fun equality to price paid" it is not any of the games listed above, especially TOTAN or ToM.
I am partial to TSPP, which has an incredible value for cost.

Where's Jackbot in this discussion? .... mid-90's Williams DMD game for under $2k and a blast to play. Top 100 game in my eyes (actually top 5 for me)

I would never sell because......where am I gonna get another one.

Good call great table for the price

Where it is is outside the parameters, barely, sitting at #103.

is it really a sub-$2k game? i thought all DMD games were higher than that, except maybe some crappy gottliebs like Tee'd Off.

Pinball Wizard Arcade does have a BSD. I have played it many times.

Tales from the crypt plenty of beaters around and good cond ones are harder to find n ut what a great game

I own TS and BSD for several years. Both not going anywhere. Both hard amazing games, hard to choose.TS deeper (especially using the Luppin Rules https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-shadow-luppin-rules ). But the highest peaks of adrenaline come with BSD: when you manage to triple stack and get big jackpots is AWESOME!
Similar great value: fix the spinner, and JM also is among the very best. A blast to play!

Another good value pinball would be Getaway HS II. Just picked one up...a good playfield with some pretty heavy cabinet fade.....fully working at an excellent price. It's a really fast, good game when you play a good working one!

SWLE!

I've enjoyed both Flintstones and Starship Troopers.
Neither come up for sale very often north of the boarder; but IMO both offer some fun & decent overall entertainment value.

T2 all the way; just a matter of time before they do a remake; awesome pin that I never get tired of...Not too deep; just pure speed, flow and fun.

I've got the same spreadsheet. When pinside is off on it's values though it throws the whole thing off.

BSD
TS
HS2

All great games! at around 3K or less
Ill own all 3 again one day

Precisely why I won't buy one. And the last vacant spot in the basement is reserved for it.
Price for this game is just nuts, people trying to cash in before the remake comes.

PPS would be retarded not to announce this game.

WW is the best value compared to rank.

*Comment removed*

The only issue I have with doing it with math is that the Pinside top 100 is bullcrap. They are constantly manipulated by members of Pinside not rating the game, but rating their displeasure with other members ratings. That makes your main datapoint (ranking) invalid. That can't be diluted out as being across the board, because some games are more emotionally charged for people.

However, if you have games you love, cool, it works. But it only works when they are games you like. That's the most important thing in the equation.

I gotta say that I just picked up a Johnny Mnemonic (JM), and I've been having a blast with this thing. The flow and speed are amazing and it's got some pretty cool rules and modes. The hand toy and matrix "phone pad" are kind of an odd (but cool to me) toy, and yeah.. I've heard the hand toy kills the flow, but I think it's nice to take a break from the hectic speed sometimes. For the price JM is going for, and how much I'm enjoying it, it's hard for me to think that JM is not the best deal out there right now.

Admittedly, I like TS better, but I've been seeing those go for between 3 and 4 grand recently. I think the word is out on TS that it's a great game isn't it? I haven't been able to find a killer deal on one for a few years. Of course, I'm always in the wrong place at the wrong time though.

RBION

Joker Poker sitting at #80 for $1,200 bucks

Lots of great value in that list, but Whirlwind is the best game ever made, and it can be had for a couple G's.

Metallica is the best bang for the buck for me. I would rather have it than any 4 of the others mentioned in this thread.

Some people rate it too high, some people rate it too low. In the end, most of it washes out and you get a fairly accurate number of what "pinside" likes. Some numbers are off just due to not enough ratings. It's just a cute feature to have.

Road Show
Shadow
Dirty Harry
Indy 500

It would really depend on how you setup the formula. I did a quick test and came up with Whirlwind (64.18), Bram Stoker's Dracula (58.58), and Skateball (57.14). Granted, I didn't input all of the tables; but I included ones I thought would be in the running. A few others of note: The Shadow (53.62), Flash Gordon (48.28), World Cup Soccer (47.92), Metalica Pro (46.81).

Then I switched up the formula to place more value on cheaper prices and got: Skateball (88.38), Flash Gordon (80.83), Whirlwind (70.17), World Cup Soccer (68.51), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (64.50). There really is no way to put this into an exact science.

I love difficult games, firstly because I am a good player and secondly because they have much better lasting power. Usually hard games have lower scores, because most people rank games they played just a few times on location. But to appreciate a difficult game you need to play it extensively, much more than an easy or average game. But being on location that means spending quite a lot on a machine that is not very "user friendly" in the beginning, a thing most people do not want to experiment. Hence: few games, bad games, low score.
Now take games like BSD, TS, FG, SKateball: all hard, difficult, long lasting games. And you can have them for a lower price than their real value. Those are the top games in my opinion: hard, long lasting and relatively cheap.

RS, BSD, RBION, JB, JM... all super sweet tables!

Fish Tales is too symmetrical for me, but love me some Shadow. It's a thing of beauty.

IMG_4435 (resized).JPG

Beautiful picture!!!

The questions is will you get a fishtales that works 100% for under 3k as estimated by pinside, vs what you will have to pay for a shadow that is playing 100%. The shadow is a great game but you really need a fully shopped example to ensure you will have it playing at full capacity. They are just a much more complex table with a lot more maintence issues, and potential problems.

If you get over the theme and art WCS is certainly bang for your buck. However I would have to agree with others and say whirlwind or other ss machines offer tremendous value. The shot satisfaction on some of these older games blows away any additional features that a dmd or additional toys bring in some of the 90s games. The rule set while not as deep matches the difficulty of the game. Also when comparing dollar for dollar a $3k whirlwind would most likely be in a lot bette playing state then the equivalent $3k FT TS or even BSD.

I really need to find myself a nice playing BSD to see if this is the bang for your buck Grail that it appears. For such a highly praised table it seems to constantly sell for at least 1-2k less then other titles in the list, at least here in oz.

Also DW while I got bored of this table I can't argue against its value, you can get a really nice solid BW table with cool centre toy, for the same price as many b-list data east tables. Plus the theme has some universal appeal.

For players that like widebodies the JD and DM also seem to offer Alist designers at beer prices.

Compared to what we have become use to paying for pinball tables, there is still a lot of value to be had amongst the b list BW.

Personally out of my collection my Tommy gets more play then my wh20, FT, Addams, RS. Tommy and AFM are the only two I play ever night regardless, even though Tommy cost a quarter of the price.

I think with the bang for your buck games, like with new high end purchase it really comes down to what works for you. If you find a game and theme and rules that click and will provide you with the same longevity and enjoyment as much higher end games then grab it. The real difference between a list games and b lost games is the former have wider universal appeal, where as the latter tend to be more individualised in their charm.

I enjoy the question but always go back to the equation of crap in = crap out.

The pinside rankings are laregly worthless
The pinside valuation is largely worthless

You start with crap data you get crap results or even worse the misconception that you have some fancy equation helping determine value when in reality all you have is time spent with poor quality data from the start.

I've had my no fear almost from the beginning. the reasons being.....
It's always fun to play
It's the favorite of several friends
Id rather have nf in my gameroom rather than 2500 in my pocket.

I really like No Fear. It's one of the best mode based games, IMO. The rules make the most out of the playfield.

Yes I agree. When a mode is started it feels as if your actually doing something different each time. It really immerses you in the mode and gives you a feeling of excitement and accomplishment. I really love the intensity and speed of the newer sterns but they don't do a good job of differentiating between the modes and alot of them feel the same when they have you placing shots all over the table.. I like when modes make you shoot a particular part of the playfield for each mode and gives audio/dmd clues on your progress.

I dont know if its in the top 100 but Indy 500 is one of the few undervauled 90s games left.

Also any EM.

I have to agree! I just looked at the Top 100 list and there are games on there (TBL, Alien, etc) that people have clearly not played and yet somehow its on the top 100.

Back to the Topic. I would have to say JP is the best bang for your buck. You can find a players JP for well under 2k.

another pin id have to ad to this would be Baywatch. one of the best buys out there still.

It's a great game. Shame about that left loop being so non smooth. It would be perfect if it weren't for that, and David H.....

left loop? do you mean the controlled gate being an issue?

if so, that can be mechanically fine tuned, but also Chad is adding some more wiggle room to the code for that.

I'm not sure that's true anymore. I agree it's still a band for your buck, but it's tough to find any solid DMD for under two grand.

No... just that it's a bit clunky when the gate is closed. It's a shallow angle at the gate which slowed the ball down, and always made that shot somewhat less satisfying than it should have been.

Great game. I just can't add another 3 flipper game, eventually I might try to swap out my JP for a I500. We'll see what happens in the next few months. I'd love to raise funds for an Alice Cooper; but I feel I'll regret selling BSD, Congo, or TS. So right now the options are JP, GS, and Hardbody.

JP can still be found sub 2k with relative ease. I passed on a dirty but functioning one for 1350 just this past spring.
I think it is a solid value in todays world. Still the poor mans TAF and a little more clunky but a solid title for sure.

I stand corrected. I've only seen them listed for $2500+. At $1,350 that might be my pick as best bang for your buck.

PS: Let me know if you come across a functional but dirty Fish Tales. I have a friend looking for a sub $2500 game and FT is in his top-5.

Ya know....lol. find me a deal like that and I'll trade you supersonic and stars for it. Haha

I bought my heavily routed JP for about 1k. It wasn't pretty but it played and I loved it.

I bought mine non-working for $900; I just haven't seen one come up sub $2000 in quite some time. I think deals are still out their; but I didn't think the pinside average was far off.