I dig those flyer toys.

I wish I hadn't sold my Tron arcade cabinet. Would have been really cool sitting next to my pin.

Come on now...glued on toys = love

You can't trade something now for the same amount of value you have in it? Jesus.

Open it up and send me pics when you do!

If you scored it reasonably close to a nice HUO one then why not keep. As others have said, perhaps you could flip it and get a nicely modded pro or used LE for an even more substantial savings.

I recently picked up a pro and I've never had so much fun... the rules, gameplay, lighting and sound are amazing... portal dangles in front of your face like a stupid neon carrot. If this game clicks with you, you're in for a real treat. Congrats on your score, don't forget to post some unboxing pictures

And if you have trouble getting to Portal, I can definitely do some schoolin'.

#20+PortalAchieversClub

To play devil's advocate, I will say that despite the fact that I think Tron is awesome, it was in every sense my perfect dream theme, and I even love the movie, the game was just simply too EASY for me to keep in my house. I owned 2 pros, a NIB and a HUO, and neither one managed to survive, while Metallica still remains...

That box might not survive another shipment.

We're passed severe dimpling here...crazing and chipping to the left!

Dude that box is not in good shape. You better sell that thing ASAP. I offer exactly $1 more than you paid. Just to help you out

I'll offer $2 more!

Part it out!!

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Throw it off the roof of TNT.

I've got a fully modded Tron pro that looks almost exactly like an LE. Shaker, lit recognizer, chrome, the works.

The only thing I'm missing is the drop targets, moving recognizer, and daft punk multiball from the LE. To me, it's not worth the extra money - in fact, I love that you can bank the ball off the targets and make the gem shot. Can't do that on the LE.

Here is some assistance, if potential buyers want to know what is going on with this game.
People need to look at more closely at prices in the last five years.
There were only a handful that sold for more than $12K NIB since 2012.
Privately there were a couple from dealer prices that exceeded this threshold, but not anymore.
The market basically "topped out" on this game, as there were very few people willing to pay these prices once it reached the stated threshold.
Once those handful of buyers purchased their game, there were no more buyers, and the rise stopped.
It does not matter what the game quality is of this title, it is starting to "date out" as people have moved onto different games.
Hype drives pinball sales, always have since the beginning.
No hype, no sales.

Average price is $8500-9000 for the LE in used condition.
PinSide is not the pinball market, it is an exception for some collectors looking to high quality games.
Those dealers squatting on boxes will do so for a long time, which is their prerogative and not a concern for them.
They are just "inventory stock" until an unaware buyer comes along.

In essence a NIB Tron LE buyer loses $6000 (if they paid $15K), as soon as they open the box.
That is the equivalent to at least 2 good used games or one NIB game.

The absolutely best thing a buyer can do if they can get it a a reasonable cost NIB machine is sell it to a dealer and let them squat on it, versus the person keeping it. Pinball machines are just not good investments, IF a person does not want to actually play them.

If you play them and take care of them, they will not significantly lose value in the long term, and the owner "wins" as he gets the entertainment out of the machine, and then sells it for at least what he bought the machine for down the road, not necessarily immediately.
Every time I see people try to speculate the "pinball stock market" most of the time they lose, as they are not willing to keep the game long enough to see the turning point. They are just not that type of individual.

When a individual gets to point where they have multiple pinball machines in boxes for years, they are not a collector.
They are not even an enthusiast, they are just neurotic.

yeah same. altho my reasoning leans towards, if i buy a NIB, i want to play it ....
if i lose value, big deal.... im not in the hobby for that reason.. im there to play pins and enjoy them.

just keep the box...buy one of those industrial strap puter oners and take that dirty little secret to the grave...

The hell you can't... I've done it a fair amount. It's EASIER on the pro, but it's by no means at all impossible on the LE. In fact, it was so hard to shoot the "normal" way that banking off the drops was the only way I could hit it on that specific machine. It sucks that you have to reset the whole bank to take another shot, though!

If Tron is not your all time favorite pinball machine, you may want to consider offering it for a trade of your dream machine.

Life is to short...

Open it, take care of it and play it. You'll be able to sell it for 9k down the road.

You answered your own question....if you've always wanted a Tron, you now have the grail in your house.....Open it, play it, install the mods..ENJOY IT...it's now an HUO TRONLE....and there were only 400 made, period. If you bought anywhere around 10k, you can enjoy it for years and still get most ( if not all) your $$$ back. They will not remake an LE...period....been stated numerous times( despite the dozens of complete bs rumors)....CONGRATS!!! ( clear disc, please)....

who said they don't care about the value because they are never selling it?

Ok, I gave this a bunch of thought. I tried to put myself in the perspective of what I would do if that box was sitting in my game room. And the answer is, I'd open it. I'd have that experience and would just not care about the loss I'd take by being the guy that pulled it out of the box.

However, I've owned a Pro for more than 5 years. And I already know that I love the game. So the "loss" would only be on paper. To me it would be worth it, because I'm pretty sure I'd never sell it.

when my Tron LE NIB arrived...

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If it helps in the rationalization....Divorce will take half your stuff; and all your pins will be only be worth half of what it could have been. Go play it and keep the jazz of NIB opening in your own experience. Sell the empty box to someone....

sell the empty box to Gorf as NIB. he'll get it.

Point of a pinball machine is to play and enjoy it , like a toy . Keeping things in a box never made much sense to me......

I just save all my empty boxs, fill them with a few cider blocks, line them up and display them proudly.

I agree, the LE to me is a bragging right. 2 disclaimers: 1) I played beelzebbobs Tron Pro and it inspired me for the second disclaimer 2) I own a nicely modded see number 1 Tron Pro

I don't agree with your "date out" theory - CV, IJ, WH2O, MB, FH, ToM, LOTR, etc don't "date out" or lose hype/buyers. A great game is a great game and will always have demand....and *every* great game has increased in price over time.

I think the real reason for the Tron LE price plateau is the perception that there is a risk that Tron could be remade by Stern at some point. As no one knows if it will actually be done and what features a VE would borrow from the LE, it's caused some buyers to hold off.

But there will always be demand for a Tron LE...and the price will continue to creep upwards over time - just a little slower than it would if the remake threat wasn't there.

No remake. Fake news

It's not fake news. It's an alternative fact.

So why buy a NIB game like this and then ask yourself if you want to open it? Why even buy it in the first place? Either you're in this hobby to enjoy it or to speculate... and let me tell you, enjoying it without worrying about value makes it 1000X more fun. And that's what I want this hobby to be to me.. FUN.

Because he got a good deal on it and it is potentially worth more than he paid if kept in the box. He can decide to keep it, sell it, or use it as trade bait. Smart move

Because it is extremely rare and if he got a good deal on it, then why not? He can take his time and decide if he wants to keep it or move on with basically zero risk of losing any money.

He can enjoy the hobby and have fun while still buying a highly desirable rare title to do what he wants to do with. Let's face it, if any of us got offered a NIB Tron LE for a good deal, most of us would jump on it. I would use it as trade bait, it would make for great bait.

He got a good deal on it? I'd like to know what he paid. Let's face it, NO ONE has a NIB Tron LE sitting in their storage right now without knowing exactly what it's worth, after all, they are speculators themselves. I just don't see anyone letting one go for a "deal".

"When threat of a game being remade distracts from the enjoyment of a title, and/or an owner is deathly afraid to play their own game due to lost potential 'investment' there is a serious problem in the hobby. The owner might might want to reconsider why they are involved in pinball in the first place."
- TBK

I have "hyper rare" pinball games, but that does not mean I do not play them, or let other do so as well.
Collectors want to experience games that they have never played before, not just look at them.
There is a difference between a game getting wailed on in a barcade, and home use.
We are talking about less than a 1000 plays a year, if an owner has a large collection. Trust me that is still a lot of plays, the average is much less somewhere around 300 if you have been around for a long time.

A game that has sat in its box for decades is only going to have one thing happen...problems because you do not know what you are buying.
I speak from experience.
I had dozens of game in storage for over 10 years, based on job requirements not wishes, and all needed tuning, but at least they worked.
A new owner might not even know where to begin, and have to hire assistance.

I have seen 20-30 year old NIB games that were in time travel warehouses they sold for large value costs, but this requires a specific type of buyer (ie hardcore collector), and costs still cannot be extortive.

Manufacturers might want to start selling crates with plexiglass windows that are medically air tight sealed instead of cardboard boxes, if this is the future standard. 'Add on' feature cost as this could not free. I think people can see how non logical this aspect has started to become today.

Absolutely ... for now. Once TRON VE is released though (which WILL happen unless Stern decides that they're suddenly no longer in $$$), these values will all decrease.

Just a matter of time. Tick tock.

ohhh lordy... here it goes again

Play the F out of it without a PF protector, burn the box, nobody gives a shit! Life is WAY too short to worry about a few F ing dimples.

OP: You buy pinball machines for fun... not profit. (based on what I read from your posts here in the thread)
It's clear you want the machine to play... so do yourself a favor and unbox it... mod it... and play the sh1t out of it while taking care of it.
The NIB thing is fine... but the reality is you need to just play the damn game.
This investment thing is just stupid (not you, just the community in general).

I've been there... I had a Star Trek LE NIB for about 4 hours.... just long enough for me to accept delivery... do a "minimum" at the day job... then I came home and pulled that sucker out. It's attended TPF every year since then... and HAAG the last two years. I don't regret sharing my "baby" with the community... and I honestly would never dream of not playing it.

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For me, I stepped away from the hobby for a while and came back two years ago. As Tron/Star Wars are two of my favorite themes, I wanted the experience of unboxing a Tron LE and knowing that I am and will always be the sole owner of it. I also wanted to mod it myself to my tastes (and my level of care in installing). But that came at a price of an extra $1.5k (plus the cost of mods) over what I could have paid for a modded LE.

So I would say if it is a dream theme for you and you don't plan to sell it within the next 3-5 years, open the box, mod it, play it and you'll be ok once you do sell it. If you think you will sell it within the next year or two, I would sell this one and find a modded out LE.

*HOWEVER* - that being said.... There are 0 Tron LEs for sale currently and *6* Tron LE wanted ads in the marketplace - more wanted ads than ANY other game. So finding a used one may require some patience.

that's one sexy photo