Is Fred Furhter (Todd Nathan/Frankster et al) here? He's been proclaiming a burst in the pin price bubble since the RGP days...

He would never survive a moderated forum.

Moderated...no political discussions.

^^^ Way to prove his point 4 months later Lamberger.

NIB Sterns (or any NIB for that matter) are no longer appreciating in value. This is a good thing and helps to stabilize the market. You can get any newer Stern on the second hand market for at least 200-500 less than NIB price at this point. It will only be another month or two before Deadpool is easily had on the second hand market for low 5k range just like every other new Stern Pro on the second hand market. Short of the few flippers who capitalize on the LE flip for profit (Iron Maiden anyone?) those days of flipping NIB for profit are over too. I mean you can buy an Iron Maiden LE right now NIB for the normal price and even on the second hand market for under retail price a few have changed hands...what did those guys who paid $12k get for that extra cash besides bragging rights for a month?

I bring all this up because the NIB stabilization and the glut of great titles hitting the market are factors contributing to stabilization and in some cases (hopefully more!) push used prices down. If I can get a nice, clean lightly modded Star Trek Pro for $4500 why the hell would I ever pay that much (or more!? asking prices are stupid) for a STTNG? Compound all this with remakes pulling down values of original A list titles every time one gets announced and you have the complete recipe for a well overdue price correction.

$4k B / C list titles like Junkyard and Fishtales are ridiculous and only point out the financial problem with this hobby. For those in the hobby (most people) the only way this is sustainable is the ever-increasing price so that you can sell for profit over and over again to satisfy the impulse for more, bigger, better, newer machines. Its the exact same thing as the real estate market circa 2010. We haven't hit a "crash" yet and it may correct itself based on the factors above without a full blown crash but in any case, I think we are already seeing a buyers market starting to materialize.

Why pay more for a stripped out modern stern pro star trek over one of the most overly complicated machines of all time? You do realize super pins are the 90's equivalent of jjp right? It is great that you like modern sterns, but your argument is counterintuitive. A used albeit newer stripped out game vs a game so overly complicated stern wouldn't dare build something close to it today really argues the opposite.

I think his point is valid, but the specific example he gave may not be the best argument.

Just read this and have to laugh. I don't remember any Stern pinball I played in the arcade 25 years ago. But every time I fire up my STTNG it takes me back to the 7/11 I used to hang out with my buddies in.
Value is more then cost and is not easilly quantifiable. I doubt you will find a dude that Loves 57' Chevys settling for a modern Chevy to fill his desires no matter how much more fancy or modern it is.

Just been reading all the price griping and laughing. Just don't pay it if you think it's too high.

Value is determined by what one person is willing to sell a given thing for and another is willing to pay.

My .02

I remember like a year ago everyone was going to stop buying NIB pins. Well I have kept my commitment to myself anyways and now that I'm seeing Lost in Space pins asking 3.5k and above I'm probably going to be out on the secondary market too. A lot of people are going to be in a world of hurt when this upswing ends. The economy is doing well and luxury items are in right now, but all good things come to an end. NOB is definitely getting better but the used market is really pushing its limits these days. JMO

That was just one seller with some unusually high prices. I expect used prices will start to dip a little bit as more and more people liquidate older games to fund the latest NIB games.

I've seen two in this price range recently.

Yep! That's my generation. To quote my late father " Wait, you'll get there someday! By the way Hillary, we are educated!

I think prices have begun to normalize over the last six months. Deals can be had if your not a flipper. This is due to capitalizm and constant stream of targeted market research. Stern knows what you want and so do some others companies running under the radar.

The recent pinball renissance has shaken loose some harder to find games at reasonable prices as of late. Just because its not advertised on Pinside or elsewhere doesn't mean games are not changing hands.

Now with winter approaching and numerous highly anticipated NIB machines about to hit the market. It might cause abit of a price drop in late 2018 / 2019. This will be caused by numerous trades for nib machines. Flippers may get caught up in this market and pay a price.

Other folks like me will be enjoying picking up some harder to find games, or projects.
We will keep it alive. Hopefully things will stabilize

I am sure this topic has been kicked around endlessly, but I wanted to stand on my soap box anyway. I went to the Chicagoland Coin Op show on 11-17-18. I don't think I have ever been more surprised as I was upon walking around that show. I have been going to that show since 1999 and it has changed a lot. I am not sure what happened to vendors that were selling machines in the past, but they are all gone. There were always guys with trailers loaded with working, non-working, parts machines, dirty, fresh off of routes, broken up collections, etc. There was nothing like that anymore. I was stunned when I inquired about a Williams Police Force pinball, faded, mildly worn, a couple burned out displays, but an honest machine. $4000. I know that guys push higher prices harder on opening show days and I know show prices are not always realistic to the market, but I couldn't believe it. I often wonder when people offer real money for a game and a vendor turns them down, only to pack the machine back up and haul it home again. Years ago, vendors were willing to work with you. They had new inventory coming in all the time and the turn over was probably more necessary. Games would be $1000 on Saturday and $500 on Sunday, if you bought more, the better the break. Now, you get the usual, 'Well on eBay blah blah blah....' or 'They just had one of these on American Pickers blah blah blah....'

The show it seems has turned into just that, a show of all the very nice collections people have amassed, with a make me sell it price. I can appreciate a perfect neon that has survived since 1939, but how many come with $10,000 to buy something like that? Rows and rows of beautiful signage for a months salary each. The days where you could get a couple great deals in the parking lot, are gone. (Yes, yes there are still deals to be had, but not like before) Perhaps I am being sentimental, but I miss the old days. You could go with $1000 and come home with a start of a collection. Now, you might get something.......maybe. I saw a Theatre of Magic for $8,800.....I could not believe it. Keep the mods....I just want to play pinball.

R8, I think you hit the nail on the head for at least one aspect; "make me sell it" prices.

I know it is unlikely to see a rapid descent in pinball prices, but the best parallel I could make is the Ford model A. In the 1930's when the model A was new, the generation that grew up with them, remembered their parents buying them or the model A being the first car they ever rode in. By the 1950's, anyone from that generation bought vastly better cars and no one really wanted a stock model A, heavy modifications were made and the hot rod scene was born. Fast forward to the late 1960's and early 1970's when the generation that remembered them when they were new, could not only afford to buy a used one, but also to restore one. Guys were paying top dollar to have rusted out hulks or modified model A's restored. Sentimental value is worth as much as someone is willing to pay. Things in the 1980's seemed to stabilize in the model A market and cars from 50's were now beginning to become highly collectable. The price of model A's began to drop as the people who wanted them, bought them, garaged them for 20 years, then downsized or died and let them go on to the next guy. Serious car collectors wanted true model A's. They wanted cars with original engines, body panels, etc. They didn't want cars with 40lbs of bondo, wrong paint colors, and vinyl interiors. They wanted cars that were honest original model A's. Old and original was worth more than $2,000 of what someone thought looked good in 1979. The older restorations and replicas became filler at auctions and end of the line cars at consignment sales. Many found their way back onto the rotisserie and were restored the correct way, but most fell in value and were forgotten. Muscle cars had taken over by the late 1990's as THE collectible American car and the model A just became a car that grandpa drove.

I don't think we will see a 'bubble' in the hobby of pinball. I think we will see the 'wave' move down the timeline as those who remember it and who are willing to pay to relive their youth. Right now, we seem to be at the apex of that wave. Gen X'ers with disposable income willing to relive time spent in Aladdin's Castle or 7-11. And then......there......are the hipsters......making everything from pinball to Pabst Blue Ribbon, 'cool' again and more expensive to boot. I can remember going to second hand shops for work wear. (We had/have a 200 acre farm and it was needed for ACTUAL WORK) You could buy Union made and Sanfordized work wear by the arm load. Now......'It's VINTAGE!'.......yeah well so is asbestos.....With the combination of 'vintage cool' and the true feelings of nostalgia, prices will probably stay close to where they are for a spell. Given enough time, they will go back to 'they still make pinball machines?' prices. Once all the cool rubs off and the bar-cades turn into something else, the hobby will probably normalize. At least one could only hope.......