Quoted from the_pin_family:

Garrett said:Chudmeat said:goatdan said:there are a ton of cheap early SS and EM titles that I think are just as much if not more fun than newer ones that you can get for $500 or less all day.
Please show me where they are listed because CL and ebay all show $1000 and more for early SS and EMs.
Patience and they are there. I had a Bally Space Time EM for sale on Craig's List for $500. I picked up a Gottlieb EM Cleopatra for $380 off of E-Bay. Those deals are not common but they are still possible.
They are def there. I paid $300 for HS, $350 for Time Machine(DE), $400 for transporter, $500 for ninja turtles. All CL, eBay and estate sales. The deal is you have to be dedicated and look your a$$ off. Check CL 50 times a day and be at the estate sales 20in before they open. When the good deals surface their gone in 10 min. If you look once or twice a day the deal came and gone and you never even know you missed it.
The console games can be beat. In a day or two many of them. Once you beat them their no fun. My kids have so many games that cost 50-60$ that they beat in a weekend it makes me sick. Once it's been beat it sits on a shelf forever. Pins are not that way. Short of completing wizard mode(I've never done it) you just beat your own high scores, or my wife's high scores. That dosent get old so easy because competition in added into the factor. Then when you are done with the console game try selling it for what you have into it. Not going to happen. Pins hold there value to a point.