last couple of years I got caught up in the hype. I have taken a step back. I love pinball, but not at any cost.
I don't need the latest NIB to be happy or have the cool collection.

Lot of factors have caused prices to start rising. The first shoe was the announced WOZ at a low low low pre-order price of $6500 (before shipping mind you). Which at the time was pretty high. Since that was the real price people paid. ( As opposed to Stern's list price, which almost no one paid).

Stern of course fired back with new higher prices too. That brought all of the used prices up with it.

One would think that all of the depreciation in a twenty year old pinball machine would have happened already. If I buy a true and accurately priced $4000 whatever. It was comforting to know that if I got tired of it or just needed the space back, It would sell for $4000. Regardless of ones love for playing or collecting.

At the end of the day, what does it really matter?

I like this quote. After all, its only pinball.

Uh, yeah. My Congo has "depreciated" from $2000 to $3000. I think the 20-year-old games are more vulnerable to a "crash" than the new ones. The only game that seems immune to price fluctuation is RFM - never goes up, never goes down. Just like my stupid house.

the best way to avoid a bubble is to discourage speculation and flipping, and make sure people realize these are big expensive toys, not magical wealth storage devices. it's when expectations become unrealistic and exceed the capability of the market to meet those expectations that bubbles pop.

Unlike a lot of toys though, you can actually store a lot of "wealth" in the body of a pinball machine.

I was talking with a friend last night about how *any* solid state game is worth money now, even the dogs we used to avoid for a couple of hundred. You'd be lucky to get $300 for a Road Kings at auction and now any System 11 is popular.

I totally agree with you, as a first time pin buyer within the last 6 months, after researching every DMD pin ever made, I finally decided that spending anything over $3500 was too much...So I ended up getting 2 beautifully restored pins in that 3k range a piece. Couldn't be happier, it's a big purchase, but not a crazy big purchase, the same price as a big flat screen tv, or new gaming laptop; so I can stomach it.

I don't think that market of the 2-4k restored games, will ever go away, if anything, it will grow as people my age (mid 30's), continue to make more money, and yearn for the days of yesteryear.

I haven't been in the hobby long but did the pinball market take a hit with the recession in 2008?

i wasn't around, but it doesn't seem to have.

I just didn't know if there was a flood of machine's at that time. Everything seems to have bounced back though

The only thing I saw was a good stream of basement pins unloaded on craigslist cheap. I don't recall any prices dropping per se.

The thought crossed my mind today to sell most of my collection and buy a Challenger Hellcat with cash.
Then the depreciation reality of a car/insurance/property taxes set in and changed my mind.

i got pulled over tonight (and let off with a warning, for no good reason!). that was enough to end my Hellcat lust. the srt8 challenger is PLENTY for me.

Are we posting ass drop pictures now?

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yes - and was why Stern was cutting and cutting and cutting.. which ultimately lead to the creation of JJP.

For a specific example - note when Stern laid off much of the design staff - http://www.pinballnews.com/news/sterncuts.html

Gary can be credited for hunkering down and successfully keeping the business afloat during the hard times... but he didn't foresee the new premium game market and was too focused on cheaping and missed the new market.. that JJP proved was ready.

All I've gathered from this thread is that the OP is serious into anal prolapse. Have I missed anything?

Yo Centerflank.....

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The phrase "bottom falling out" originated with stock market crash.. Has never been associated with anatomy and nobody in the states uses it that way. .. So, hence a lot of comments about your phrasing, so were just giving you shit about it.