I’m having a hard time coming to terms with possibly moving on my LOTR. Every time I put out feelers, someone contacts me saying they want it because they regret selling theirs.

Oddly enough for me, it was High Speed.

mentally hard? or market doesn't want to buy hard?

Charlies Angels EM #01001S. I knew I'd regret it, even though the money was there it still wasn't an instant decision. Luckily I was able to buy it back a couple of years later with the NOS playfield already installed.

John

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I thought about it and immediately wanted to cancel a sale on a super nice Fathom I had. I let it go but really regretted it.

Two others were BSD and TZ which I ended up buying again down the road. I am a firm believer that neither of these two titles will be remade so nice examples are going to always do well.

Hm... JJP POTC I think. But once I came to the conclusion they are NEVER going to finish the code, it became a lot easier. Now I have 6 games I will never sell, so I'm in big trouble...

Dude, you searched for that thing for soooooo long. I couldn't believe it when you sold it.

Star Trip

hardest emotionally, or hardest to sell because nobody wanted it?

Hardest to sell because nobody wanted it, even at giveaway prices

Laserball
Phoenix
Hook

Hardest to sell, because the first buyer vanished after a first visit and a cash deposit - he never answered multiple phone calls or emails after that. May be he had second thoughts (clever guy) or had health issues. So I relisted it after 4 weeks.

Game was Catacomb, which I hated passionately - could not wait for it to leave the house.

Obviously, we all have our favorites. Those are super tough to part with because they are the games we resonate with the most. I will never get rid of my first pin (Scared Stiff) or my Star Gazer. I might be wrong but I noticed you didn’t have any EMs on your wish list. That kinda tells me that the ones you do have were “bargains” you couldn’t pass up. I think the real question for you is what games could you part with. It is hard but I would recommend doing a rack and stack of your games rating them from most loved to least loved. Anything on the bottom half of the list is in consideration for selling to accommodate games you desire more or regaining valuable floor space. Having too many games for a given space really lowers your enjoy level. If it doesn’t, you might be a pinball hoarder.

I think this is it. I was watching a pinball stream yesterday wondering if they were all independently wealthy, when I realized…. Maybe they just actually SELL their games hahaha. I just sit on them. Time to list some

Hardest to sell because I really didn't want to sell it was the second game I ever bought, Scared Stiff.

Hardest because nobody wanted it was Flash. Even at $700 it sat f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

Bill Paxton. Was in storage. First time I was closed for covid and didn't know if I'd reopen or when. No sense paying to store it.

LTG : (

Hardest to sell because nobody wanted it was Allied Leisure Dynomite. Those early Allied Leisure games are hard to find in full working order. I brought it to at least 3 different shows for free play, but still it was hard to find a buyer. I eventually sold it for way less than what I had into it. Oh well. I don't think I'll get any more Gen 1 Allied Leisure games in the future, even though I basically wrote the book on game repair for them (on pinwiki). At least that should help people who are interested in those games.

So far, I haven't really had to part with any games I was particularly attached to. I've done big project clean-outs a couple times, so there are a few games I never had a chance to fix up and play. Two that I would've liked to finish were Star Race and Bounty Hunter. For Star Race, I just ran out of space and something had to go. For Bounty Hunter, it was basically a wreck and pile of parts that I picked up somewhere and just didn't want to deal with in that condition. Everything else I either just lost interest in, or finished, had my fun, and then sold.

Right now, I do have a stargate prototype whitewood up for sale that I've held onto for several years. It was tough to come to the decision to list that one for sale since it's one of a kind and such an interesting design. But considering I haven't done much with it, I figure it's time to let someone else have a crack at it and free up space for something else.

I had dynomite. Displays wouldn't work and learned quickly I didn't know shit about AL games.

The hardest to sell (theoretically, as it isn't sold) would be LOTR. It was the first pin I ever personally owned and it was a surprise Christmas present from my wife in '03.

The hardest that I did sell, wasn't actually hard at the time but was an absolutely mint inside and out TAFG. I would look at it and tend to just see stacks of cash sitting there instead of a pinball machine and that temptation eventually got the better of me. I have had 5 TAF/TAFG's go through my hands as I worked my way up to that one and that was the absolute best one. I very much regret it because that title is what got me into pinball in the first place back in the 90's at our local nickel arcade. Now I am desperately hoping for a TAF remake from CGC but obviously know that is a long shot.

The hardest to sell due to lack of interest in the market was Ironman. I had to drop it way down in price from an already reasonable price and it took like 6+ months to sell.

I sold a beautiful Who Dunnit with a Bill Davis clearcoated playfied. This game was gorgeous. I sold it to a friend and bought it back then ended up selling it again. It was at the beginning of my collecting and I thought I could find another one as nice down the line. Still looking.

Hardest to sell was a Raven. No reason needed.

The hardest one for me to let go was a Bally Frontier because I got it incredibly cheap and figured I'd probably never have a chance to get another one, let alone for a song. I ended up trading it for a Whirlwind which is one of my favorites, so I think I came out good in the end.

Hardest game to sell that I wanted to get rid of was Laser War. Absolutely awful game. I think I ended up selling it for 1K just to get it out of my house and still took a while to find someone that wanted it.

Emotionally, my first one.

It was a NIB red Spider-Man. Once I let the first game go, the rest were easier. Even though I miss it, I enjoy the variety too much to keep them forever.

I've only sold 5 pins, but never really had a hard time selling them. I'm pretty practical and try to keep emotions out of any transaction. If I have a pin that would sell for $10,000, I ask myself "If I didn't have this, would I buy it for $10,000?". If the answer is no, I sell it. Same goes for all my other possessions.

The hardest game to sell hasn't happened yet, but it'll be my TOTAN. The plan the whole time was to sell it to buy something else I have on order, and as that day approaches I don't want to do it, but I have to! I'm not looking forward to that moment, which will be in weeks probably.

Hardest to sell because nobody wanted it was Monster Bash SE. Hard to believe right? I kept lowering and lowering the price for two months. I finally sold it for $6200.

Hardest for me to let go of were Pinbot and Strange Science in the late 90s. Super nice examples. I’ve replaced them, but both will need to be restored.

Hardest to sell market wise were Raven and Scorpion.
They may be topped by the Time Warp I have in pieces with no desire to get working. Excellent playfield, but all coils fried, back of cabinet swollen from humidity or water, NOS backglass with minor issues.

Dodge City. No question. Felt the urge to cull the herd. The buyer bought two of my pins in the same deal: GTB Atlantis was the second - collector quality. He called me the day he received them and said, "Your Dodge City was the best restoration I've ever seen." He would know; he's several hundred pins. That's when I knew I totally effed up.

The Shadow

Put a lot of work into that one, brought it back from a real sorry state. Great game that really clicked for me. Can't recall why I sold it, must have been to buy a new Stern

Safe Cracker. Used the money to add HVAC to the shop, so that made it easier to let it go.

Hardest to let go were TZ and TAF. Hardest to sell was the second DE SW.

Agreed: Emotionally it would have to be my 1st pin, don't laugh too hard - 1962 Gottlieb Fashion Show. Just a beautiful back glass for an idealistic period in America.

While I don't have any EM's anymore, I still rue the day I sold my Super Score, loved that silly A-B-C wheel in the center pf.

I have a soft spot for that game, too.

For me it has to be Indiana Jones TPBA. I restored the game and it played perfect. In 2017 went through a time where I had other projects that needed money to finish So I let a bunch of games go to generate some cash. I rebought all of the must haves but that one fell through the cracks.

Several were hard, but, Big Bang Bar is the one I wish I still had

Hardest to sell - Eight Ball Deluxe LE

Back when Williams closed and Stern wasn't on a roll yet. I came up with a plan to restore some of the classics and put them in the line up. To hold me over until something better came along.

This was before all the repro parts we have today. I was picking up NOS items to do this, mostly off of Ebay. EBD LE was the first I restored. New NOS playfield and had it clear coated, NOS plastics and clear ones, NOS pop bumper caps. Brought the electronics up to speed. Repainted the cabinet. Looked like new.

And was doing a buck or two a week. Heartbreaking. I had over $5K into that project. Which brought doing others to a stand still.

I sold the parts I'd been accumulating and tried selling the EBD LE. Finally got $900 ( or $950 ) for it. What a blood bath. I was glad to see it gone.

Of course after the fact a lot of people were "I'd have bought it if I'd known you were going to sell it". They must have missed the for sale sign on it for 6 months.

LTG : )

Hardest one for me to let go was BSD...I never had a game that was difficult to sell.

$6200.00? How did I miss that? Yes hard to believe...

I regret selling my TAF because my wife will not let me forget it was her favorite. I'll have to find her another.

I'm on the fence with Blackwater 100. Will I regret it? Probably.

None, if i like it I don't sell it. Physically hard to sell was Rescue 911, absolutely hated it, no one wanted it, had to raffle the turd off just to get back the $700 I was onto it for.

Hardest to sell Kings of Steel, had to package it with Funhouse to move it back 8 years ago

That seems odd. I've owned two and didn't have much trouble moving them. People really like the helicopter on it.

Elvira and the Party Monsters. 5 years later, still miss it. Nicest restored example I've ever seen.
Toughest to sell. A pretty Nice Flight 2000.

Nine years ago got an offer of $5,500 for my minty LOTR, I couldn't refuse, but it's my biggest regret. Still miss it

None are hard for me to let go, but some are hard to sell cause they suck

Hardest to sell seem to be the oddball games.

Gottlieb Nudge It and Strikes n Spares (bowling). Haven't been trying hard to move them, just there's not as much love for the low run/prototype games.

The paradox of pinball pricing: more games made generally means higher price. Ex. TAF, IJTPA.

My entire old collection
Literally sold them all due to moving and required immediate financial assistance

But hey family comes first and guess what ? There will always be games out there

Sell the ones you can’t live without and just make it happen

Sell me a game cheap

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Dipsy Doodle

I’ve been collecting since 2001. Up to 7 games. Never been able
To bring myself to sell even one. Never have sold one. Getting to the point where I need to in order to get more fresh games. But it’s very hard for me to let go! Especially the ones I have put a lot of TLC in. I tried to buy only some of the top titles ever. But then it’s that much harder to let go of them!

Hardest to let go - At the time my Capt. Fantastic with an NOS playfield. Probably the nicest on the planet. But, the offer was too good to pass up. Shortly after, I tired of my Bally line up and sold them all.

Hardest to sell - Bally El Toro. I’ll bet I sold 50 other games while I had this one for sale. I finally sold it a few days before Christmas, to someone who wanted a game for their family, when my other inventory was gone. I think I got $100 for it, which I was happy with. Back in that era, I offered 1/2 back in trade in to customers to keep a stream of inventory. When he called, I gave him the trade in value, but wouldn’t take his machine in trade. No way I wanted that turd back.