None of these are worth more than $1k each, and some may be worth less depending on what's inside.

Folks, pricing is flat-out *nuts* these days and if you contribute to it then don't complain when it collapses out from under you. A fully-working, "players" DMD game such as a WhiteWater was about $1,200 not very long ago. Balltracks in the ramps, a bit of playfield wear, cabinet is faded, etc - but everything works and the game plays 100%, no alkaline damage on the boards, no burnt connectors, the topper is there and functional, all solenoid-driven parts (e.g. flippers) are solid with no material slop or wear, etc. How do I know this? Because I bought and owned one for a while at that price, that's how. Sold it for about what I paid for it a few years later, with decent upkeep on my part (in other words it was roughly in the condition I bought it when I sold it.)

You think any of these, in unknown condition, are worth more than that? Nope.

Nor is a WhiteWater in the above condition worth three times that much today either. It's still, IMHO, worth about $1,200 in the above condition, and while I'm always in the market for more games I really want to know where some of the folks in this so-called "market" are filling their waterglass because it has to be heavily-laced with LSD.

Go ahead and contribute to the fantasy land if you wish, but if you do it make sure you like playing the game enough to keep it forever or lose 50% or more of your money if you ever want to sell it. I have no idea when the helium will come out of you folks' heads, but I am very, very sure it will, and when it does the screaming is going to be amusing to listen to.

See, I don't buy pinballs trying to "make a profit" because a pinball machine is an inherently deteriorating consumable device. It, like most other devices, requires continual reversal of entropy (input of energy in some form) or it will wind up as dust. Not only that they were explicitly designed to be consumed within a few years originally, hopefully after they earned out. And that they used to do, before the recent distortions showed up in the market making such effectively impossible on a mathematical basis.

This also means I am not selling my pins, because I didn't buy them for the purpose of flipping them to someone else at a helium-inflated price. Since I didn't pay such an inflated price for anything I own I'm unconcerned with how insane folks get; it just garners chuckles, since I bought them to play them.

Actually, you folks ought to hope it's helium in that bubble. I suspect that bubble is actually full of hydrogen, which could get quite interesting.... especially considering the earn-out problem today. That, more than anything else, is why I'm convinced the bubble will not only burst but explode in anyone's face who has been chasing it for the last few years.