You paid for than $7500 for your ACDC premium??? Sorry to hear as you paid way too much.

I have absolutely no idea what your question is.

I get what your saying. The price of pins is out of control. In the last 2-3 years they have rocketed up in price, when will the madness end?

Gotcha. I probably thought the same as you when I first heard about WOZ a few years ago. I even remember calling Jen at JJP about it when they were first taking preorders at $6500.

That was (and still is) a LOT of money for a pinball machine, but it promised to be both the birth of a new company and perhaps the best machine ever (or certainly the most advanced). JJP never called me back to take my order and I quite frankly forgot all about it, since I wasn't really paying attention to pinball much then. Once I actually saw WOZ, I suspected that $6500 was "low" once you accounted for what costs had to be factored in to the machine (all the startup and development costs that Stern had long since accounted for, for one example). Turns out the price was actually $7500 and the $1000 was an early order discount.

Now, at $7500 (also the HOBLE starting price) is/was still 50% more than Stern pins, but I had read somewhere that Jack wanted to build the best pins and cost was to be a secondary factor. So many cool features in the Bally/Williams days had been cut for cost. It's kind of nice to see what a "kitchen sink" pinball machine can be. But that adds significantly to the price.

WOZ isn't a $7500 pin if you don't have all/most of the startup costs in the model. You say you can't wrap your head around paying more than $7500 for a pin? - I still have a hard time when the number is 1/2 that (my NIB MM, RFM, SWE1, Monopoly) were all about that level and I thought those were high at the time.

Is $9000 the new "normal"? I doubt it - I don't see how the business can support that model UNLESS a $9000 pin earns more than double a $4500 pin. But you have to separate the "bling" models from "normal" ones. Home users and collectors are either going to pay more for the bling models or add it themselves later. Operators (generally) aren't going to, because it doesn't bring in any extra revenue for the extra cost.

mmmmmmmm ok

Where did you find a super low price below retail for an AC/DC premium? If I can get a deal like that I would buy one! As for the price increase, I also have a WOZLE on order. The new "limited edition" of the 75th anniversary ones are now $9k. I guess since the new models are more money, the unshipped still new original LE's have gone up in value also. Still a lot of money for a pin, but personally I would rather spend $6500 for a brand new one than $6500 for a used beat up TAF. Just my $.02

I'll try to answer what I think you're asking: People will pay higher for pre-pay right if it's the same or cheaper than current market value. (Doh!) For example, an early pre-order WOZ ECLE cost $6500. They now sell for $8k+. So people will pay as much for pre-order rights as they would for a new WOZ LE.

As for the absolute price, if you're questioning the 'value' of a WOZ at $7500+, then you really have to shake your head at people paying $8k for a STLE. That's basically a $4k max pin (yes, the Pro is overpriced too) with a bunch of cheap LEDs, a plastic toy, and different trim added. Maybe worth $4.5k in my view for the LE. At least with WOZ you get solid build, beautiful artwork/display, new technology, a huge variety of playfield shots and mechs, and a set of rules shaping up to be innovative and very deep. With STLE you get a stripped-down version of SM with brighter lights and a space theme. (And more "flow" because there's less on the pf so the ramps are wider!)

Some people smoke crack and some do not