Well, how much does a Honda Accord, Chevy Nova, and a Buick Skylark sell for?

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Condition, condition, condition!
Those are very good titles though.
Particularly the first two.

With any 50+ year old pinball machine or anything else for that matter, condition can vary from complete basket case, to an original that was babied it's whole life. So price will vary accordingly.

Woodrail market seems to have cooled off quite a bit over the last few years where most that wanted certain titles already have them, and new buyers are few and far between.

At this point, I would have a hard time paying over $1000 for any of them no matter the condition, as I already have most the of ones I want and none of these are them.

i have a knockout in good working order. It's as a good a game as many 60/70's game with the unique boxers knocking each other out. Worth $3K in good condition maybe more.

Knockout would be my choice since a repro playfield is somewhat obtainable. Haven’t warmed up to woodrails. Maybe that’ll change one day.

I need a price check on a woodrail too... there's an El Paso that looks to be in pretty damn good shape from the picture. Seller says they haven't plugged it in in 20 years. Has legs. Here's the pic they posted.
Edit: I did see the price list posted, but looks like there was only one sold, was wondering if anybody else knew of any other sales. If not what's the average price for a woodrail in this condition?
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That kind of non working woodrail is only probably $200 -300.

Spot Bowler was in great demand a few years back and really nice ones always went over $2000.

Knock Out was always $3000 plus.

It's a shame that more people don't add one to their collections as they have a unique charm.

Also, many of the 1950 - 1955 Gottliebs are fantastic players, when and if they play as they should.

While I agree on all points, no one is paying thousands for a woodrail "worth thousands" if all the people that were looking for them now already own those titles.

If space was unlimited for pinball enthusiasts, I know they would appeal to more people. These days pinball is a modern game with modern players. Very few of those players want to even play a woodrail, let alone OWN one!

Exactly. It is a lot easier to buy them than get rid of them at this point. I've paid over $1000 and as much as $2000, but those are uncommon games I like to play and still have and won't be selling. Way better titles IMO than any of the three listed. Unless you want a game because it has rockem sockem robots or bowling pins, besides that they are not very good players.

Yeah, rockem sicken robots for me though and it is fun to play gauging by the people that visit and play it. I like the games you have too.

Knockout like Nags is just kinda different, I don’t play them as much as say my Slick Chick but they are fun for a few games.

Damn spellcheck!

Took more than one try to get rockem to spell how O-din spelt it! Sockem was too much for me it seems.

Dang O-din you know too many cool words!

Demand has softened in what was already a very niche area.

Shame really as some of the 50's Gottliebs are fantastic players. Sure they don't play like JP and the like but they are a huge challenge.

Was only a few years ago that 1950 Glamor went for $15000 on ebay so there are some exceptions.

And Glamor is not a great player!

Had a '58 Double Action, surprisingly fun game. Think I sold it a year or two ago for around $500 fully shopped out.

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I like my Double Action. I always play 2 players. I have it set for the "Double" match and when that happened... what a sound, bam bam bam bam bam bam… games rack up. Only happened once so far. And the gobble hole, most times it's a PITA but when the time is right and sink the ball, it's usually enough to rack up a game or two.

Yup, I liked the game but no one else played it so it got shuffled down the line.

Yeah, but it's one of the extremely rare woodrails. Big dollar collectors go for games like that because of the prestige of owning one, more than anything else.

If anyone around the Cincinnati area is letting go of a wood rail for under $1000 in good working order let me know. I love the older games.

Yes, its like Mermaid.

Try and find one of the great Gottlieb mid 50's games.

1954 there was a hardly a bad title.

Hard to compare years, decades but one of the greatest ever years for pinball.

Not that I was even born then so don't know what the actual experience was.

Their best game I own is from 1955.

Probably Frontiersman....a game that I once enjoyed immensely and gave me seller's remorse.
J

That would be the one. And that would be the one I paid almost $2k for.

I paid $4000 for another 1955 classic - a Sweet Add A Line.

Classic game.

Not sure why so few pinheads seem to appreciate these classic titles.

I favor most of the early 50's games, maybe 1954 as my favorite year because of the Double Special features. For 1955, I still have the Sluggin' Champ and Gypsy Queen. Both great players and in CQ condition. Like yours, and other desirable titles, they were also in the $4K range.

Here's a few pix of the SC

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The first woodrail I bought which I still have is Williams 1959 Rocket which I got a good deal I think at $1000 considering the condition it is in. It is a very fast playing game as are most 50 volt Williams from the mid 50s to the early 60s including my 1957 Arrow Head that I am finally getting ready to put back together. For those that think woodrails play slow, these do not.

I've been through quite a few multiplayer woodrails and I have found most to be dogs. However one stands out above all the others and that is the last woodrail Williams ever produced, 1960 Serenade.

Considering what I started with, I think it turned out pretty nice. I just had to stop somewhere. Too many hours. Topcoat is fresh and still drying. Wet sand tomorrow. Can't wait to put it back together again because it is super fun. Very fast and one of the best playing woodrails I have owned or played.

I think it was around $1000 and came with a Shay glass and a very nice original cabinet. The playfield however was seriously planking and trashed.
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Agree!! 1954 was a good year.

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What I always loved about the Sluggin' Champ was seeing Brooklyn in the list of teams. I was born in Brooklyn and come from a family of Dodger fans devastated when the team moved to LA...

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I, too, grew up in Brooklyn in the 50's and my folks were big Dodgers fans!

I still have a large collection of baseball cards from my youth. Here's a momento from 1956 that didn't get clothespinned to my bicycle:

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This 1954 game, Diamond Lil, is probably one of the best playing em's ever.

No gobble holes, no trap holes.

Just you versus machine, with nudging an absolute must.

No wonder the King played it!

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Ps if you look closely in the photo it's Stage Coach next to Diamond Lil!

Absolutely, Diamond Lill is right at the top--great artwork, those cool light-up posts on the circle track, backwards flippers that fit the game, and that circle shot that seems easy but isn't.

Great work on the PF.

Sorry, the one thing I don't like is those backwards flippers on the early games.

Have you ever played more than a couple games on this particular title? If you were to on a well playing example I'm sure you would change your mind.

Thanks! That Rome was certainly not built in one day. From what I can tell there are not very many Arrow Heads in existence, and the few that I have seen pictures of look like they were played to death. Kind of a common thing with the Williams that were great players.

There's nothing wrong with the "reverse" flipper arrangement if the game was designed that way. "Diamond Lill" is a superb player.

Well my first game was a gottlieb Buccaneer from 1948.. got it when like 7. still have it It started this craze . my thoughts are many of the people that used to want woodrails are too old to care or dead.. I personally am near not caring too

I absolutley love the woodrails, especially the Gottlieb games. I agree that 1954 was the most significant year in the history of pinball (tied with 1934 and 1935).

My collection is down to only 3 woodrails: Gottlieb Queen of Hearts, CCM Thing and Gottlieb Bank-A-Ball (which is for sale).

If I didn't have daunting college tuition bills for my daughter in a few months, followed by the same for my son in a few years, I would have kept them all.

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Incidentally, the male character on Bank-A-Ball's backglass is purportedly a self portrait of artist, Roy Parker.

Honestly no, just not a fan in general. I'll try at the next show, probably Allentown.

The ann arbor pinball show has a really good selection of restored woodrails that play as they should. the problem with a lot of shows are the woodrails are for sale. which is fine... but most restored games don't go to shows. the ones that go to shows are usually 'as is' variants, that just barely play, and aren't really rebuilt. that's been my observation anyway. so what i've seen is show woodrails don't give a good example of how a woodrail can properly play, which gives the impression they are "slow", and "no fun."

The "Diamond Lill" that was at the York show last year played great.
It was Steve Young's game.

I've had Thing on my want list for a while. It's a fantastic game.

You are kidding right? It's been explained in this thread like 3 times.

Modern pins don't equate. In my totally unscientific estimation if you own one pinball machine made after 1992, chances of you owning one EM is less than 10%. Chances of you owning a woodrail.... probably like 1 or 2%. I wish this was not true but it's just the way things are with modern pinball owners and trends.

Was Steve at the show?