Biggest misconception about pinball, it IS an investment. Not so much for people that stick them in a man cave, but since most of them go into location for play, it is an investment. They even have have a magazine called Play Meter that talks about earnings from arcade equipment, pinball being part of that. Return of Investment is still part of the purchasing decision on arcade games for operators.

Besides MMR, and the pin, when they stop putting coin doors on pinball machines, then they stop being an investment. Even if you exclude operators, tell flippers pins are not an investment. Tell operators that when they sell old equipment, price doesn't matter.

The better terminology should be, pinball is NOT a GOOD investment as there are easier and more reliable ways of making money.

Jack said one of the reasons he picked WOZ as a theme was his WOZ coin pusher was doing incredible on location. The WOZ slot machine was doing great on location. So he figured WOZ pinball would follow suit.

To finish my point on where this is going, for WOZ to have a price increase it can only mean one thing, it MUST BE SELLING. Basic economics. When demand exceeds supply, prices go up. Operators say it is making them money, so maybe they are the ones driving up demand and not the home collector market.

That was not the jest of my post. Operators buy the most pins. Prices went up on a pin. Prices only go up when demand exceeds supply, ergo maybe it is doing well for route owners and people are glossing over that.

I don't have one in my game room, but every pin I do have in there is an investment. When I go to sell or trade a pin, which I have done numerous times, I find it easier to get a new pin if my old pin has appreciated.

If prices increase to the point of not making a profit, then the producer will no longer be in business as they run out of capital. So raising prices to get out of a debt hole only works if the product sells. If it doesn't sell, the producer sits on inventory and then has to drop the prices to move it before going out of business, or is liquidated after they are out of business at a reduced price. There is nothing that indicates Jack is sitting on inventory.

How does raising the prices help move those parts if nobody is willing to pay that price for his machine?

Bottom line, pinball manufacturers will keep raising prices as long as people are paying the price they set. Pinside is only a small contingent of the buyers, somebody must be paying these prices or manufacturers would not be raising them.