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The price of pinball in 2022

Ashbo

Ashbo

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Joined
Apr 9, 2021
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Lincolnshire
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Ash
We all know there are shortages, we all know it used to cost less to own a pin, but is it's getting to the stage that you need to spend nearly £2k for a well regarded solid state pin and between £2k and £3k for a tired DMD. There are some exceptions, but these are few and far between.

Looking at the how much is it worth thread, newish and popular titles are £5k to £13k....serious saving required for most.

I do think EMs hit a peak last year but looking at ebay (and what I sold my own for) that seems to be calming down now.

Most on this forum try to keep a lid on prices and make sensible attestations as to what prices seem to be, but you only have to look to Facebook to see these theories blown in seconds as hungry buyers swarm. I should know, I bought three machines from FB last year and sold them back within 12 months.

It's a habit that needs feeding, but is it getting too hot? The rate of increase in the year I have owned scares me, I know that for sure.
 
"Back in the day" i.e. 20 years ago, a williams indy cost £1100. Pinflation is nothing new, although the pandemic sure has accelerated it.

The hobby is growing and that is good - lots of newbies coming in and some of them will stay in the long run.

The collectors who have been in the hobby for a long time and are selling their pins for a large profit are the ones gaining from it. Fair play if you've stored and maintained a machine for a long time it's an investment like any other.

That being said, it's a real shame to see flippers selling a pin as-is for almost £1000 more after just a couple weeks.
 
Fubar said:
The hobby is growing and that is good - lots of newbies coming in and some of them will stay in the long run.

The collectors who have been in the hobby for a long time and are selling their pins for a large profit are the ones gaining from it. Fair play if you've stored and maintained a machine for a long time it's an investment like any other.

That being said, it's a real shame to see flippers selling a pin as-is for almost £1000 more after just a couple weeks.
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Is it good the hobby is growing? Not too me, more people means less machines to go around. If they just want new stuff no problem but they don't and that affects the prices.
 
Dex-Jay said:
Is it good the hobby is growing? Not too me, more people means less machines to go around. If they just want new stuff no problem but they don't and that affects the prices.
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Well I'm one of the new ones and I doubt I own a pin you'd want ;) that being said, at current increases, I won't ever own a premium pin. I can save as faster than the prices are going up, but I'll not get away with the prices pins will be when I get there. £3k for DESW last April was the bosses pick, but once the kids got bored it had to go. I'll not get permission for anything over that level again...and at this rate, there will be nothing available less than that soon. I do love the Elektra Alan is selling, alas, the girls don't.
 
Dex-Jay said:
Is it good the hobby is growing? Not too me, more people means less machines to go around. If they just want new stuff no problem but they don't and that affects the prices.
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Couldn’t agree more with your comment.
Look how many wanted ads there are compared to for sale. A few yrs back you could take yr pick of project machines, now it’s a mad scramble to be first in the queue.
 
Try pricing up how much it costs to make a machine from scratch, even out of spare parts. It's more that what most machine sell for 2nd hand. be happy, they're cheap.
 
Ashbo said:
but is it's getting to the stage that you need to spend nearly £2k for a well regarded solid state pin
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My experience looking for a late 70s/early 80s pin is that the open market price is well north of £2k…
 
AlanJ said:
Try pricing up how much it costs to make a machine from scratch, even out of spare parts. It's more that what most machine sell for 2nd hand. be happy, they're cheap.
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The voice of reason as always sir. Unfortunately my purchases have to go past the entertainment committee, they are the same ones that judge value....
 
AlanJ said:
Try pricing up how much it costs to make a machine from scratch, even out of spare parts. It's more that what most machine sell for 2nd hand. be happy, they're cheap.
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I'm fairly new and always said this from when I started getting in to it. I can't believe the prices they used to go for when the amount of work that goes in to designing and building them. Break them down into individual parts and can easily see where the money is. Maybe not with the silly LEs
 
Wintonmartin said:
Maybe not with the silly LEs
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Lord of the Rings LE (admittedly an older pin) baffles me.

From what I understand, the difference is the yellow outlined backglass, which I personally don’t like, and that it’s powder coated in gold. Gold powder coating is £100-£300, but LoTR LEs go for much more than non-LEs.

I remain confused by this 😕
 
I dropped out of the Pinball rat race at the end of last year, prices have become more than I'm willing to pay and are still going up. Manufacturing delays and a general Pin shortage means an impulse buy isn't even an option.

Add to that parts shortages and quality issues it just became less fun and more worrying you'd end up with a large paper weight for a number of months if you couldn't get a replacement part quickly/easily.

I've always read/listened/watched Pinball related stuff far more than I ever played and I still love it but nowadays I just play virtual Pinball to get my fix.
 
VeeMonroe said:
Lord of the Rings LE (admittedly an older pin) baffles me.

From what I understand, the difference is the yellow outlined backglass, which I personally don’t like, and that it’s powder coated in gold. Gold powder coating is £100-£300, but LoTR LEs go for much more than non-LEs.

I remain confused by this 😕
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LE = Mirror back glass, gold trim is plated, extra clear coat layer on playfield, signed playfield, no figures, higher rated transistors on flippers at least, plaque, I read the sound was better but not sure about that. Probably HUO and no skill posts😀
Also made in 2010.
 
I don't think its just newbies and new pin shortages driving up prices.
5 years ago when I got into the arcade scene there were regular raids happening, doesn't seem to happen anymore, I imagine any old warehouses with anything intersting have been picked clean.
 
I think it is perfectly reasonable for folk to discuss prices on a regular basis on this forum.

This hobby was a lot more inclusive say [7] years ago when a mid wpc - Fish Tales, Shadow, Roadshow came in below 1500. Mid system 11s were below a grand. Mid Bally SS could be found for 700 quid.

There are plenty of folk who have enjoyed this scene for years, not all of whom have the resources to "just" pay another couple of grand for a game.

I have no idea whether we are now in "leave the final 10 per cent price rise for the suckers" (a stock exchange expression) territory. But when the effects of oil/ gas/ petrol/ electricity inflation kick in some price easing may happen.

Inflationary bubbles do this. There is fear of missing out/ bull Market folk chasing up prices. But then they need to eat, fill the car up and heat their home. Classic cars came crashing down in the 80s, so God knows.
 
DRD said:
Inflationary bubbles do this. There is fear of missing out/ bull Market folk chasing up prices. But then they need to eat, fill the car up and heat their home. Classic cars came crashing down in the 80s, so God knows.
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I think we will see the effect of this in the next year or two.

Top end NIB sales might be first to get hit, but that may be after the latent demand is satisfied - ie quite a few folk with orders in for specific machines.

The inflation is hitting usa too, and the manufacturers will react accordingly - whatever that means- i guess increased prices or cheaper BOM in games, less production ???
 
There are 2 themes - BOND & BTTF, they are games that are a must have.

I’m going to spend more time playing the games I have, trying to get to the wizard mode in each..

So far AFM, TAFG I have “completed” Came so close to Battle For The Kingdom on MM..

All the others.. not seen.. need to play more and get better.

Back on topic..
hopefully games will come down when materials/ component availability sorts itself out.

I have just sold 2 games that I did not make a profit on, but have had them to play for a while.

What I don’t agree with is people telling me what it’s worth, I know what I paid for it.. and I will decide what I want for the game.

Example GOTGLE: bought for £9500 + £500 for the topper.. and a few extra bits.

The offers I got from here we’re not what I was looking for. But I got a few PM on how that was a good price..

Am I going to sell it for £7K to then go and buy a GZLE.. for £12.5K..
so I loose £3K on the GOTGLE and have to spend another £5.5K to get a GZLE..

So a loss of 8K to change games.. Err no thanks.
 
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When I first started buying (2018/19) there was no value for me with NIB. I purchased Popeye, Jackbot, Dredd & STTNG individually for £1500-£2000.

These games were £4k less than a brand new pins so there was really no temptation to spend the extra.

Now the price of 90's titles has risen so much that many of them are priced above £5k. There have been two games in recent times that I'd have loved but they sold for £7k.

The value now is in new titles because there's little disparity between the cost of new and older games.

It's a shame CGC can't produce new games more quickly and re-run some MM, AFM & MB because I think they'd sell. It also doesn't help that JJP have such a slow turn-around. The slow manufacture of games is impacting the price of everything but there are many factors.

Stern get a bit of stick but they seem to be the only ones who can effectively make and distribute machines at a decent rate.
 
Gonzo said:
The value now is in new titles because there's little disparity between the cost of new and older games.
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I think I'm done buying used

With used games approaching what would have been NIB not long ago and all the newbs offering "that's a good price" comments without actually knowing and the lack of anything to buy anyway; What's the point of buying used anymore? I can spend about a grand less, maybe, for a nearly new but I...
www.pinballinfo.com

Agreed.
 
Gonzo said:
When I first started buying (2018/19) there was no value for me with NIB. I purchased Popeye, Jackbot, Dredd & STTNG individually for £1500-£2000.

These games were £4k less than a brand new pins so there was really no temptation to spend the extra.
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Tbf - Popeye, Jackbot and Dredd can probably still be had for 4K less than a NIB
 
Sgt GrizZ said:
Tbf - Popeye, Jackbot and Dredd can probably still be had for 4K less than a NIB
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You're probably right on those examples but they're not a quarter of the price of NIB anymore.

I'm mindful not to dig any particular title out but there are certainly average DMD titles going for £4k + and the 90's games are far closer to the price of NIB now.

As for the suggestion that potential sellers will be put off by the response the receive in sale threads like TSPP. I do believe there is some truth in that but the fear of having a machine flipped is probably more of a factor. Nobody wants to offer a machine to the community only to see it on FB or Ebay in two months time for a much larger price.
 
I’m not sure @Gonzo if the value is in the new pins.
Yeah they have LCD screens, LEDs, but they also have:
*Pooling, warping & chipping playfields.
*Hard to repair & expensive to replace NODE
boards & other light boards.
*Not as many cool toys as the B/W games

The older games, not just of the 90’s have been around 30, 40, 50 years… will these STERN & JJJP games last as long..

Maybe JJP will because they are mostly PC boards, but the light boards..?

I still think that a lot of the older games have more bang for buck than the newer games.

You can blame the price increases on Newbies, supply and demand and that pinball is becoming popular again. Which is what we all hoped for to keep the hobby & manufacturers going..

Pinball shows were put on, Podcasts/ Chinwags 😉streaming of games to attract interest.
Now we are complaining about prices which we have effectively influenced through demand..
 
Dave Bishop said:
I’m not sure @Gonzo if the value is in the new pins.
Yeah they have LCD screens, LEDs, but they also have:
*Pooling, warping & chipping playfields.
*Hard to repair & expensive to replace NODE
boards & other light boards.
*Not as many cool toys as the B/W games
Click to expand...
Speaking as a newbie, it’s not just that.

It’s Sturgeon’s Law. 90% of everything is s**t.

Having been to Funland a bunch of times, which is effectively a showroom for Electrocoin, the quality of the average machine, in terms of play, feels dramatically lower than at Pinball Republic.

Simple reason: Pinball Republic is a curated collection of pins that someone has bothered to, in many cases, keep in good working order for decades. Funland is a non-curated collection of what Stern are producing now.

There are tonnes of pins that aren’t in Pinball Republic because they are c**p, quite frankly, and no one in this community would be seen dead (or alive) with one. The Stern versions of those pins are still going to be on display in Funland but those pins are not going to be being maintained and displayed by collectors in clubs in years to come, when the novelty of the LCD screens, LED light shows and complex code have worn off.
 
VeeMonroe said:
Speaking as a newbie, it’s not just that.

It’s Sturgeon’s Law. 90% of everything is s**t.

Having been to Funland a bunch of times, which is effectively a showroom for Electrocoin, the quality of the average machine, in terms of play, feels dramatically lower than at Pinball Republic.

Simple reason: Pinball Republic is a curated collection of pins that someone has bothered to, in many cases, keep in good working order for decades. Funland is a non-curated collection of what Stern are producing now.

There are tonnes of pins that aren’t in Pinball Republic because they are c**p, quite frankly, and no one in this community would be seen dead (or alive) with one. The Stern versions of those pins are still going to be on display in Funland but those pins are not going to be being maintained and displayed by collectors in clubs in years to come, when the novelty of the LCD screens, LED light shows and complex code have worn off.
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You don’t like new Sterns then 😁
 
Dave Bishop said:
I’m not sure @Gonzo if the value is in the new pins.
Yeah they have LCD screens, LEDs, but they also have:
*Pooling, warping & chipping playfields.
*Hard to repair & expensive to replace NODE
boards & other light boards.
*Not as many cool toys as the B/W games

The older games, not just of the 90’s have been around 30, 40, 50 years… will these STERN & JJJP games last as long..

Maybe JJP will because they are mostly PC boards, but the light boards..?

I still think that a lot of the older games have more bang for buck than the newer games.

You can blame the price increases on Newbies, supply and demand and that pinball is becoming popular again. Which is what we all hoped for to keep the hobby & manufacturers going..

Pinball shows were put on, Podcasts/ Chinwags 😉streaming of games to attract interest.
Now we are complaining about prices which we have effectively influenced through demand..
Click to expand...


What's a PC board?
 
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