Are PCB prices steadily increasing? Will it end?

THIS. Arcade games are going through a revival period right now. Everyone should BUY now because we will be envious of the prices today in a few years, I predict.
I agree with you on the matter am buying everything I can now.I personally think the prices are going up even more.
 
I think the revival of the classic games right now is a fad. It'll die and prices will crash down again, give it time.
 
I was one of those kids... Born 1983... Grew up playing NES, SNES, etc.. Didn't really get the opportunity to play most of the early arcade games or even arcade games much in general considering we only had one crappy arcade for like 50 miles and I didn't get to go very often. I owned a Galaxian 2 handheld and probably got most of my retro arcade experience playing ports.

Even still, I'm now addicted to 80s arcade games and am super nostalgic for vintage Nintendo merch.

So yeah, I own a Donkey Kong cab, and a Playchoice 10... and a Mushroom World pin...

I used to own a lot of consoles but sold most of them off... not as nostalgic for owning consoles after collecting them for years.

I'd fit into one of those age groups you would think would be more interested in consoles than arcade machines, yet here I am, far more interested in arcade machines... and I'm sure I'm not alone.

You're not alone. 1981 baby here, but I did grow up in arcades. 90's arcades so SFII, Simpsons, X-Men, TMNT, Daytona, Cruisin', etc. I have a ton of consoles, but all originally owned by me. So I wouldn't say I collect them, I just haven't sold/thrown out anything. I'm full speed into the arcade scene now.

Still looking for a decent priced Bubble Bobble pcb or cab. Not because everyone has been raving about it, because no one has. Ridiculous.

Decently priced one in the FS forum right now. Go get it!

It is purely generational. When I started in the mid 90's it was all about early 80s, with a few classics going for a lot. Now only old guys want them. The newer members want 90s stuff, will barely look at 80s, and sure as hell wont touch b&w or vector. The problem is very few people ever want to sell for less than they paid, even if the demand tapers off. Thats why kids and grandkids end up junking half of the stuff when us old timers croak. Expect a sharp decline in this hobby in the next 10 years. Once the barcade fad dies, it will be the last gasp of the arcade scene. The newer generation truly do not care about our big wooden boxes. It hurts, but it is true. I see it everyday in our game store.

That might be true, but I'm a new member here, didn't grow up with the 80's arcade games, and I love them. Just recently an arcade museum exhibit opened up by me (I think permanent now) and was filled with classic 80's games. Didn't know that most of them were classics first time I walked in but I was hooked. My first arcade purchase was an original Ms Pac, no 60-1, no LCD. I'm a purist. And those 90's games I grew up on? They're mostly the same games, and they play just fine in my MAME cab. Most of the dedicated and original cabs/games I want are 80's games I didn't grow up with. Honestly, those games have the best art packages and require the most kill to play. They'll kick your ass!
 
'90s stuff is getting crazy. I'm kinda the guy caught in the middle since I was the kid with no pocket money. I'd get birthday money sometimes or my someone in my family would give me a quarter and I would play '80s games like Asteroids, Donkey Kong,Dragon's Lair, Frogger...even a Paperboy once ^^. I kept checking out arcades but since quarters were scarce at times I played a ton of consoles. I also played '90s stuff like Double Dragon, NBA Jam, 6 player Xmen and TMNT in high school and community college. I liked to try to play the capcom fighters but I was no good at them.

Which makes me the guy who kinda likes everything but maybe hasn't seen it all. The game I'm currently rebuilding is a rare '90s game(that I never played back in the day) but the next one I start hunting could be something like Tapper or Outrun(boy I liked Sega's arcades back then). To try stuff out I might use mame and a USB arcade stick but as a true collector grabbing the real thing is what it's all about. With sky high prices I have to learn to find deals(still are some) and save up to buy other things.

Will I ever have all the machine ever? No and I'm cool with that
 
You're not alone. 1981 baby here, but I did grow up in arcades. 90's arcades so SFII, Simpsons, X-Men, TMNT, Daytona, Cruisin', etc. I have a ton of consoles, but all originally owned by me. So I wouldn't say I collect them, I just haven't sold/thrown out anything. I'm full speed into the arcade scene now.



Decently priced one in the FS forum right now. Go get it!



That might be true, but I'm a new member here, didn't grow up with the 80's arcade games, and I love them. Just recently an arcade museum exhibit opened up by me (I think permanent now) and was filled with classic 80's games. Didn't know that most of them were classics first time I walked in but I was hooked. My first arcade purchase was an original Ms Pac, no 60-1, no LCD. I'm a purist. And those 90's games I grew up on? They're mostly the same games, and they play just fine in my MAME cab. Most of the dedicated and original cabs/games I want are 80's games I didn't grow up with. Honestly, those games have the best art packages and require the most kill to play. They'll kick your ass!
See, to me, that's not a decently priced Bubble bobble unfortunately. That is a corporate-profit-only sale price. Coinopexpress is selling them for that price. For that, it is missing the cab, monitor, and two wico sticks. This hobby has turned sour with used car salesmen.
 
It will never end. NEVER

This !
I love shmup boards but if I would have listened to all those people every year foreseeing that a crash is imminent I would have skipped buying the boards I have now years ago and would have to pay up to five fold for the same boards today or still wait for that crash .
Something like a $ 160, - Dodonpachi board in 2008 is now $ 1000,- .


Just wait ....
 
Cool. They were all $60 boards when I was buying them. Sold all before they went up because I can't get into them anymore when they are in a home setting with unlimited continues.


Why the hell would you use unlimited continues and not turn it off in the options menu, that's like playing a FPS in god mode !
The whole purpose of an arcade game in your home is to see how far you can get on one coin .
 
Last edited:
This !
I love shmup boards but if I would have listened to all those people every year foreseeing that a crash is imminent I would have skipped buying the boards I have now years ago and would have to pay up to five fold for the same boards today or still wait for that crash .
Something like a $ 160, - Dodonpachi board in 2008 is now $ 1000,- .


Just wait ....

Yup, and that is how old guys end up with stuff they cant sell after the hobby dies. Grandkids will junk it. I see a lot of estate sales with dead old hobbies. Toy trains anyone? Carnival glass collections? There will always be collectors, but once the pool shrinks, it is hard to sell a markup to a fellow hobbyist.
 
I almost won a TMNT board the other day for $300 and thought I was getting a decent deal...

Perfect example, I had a hell of a time selling my working TMNT PCB for $60 shipped, about 4-5 years ago. Sad part is, there's plenty available, but people are now holding on to them. Younger generations are catching up.
 
This sounds way too familiar with retro game collecting in general. As a 16 year veteran of the NES community, I've seen games that were worth $10-$15 in 2002 hit the $600-$900 mark with no end in sight. Something happened in 2006 where prices started going up and they keep on climbing even to this day.

What's very interesting though is Atari consoles had the same thing happen in about 2000-2004, but their market completely crashed out and the games devalued again. Granted, the prices didn't bottom out to what they were before, but they're very low from its peak. I'm going to wager this is because Atari was more of the niche system prone to that crash whereas the NES came around and cemented console gaming for good? I honestly couldn't tell you the exact reasons why, but that's just what happened.

What does this have to do with arcade games? Well based on what a few of you have pointed out using Pac boards as an example, I personally think arcade games will eventually crash or at least plateau and drop serving the same fate as Atari games. Why? This hobby is far different than owning a collection of console games and this is why I think they're much more volatile and prices will fade when all is said and done. Arcade games are spectacular and one of a kind but, they're also much more of a fad and niche market than any other console game ever was. They seem way more prone to waning interest as time goes on as each generation grows older due to the downfall of arcades in general. I think that once the average person buying a cab sees how much space one game takes up, the maintenance involved, and the novelty of an arcade game fading once you own it, prices will start to come down as the market in theory becomes flooded. It doesn't help that right now you also have a group of people from the 90s generation now who have disposable income for the first time ever and remember playing a few games growing up who MUST HAVE them and will pay for them at any cost. That will pass or at least level out as they grow older.

I dunno, that's just my take on it. I also though NES games would never require a mortgage to afford so I could be wrong about this whole thing. We'll see!
 
prices will start to come down as the market in theory becomes flooded.

This is the problem.

The market isn't "becoming flooded" with arcade games.

MAME, 60in1, etc, in arcade cabs maybe.

Tubes are dying/hard to find. 4:3 LCDs in 19" are starting to dry up.

What we knew as arcades, and the things closest to them are all dying off/drying up.

The only chance at pricing falling is a "barcade" market crash and game sell off. But I doubt that will happen. It will more likely fade away.
 
Nes will crash at some point too, as will all consoles. The only market are nostalgic buyers, investors, and the small niche of retro gamers from the new generation. Nostalgic buyers get their fix and resell down the road, investors cash out or hold until bust, and the niche group are too cheap to pay full price anyway. Already I have seen interest in Nes waning, interest in n64 continues to build. The new breed of dark age buyers are coming.

This sounds way too familiar with retro game collecting in general. As a 16 year veteran of the NES community, I've seen games that were worth $10-$15 in 2002 hit the $600-$900 mark with no end in sight. Something happened in 2006 where prices started going up and they keep on climbing even to this day.

What's very interesting though is Atari consoles had the same thing happen in about 2000-2004, but their market completely crashed out and the games devalued again. Granted, the prices didn't bottom out to what they were before, but they're very low from its peak. I'm going to wager this is because Atari was more of the niche system prone to that crash whereas the NES came around and cemented console gaming for good? I honestly couldn't tell you the exact reasons why, but that's just what happened.

What does this have to do with arcade games? Well based on what a few of you have pointed out using Pac boards as an example, I personally think arcade games will eventually crash or at least plateau and drop serving the same fate as Atari games. Why? This hobby is far different than owning a collection of console games and this is why I think they're much more volatile and prices will fade when all is said and done. Arcade games are spectacular and one of a kind but, they're also much more of a fad and niche market than any other console game ever was. They seem way more prone to waning interest as time goes on as each generation grows older due to the downfall of arcades in general. I think that once the average person buying a cab sees how much space one game takes up, the maintenance involved, and the novelty of an arcade game fading once you own it, prices will start to come down as the market in theory becomes flooded. It doesn't help that right now you also have a group of people from the 90s generation now who have disposable income for the first time ever and remember playing a few games growing up who MUST HAVE them and will pay for them at any cost. That will pass or at least level out as they grow older.

I dunno, that's just my take on it. I also though NES games would never require a mortgage to afford so I could be wrong about this whole thing. We'll see!
 
Nes will crash at some point too, as will all consoles. The only market are nostalgic buyers, investors, and the small niche of retro gamers from the new generation. Nostalgic buyers get their fix and resell down the road, investors cash out or hold until bust, and the niche group are too cheap to pay full price anyway. Already I have seen interest in Nes waning, interest in n64 continues to build. The new breed of dark age buyers are coming.

yup. gunna be so funny when your $50 Secret of Mana is worth $5.

or when that cronkers bad fur day is worth $1, when it sells for $80+ today.

digital copies of media will overtake all this physical collectible nonsense!
 
So...you're telling me all those Beanie Babies I've socked away for years aren't worth thousands of dollars apiece?!? :)
 
Except for pinball, I have played every digital incarnation of it. None of them can recreate the physics of the game exactly.

yes. 100% agree with this.

i think all digital emulations of pinball should be a federal crime!

serve your 5 years and don't even think about doing it again!!!
 
Back
Top Bottom