The current pin market, how long before it crashes?

playpin35

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The current pin market, how long before it crashes?

I believe that the current pin hobby is thriving(for the most part). My question is, how much longer will it last? $10k for MM, AFM $5k+, and now over $7k for new "LEs" Even the lower price games are being bought up. I've seen this craze in the old car hobby and watched it nose dive twice where you can't give em away for half of what you have in it. It's nice to see pinball grow, but do you think this current craze will be ending soon?
 
It'll end when people stop paying stupid money for games. You have a recent influx of new people into the hobby who just have no problem dropping 8k on a MM or whatever. I just won't do it on pure principal.

Will people band together and stop spending big money on games, or will the "gotta have it nows" keep doing it?

Who knows. Thing is - there are SOOOOOO many games out there....even if a select few stay expensive, there are a boatload of cheaper ones to choose from.
 
im not sure what to say.....i dont want to get too much money into my collection incase there is a great depression or serious recession....people will need to fix a leak in their roof, or they will NEED to fix their sink or their furnace before they drop thousands and thousands on a amusement device........i hope it doesnt come to that and i love this hobby but i would think many times before paying over $1500 for a game.......i would judge it by currents prices of games for sale.....if i start seeing multiple MMs for $4000 or below and multiple twilight zones for under 3000$ then i would start to wonder.....i havent been paying much for games or going to look for them as much as i have a few projects that need fixed up as it is.....i may pay a little more if i needed one to work on.......all depends on the game/ condition/ location/ price and how bad i want it
 
Probably depends on our next election...

My other hobby(old original Hot Wheels) has seen prices plummet over the last few years, unless it's a dead mint example, or a hard to find example. Pins will be the same I believe.

I think the key to any hobby is to not bury yourself in it, or expect to flip for profit. All of my machines, should it come down to selling, I would be content at getting what I paid, or even a couple hundred less, because I've enjoyed the crap out of owning/playing them. So I'm not worried about values going down, I didn't buy mine as an investment.
It also depends on the ratio of people leaving the hobby to the new ones. I've only been pinning around for six months and have two friends into it, and they will probably buy one of more of their own, expanding the base...

I bought what I could afford, and shouldn't ever need to sell them to put food on the table, no matter what the economy is doing.

It's easy for me to state this because I've never bought a new one, and felt the one's I've bought I got a good or fair deal on them!!!
 
Face it, the economy is crap still. The pinball market seems ok. If it is this OK right now, Short of Nuclear Holocaust, I think things will stay OK for a while. Millions of people. Only thousands of pins. We are good.

The people that want the project machines cheap will always be able to find them. The people that want the duded up pimped out machines will have those too.

Dont worry, relax and play pinball
 
how much longer will it last?

debt limit was raised again so all is well ?? for the time being

theres something to keep an eye on in april but i forget what
maybe has to do with some Euro vote or, world bank decision or IMF vote but i just cant remember
not as big a deal as a freeze on the debt limit will do but something interesting to see what the spin they feed us


wonder how much inflation has to do with the need for more dollars for a pinball. probably more than i think ?

sorry i didnt get to the auction in grandview. got a lot going on right now and have no space for more projects. kicked myself for remembering you were there and i missed it but glad i didnt add to my debt ceiling

maybe the (d)'s are right and i need to spend a couple trillion more
:)
 
I'm buying a Rollergames for $500 this weekend and am perfectly content/excited. The high end pin market is just a big bubble waiting to burst.

-BB

I'd love a Rollergames for $500! Actually I passed up on one for that much, cuz it was thrashed. There's a guy in L.A. who's been trying to sell a Diamondplated Rollergames for $1200....keeps relisting it cuz no bites. I offered $900, which I think is pretty generous....he's been ignoring me...lol.
 
It'll end when people stop paying stupid money for games. You have a recent influx of new people into the hobby who just have no problem dropping 8k on a MM or whatever. I just won't do it on pure principal.

Will people band together and stop spending big money on games, or will the "gotta have it nows" keep doing it?

Who knows. Thing is - there are SOOOOOO many games out there....even if a select few stay expensive, there are a boatload of cheaper ones to choose from.

I would rather drop $8k on MM than $7k on ac/dc....
 
I believe that the current pin hobby is thriving(for the most part). My question is, how much longer will it last? $10k for MM, AFM $5k+, and now over $7k for new "LEs" Even the lower price games are being bought up. I've seen this craze in the old car hobby and watched it nose dive twice where you can't give em away for half of what you have in it. It's nice to see pinball grow, but do you think this current craze will be ending soon?

Part of the pin hobby has declined like the EM pins. The 'A' title games will be in demand for a long time. Every year there is less of them (floods, fires, etc.) and more collectors want to grow their collections to have some A-title games.
 
Part of the pin hobby has declined like the EM pins. The 'A' title games will be in demand for a long time. Every year there is less of them (floods, fires, etc.) and more collectors want to grow their collections to have some A-title games.

Your SIG tells me you own all the high end games.

Signed,
Jealous
 
won't it have something to do with the ability for the sites that sell parts to continue to thrive.
for example, if in 10 yrs you don't have sites that sell parts and new playfields and plastics that specialize for a game, then the general interest is going to be lower for people buying in.

kind of like now how williams and bally sell well because you can still get replacement boards for them, yet some of the gottlieb stuff is hard as heck to find specialize components and pieces.

the EM world would be in hurts if that east coast site wasn't around.
same for solid state in 10+ years?
 
Basically, the people WITH lots of A-Title games will swear to you that the prices are either staying the same or going up, and the people WITHOUT A-title games will swear to you that the bubble is gonna burst. Obviously I'm from the latter ;)

I actually hate the concept of "A-title" games in general. I buy the games that I want instead of what the hobby "dictates" I should want. Heck, I've owned Twilight Zone and Gottlieb's Gladiators (both 1993 games) and enjoyed the hell out of both of them pretty much equally. I often feel like people pursue certain titles simply because of the hype or the perceived value instead of their personal appreciation for the machine.

-BB
 
I'm buying a Rollergames for $500 this weekend and am perfectly content/excited. The high end pin market is just a big bubble waiting to burst.

-BB

I hope it's not the one in N. Babylon, That one was a basket case,but it was 500.00
 
I dont see them going down, at least not the A list titles. But the 80's, and some of the odd ball titles, and definitely the EM's are dropping.

In fact about $2000 will get you 6 to 10 EM's and have an impressive pinball collection
 
Bravo, very well stated. Like I say. Do you have fun playing it? That is all that matters be it a "A" list one or a old EM. :)


Basically, the people WITH lots of A-Title games will swear to you that the prices are either staying the same or going up, and the people WITHOUT A-title games will swear to you that the bubble is gonna burst. Obviously I'm from the latter ;)

I actually hate the concept of "A-title" games in general. I buy the games that I want instead of what the hobby "dictates" I should want. Heck, I've owned Twilight Zone and Gottlieb's Gladiators (both 1993 games) and enjoyed the hell out of both of them pretty much equally. I often feel like people pursue certain titles simply because of the hype or the perceived value instead of their personal appreciation for the machine.

-BB
 
kind of like now how williams and bally sell well because you can still get replacement boards for them, yet some of the gottlieb stuff is hard as heck to find specialize components and pieces.

Well that is one possible outcome of viscous protection of licensing. One guy or group profits, the rest of the community suffers.... Either that, or there is just no plumb interest in Gottlieb machines. Which is a more realistic possibility. Near the end the machines were not on par from a theme perspective. For me games themes are very important.

From a certain era, The gottliebs Ruled.
 
kind of like now how williams and bally sell well because you can still get replacement boards for them, yet some of the gottlieb stuff is hard as heck to find specialize components and pieces.

I think Bally and Williams just made better games so there's more demand for them. I haven't personally found Gottlieb to be any harder to get parts for, as a rule. Reproduction boards are readily available and have been for some time. NOS boards are even still available from Steve Young in many cases. There are also a ton of Gottlieb parts in the used market because so many have been parted out. Manuals and ROMs are a different story though. I've wondered if that hurts the popularity of the older Gottlieb stuff but I don't hear too many people complaining about it.

I've wondered what will happen to pinball prices. I'm sitting on a lot of them so I hope there isn't any immediate bubble burst but I don't think there will be. Seems inevitable that prices will eventually drop on average but who knows when that will start. It will be when interest drops in collecting pinball and right now it seems to be going the other way for the more expensive stuff.
 
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