You're absolutely right. The price of everything is skyrocketing and really it can all be traced back to gas prices. Oil companies have us by the vulnerables. And the increasingly rare nature doesn't help.
I think it's easy to blame gas prices as the root cause of the higher prices, especially because it's so easy to link it's impact to real life behavior (higher gas prices, cost more to go to work, forces companies to raise prices to pay for higher labor or high gas prices mean more money to pay for corn/ethanol which means farmers have to pay more for feed, which means higher meat prices at the store, forces companies to raise prices to pay for higher labor, etc.),
The truth is though that gas prices are really being driven by the dilution of the dollar. Consumers find a way to cut back when the prices spike, but because they keep printing dollars, it takes more of them to buy the same products. Since the banks are the 1st ones to get the money, they are the 1st to buy the commodities with it. Hence the run up in Copper, Silver, Gold, etc as soon as they got their free loans from Uncle Sam. Then they parcel the inflation to their best corporate customers through loans that you and I would never qualify for, these major conglomerates pretty much then give it to their wealthy investors, who use it to buy commodities to protect themselves. Ultimately some of the money passes onto the workforce, but not until the prices have increased so much that companies have no choice but to pay more for your work. If the powers that be were able to magically start cutting the national debt, the price of gasoline at the pump would fall by at least 40% Since they don't seem willing to exercise financial restraint, it's driving oil higher and everything else with it.
But it's no coincidence that game prices jumped with the appearance of those shows. If you go to auctions in your area, I'm sure you've seen the bigger crowds, the people who don't seem to know what they're bidding on, things going for way more than they used to, etc.
I won't argue with you there, the TV shows have definitely sparked an interest in junk and I imagine that it has impacted prices, but I don't think it has by that much. I guess I just view the shows as highlighting old things/collectibles/antiques in general vs. Pinballs or arcades specifically.
If you take a look at all the car customization shows from 5-10 years back, they really didn't seem to impact the classic car market or create a drop off in motorcycle prices after people got sick of seeing mechanics argue on TV. In many ways cars are a good analogy to look at because they also cost a lot to store a lot of them, but next to nothing to store one or two for most homeowners.
I'd argue that the price of 1960's automobiles really started to skyrocket in the 1990's. Over the last 10 years, we've begun seeing the same thing happen to the classics from the 70's. (the other day I saw someone selling a 79' Ford Ranchero for $10k, be honest who ever thought a Ranchero could sell for that much?) In 10 years, I think it will be the 80's vehicles that make their run, while the cars from the 70's will start going for $20k a pop instead.
I still think we will see a dip in prices in the future though. If not an outright dip, then at least an increase that's far below inflation or even a steady hold on prices at some point. Arcade games and pinball machines take up a lot of room and once the goldrush mentality wears off and people still have several in their garages that they weren't able to unload on CL for unreasonable prices, they will be selling them for "just get them out of my sight" prices.
Should be fun if they do

I know I'm not the only one who would take advantage. It will be fun for Google surfers to come back in 5 - 10 years and view this thread. For historical purposes, does anyone want to try to put a value on the current market?