I have recommended KLOV as a source of information on other sites. That person declined and stated that Andrew was too toxic. Does that build this site?
Why is the market soft right now?
- Thread starter arcadegarage
- Start date
i honestly have seen this myself
This is so true, the rare time I get to talk to someone about the fun of repairing these things the time just fliiiiiiies by. I try to get people interested in it, but they get this glassy eyed stare and start drooling when I talk about cap kits, replacing flybacks, and anything JAMMA lol
Adrianlamande
Member
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Great comment. There is a place for both. Reproduction to me is all about keeping the games accessible, $175 for DDPDOJ probably wouldn't buy you the Cave cardboard box that the original pcb came in. All the stuff I use to build my pcbs is freely available and open to anyone who wants to build it for themselves, and I will be the first to help out. Need a Konami resistor array that isn't available I have a reproduction. Want to build it yourself I have the schematic. It's not all about making money and most of the time I would make more if I just did those hours at work. Some people just enjoy making stuff, some fixing stuff and some playing stuff and that's ok.
mrbill2084
Well-known member
Have you played a good one? My buddy bought one and it's pretty good. I have played it and it plays good, but then again I am not that good of a pinball player. I thought medieval madness and next gen played fine.
He has the 3d part of it working and digs it. Next time I go over to play cards at his house I will play the 3d.
He hasn't and neither have you. They don't exist.
I've been here only a couple years and this is my first time reading about this feud…
Wait another month, you will see it rehashed again.
FastZEdy
Well-known member
Back to the market being soft..it's interesting as in the last few weeks I have seen on this forum and Facebook $5000 journeys $6500 paperboys $4000 smash tvs, $3500 punch outs so in that regard if it's soft it sure looks like prices at the high BUT have also seen $650 restored Moon Patrols, $800 Tempest (played blind but was cosmetically restored, $900 nice looking DKs, $1200 Trons (ok shape)..so I guess it's more if you want to sell then you price as such but if you want to "test the market" with a price you remember seeing the same game go for during the height (Covid?) then those are out there too…but sitting unless a buyer has been looking a long time…in summary I would say it's a buyers market…sure eBay and Facebook to some extent will always have a $3000 Pac-Man with an ad that says "Omg own a piece of history and super rare not an arcade 1up" but hard to say when it can be declared "soft"…for example would say the jukebox market is "soft" but more because less people are around that collect those (or can fix them) so it's kinda of like the community interest has softened and when interest softens so do prices
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ElectricDreamz
Well-known member
>still seeing meme games at outrageous prices
prices will continue to ebb as people move to stage 4 and need cash. takes time for the tides to change, but changing they are
prices will continue to ebb as people move to stage 4 and need cash. takes time for the tides to change, but changing they are
FastZEdy
Well-known member
Yeah I don't think they sell..$4000 zoo keeper was listed and a $4500 food fight…. I can't critique however as I bought some silly priced arcades during covid when I thought baby Pac-Man was rare…
Yeah if people need money you could see some deals, which may or may not happen depending on a different market situation economy or jobs, but that could affect buyers too so interesting to see what happens
WadeLanham
Well-known member
It's hard to gauge it really. My gut tells me it's a little soft now based on asking prices, compared to the very hot market we had for a while where every day you saw another game sell for more than the last high water mark. Every sale is different and every game is different in some way, so it's just not as clear as something like house or automobile prices where there are thousands of documented examples every day.
It's not much of a concern to me right now because I'm not flipping games or adding to my collection at this point. For the people joining this hobby now, good for them, maybe they'll find more good deals. Lower prices might even attract new interest.
It's not much of a concern to me right now because I'm not flipping games or adding to my collection at this point. For the people joining this hobby now, good for them, maybe they'll find more good deals. Lower prices might even attract new interest.
WadeLanham
Well-known member
Now that I think about it, surprisingly low prices for most games is a big part of what got me into this hobby in the first place. I've always loved arcade games, but when I found you could buy most of the classics for a couple hundred dollars (years ago), that got me moving.
at some point you have to decide whether you are in this hobby for the fun of it or as an investment. if you are in it for the fun of it the lower the better
Hey, the next time you come across an $800 Tempest, lemme know, will ya? Thanks.
Another anecdotal "market story". When I started looking for a real Star Wars cockpit, I came across one a couple of states away. Seller owned it for the last 30 years and had it in his home the whole time. 25" Amplifone, cherry condition with a few minor dings from being an arcade for 10 years. He was asking $6,600. I used another project cockpit I had my eye on as pricing leverage, and got the guy to agree to something "in the neighborhood of $4K". While I was trying to figure out transport, someone swooped in and paid full price. Can't blame either the buyer or seller, because I think the game was honestly worth the asking price. And I'm bummed I didn't give him a deposit the moment he agreed on my low-ball offer.
Then again, I understand that the Star Wars cockpit is on a lot of holy grail lists, so perhaps it retains more value than other games during a downturn.
It's hard enough to buy a 6100 for $800 these days let alone a complete Tempest. At $800 that's a SCORE even if it is playing blind!
Exactly my point.
i got to say i knew nothing of the feud.. It's great people repair things. It's great when people offer new products or reproductions. Either i would consider contributing to the hobby. On the starwars cockpit conversations towards the end...
Honestly, I could make some reproduction cockpits.. full metal kit.. (i actually cut 5 kits when i had my plasma cnc, but they have not been bent to shape yet) I can get complete cockpit harnesses made.. I can get the art made as well (uv printed) and they would be around 3K. Problem is i doubt anyone would buy one, even though all you would need to complete it would be to strip the board, monitor, coin door, and yoke off an upright and you'd have a cockpit.
could you imagine all the complaining about people stripping out an original upright??
Honestly, I could make some reproduction cockpits.. full metal kit.. (i actually cut 5 kits when i had my plasma cnc, but they have not been bent to shape yet) I can get complete cockpit harnesses made.. I can get the art made as well (uv printed) and they would be around 3K. Problem is i doubt anyone would buy one, even though all you would need to complete it would be to strip the board, monitor, coin door, and yoke off an upright and you'd have a cockpit.
could you imagine all the complaining about people stripping out an original upright??
So it would cause an uproar to strip out an original upright, which might be all banged up, to put in a cockpit (of any condition)?
I get it that people have varying preferences on what's legitimate. I imagine some guys might rather have a upright that's all beat to hell and back than a newly-manufactured reproduction (of an upright, let alone a cockpit). But I also imagine there are guys that would rather restore a game to it's original glory, even if that meant reproducing all or part of the cabinet. Is one more "right" than the other?
In my case, not only was the World-Rally-converted cockpit painted (I'm gonna try Citristrip on it), there were extra holes drilled in the control panel for a button, and in the footplate for a pedal, plus extra bolts put in for a different monitor mount. Then there were all the dings and chips in the oh-so-durable particle board. Heck, it's more like "chunks" taken out of the side panels, plus you can toss in some water swelling. I figured replacements of the damaged parts would do more honor to the original game than trying to patch up what I received.
I know there are cockpit cabinet plans out there, but from what I've read, there's some question as to their accuracy. I figured I'd be doing the community a favor by ensuring/improving the accuracy of the plans. Plus, my workshop is in my basement, and I had a hard enough time getting the populated front half down there with the landing (PIVOT! PIVOT!). There was no way I was getting a fully-assembled cockpit into the shop going that route.
If 100% accurate plans are out there, please hit me with a clue-stick. I'm just trying to contribute to my new favorite community.
