Arcade collectors

[mytymaus007]

Been noticing a few of the rare cabinets going for 5-6k. Does everyone think in the next 10 years that the cabinets will even go higher then ever before. Is it worth hoarding as many as possible. Never really seen a big jump yet only on a few

[bobbyb13]

While those of us who have the greatest nostalgia for these things conti ue to have time and $$ to devote to them the prices will continue to rise overall.
Once we all start dying and nobody gives a crap anymore the values will tank.

Happens in every collector hobby.

[leapinlew]

Agree with Bobby. I'm pretty pessimistic about it and think we are at or past the nostalgic wave of peak prices.

[bobbyb13]

Absolutely Lew.
We are a small cross section of the video gaming community- and not getting younger- although no need to be pessimistic!

I started on this fiasco because I loved playing these games as a kid and recently found that I like restoring, repairing, designing, building, etc the machines too.

If you're doin this thing mytymaus then do it for the love!
Making money off original cabs is tricky-
And parasitic to most around here.

[Mike A]

I think you should definitely hoard as many 6 thousand dollar cabs as you can.

[leapinlew]

lol.

I had good luck with 3 Donkey Kongs last year. They were in high demand. I built a Galaga Cocktail and it's been sitting with no real interest for the last few months.

[bobbyb13]

 

I think you should definitely hoard as many 6 thousand dollar cabs as you can.

[pbj]

Who knows... the pinball machine I paid $1,300 shipped for in 2005 sells for over $4,500 now.  Hell of an investment I guess (14%ish?), all I had to do was drag a heavy, coffin sized, and delicate wooden box around the country for 20 years and keep it climate controlled.  Back then $1,300 was about 35-40% of the purchase price of a new one ($3,500).  And now $4,500 is about 45% of the cost of a new one ($10,000 but even I can do that math).  So that hasn't changed much.   

All your JAMMA conversion quarter pumper crap has been sub $1,000 since I started buying games in 2001.  No real change there except $1,000 now isn't $1,000 then.  Blame the JPACs and dumpster Windows 98 machines.  Now it's a $50 multiboard.

Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga took a huge value ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- ~2006 when all those $10 TV joysticks came out.  I'm sure the Arcade1Ups are finishing them off.  Seem to be less than $1,000 ever since.  When Gen X turned 30 in the early aughts those things went for insane money.

Unique games with cultural presence like Tron have always sold for a fortune relative to their peers.  No change there.

I'd say that main thing separating this from other collectible hobbies is that new players are constantly being introduced.  So long as NAMCO keeps whoring out Pac-Man on every platform and device known to man, someone is going to want the original thing.  Can't say the same for antique model trains or Howdy Doody puppets.  Jukeboxes still seem to do pretty good although you couldn't give me one for free.  I guess some people like music and blinking lights.

 

[Fursphere]

People often build the strongest memories in their teenage years, and then try to recreate that experience later in life when they have discretionary income to support it.

There will always be collectors.  It'll be interesting to see what their heirs do with the collections after they're gone, and the passion for the hobby goes with them. 

I met a guy just last weekend that is a junk hauler for a living.  Gets called to clean out houses / estates / whatever.   He picks through the stuff and sells off things he can make money on, and dumps the rest.  After some talk, I asked him about Arcade and Pinball machines.  Without any hesitation, he said if they don't work on the spot, they go straight to the landfill.  No wasting any time on them.  I told him there are lots of people that would be interesting in these things, even in a broken state.  Didn't care - not worth a second of his time if it doesn't immediately fire up.  (This was in the Sacramento, California area).   He did say Arcade stuff was rare in his business, but he does run across it.

[RandyT]

I think the most accurate way to think about the situation is to look at that of the very old electro-mechanical arcade machines.  There are still some who collect them, but most of those deteriorated to beyond repair states and/or have long been landfilled.  The rest are now either in museums, or personal museums.  Sadly, most who are interested in video arcade preservation, really could care less, even though we might have played some of them when we were very young.

There may still be a market for original video arcade machines 20 years from now, but those who grew up putting quarters in them will very likely be gone, or so few in numbers, there will be little demand.  And unlike the EM machines, the games themselves will very likely still be with us, being playable on your toaster (/s), further reducing demand.

With this in mind, I feel that the hayday for original arcade machines has already passed by, unless it is so rare and in such good original condition that it will one day find it's way into a museum.  I'm not saying that there isn't still a market, but if I had one I was trying to sell, I would probably consider decent offers, even if lower than what I wanted to get from it.

Pinball machines, on the other hand....

[Malenko]

I cant get rid of mine for a reasonable price, even with the dark soft multis in them.   Im priced out of buying pins, and getting too old to move em around.

I'm sure when I croak they'll still be sitting unused in my basement like they are now.