Pinball Value Website

[pinballjim]

This is much, much, much closer to reality than the Mr Pinball Price Guide.

http://www.bostonpinball.biz/ebay0512.htm


Head back to the main page periodically - they update the summary page and change the URL.


EDIT: link to updated listing.  Saved as PDF and attached.

[JeepMonkey]

Nice link, thanks.

[Cameronj]

Yeah I only wish I could buy pins for the prices that Mr. Pinball lists. It just ins't that realistic. The link above is much better.

[jono]

hi i'm on the look out for my first pin and i don't want to hijack this tread but this might be the  best place to ask what should i look for in a pin?

are some pins going up in value or sort after i've missed out on afew pins on a local auction site lastet being space invaders that went for $1800 NZ  so about $950 US it had some major wear in the middle of the playfield.

does anybody have any previous years price list?

would appreciate any advice?

[HaRuMaN]

Medieval Madness
 $5,541 average...

 
 

[jrmitch]

Pinside.com also has a feature that scrapes Ebay for pinball machines that are sold there and averages the $'s spent.  That should get you a pretty good idea as well.

[nudgefree]

Medieval Madness
 $5,541 average...

 
 

Yes, it's a fun game so it's definitely a shame it's not within reach of more people's price range.

[vorghagen]

Medieval Madness
 $5,541 average...

Yes, it's a fun game so it's definitely a shame it's not within reach of more people's price range.

I remember seeing a company a while ago that was releasing a series of new MM machines. I also remember something going horribly wrong.... Anyone know what the current deal is?

[Jeff AMN]

Medieval Madness
 $5,541 average...

Yes, it's a fun game so it's definitely a shame it's not within reach of more people's price range.

I remember seeing a company a while ago that was releasing a series of new MM machines. I also remember something going horribly wrong.... Anyone know what the current deal is?

Same deal as it always was...Wayne Gilliard of The Pinball Factory is a liar and a thief. For years he's been taking preorder money on remaking Medieval Madness and Cactus Canyon and he's never produced a single machine. All the while he sues anybody selling repro Bally parts on eBay. He's scum.

[vorghagen]

That's what I thought. Pity. It'd be nice to know there were a heap more examples out there in good condition, bringing the average price down a little.
Oh well, I suppose there's always winning the lottery...

[pinballjim]

He's never sued anyone for anything.  All e-mails from his 'lawyer' come from the same IP as his rants on RGP.

[Jeff AMN]

He's never sued anyone for anything.  All e-mails from his 'lawyer' come from the same IP as his rants on RGP.

Ok, fine, he threatens litigation all the time. Also, he gets a lot of auctions pulled on eBay even if he has a less than shaky claim to stand on. Bottom line with Wayne, he's a jerk and he's bad for the hobby. I can't think of anybody else that could be much worse to be (partially) holding the Bally license.

[RayB]

I can't think of anybody else that could be much worse to be (partially) holding the Bally license.

David Foley?
No, wait... he'd be holding the imaginary license.

[Pinball Wizard]

Medieval Madness
 $5,541 average...

 
 

Yes, it's a fun game so it's definitely a shame it's not within reach of more people's price range.

I've seen $6,000 each for three of them at an operators auction. Halloween 09' I went to an auction where a dirty looking machine with no boards in it went for $2,000+.

[HaRuMaN]

Yeah that kills me...  my all time favorite, and I'll need to win the lottery before I can get one... and they're not going to get any cheaper as time goes on, I'm sure.

[Silas (son of Silas)]

The pre-order form on The Pinball Factory's website states

MEDIEVAL MADNESS 
PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE ONLY A FEW GAMES LEFT!!

From this thread do I understand that there are 'NO GAMES LEFT' because there weren't any to start with?

Is anyone actually stupid enough to part with $2500 USD for anything that has been in a pre-order state since 2005?

[jkh62]

Medieval Madness
 $5,541 average...

 
 

Fun game but also over priced IMHO.
Like Cactus Canyon it's a supply / demand price structure.

[pinballjim]

Link updated through November... nice to watch the value of my games all taking a dump!

[DillonFoulds]

http://www.bostonpinball.biz/eBay052910.htm

Another update, for anyone interested.

[pinballjim]

"Average price is still around $1,200, but units have declined to about half of what they were."

That's interesting.  Stagnant prices, decreasing volume.

[Jeff AMN]

Sheesh, it's a terrible time to be a seller. I have bought more in 2009 and 2010 than I ever have because the prices have been so good. Arcade machines have it even worse though. You can't sell anything but an A list arcade game for more than $250. With pins it seems anything priced over $1,500 is going to sit for a long while unless it's an A list game.

[shardian]

I guess I just live in a great market area then. I seem to have no trouble finding buyers at the prices I want - vids or pins. I just sold a single unit Cruisin USA for $800, and an MKII in a Generic 19" Dynamo cut corner cab for $400. Not to mention I sold that Lethal Weapon 3 pin fully refurbished for $1200 a while back.

[FrizzleFried]

Yes... it's the area.  Asteroids are sitting at $250.00 here... my Xenon pin sat with little to no response at $450 for a week before I pulled the trigger...  Terminator 2 had to be discounted to $350 before it sold... even "A" list "sure fire sales" like Ms. Pac Man aren't selling for decent dough.  A friend of mine has a NICE Ms. Pac on CL for $1,000/obo.   It's a nice cab... all original... nice monitor... very good 8/10 ORIGINAL condition... he's gotten offers of $150-$250.... that is it.

[pinballjim]

Ms. Pac-Man hasn't been a $1,000 game in years, when you get down to it.

[FrizzleFried]

Ms. Pac-Man hasn't been a $1,000 game in years, when you get down to it.

Yeah... and he knows that... but he figured he'd throw it out there.  I'm just surprised by the lack of decent offers.

I told him if he gets an offer of $650+ he should consider jumping on it.

I also told him I'd take it off his hands for $300... it didn't work.

[Q*Bert_OP]

I remember a day I used to get $600-750 all day long at auction on beat up Ms. Pacs...gone are those days...

I also remember a day I could get $1000-1400 for a 39-in-1 multicade in a Ms pac ..now I'm lucky to get $600 for a multi

Now, $150-250 is average for a Ms Pac

[RayB]

 

there goes my investment!

[pinballjim]

there goes my investment!

Shouldn't be an investment!

 

[BamBam]

I can't think of anybody else that could be much worse to be (partially) holding the Bally license.

David Foley?
No, wait... he'd be holding the imaginary license.

I second that one 

[jrivelli]

I live in the portland, OR area and the market has gotten crappy in the last few months, but is still overall real nice.

I sold my Ms. Pac-Man for $650 in good shape on craigslist.

Sold my original big buck hunter for $400

Area 51: site 4 for $400

Pins here are averaging around the high end of that pricing guide list.

The issue is that there is one main seller here who is a total slime ball and scams so many people who have no idea and all his stuff he sells is  !!!

[pinballjim]

Around here, we've got a bunch of guys on disability that swoop in and buy anything cheap at any hour of the day.  I feel like the market has -really- dried up the last couple of years, though.  I do know a guy that fixes them up pretty good and sells ~$500 and he finds buyers pretty quick... so who knows.

[jrivelli]

A little side project of mine. I'm sure this has been done, but I took all the data from that site and put it into the same format, but with sortable fields. Just kinda fun for any numbers freaks out there.

http://cabana-rain.com/pinball


P.s - Don't mind the website it is hosted on. It had the most memory of any of my sites currently running.

[Nephasth]

I'm failing to see the numbers... but I did manage to find a nice body mist.

[jrivelli]

Sorry about that. Try now to refresh. Had the permissions set incorrectly.

[Nephasth]

That's better!

The scents of your lotion is amazing!

 

[jrivelli]

umm thanks? 

[pinballjim]

May want to update your data... they updated the website again....

Prices about the same, # of units sold still falling through the floor.  The inevitable decline of this hobby....

[jrivelli]

Cool. Thanks Jim. I set it up so it should be really easy to just plug in the new csv file. Also, I noticed I am a bit off on # of units sold. I used yesterday's data, but mistyped the variable so as you can see the # sold overall is not correct for a majority of the pins.

[jrivelli]

*Updated*

I fixed the variable for count of sales and all data should now be correct and current. I know this isn't the coolest thing ever, but kinda cool to be able to sort the data.

[yaksplat]

Well, I'm glad to see that my WhiteWater is holding its value, if not increasing.

[pinballjim]

Well, I'm glad to see that my WhiteWater is holding its value, if not increasing.

I've been collecting over 10 years and from the very beginning I've head "WhiteWater is only going up, Up, UP!" in value.  It's been a $1,500-$1,700 game the entire time.

 

[jrivelli]

I've been collecting over 10 years and from the very beginning I've head "WhiteWater is only going up, Up, UP!" in value.  It's been a $1,500-$1,700 game the entire time.

 

According to that pricing list it has gone up to roughly 2,000 this year it seems. I'd say that's an increase from the past sales.

[jrivelli]

Question...What is the difference on the STP or STI at the end of a pin? I feel like this has something to do with sega or stern, any ideas?

If you look at the Harley Davidson pinball that is a good example of what I am referring to.

[DillonFoulds]

Harley Davidson BLY - Bally
Harley Davidson SPI - Sega Pinball Incorporated
Harley Davidson STP - Stern Pinball

IPDB is a great source for pinball machine details:
http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=harley+davidson&sortby=name&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick

[jrivelli]

Thanks!

Yeah, I have a macro for searching IPDB, but I was just wondering what those meant specifically. I had a good idea, but curious if they had some weird acronym.

Thanks again!

[pinballjim]

Gotta love 3 letter initializations of 4 and 5 letter words.

[TopJimmyCooks]

This continues to be a good guide to what's up.  They're not getting the info from my meager few sales because they're not ebay.  However, I've been in the right range on the few I've bought. 

[nickbuol]

I guess I should feel pretty good about my $1500 purchase of Theatre of Magic back in 2002.  I was also able to pick up a full set of plastics and parts too. I never installed them though.  I am using my own "reproduction" plastics in some areas, and a beat up trunk.  I figure that if I ever parted with it, I would offer the buyer the parts as is, or install them so that they all were perfect in the game. 

I doubt I will be able to ever talk my wife into giving me a little more space in the basement, but I would love to build (from scratch) a virtual pinball machine to go with my Theatre of Magic, MAME cabinet, and pachinkos...  Of course, to do it the way I would want to would run a pretty hefty price.

[pinballjim]

Updated the link to the latest set of figures.  Prices continue to increase slightly while volume drops off a cliff.  Figured this hobby would have bottomed out by now but this looks like as good as it will get.

I urge any of you considering a specific machine available locally to go ahead and purchase it.  We are well into the 'may never see it at a reasonable price again' days.

[TopJimmyCooks]

I'm looking at everything that comes on CL locally (eastern NC).  Everything except the $8000 attack from mars, that is. there's not a lot of volume but there's also not a lot of responses to the ads compared to some places.   

Machines i've encountered but didn't buy lately:
4-5 working EM's - Hocus Pocus, Dipsy doodle, old chicago - all $450 range likely still available
Mystic working $500 (already had one bought for $250 ish)  available
AFM - $8000 didn't bother looking.
Hot tip $1200 WTF! didn't call
Mousin around, working, looked, passed up, sold 900
Pinbot complete, nonworking sold 900 (regret passing up)  broken ramp.
Meteor nonworking, sold 350, which he had previously turned down $300 from me.  said the buyer got it working by fixing a drop bank switch. 

anything A or B list tends to be someone fishing for a high price. 

[pinballjim]

Yeah, I keep an eye on my local Craig's List, too, and it's mostly undesirable EMs.  One guy single handedly bought everything in San Antonio that sold for less than $500 for the past few years so the churn in this city is dead.  He's got something like 65 games now, all stacked on top of each other in his garage.  Anything I've purchased in this city was something I grabbed before he or one of his collector buddies could get to it.   

[nickbuol]

Yeah, I keep an eye on my local Craig's List, too, and it's mostly undesirable EMs.  One guy single handedly bought everything in San Antonio that sold for less than $500 for the past few years so the churn in this city is dead.  He's got something like 65 games now, all stacked on top of each other in his garage.  Anything I've purchased in this city was something I grabbed before he or one of his collector buddies could get to it.   

Such a shame.  Buy up everything and then don't even play it.  Then again, I was a kid who played with his toys growing up.  It doesn't mean that playing the pinballs would hurt them or wear them out.  In my opinion, he is a borderline hoarder or just looking to "invest" in hopes of making money in a few years.  Either way, pretty sad.

[TopJimmyCooks]

What I do is use a free app called craigslist Notifica on my android phone. Give's a notification message anytime you get a search hit.  I use searches for "pinball" and "arcade" all the time and sometimes other things I'm looking for.  Some things are advertised so often it becomes annoying (kayaks, surfboards, utility trailers, aquariums are posted 5-10 times per day, too often to receive notifications)

Everybody always tells me I'm the first response call.  Works great since pinball posts are maybe 3 per month around here.

[pinballjim]

Well, apps like that explain why my parents were getting phone calls in 2 minutes after they posted an ad to dump a Kawasaki Mule

[TopJimmyCooks]

There you go.

(haven't gotten any hits on my "mule" search for a while)

[nickbuol]

I used that app many times in the past for finding things.  It is pretty slick.  Now if I just had MONEY to put into more game room stuff.  Of course, I would need a larger gameroom too.

My wife always said that I had too many expensive hobbies.  I've got the arcade, the pinball (only one), and 3 pachinkos which are fairly low maintenance and low expense now that they are bought/built.  But I also used to play a lot of paintball and have a good chunk of money sunk into gear for that.  Haven't played in almost 2 years now.  I miss it, but probably should just bring myself to sell my gear.  

I also love working on my car.  Not the maintenance stuff, but performance tuning (not ricer tuning, but adding actual *muscle* to cars).  My last car that I worked on, I bumped up about 65 WHP after doing all sorts of things, and doing them right.  Then my daughter wrecked it.  My current car is itching to get some of those tunes/modifications, but no money.  

We bought our current house 1 year ago, after losing $40,000 on our previous house.  #1 task was to finish 1600sqft in the basement.  Yea, we were over budget on that, not a lot, but it isn't quite 100% either.  Oh, and that included a new home theater.  Soundproofed room was expensive, and that doesn't account for the equipment or actual acoustical treatments IN the room, seats, etc.  

Oh, throw in the fact that the house, while only 12 years old, has a lot of design elements that looked like they were from the 80's.  All new light fixtures, window treatments, and so on were in order.  My wife wants new kitchen countertops, and our master bathroom updated.  I am about 90% done updating the guest bathroom too.

So anyway, it goes on and on.  I just feel flat out broke, and with two vacations this summer (trust me, they are costing us a LOT less than most people spend on 1 vacation, but still costs $$$), I just have no dollars.

I still think that before I drop some bucks on a real pinball, that is just going to make me want more and more, I might just put it into my 2-3 year plan to build a virtual pinball with all of the bells and whistles to make it as real as an artificial system can be.  Still not the same as a real pin, but a little more justifiable to my wife.... I hope...

[smartbomb2084]

This link was updated today Jimmyboy...get on it.

[pinballjim]

I've noticed that the website has been up and down lately, so I saved the listing as a PDF and attached it to the first post.  I don't see an updated link but I'll keep an eye out for it, smartbomb.

[smartbomb2084]

Sorry Jim, I was misinformed. The site is currently updated.

Please accept my humble apologies.... seriously.

 

[pinballjim]

All I care about is everyone getting reasonable deals on pinball machines, brah.

 

[arzoo]

Anyone notice that pinball prices have gone crazy? I monitor craigslist daily (across three states) for arcade and pinball and over the past year or more it seems like prices are trending way up. People are asking $1500 to $2500 for EMs and $3500 to 5k for desireable SS's. Not sure if anyone is paying those prices but still - is this a pinball bubble!

[HaRuMaN]

I've been watching MM's sell for over 10K on eBay.

[pinballjim]

There are a few games that I'm so sick of I don't care if I ever play them again.

MM, Funhouse, and Shadow are on that list.  All fun games in their own right but they're freaking antiques and people need to move on.

[ChadTower]

Yeah, market is going way up right now so CL sellers are trying to push the envelope.  They all seem to be sucker phishers anyway so if the market is up they are always going to be on the leading edge of rising prices. 


It doesn't help that Xmas is coming.