Like your style Pete.
While I thinks there is room for everyone's thoughts and opinions, I don't see the point in trying to convince others that "minty NIB" is the be all and end all.
I have been fortunate enough to have one NIB, but have enjoyed my different stages in the hobby - my early days reliving the past with SS games, and loving searching, finding and restoring, and my more recent turn to later model DMDs.
Both reflect how pinball was part of my life. The very start of the 80's and fun with those new fangled "digital" games which added so much to the mix after the EMs. I played a lot and spent a lot on time in arcades.
Just as I bought my first SS I came across an AFM and soon after a TZ near work, which sparked interest in these even more developed electronic systems and the greater depth they again lent to the games. Now I have moved towards those games (keeping a couple of choice SS games too).
I admire Gary Stern for keeping at it, but with the demise of the massive Williams involvement, and Sega giving it back, it was as much luck as anything. I recall a few years ago Gary making a point of how home use buyers were irrelevant to him. How things have changed.
