pinball used to be cheap fun

[studley67]

i remember paying 20c a game for a go on a brand new bally 33 years ago.
now to play it again and re-live my youth i have to fork out nearly 2k.wtf am i doing.

[Strangeways]

Ah - But you didn't pay for or own the Bally 

Ballys (KISS, Paragon etc) cost around US$650 NIB in 1979. That was A LOT of money back then. There was no such thing as a collector. Pinballs were only bought to make money, and when they were superceeded, they were thrown away or stored in warehouses.

A loaf of bread cost how much in 1979 ? 

[studley67]

in '77 my dad paid $699 for my first computer ,,a dick\smith sys80,big pile of cr.p.but i bought my first pin a year later cost$250,nearly new gottlieb '300'

[studley67]

a 15 room two story mansion in the sea side heart of glenelg cost only $60k.memories.......................

[Steve2010]

i remember paying 20c a game for a go on a brand new bally 33 years ago.
now to play it again and re-live my youth i have to fork out nearly 2k.wtf am i doing.

Ah yes, but if the market stays healthy, and you take good care of the pin, you can turn it around and hopefully sell it for at least what you paid for it.  And play umpteen games inbetween.  A pretty good deal!

Ballys (KISS, Paragon etc) cost around US$650 NIB in 1979.

I wondered how much a pin would have "sold for" back when they came out .... was thinking of creating the thread, but you've provided the budget.  $650 in 1979 dollars is about $3,100 in today's dollars (assuming annual inflation of 5%).  Of course if you bought a brand new one back when they came out, locked it up for 30+ years, it would be worth more.  Then again, that's long time storage, and they ain't as small as a diamond.

[billstats]

 , i remember those days back in "79, it was different then ,the brand new solid state pins were a phenomenon,as i remember... . ,kind of like what our children are playing now( i.pod touch! )...

[Caveoftreasures]

$2 grand a machine is cheap really for all the great titles u can pick up these days.
If u pay $2,000 today, and keep it in great condition, you shld get your money back, give or take 20% over any given period.

Like alot of people, I purchased a whack of machines over the boom of the last few years. Average of $2k each, x 30 equals $60 k investment.
Some family told me I was crazy, but if i sold all of them today, I would get my money back. That means 2 years of fun for free, except a small bit of electricity, which equates to 6cents an hour to run a pinball.

NOW, if i had of bought a $60,000 HSV Commodore, or a $60,000 Mercedes, or anything like that, what would it be worth today, probably less than half if i was lucky. Plus the rego and running costs etc etc. I am so far better off having invested in pinballs. I have met lots of great people, and had a blast. AND i get all my money back if i sold the lot. I am happy with that investment, not to mention the good profit if i sold them all for current market price. (but they are all keepers really).

Pinballs are an excellent investment. You just have to buy the "right" machines and not over pay for them. cheap entertainment for the masses.

[PinPal]

My first pinball machine I ever bought was a 1977 Bally Strikes and Spares back in 1986. Back then I paid $600 for it when I lived in Melbourne at that time there was a glut of pinball machines and you could pick one up real cheap. Strikes And Spares was like brand new when I got it and not had many games played on it. I sold it for a Williams Firepower six years later and it wasn’t in the best condition.   Today a good condition Strikes and Spares would be around $2'500 as it was a popular game....
Sorry I ever sold it   This pick was taken in 1986...