TEN YEARS TIME ? PRICING ?

[Olivia_jason]

it will depend what we all do in the time we have our machines, if we promote pinball it could see them being popular i nthe future. sitting in our sheds wont help them become as popular in the future, having sited pins will. the only reason most of us like pins is because we played a sited pin and its a sence of nostalgia for us, keep that going and they will remane popular, although i doubt pinball makers will be around for to much longer. i dont think they promote their product out side those who are already involved in the hobby. ask me 12 months ago if any one still made pinball machines i would have thought NO. its only getting into the hobby i found out other wise, Stern do a shithouse job promoting their product, and to any one other than people already involved in the hobby wouldn't know who the hell stern is. once the hobby gets smaller they will also. and it will get smaller if they dont start marketing out side of those who are already in the pinball hobby.

[mickthepin]

I have read many threads like this and there are a lot of people that make a convincing argument that the price of pins will plummet. I am not so sure. What I do know is I can’t see myself stoping looking for pins, and I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone in this forum that would say they could take it or leave it. If current collectors are staying collectors and new people are coming to the hobby all the time, I think growth of the hobby is assured. (Growth = rise in price as demand v availability) However I do concede that one day it will go out, but that will be when we that grew up with pins die out.
Are good pins going to rise in price in your life time?......As sure as the price of stamps will rise.
Is a good pin an heirloom that can be passed on to your kids as part of their inheritance?........Can’t see it.

[mickthepin]

 Seriously though, maybe DMD machines will be rarer in 10 yrs because every one has them and doesnt want to part with them unless they have to for financial reasons. [/quote]

Bang on Brett

[Caveoftreasures]

Heres a good one for you, I started collecting 3 years ago, not because I ever played machines on site when I was younger, and had memories like alot of the forum members, but because someone said why dont u buy a pinball machine for your kids to play !  I never looked back.

So u dont have to be a kid who played a pin onsite to collect, or even have good knowledge of the pinball industry to start collecting.

All it took me at 38 yrs of age (3 yrs ago) was to see one nice pinball machine at someones place and I was hooked. 3 yrs later, and 40 machines, just because i saw one pinball machine late in my 30's at someones place one afternoon.

The lesson here is, show someone, anyone your pinballs, and u never know what they might do next !

I think prices will stay the same for a long time and machines will still be worth great money. 

[Retropin]

Can only see prices rising and quality declining.
Im following prices in US at the moment and im gobsmacked at some of the prices EMs are selling for.. in many cases, more than here. Reason being that there are now so many collectors and games are stored away in private collections and so sourcing a machine gets harder. Woodrails are pretty much non existant.. the top titles are commanding top dollar for lesser games.
What will kill the LATE DMD market is that 90% of the machines will be HUO, so quality will always be good. Will the surface mount boards still be going?? Time will tell.. damn hard to fix a surface mount PCB.
There rea dips in the market ( like now) and there are always those that want too much for a crap quality machine that needs too much done to it... but REAL machines, with REAL patina and all original are always going to be highly sought after. Top end restorations also will command a high dollar but serious attention to originality needs to be adhered to.

3 markets in the future.

Original games in good condition... top dollar( remember these will need restoring one day!)
Top end restores... top dollar
Run of the mill games... sold to budget collections and restorers


Sorry.. make that 4 markets

Playmatic games will be desirable as they are the only ones in good condition and affordable.



Naaaaah... the last one is just toooooooo ludicrous!

[Richyrich]

I think as time goes on,the : "A" grade pins,will continue to be worth more and more

Supply and demand,its very simple

More and more people are collecting high end titles and it seems to be  harder to get great quality.

So as they keep drying up,the A graders will become harder and harder to come by

The price will go up

[Strangeways]

Prices will go up in 10 years time. Maybe 10% on DMDs or slightly higher. High End restores are already in huge demand. SS will increase by more than DMDs. Part of this reason is the license that SS games hold. Playboy is a classic example. You could buy them for $600 in the 90's, they are now worth $3000 for a poor example. When Hugh finally kicks the bucket, they will double in price. Proof of this was the Evel Knievel Pin. Before he died, it was a $2000 pinball. Post death - $3500. Stern Ali is worth $1800. When he passes - $3000. This can't be said of DMDs. Scared Stiff won't increase by 30% when Elvira passes.

EMs are already increasing in demand and pricing.

DMDs have dropped slightly due to the standard of games supplied to the market at the moment.

The "big picture" - ALL machines will increase by at lease 10%, but the biggest mover in 20 years time will be licensed SS games, followed by Star Treks and Star Wars titles.