I came across an old Replay Magazine from 1997 last night and found some of the dealer classified ads at the back to be very interesting so I thought we could have some fun with it.
Here are 15 pinball machines taken from Replay dealer classifieds circa 1997.  See if you can put them in the correct order (highest price to lowest price).  If you really have a lot of time to waste see if you can guess the prices.
In random order:

Indiana Jones
Addams Family
Mario Andretti
Johnny Mnemonic
Guns N Roses
Space Jam
Gilligan's Island
Twilight Zone
High Speed
Star Trek Next Generation
Creature From the Black Lagoon
Independence Day
Eight Ball Deluxe
Star Wars Trilogy
Who dunnit

Hints:
1. These are all dealer/store prices taken from different ads, not auction or private sellers.
2.  Addams Family was about the only game that was a "collectible" in 1997, so pricing is based more on the age of the game than the quality of the title.

I'll post the correct order and the prices later tonight.

Here are the pin prices from highest to lowest:

1.  Star Wars Trilogy $2997
2.  Space Jam $2895
3.  Independence Day $2497
4.  Mario Andretti $2295
5.  Who dunnit $1895
6.  Johnny Mnemonic $1799
7.  Addams Family $1650
8.  Indiana Jones $1350
9.  Guns N Roses $1295
10.  Star Trek Next Generation $1199
11.  Creature From the Black Lagoon $1097
12.  Twilight Zone $1000
13.  High Speed $695
14.  Gilligan's Island $500
15.  Eight Ball Deluxe $495

So did anyone guess the four highest prices games would be 3 Sega's and a Gottlieb or that the highest Bally/Williams would be Who dunnit?
Interesting thoughts:
1.  Twilight Zone got no love in the 90's, saw 4 ads for TZ all between $1000-1195.
2.  Most average Williams games were available for $795-995 including Getaway, Fishtales, Whitewater, T2, Judge Dredd
3.  In many ads, Gottlieb games from the same era (91-94) were priced higher than Bally/Williams.
4. Brand new in box NBA Fastbreak's were available at $2495.

Mario Andretti $2295...
Twilight Zone $1000...
20/20 hindsight....priceless

I heard someone here had a time machine?

I would buy a truck load at this price!!

Really interesting to see prices going up, down and to see how much difference there is year after year!

Thanks!

Eric

I think I would have jumped off a bridge if I had bought that Andretti at double the price of a TZ.

You got to remember that Williams destroyed themselves with releasing too many titles at the same time at that time. They were dumping NIB CV's at around $2K, so what are you going to pay for a 5 year old machine that wasn't a money maker?

Yep, Williams really devalued the product with all the sell-offs.  The ops knew if they waited a few months after release the games would be on clearout so it not only screwed the sales on the current showroom game but also on whatever new was coming out because the clearouts were on while the distributors were trying to pre-sell the upcoming release.

I dont know if the price of pins will going up or down for the next 10 years........     Try to guess the price of your pins in 2018....  

Maybe Gottlieb will come up to the top !!!!    

What will prices be like in 2018, that's a tough one.  
I guess supply and demand will tell the tale.  Demand for pinballs is very small, only a tiny fraction of the population is interested in buying them.  On the other hand, supply is also very tight and will only get tighter as time goes on.  I think the big wildcard will be new production.  If Stern or another new pinball company is still making games in 2018 then I'd say prices would be stable and slightly increasing over time.  However, if Stern bites it and pinball is relegated to history - the supply dramatically drops and in combination with the natural deathrate of existing games, pinball would become a truly "rare" collectible that could see huge price increases (think what some rare jukeboxes from the 50's/60's are worth today) - but as with any collectible only the most pristine condition games would be worth the big bucks.

Thoughts?

Jukes have come down. Partly I would think due to superior technology and partly due to the fact that those who found them nostalgic are getting on. There are probably many older people that are down sizing in retirement and have no room for a juke anymore. On the other hand you can play music many ways, however you can only really play pinball with a pinball machine.

If I look at my kids, they have no interest in owning pinballs. It's our generation that find them nostalgic. I would say in the long term the demand will drop.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

I would say in the long term the demand will drop.

Completely agree.   But in 2040, "Grandpas" house will be a pretty cool place to visit  

Quoted from Tuborg

Completely agree.   But in 2040, "Grandpas" house will be a pretty cool place to visit  

I just think of the EM pins. They seem to have dropped off quite a bit, since the demand isn't what it used to be.  And Bingo and EM arcade machines?  The demand is not too high for them.  

There will always be demand, but are we seeing the high end of the curve for the current crop of "A" list titles?

Quoted from Monkeybug

There will always be demand, but are we seeing the high end of the curve for the current crop of "A" list titles?

I think the current crop is "the" crop. That sounds like a pretty bold statement but in light of what is going on I hazard to guess it is the way it's going to be.

For example if you take jukes. There is a collectable era. If your in that era and have all the desired features, then you have something that is expensive. Get outside that era and your value drops substantially.

IMHO.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

If I look at my kids, they have no interest in owning pinballs. It's our generation that find them nostalgic. I would say in the long term the demand will drop.

OK - what is "our generation"??  Pinballs were still very popular and very cool in the mid 1990's.  Consider that some who played them at that time were 16-20 years old.  Fast forward to 2018 (approximately 23 years later) and those same individuals are only 43-45 years old.  Now many of them have excelled in their careers and made absolute killings on the stock market boom of 2012.  They have larger houses and the computer and video game industry has grown very tiring as computer and video games are more virtual reality then ever.  There are no machines that combine the mechanics/technology that Pinball did.

I believe the demand will continue to increase as a result.  We are not talking about juke boxes which can no longer play current media and are obsolute in terms of technology.  Pinballs have not been replaced and can not be replaced.  (not to give you the same experience) The cost to create a pinball machine in 2018 will be more than it costs to create one now (labour, materials, etc).  Therefore, the cost for a functioning machine will also go up.  IMHO -

I think in large part it is the generation that grew up on pinball/arcade games in the late 70's and early 80's whom are driving the current demand even though they may be choosing 90's games to collect.  Those who "grew up" in the 90's playing these machines are just entering the age where they have the means to buy them and will add fuel to the demand in years to come as sinpin said.
Necro is probably right in there will be a lull in the demand for games at some point in the future, but I think the supply of games will be so low (particularly if Stern is gone) that the prices will continue to go up.  
As an example:
10 YEARS AGO - it was relatively easy to buy a TZ pin ($1000-1500), you could buy from an operator, from a retail outlet or from a private seller
TODAY - it is more difficult and expensive to buy a TZ ($3000-4000), operators for the most part no longer have them, retail has a few and they are pricey, Most are in the hands of private collectors.
10 YEARS FROM NOW - by most accounts the coin-op business will be dead and operators will be extinct, most "arcade" retailers will be out of business as it will be almost impossible for them to buy games at a reasonable price, the market will be solely in the hands of the collectors and when that happens (it already started) prices rise. Unless more new games come on stream (ie whomever owns Bally/Williams rights starts re-producing collectible games like TZ, IJ, etc) basic economics tells us the in-demand collectible games will rise in price perhaps dramatically but as Necro says the non-collectible games or those outside the collectible era may drop in value.

Hopefully I am the great hope for the future Although, I probably make up a smaller niche for my age group then some of the older 30 or 40 something members here.

IMO, emulators have killed the arcade video game market. The difference between an authentic Donkey Kong and a MAME cabinet is slim, definitely not worth the price or the extra space required of a special machine.

Will this happen to pinball? A year ago I would have said NEVER. It would be too tough to emulate/simulate a real machine. That was until I saw Pinball FX on the Xbox 360. It's graphics and physics are fantastic, but not perfect. But as mp3s have shown us, perfect isn't required of most people, 'good enough' conquers in the end.

If someone could write a program like visual pinball, that was as good as Pinball FX, I could see many people passing over paying $3000 for an authentic machine. Then again, a good simulator can raise the interest in pinball, VP is what attracted me to pinball. (But it's a pretty crummy program by modern standards).

I may also be of the last generation that encountered pinball in the wild. It's so rare now! I only know of 4 places in Ottawa with machines set up: two are bowling alleys, one is a takeout pizza place, and one is an arcade.

Oh, and I'm 24. I'm probably the youngest person here that owns their own machine.  

Basically, I wouldn't buy pinball machines as an investment! Buy them because they're fun.

jonny - you may be right - simulations and pinball themed video games are excellent - but no matter what they are still simulations and can't reproduce the experience from standing in front of and interacting with a living machine, that may be pinballs most endearing quality - its a unique experience.

Although perhaps 10 years or more in the future we will have access to full VR in which we can stand in front of an actual game but in a virtual world, play any pinball or aracade game you want!  Kind of like an arcade "holo-deck.

jayd: That sounds awesome, I can't wait!

In my opinion, mame cabinet will never replace the original game.  The music and display is better in the original and i'm ready to pay more for the original.....    Mame is just a copy!!!  

I still think is is the actual combination of mechanics with technology that will cause pinball to continue to be desirable in the future.  Actual bumpers popping, actual flippers PHYSICALLY hitting a pinball and of course being able to slide and physically move the machine.  No matter how good a simulator or XBOX is, it is still just an image on a TV.  Yes, plasma and LCD TV's combined with X-BOX and Playstation are very exciting and new right now.  No matter how high the resolution and how intense the graphics, it is still just an image on a TV.

One thing I will guarantee everyone here, in 10 years your pinball machine will have increased much more in value than an XBOX 360 or the 60inch plasma you play it on!!!  

Speaking of TV, why the caricature of Jerry Mathers?

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Speaking of TV, why the caricature of Jerry Mathers?

C'mon isn't it obvious??  Who doesn't love Beaver?  I mean The Beaver.  

Seems Johnny Mnemonic is the only pin that hasn't increased in value. Pins are fun to play fix/maintain, great pieces of art, and limited editions. More limited than art prints. But like any hobby they aren't for everyone,I just wish I had a bigger budget and more room.