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.