Today we have a big deep dive into the pinball machine market.
As an owner and a longtime player involved in many pinball groups, I have a very good understanding of where the best opportunities are in this particular hobby.
Like any collectible, the key to finding value in the pinball market is research. I’ve done the research, and am happy to share it with you today.
In the first half, I’ll cover the history of pinball, its evolution through technological eras, and the factors influencing value.
The second half gives you pricing data, highlights specific models with the best ROI potential, and shows you how to invest.
This issue also includes pics from the Australian Pinball Museum, which Stefan had the opportunity to visit this week.
Note: Since you have the All-Access Pass, you can access the full issue. ✅
Let’s roll 👇
Jeffrey Briskin is a veteran Boston-area financial writer and marketing consultant. His past work with Alts include deep dives on Life Time Fitness, Sensate, and Geoship. Jeffrey is also the author of the best-selling Biblical crime novel, Bethlehem Boys.
Table of Contents
Why pinball?
“Can’t see no lights a’flashing
Can’t hear no buzzers and bells
That deaf, dumb and blind boy
Sure plays a mean pinball”
– Pinball Wizard
If the words of The Who’s 1969 hit single from Tommy make you tingle inside, this article is for you. Because I’m going to spend some time discussing pinball. Its history and evolution. And its potential return on investment as an expensive collectible.
For gamers who have never “played the silver ball” in person, give it a try the next time you see one.
If you get hooked, it’s never been easier to own one. And, if you make the right choice, you could make some money if you sell it.
This last part is key. Because there are unique characteristics of the pinball market that make it different from other supply-driven collectibles.
Pinball machines haven’t changed much over time
One interesting thing about pinball machines is how relatively little they have changed over the past 75 years.
The basic architecture and features of nearly every pinball machine ever made are strikingly similar.
With a few exceptions, every game has:
- A cabinet, covered by a sheet of glass
- This houses the playfield, where all the action occurs
- A backbox on the far end that houses the mechanisms and computer chips that generate sounds, scores and other info
- A backglass, a slide-in graphic image on the backbox that advertises the name and manufacturer of the game
- Two or more flippers, which allow players to save pinballs from draining and smack them to different parts of the playfield to run up scores and keep them in play.
- The spring-loaded plunger or button that launches the ball into the playfield.
But what makes a pin of the 50s or 60s completely different from one manufactured today are the innovations made possible by advances in technology.
Take a look at two machines: Big Casino from 1961:
…and Godzilla from 2021:
Which would you rather play?
I thought so. That’s one reason why, as we’ll see, “vintage” and “value” aren’t synonymous in the pinball market.
A brief history of pinball
While pinball’s primitive ancestors date back to the 1930s, these games were purely luck-based. You’d launch the ball into the playfield and hope it would take a few lucky bounces to run up a score before draining.
The real history of modern pinball began in 1947. That’s when Humpty Dumpty became the first pinball game to feature flippers.
This key development turned pinball into a real game, where players’ skills could directly influence the outcome.
Over most of its history, pins have been located mainly in bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, pool halls and arcades.
Not surprisingly, most players were and still are men, which is why, until the 1990s, most games featured themes like gambling, gunslingers, hot rods, sports, superheroes, sci-fi, and monster movies.
And nearly all prominently featured illustrations of buxom, scantily clad women.
How big is the pinball market today?
While there’s always been demand for used machines among hobbyists who want to play their favorite games at home, this market didn’t really take off until the early 2000s, when the Internet made it easier to learn about different games and find them for sale online.
Today, it’s estimated that hobbyists purchase at least half of all used and new pins (referred from hereon in as “new in box” or “NIB”).
The other 50% are bought by operators (owners who place ’em in bars, restaurants and arcades and earn a share of their revenue).
Ted “Doc” Finlay, a nationally known researcher of US pinball valuation trends and owner of pinballballprices.com, estimated that the used pinball market was $143 million in 2023. Over 26,000 machines changed hands that year.
It’s fairly easy for potential owners to find most of the models they’re looking for.
Why? Because many collectors buy a new pin, play it until they get bored, and then sell it.
Or, operators sell pins whose revenue no longer exceeds their maintenance costs.
Today, you can buy many used pins for anywhere from 20% to 70% lower than their original NIB prices
Which makes these games a good deal for those who have the muscle (and cargo space) to move their new 300-pound toy from someone’s basement to their own.
Pinball machines are fun to play and own. But like many collectibles, you have to find the right models at the right price to make a profit.
Vintage doesn’t always mean value
Unlike many high-end collectibles markets, age and rarity don’t matter.
The value of a given pinball machine isn’t driven by its age or the number of machines still available in the market. Many vintage pins with production runs of well under a thousand can be found for a song.
As Ted Finlay points out, few pins have value as historical artifacts, either.
“Take Humpty Dumpty, for example. You’d think a historical machine like this would command a high price, especially since it’s hard to locate one in good shape. Yet, when you do find them for sale, they go for around $1,200 maximum and often for a lot less.”
So where are the opportunities?
It all depends on the era.
The Electromechanical Era (1947-1977)
This is the term for the first generation of games from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. These are the pins that made Tommy the “Bally Table King.”
With a few top-rated exceptions, like Nags (2024 average Pinside price: $4,100) or Fireball ($3,000), there’s little demand for these games.
For one thing, the Gen Xers and Yers and millennials who now comprise the majority of purchasers don’t find them much fun to play.
And, when things break, replacement parts may be difficult to find.
That’s why prices for electromechanicals generally run from $500 to $1,500 and values rarely appreciate.
The Solid-State Era (1977-1990)
Hot Tip, rolled out in 1977, began the solid-state era of pinball.
These games integrated computer technology into their builds, giving the hobby new life.
In their first generation of solid-staters:
- Alphanumeric LED screens replaced mechanized “falling digit counters”
- Synthesized voices and music provided a more immersive audio experience
- Integrated software allowed for more complex rules and greater flexibility in playfield design
Most of these machines allowed up to four people to play at the same time, enhancing bartime entertainment, and giving these pins far greater replay value.
But fun as they are, first-generation solid-staters aren’t particularly desirable as collectibles, either.
Most can be found selling in the $1,500-$4,000 range and don’t significantly increase in value. Even the first solid-stater, Hot Tips averages about $1,300.
One solid state exception is 1990’s Funhouse, which has largely held its average value around $6,100.
Why? Simple: It’s still a fantastic game to play, and was conceived by legendary pinball designer Pat Lawlor (more on him later).
The Dot Matrix Display Era (1991-2016)
In 1991, Checkpoint (average price $2,300) inaugurated the second-generation of solid state pins. It was the first game to feature a monochrome dot matrix display (DMD) that could show fully animated images and text along with the score.
Other manufacturers soon began jumping on the DMD bandwagon. But none of these early games set the world on fire.
That would happen in 1992, with the introduction of The Addams Family, a groundbreaking game based on the 1991 movie starring Raul Julia and Angelica Huston.
Designed by Funhouse creator Pat Lawlor, Addams was unlike any game that had come before it.
Incorporating the latest advances in gaming technology, Addams’ innovative playfield featured numerous toys that moved when hit.
- Shooting a ball into a sinkhole activated one of the many modes where the player needed to hit certain targets or combinations of targets to complete it.
- Completing all of the modes, achievable only by highly skilled players, started a special “wizard mode” that unlocked special scoring opportunities unavailable in regular play.
The Addams Family was the first game to fully exploit the capabilities of its DMD display, which featured a wide variety of text messages, lively cartoon animations and visual effects. Addams also featured fully orchestrated music and sound clips from the movie.
With more than 20,000 units produced, The Addams Family became the best-selling pinball machine of all time.
After Addams, there was no turning back.
Pinball design reached its peak during this era, with beautiful backglasses and artwork and increasingly elaborate playfields loaded with an endless variety of stationary and dancing targets, ramps, towers, gates and other gadgets.
For example, Star Trek: The Next Generation featured two on-playfield “phasers” that allowed a player to “shoot” a captured ball at various targets.
Upper-level interactive playfields, such as the paddle-based Battlefield in The Shadow, became a popular feature on many games.
Rulesets became so complex that it could take an hour or more to complete every objective that would launch the wizard mode (some games had several).
This enhanced the replay value of these games, and increased their attractiveness for consumers who didn’t have the time to complete a game at their local watering hole.
The LCD era (2013 – Present)
From 2000 to 2012, Stern was the sole survivor of the original generation of pinball manufacturers, feeding the market a steady stream of DMD games.
This changed in 2013, when a new challenger, Jersey Jack Pinball, upended the solid state market with its introduction of The Wizard of Oz.
While this gorgeous machine offered an amazingly beautiful playfield and toy set and one of the most complicated rulesets of all time, what ultimately made it a game-changer was its incorporation of a large, full-color LCD video display.
This screen simultaneously displayed scoring, the status of multiple modes, messages, and original footage and audio and music from the 1939 MGM movie classic
The Wizard of Oz also established a new price point for new games. While the basic versions of Stern’s games during this era retailed anywhere from $4,500 to $7,000, the price for a NIB standard Wizard of Oz started at $9,000.
For several years, Jersey Jack owned the LCD market, while Stern continued to manufacture only DMD pins.
That changed in 2016, when Stern rolled out its first LCD game, Batman 66. Since then, both Stern and Jersey Jack now only manufacture LCD games, most of them based on tried-and-true TV series and movie franchises:
…and rock bands:
But over the past decade, a number of pinball startups have entered the market…
Companies like American Pinball, Dutch Pinball, Spooky Pinball, and Barrels of Fun have come into the fray, releasing smaller runs with offbeat licensed themes:
Most market action is in DMDs
More than 150 different pins were produced in the Dot Matrix Display era, which ended in 2016 with the release of Ghostbusters.
DMD games remain the most active segment of the secondary market, with prices for most games ranging from $2,000 to $8,000, depending on demand and condition.
But there are exceptions.
Some DMD pins still sell for $10,000 or more, even though thousands more units were produced than their lower-priced kin.
Take the aforementioned Addams Family. You would think that with a production run of over 20,000, and thousands still parked in collectors’ basements, there should be plenty available, which should keep prices reasonable, yes?
No. In the early 2000’s, you could buy a used Addams Family for less than $5,000.
As late as 2020, the average price was under $8,000. Today, you’re lucky if you can find one in excellent shape for under $13,000.
Why does this pin maintain or increase its value?
Because in the pinball world, ratings and reputation outweigh supply as the key driver of prices nearly every time.
The Addams Family has always been near the top of IPD’s “300 Top Rated Pinball Machines list.
Many players, particularly those looking for their first machine, treat these ratings as gospel, and, as we’ll see, Addams and other “Top 20” machines from the DMD era tend to command higher prices and often increase in value, regardless of their production runs.
Two other Top 20 examples, The Twilight Zone and Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure, each with production runs of over 15,000 and 12,000 units, respectively, have also maintained or increased in value over the years.
The reverse can also be true: Many limited run games with lower ratings usually aren’t in high demand.
Case in point: 1995’s Stargate had a production run of “only” 3,600.
Yet, because of its relatively “low” #38 rating, Stargates usually sell for well under $4,000 on Pinside.
Tiers of toys
Today, most NIB pins come in either two or three price tiers:
- A standard model
- A premium model, and
- A limited-edition or “collector’s” model.
The more expensive tiers often feature more playfield toys, different backglasses, varying color schemes and illustrations and more expensive artwork and building materials.
While best-selling standard editions may have production runs of 5,000 or more, top-tier models are usually capped at a thousand or fewer. If they earn high player ratings, they often hold or increase their value, even if the resale value for their lower-tier counterparts levels off.
Pinball cycles: Where are we now?
With so many used machines available, a collector can fill their rec room with DMD and LCD pins, often priced 30%-50% below their original NIB price.
However, the market is notoriously cyclical, as Ted Finlay’s overall market “pinflation barometer” clearly illustrates.
For example, during the height of the COVID era, when people were spending their government stimulus checks on Pelotons and other at-home time-killers, including pinball machines, resale prices for many popular models rose by 10% or more.
Post-pandemic pricing
The “pin-bull” market peaked in 2022. Since then, prices have either stabilized or declined.
Here’s one example. During the peak of the pandemic, if you wanted to buy the top-tier edition of Jersey Jack’s Guns N’ Roses, an LCD game from 2020 that originally retailed for $15,000, you’d have to shell out as much as $17,000, according to Pinballprices.com. Today, you can easily find them selling for under $11,000.
Prices for all but the most “in-demand” machines are likely to either stay the same or decline over the next few years. This means that many bargains can be found, but they may not have significant resale value.
Another risk: Market flooding
During recessions, many laid-off workers sell their pins to raise cash to pay the bills.
But a larger, long-term risk is the demographics of many owners.
Right now, thousands of pins are gathering dust in the basements of aging baby boomers. When they pass on, their spouses and children will want to get rid of these games as quickly as possible, even if that means selling them for much less than they’re worth.. This may end up creating an oversupply of even Top-20 models, which could lower their values significantly.
Of course, this risk isn’t unique to the pinball market. Ask anyone who’s trying to make a few bucks selling their parents’ treasured collection of Beanie Babies.
At least the difference with pins is that if you buy high now and sell low later, you’ll at least have the experience—and fun—of playing some of the most beautiful, innovative and enjoyable games ever made.
Two noteworthy unicorns
There are a couple of ultra-rare DMD games that collectors are often willing to break the bank for on the rare occasions when they come on the market.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Not to be confused with the low-rated 2006 Stern model of the same name, the top-tier #16 rated (on Pinside.com) 2018 Jersey Jack collector’s edition had a limited production run of only 200 units.
Not surprisingly, they’re rarely posted for sale, and when they are, they usually sell for over $30,000 — over twice their original NIB price.
Big Bang Bar
This offbeat, science fiction-themed “adult” game from 1996 has achieved legendary status among pinball aficionados.
Only 14 units were made by original manufacturer Capcom before it canceled mass production.
In 2007, Illinois Pinball, which had bought the rights and all remaining parts, restarted production of 191 additional units, at a retail price of under $4,000(!)
Today, nearly all “BBBs” are in the hands of private collectors. You rarely see one posted for sale publicly, and for serious collectors it’s considered the holy grail of the pinball world.
According to Pinside, the average price peaked at nearly $50,000 in 2023, but has since fallen to a “bargain” price of around $30,500.
If somehow you can find an owner (or, most likely, their heirs) selling either Pirates or BBB for at least 10% less than their current prices, consider swooping on it.
Which games have the best appreciation potential?
“Top 20” machines from the DMD era tend to command higher prices and often increase in value, regardless of their production runs.
If you don’t have the resources (or the budget) to go after the game’s few unicorns, there’s still some ROI potential if you can find high-demand DMD games from the 1990s and early 2000s at decent prices.
Here’s a starter list of decent ROI potential games you may want to keep an eye out for.
This chart shows the average selling price of the game in 2020 (from Pinballprices.com) and its more recent selling price on Pinside so you can see its valuation history.
Unless otherwise noted, all models listed are standard models.
*The lower-priced standard version of this game has good ROI potential, too.
**Jersey Jack doesn’t always provide production numbers for standard editions.
If you can find these or other high-rated, high demand pins in excellent working condition at prices at least 15% lower than their current average values, you may want to take the “plunge.”
What about the #1 rated pin?
If you’re wondering why I didn’t include Godzilla, the #1 rated game of all time on this list, that’s intentional. It’s a great game to play, but it’s not a great investment.
According to Pinside, most standard editions can be found selling for at least 10% less than their 2023 peak price of $7,000 and even the 1,000 unit limited edition is selling for at least 10% less than its 2022 peak value of $15,000.
Some classic exceptions
Note that the list above doesn’t include four highly rated, high-demand, 1990s Bally/Williams DMD classics:
That’s because over the past decade, the Chicago Gaming Company has rolled out letter-perfect, technologically superior reproductions of these classics, and selling them NIB at prices that are often lower than prices for their used counterparts.
These remakes make the future appreciation potential of the 1990s originals less certain.
Oh, and if you’re thinking about getting an original Funhouse, keep in mind that a remake is in the works as well.
What about NIB models?
According to Colin Alsheimer, proprietor of Kineticist, a pinball news site, the real reason you should want to buy a new pinball machine is because you want to play it, rather than store it.
“Even NIB pins that have never been played generally don’t have great investment value. Yet, some collectors keep them sealed in their shipping boxes, like Star Wars action figures in their original wrapping. But this isn’t necessarily the best idea.”
He continues…
“If you don’t keep it on a palette in a weather-proof environment, extreme heat or cold or flooding can damage it. Even if you never plan on using it often, you’re much better off taking it out of the box and playing a few games just to make sure everything’s working properly while it’s still under warranty. If it checks out okay, you can keep it looking new by covering it with blankets or bed sheets in a climate-controlled location away from dust and direct sunlight.”
But don’t expect a huge return on investment. According to Ted Finlay’s research, people who bought NIB games in the last few years have taken a hit, value-wise.
How to find the best games
Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to find these games when they’re available. Key classified sites are
You sometimes find pins for sales on Craigslist as well. While most sellers prefer to sell locally, some will ship their machines at an extra cost.
Other ways to find machines are to network with others players by joining a pinball league in your area or attending a pinball event in your area, where enthusiasts go to play, check out new games, and sell their own. Facebook also has dozens of pinball related interest groups.
Condition is key
Used pins machines that look great and play perfectly have far greater appreciation potential than games that look like they’ve taken a beating over the years.
And, unless you’re an expert, it can be tough to figure out whether a seller’s price is reasonable or not.
Remember, modern pinball machines have thousands of moving parts, any of which may eventually break down at any time.
Identifying these issues takes specialized electronics and mechanical expertise. That’s why many first-time owners hire an experienced pinball technician to go with to inspect a pin they’re thinking of buying. While a game may look pristine on the surface, there may be plenty of problems “under the hood.”
Any issues they identify may help keep purchasers from overspending on a machine that could cost thousands more in repairs down the road.
Remember: Before you buy any pin, you should try to play it first, either on location or in someone’s home. Half the fun of owning is playing.
That’s all for today!
Reply with comments — we read everything.
Until next time, Jeffrey
Further reading
For easy reference, here are links to online pinball resources already mentioned as well as some additional sites worth checking out.
- The Internet Pinball Database: Despite an awful interface that looks like it hasn’t changed since before the Y2K era, this site still had the most detailed information on nearly every machine ever made and is the source of the most reliable lists of top-rated games.
- Pinballprices.com: Ted Finlay’s valuable resource for historical pricing information.
- Pinside: The largest online pinball community in America, with arguably the most classified listings for new and used machines from every era.
- Mr. Pinball Classifieds. Another well-known pinball classified site.
- Facebook’s Pinball for Sale group. Sign up and get classified ads for used pins in your Meta newsfeed.
- Kineticist: A great resource if you want to keep up with what’s going in the pinball world.
- Pinball News: Another excellent pinball news site.
- Pinball Map: Use this site to find local public places to play near you or find out where specific pins can be found in your area.
Disclosures
- This issue was written and researched Jeff Briskin, with editing and some photography by Stefan von Imhof.
- Photos courtesy of IPD, Pinside, and The Australian Pinball Museum
- This issue was sponsored by First National Realty Partners
- Neither Alts nor Altea has any current holdings in any companies mentioned in this issue
- This issue contains no affiliate links.
- This is a paid issue. To read the full thing you need the All-Access Pass
