Evaluation - Review

You should carefully review the 4 steps in the evaluation process when assessing your machine's cosmetic and electrical condition.   

Many people use phrases like “this machine is selling for $XXXX on eBay” or “similar machines sell for $XXXX online”.  This is rarely the case.  When people see machines for sale on eBay or other sites online, it is nearly impossible to compare condition and price.  Additionally, the machines with high dollar asking prices don’t often sell.  eBay charges nothing to list an item for sale.  That means that a seller can ask an unrealistic, inflated price and not have it cost him a cent.   If you really want to see what a pinball machine sold for, you should view “completed auctions”, and see the true value.

A perfect example of an overstated asking price is a 1978 Bally KISS pinball machine that we recently saw for sale.  If you do a quick search on your favorite online sale site, you’ll find people asking $3,000 or more for this machine.  Is a KISS pinball machine really worth that?  KISS machines are also often described as “rare”.  Rare is a relative statement and in the pinball world, KISS pinball machines are not rare.  They’re about as common as any pinball machine out there.  With 17,000 units produced, it is still one of the most common pinball machines of all time.  A “rare” machine is one with less than 500 units produced.  There are plenty of rare titles out there, they just aren’t as well known as machines like KISS, The Addams Family, or Twilight Zone machines.

Compare the playfield on the left, to a nice original KISS playfield on the right.

As you can see in the left picture below, the playfield is worn down to bare wood in some spots and it is dirty.  It has pop bumper caps that do not belong on a KISS machine.  It also has missing and unmatched drop targets.  The machine has not been properly maintained.  These shortcomings can be corrected, but a replacement playfield costs $800 and it takes at least 40 hours of labor to change all the parts out.  A replacement set of pop bumper caps can cost as much as $40 and the drop targets cost about $5 each.  We would value the machine pictured on the left to be worth around $500 in working order.

We would value the machine on the right in the $1200 - $1400 range. It is not reconditioned and in showroom condition, but is a nice example of an original machine in good condition.  We would still spend 20 to 30 hours of labor and several hundred dollars in parts to make this KISS machine worthy of the price listed in the Mr. Pinball Price Guide.

Occasionally, California Pinball comes across machines that we are not interested in buying….