This Month's Pinball Market May 2025

LoserKid Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·8m 39s·analyzed·May 1, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

May 2025 pinball market mixed: vintage gains strength, CGC remakes soar, Stern Spike 2s decline across board.

Summary

LoserKid Pinball Podcast's May 2025 market analysis reveals mixed conditions across pinball categories: EMs and alphanumerics gaining value (13% and 11% increases YoY), while early solid-state declining 12%. CGC remakes (Medieval Madness Royal, Attack from Mars, Monster Bash) command strong secondary market prices ($11K-$16.5K), while Stern Spike 2s are broadly declining 2% with notable weakness in X-Men, John Wick, and Venom. Jaws, Metallica, and Godzilla LEs retain value strongly, suggesting limited edition scarcity drives collector demand.

Key Claims

EMs (pre-1977) are up 13% YoY in average secondary market value ($1,371 to $1,552)
high confidence · Direct market data analysis citing pinballprices.com and Pinside data
Almost all in-production Stern Spike 2s down 2% across the board, with losses of $100-$300 per sale
high confidence · Explicit market trend statement with pricing data
X-Men LE selling as low as $8,900, Premium as low as $7,100, with rapid decline since October release
high confidence · Specific pricing data with timestamp and quality assessment
Tim Sexton moved from Stern Pinball to Play Mechanics (developers of Pulp Fiction)
high confidence · Confirmed personnel move with direct business consequence
Medieval Madness Royal sold for $16,500, with 2015 re-release versions selling for $11,500
high confidence · Specific secondary market transaction data
Metallica LE holding strong value in mid-$16K range ($16,500-$16,600) with Premiums in low $9Ks
high confidence · Current market pricing data for actively produced title
John Wick code is 'not fully developed' and 'shaky' after Tim Sexton's departure
medium confidence · Opinion-based assessment with concern about code quality under new designer/company
Venom Premium selling as low as $6K, which is $1,000 less than new-in-box Pro pricing
high confidence · Specific pricing comparison with secondary market data

Notable Quotes

“Almost all in-production Stern Spike 2s are down 2% across the board. This is even slightly putting in the vault Stern's right? This is your Foo Fighters, this is your Guardians of the Galaxy. Everything right now is trending down about 2%.”
LoserKid Pinball Podcast host @ mid-episode — Key market signal: broad-based decline across Stern's current Spike 2 lineup suggests demand softness or market saturation
“X-Men LE selling as low as $8,900, Premium as low as $7,100. These games are just declining in value. I feel bad because this came out in October. It should not be dropping this quick, but they've had multiple issues.”
LoserKid Pinball Podcast host @ mid-episode — Product quality concern tied to rapid value depreciation in flagship licensed title only 7 months post-release
“Tim Sexton did just move from Stern Pinball over to Play Mechanics, the people that just made Pulp Fiction. So it really makes me wonder and question what is going to happen with John Wick moving forward with code, because that code is not fully developed.”
LoserKid Pinball Podcast host @ mid-episode — Personnel signal: key designer departure creates uncertainty about code completion and game trajectory for underperforming title
“The triple beast right there is your Medieval Madness, your Attack from Mars, and Monster Bash. So you probably aren't shocked that I'm telling you that these are going up right now.”
LoserKid Pinball Podcast host @ mid-episode — Market trend identification: CGC remake portfolio maintaining strong secondary market value as collector segment
“LEs seem to be the ones keeping their value right now. But no one wants to get rid of them because they're great games.”
LoserKid Pinball Podcast host @ closing segment — Market observation: LE scarcity + quality = strong value retention, but low supply of used units

Entities

CGC (Chicago Gaming Company)companyStern PinballcompanyPlay MechanicscompanyTim SextonpersonTed FinleypersonZach MinneypersonMedieval Madness Merlin Editiongame Attack from Marsgame

Signals

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business_signal: Used market activity at 390 games sold YTD May 2025 across six categories provides granular demand/supply data; suggests healthy secondary market liquidity despite new market headwinds
high · Data source attribution to pinballprices.com and Pinside; 390 games tracked across six era/category tiers with transaction-level pricing
?
competitive_signal: Metallica LE and Jaws retaining strong value despite broader Spike 2 decline suggests game design quality, code maturity, and licensing strength matter more than release recency
high · Metallica mid-$16K with host noting 'tried and true game that people love, has been considered one of the best games that Stern has ever made'; Jaws LE $13,500 premium holding
$
market_signal: Golden DMDs (1992-1998 Bally/Williams titles) showing flatline performance (1% decline); potential saturation in mid-tier collector segment
medium · Golden DMDs '$5,968 to $5,923, making that a whopping 1% drop year over year' — host uses understated 'whopping' to emphasize stagnation
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market_signal: Vintage EMs (pre-1977) showing 13% YoY appreciation to $1,552 average; alphanumerics up 11% to $3,546; indicates collector interest in retro/classic segment
high · Direct market data: EMs '$1,371 to $1,552, making that a 13% increase year over year' and alphanumerics '$3,189 to $3,546, making this an 11% increase year over year'
$
market_signal: LE editions across Stern portfolio (Metallica, Jaws, Godzilla) retaining value significantly better than Standard/Premium/Pro tiers, suggesting scarcity-driven collector preference

Topics

Secondary market value trends by pinball era/categoryprimaryCGC remake portfolio market performance and collector appealprimaryStern Spike 2 value depreciation across in-production lineupprimaryX-Men rapid depreciation and quality/theme concernsprimaryPersonnel moves: Tim Sexton departure from Stern to Play MechanicssecondaryLimited edition scarcity value retention strategysecondaryJohn Wick code completion and game stability post-designer departuresecondaryVintage pinball appreciation as investment categorymentioned

Sentiment

mixed(0.35)— Host presents market data objectively but expresses concern about declining Spike 2 values, sympathy for X-Men and John Wick buyers, and caution about Tim Sexton's departure affecting code quality. Positive sentiment toward CGC remakes, Jaws/Metallica/Godzilla value retention, and vintage market strength. Overall tone is analytical with underlying worry about Stern's current lineup health.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.026

It's May, and you know what time it is. We're talking the market overall, Stern Spike 2s and CGC remakes. It is this month's Pinball Market. First of all, quick shout out to our sponsors, Flip N Out Pinball. Thank you, Zach Nicolmeni, for all that you do for here at Loser Kid. They do great for us. They're going to do great for you if you buy new, if you buy used. Everything is there on their website, on Facebook. They keep it up to date daily and all the prices are set to sell. So if you want to get your new game or that used game, hit them up. Also, I want to thank Pinside and pinballprices.com, specifically Ted Finley at pinballprices.com because he sends me data that helps out tremendously and also all the free data that Pinside provides. It helps make this segment a possibility. So let's move on. uh, let's get into the market overall. Currently the used market has had 390 games sold for 2025. There's six different categories. The first one is EMs. That's anything pre 1977. Um, on average, they were selling for 1371. They are now up to 1552, making that 13% increase year over year on electromechanicals early solid state 77 to 85. So this is pretty much like Stern electronic games stars stuff like that uh it's down from 2776 to 2435 making that a 12 drop year over year alphanumeric this is your world wins this is your fun houses 86 to 91 on average are up from 3189 to 3546 making this an 11 increase year over year golden dmds these are your bally williams this is your shadows, your World Cup soccers or medieval madnesses 92 to 98 on average slightly went down from 59 68 to 59 23 making that a whopping 1% drop year over year. Modern DMDs these are your stern you know Lord the Rings Simpsons pinball parties from so this is from 99 to 2015 on average are up from 68 62 to 74 40 making that an 8 increase year over year Last but not least the category that we are all familiar with, the LCD category, that's 2016 to 2025, on average are up from 846 to 858, making this an increase of 1%. So as you can see, the market is kind of all over the place at the moment. Let's move on to CGC. They just announced medieval madness, the Merlin edition. So let's see if that's affected the numbers at all. Down right now is CC special. That's right. Cactus Canyon special. This is the one without the topper on average. You can find these for 6,800 with one selling as low as 6,700. Cactus Canyon LE on average right now is 8,600 with one selling as low as 8K. So you can pick these up for a pretty good deal. If you're looking to get this and put the Lyman sheets updated code along with the barn doors, this is the time to do it. The saloon doors. I apologize. I know you just said it. All right. Pulp Fiction SE is hovering on the mid sevens. So this is slightly down from where released at but we're still above uh i mean you're losing 500 bucks new in box which is pretty great considering where the rest of the market is sitting on new in box up right now monster bash special and le are both up by one percent with the le selling as high as 13 000 dollars um and the special as high as 10k that's some pretty impressive numbers for a game that released well 30 years ago and then re-released about five years ago attack from mars special and le are both up as well by one to two percent one le sold as high as fourteen thousand dollars and a special just sold for eleven thousand dollars so you you looking for good value on those it the it the triple beast right that your medieval madness is your attack from mars and monster bash bash So you probably not too shocked that I telling you that these are going up right now And the number one in the top spot speaking of medieval madness royal, one just sold for $16,500. And then the interesting part though, is most of those ones that had just come from that recent 2019 re-release, there's not a ton of them selling. except for the Royal, but the 2015s are starting to sell. They're starting to come out the woodwork. So both the LE and the standard sold for 11,500, which is interesting because of just the whole setup on those from the 2015s. All right. The ones that you've been waiting for, the numbers that you are constantly talking about right now is Stern and their spike twos. They cover such a vast area of time that's um a lot of you are wondering what is going on with the modern market down right now almost all in production stern spike twos are down two percent across the board and this is even slightly put in the vault sterns right this is your foo fighters this is your guardians of the galaxy everything right now is trending down about two percent so you're losing about anywhere from 100 to 300 bucks on sales uh x-men le selling as low as 8900 premium as low as 7100 these games are just declining in value um i feel bad because this came out in october should not be dropping this quick but they've had multiple issues and the theme is great but it's not for everyone. John Wick premium. The average, this is a premium, $6,500 and a pro just sold as low as $5,000. And the interesting part about John Wick is if you haven't heard, Tim Sexton did just move from Stern Pinball over to Play Mechanics, the people that just made Pulp Fiction. And so it really makes me wonder and question what is going to happen with John Wick moving forward with code because that code is not fully developed I do feel bad for those that bought John Wick because it kind of shaky right now for it. And also, you're not going to be shocked at this one as well. Venom Premium, as low as $6K. That's $1,000 less than a new Inbox Pro. And everyone agrees the premium, the le is the way to go with the venom so if if you're looking for a venom now might be the time to snatch it up up for the stern spike twos jaws le is retaining its value and in some cases selling higher with one selling at 13.5 we're still looking at premiums in the low 9ks which is above the the most average for the rest of the in production spike twos and even some of the out of production ones. Metallica LE is killing it still. It's in the mid 16 range and it just, it's hovering there with games still selling for 16.5, 16.6 and premiums are in the low nine Ks. So these games overall are taking the least amount of hit when it comes to time. Granted, Metallica did just come out in October, so we'll see what happens. But the thing it has going for it is a tried and true game that people love has been considered one of the best games that Stern has ever made. So moving forward when they make remakes and these remasters, it's going to be interesting to see how they're responded to and how they move forward. And last but not least, the top dog right now, Godzilla LE is still selling in the mid $4,000 range. Premium's still hovering around the $9,000 range. You're not losing much value on these, and they're still in production as well. So if you're looking for these games, head out, grab yourself some. If you're looking to sell, L1 seem to be the ones keeping their value right now. But no one wants to get rid of them because they're great games. All right. That wraps up for me today. If you want to get a hold of us, we're at Loserkidpinballpodcast.gmail.com. If you want some of our swag, go to silverballswag.com. And we're on all the socials at Loserkidpinball. See you next month.