Of course, there is much more to the story, but it's safe to say that Scooby-Doo has been a pop culture staple for decades since then. Scooby-Doo is a multimedia giant with loads of spinoffs, games, toys, comics, and now a pinball machine from Spooky Pinball!
Spooky is no stranger to creating unique pinball machines based on IPs that many other companies might avoid. The company famously released a Halloween and Ultraman pinball within the last three years. While I was not a fan of either game (as both games have the same playfield), Scooby-Doo is special.
Holy Frijoles in Hampden, Maryland, has the Collector's Edition in their pinball room, ready for fans to play. Holy Frijoles hosts several pinball tournaments throughout the year, including the annual PinBaltimore festival.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CtrTf-zg6kn/
This game is seriously great.
This machine features an upper playfield, a specialty topper, various villain sculpts, and a numbered plaque. The Collector's edition will cost you $9,769. There's also a Bloodsucker Edition ($8,769) and a standard edition ($7,769). If you buy this machine, go for the Collector's Edition. Overall, Limited Edition and Collector's Edition pinball machine retain their value, and in some cases, it goes up in value. But will this machine hold its value? Is there a large enough Scooby-Doo Market? Let's take a look at some factors.
Most Collector Edition games from Spooky sit at just under $10,000 brand new. Their Rick and Morty machine -- which was a hit with players, and sold out quickly -- can also be hard to find on the second-hand market. Currently, on Pinside there are 5 Blood Sucker edition Rick and Morty's for sale.
They range in price from $9,000 to $12,500. One Super Limited Edition R&M pin is also for sale at $10,500. By comparison, Halloween has seen prices fare much worse. There are four Collector's Edition games for sale ranging from $7,800 - $8,999, meaning this pinball dropped in value. Its twin machine, Ultraman, sits even lower with an average price of $6,000 for Collector's Edition machines.
Scooby-Doo is a brand-new machine that you can still buy from Spooky, so it's too early to tell if this game will hold its value. But Scooby-Doo collectibles can be a worthwhile investment if it's the right piece. Gold Key's Scooby-Doo, Where Are You #1 from 1970 does exceptionally well when a copy comes up for sale. Currently, the fair market value for a CGC blue label 9.2 is $11,500.
By comparison, a CGC blue label .5 has a fair market value of $450 -- not bad for a low grade! In September 2020 a production cell of the main characters inside the Mystery Machine sold on Heritage for $9,300.
The recent Coach Scooby-Doo collection has received high auction prices on eBay. In June 2023 a Rogue 25-style Scooby-Doo bag sold for $1,799. If you were to buy this bag from Coach (it has since been discontinued) it would have cost you $650.
While high-end bags are a world of their own, it does say something about how an IP can influence the price.
If you are a Scooby-Doo collector, I would absolutely buy this machine. If you like pinball, I would absolutely buy this machine. As Scooby-Doo can be a collectible IP, this game will most likely retain its value if you were to sell it later down the line.
