For comparison sake I've included other items and an inflation adjusted price in parentheses.

From the 1983 Sears Catalog.

D&D Products

• Basic D&D
• Basic Set [Mentzer] $8.99 ($20.39)
• Expert Set $8.99 ($20.39)
• AD&D
• Player's Handbook $8.99 ($20.39)
• DMG $12.99 ($29.47)
• Monster Manual $8.99 ($20.39)
• MM II $8.99 ($20.39)
• Unpainted Metal Figure Set $9.99 [12 25mm figures] ($22.66)

Other RPG Products

• Star Frontiers Boxed Set $9.99 ($22.66)
• Traveller Starter Set $9.99 ($22.66)
• Traveller Figure Set $9.99 [12 25mm figures, 8 paints, 1 brush] ($22.66)
• Space Opera Boxed Set $16.99 ($38.54)

Other Toys for Comparison

• Crossbows and Catapults $12.99 ($29.47)
• Risk $13.89 ($31.59)
• 221B Baker Street $11.99 ($27.20)
• Trivial Pursuit $29.99 ($68.03)
• Atari 2600 VCS $89.99 ($204.12)
• Donkey Kong Jr. Game Cartridge $29.99 ($68.03)
• Pitfall $27.99 ($63.49)
• Frogger $29.99 ($68.03)
• Tonka Dump Truck $13.99 ($31.73)
• 6 piece Matchbox set $4.99 ($11.32)
• 20 piece Matchbox set $24.99 ($56.68)
• 8 Pack Star Wars Figures [Obi-Wan, Yoda, C-3P0, R2-D2, Biker Scout, Tie Fighter Pilot, Emperor's Royal Guard, Nien Nunb] $19.99 ($45.34)
• 3 Pack G.I. Joe Figures [Cobra Commander, Destro, Major Bludd] $7.99 ($18.12)

Just for Laughs CD Player on Page 408 $589.99! ($1,338.27)

Very interesting! Thank you for this post.

There's a very clear rise in prices beyond what one could expect from inflation adjustment. Other than increased emphasis on physical presentation and production values (which I feel are undeniable, at least for today's big players like WotC, Paizo, FFG and WW), to what else could we ascribe this?

As an aside, when I balked momentarily at the $100 price on the OD&D boxed set I bought back in 2005, I thought: okay, it's three core books...three core D&D3.5 books would set me back about (at the time) $25-$30 each if I bought retail so it's actually keeping pace...and I get this handy box to keep 'em in!

What was minimum wage in the States back then?

Quote from: TristramEvans;476039What was minimum wage in the States back then?

Looks like it was $3.35/hour ($7.60). Current Federal minimum wage is $7.25/hour.

The cost increase for the D&D hardbacks doesn't seem terribly out of line with that of hardcover books in general... print and paper costs have just increased quite a bit over the last 30 years.

Also...if you look at the catalogs bracketing 1983?  Yeah, no fantasy-themed anything.  Computer(s) are solid through the few years they have, as are video games.  But no RPG stuff in prior books, none afterward.

This would actually answer something I'd wondered about - my Cook/Moldvay edited "Turquoise Box" was bought at a Sears Outlet, and at the time they had a ton of RPG stuff (not just D&D - as I recall there was a copy of the James Bond RPG and Space Opera as well), but all in the winter of 1984...so I guess they tried RPGs, it didn't move as expected and then they dumped it all off on their outlets.

For those who may not know: a Sears Outlet was where they sold overstock, irregular, display items, returned items that were still good, and so on.  Around the same time they had the D&D "Maze Game" LCD toy; I just had to try one out so I opened the box and directly in the middle of the LCD it appeared that someone had struck it with the point of a screwdriver.  So I opened another: same thing.  I got a clerk's attention and showed him and he went through the whole caselot (like, a dozen) and every one had suffered the same fate.  I wonder if it was some anti-D&D religious nut's handiwork.  The next time I saw them, they were under the glass display counter at the front of the store (that is, a new batch was)

Quote from: ptingler;476040Looks like it was $3.35/hour ($7.60). Current Federal minimum wage is $7.25/hour.

$7.25? Jesus. That's what I was making working retail as a teen in the 90s. How can anyone live on that?

That aside, in 83 it was about half that of today. I don't know what D&D prices are like these days, but most games I buy are 3x that. Of course there's no comparison in production value.

I'm probably in the minority, but I didn't mind the production values in the 80s. They were utilitarian and fit their intended purpose: presenting rules for games.

It's a similar situation for the overpriced comic books of today. $4 an issue will give you great production values, but I'll take the cheap newsprint of the early 80s any day.

Here's something else to consider. The Christmas catalog prices aren't retail. Just before the covers changed, the DMG with the efreet sold for $15 in game stores, and the PHB and other like-sized hardbacks went for $12.  I seem to remember MM2 bumping the price up to $13.  Anyway, what you're seeing is the 1983 equivalent of buying from Amazon, instead of shopping your FLGS.

Quote from: Endless Flight;476049I'm probably in the minority, but I didn't mind the production values in the 80s. They were utilitarian and fit their intended purpose: presenting rules for games.

It's a similar situation for the overpriced comic books of today. $4 an issue will give you great production values, but I'll take the cheap newsprint of the early 80s any day.

This deserves reinforcing, because the Swords & Sorcery Creature Collection and the FFG Legends & Lairs hardback books are priced at $24.95 and have very similar production values (hardback book, color cover, B&W interior art).

There was no need to go to Sears when you had Wargames West...

Quote from: jeff37923;476055This deserves reinforcing, because the Swords & Sorcery Creature Collection and the FFG Legends & Lairs hardback books are priced at $24.95 and have very similar production values (hardback book, color cover, B&W interior art).

To me, that's fine, as long as the B&W art isn't crap.

I thought the AD&D 2e books were pretty good in that regard. Mostly passable b&w art with some color pages sprinkled in for good effect.

Quote from: The Butcher;476017Very interesting! Thank you for this post.

There's a very clear rise in prices beyond what one could expect from inflation adjustment. Other than increased emphasis on physical presentation and production values (which I feel are undeniable, at least for today's big players like WotC, Paizo, FFG and WW), to what else could we ascribe this?

The price of paper (and all wood products) have gone up considerably more than inflation. It is a case of demand steadily out stripping supply.

Also the distribution system is fucked up compared to back then. Many because there are less distributor to choose from.

However the internet is starting to exert a downward pressure on price, mainly by allowing inefficiencies to be wrung out of getting the product from the publisher into the buyers hand.

Quote from: TristramEvans;476046$7.25...How can anyone live on that?

Not every job is something that should support a full-time career or living wage.  Try to make the minimum wage artificially high and you end up killing those jobs completely, because it's not worth it to the employer to have the position.