Thanks for the question, Jim, and thank you, Greg, for that answer. This topic has bothered me for some time now and I had pondered whether to ask about it on this forum. I don't know if it was my imagination that the onset of these "special" tokens has coincided with the drastic price falls on various auctions (maybe a lot of collectors are getting turned off?). It's also as if the SS world was collapsing with all the old time collectors dumping their collections on the market.
I feel it all started with the way Sierra Sid's started "selling" their $200 strikes. I only had one $200 at the time and that will be the last I'll collect. I also had my opportunities to play the machines for other special SS's but declined to do so because of the way it was done. I don't even look for them anymore but I feel better about it now because of what Greg said. I am going to be playing for the one in the upcoming tournament though, but this looks like it will have some fun in it.
I don't believe we have to worry about SS's disappearing though, because after all the present collectors have quit, there will always be another wave starting. The SS's do have quite an allure about them.