TSR AD&D - Question For you math / economics smart guys


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How much would 22 million and around 27 million from 82/83 be worth in today's dollars?

I ask because for many, that's considered the height of D&D, and that's approximately the amount that TSR was making at that time if I recall correctly.

I know later, TSR was making around 100 million around the late 80s, early 90s, but I think that was gross, and wasn't as directly invested into the RPG line as the 82/83 dollars.

I think 100 Mil may be worth around 200 mil these days?

But what I'm more interested in is what the 22 mil and 27 mil would be equivalent to for a better picture of the industry then compared to the industry today.

Thanks


A quick bit of searching and whatnot got me a value that translates $22mil in 1982 dollars to $53 mill. That's for income and whatnot. The 27 mill became 65 mill. Another source converted 22 mill to 54 mil and 23 mill to 66 mill.


Thanks!

Liberty's Edge

The sixth printing of the 1e AD&D PHB (1982) is probably the best selling RPG hardcover of all time. They wen't for $12 a pop. Jacobs has already stated on a thread a while back that 1e PHB sales dwarfed 3x PHB in volume. Back then, only DMS bought the MM and DMG for the most part, so those books may not have sold as well as their 3x counterparts through the run.

The Exchange

GreyWolfLord wrote:

How much would 22 million and around 27 million from 82/83 be worth in today's dollars?

I ask because for many, that's considered the height of D&D, and that's approximately the amount that TSR was making at that time if I recall correctly.

I know later, TSR was making around 100 million around the late 80s, early 90s, but I think that was gross, and wasn't as directly invested into the RPG line as the 82/83 dollars.

I think 100 Mil may be worth around 200 mil these days?

But what I'm more interested in is what the 22 mil and 27 mil would be equivalent to for a better picture of the industry then compared to the industry today.

Thanks

Check the price of silver for 82/83.


yellowdingo wrote:
Check the price of silver for 82/83.

Yeah, a lot of young people nowadays don't realize that silver nuggets were the primary form of currency used in gaming stores thirty years ago. They went out of fashion when credit cards were invented.

The Exchange

Matthew Downie wrote:
yellowdingo wrote:
Check the price of silver for 82/83.
Yeah, a lot of young people nowadays don't realize that silver nuggets were the primary form of currency used in gaming stores thirty years ago. They went out of fashion when credit cards were invented.

If you want to know the current value of previous period currency you compare its buying power.

The Exchange

Average Silver
1982: $4.98 per ounce
2013: $23.79 per ounce

The buying power has dropped. So to have the value of around 100 million dollars from 1982 their current 2013 income would need to be 477.7 million dollars per year.


yellowdingo wrote:
If you want to know the current value of previous period currency you compare its buying power.

Against a typical 'shopping basket' of things that the average consumer will buy. Personally, I don't spend more than a small fraction of my income on ingots of precious metal. The prices of food, electricity and rent are usually more relevant.


yellowdingo wrote:

Average Silver

1982: $4.98 per ounce
2013: $23.79 per ounce

The buying power has dropped. So to have the value of around 100 million dollars from 1982 their current 2013 income would need to be 477.7 million dollars per year.

Price of Detective Comics 27 in Mint Condition:

1939: 10 cents
2010: $1,000,000
So the dollar has fallen to one ten millionth of its old value. Or: the comic has become more valuable.
Similarly, the price of silver might have changed over the last three decades, based on new silver deposits found, people discovering that silver is useful in the manufacture of solar panels, or many other economic and cultural factors. Silver is not the one substance in the universe of fixed value against which all other things can be compared.

The Exchange

Matthew Downie wrote:
yellowdingo wrote:

Average Silver

1982: $4.98 per ounce
2013: $23.79 per ounce

The buying power has dropped. So to have the value of around 100 million dollars from 1982 their current 2013 income would need to be 477.7 million dollars per year.

Price of Detective Comics 27 in Mint Condition:

1939: 10 cents
2010: $1,000,000
So the dollar has fallen to one ten millionth of its old value. Or: the comic has become more valuable.
Similarly, the price of silver might have changed over the last three decades, based on new silver deposits found, people discovering that silver is useful in the manufacture of solar panels, or many other economic and cultural factors. Silver is not the one substance in the universe of fixed value against which all other things can be compared.

Given its use in currency...its pretty accurate.


yellowdingo wrote:
Matthew Downie wrote:
yellowdingo wrote:

Average Silver

1982: $4.98 per ounce
2013: $23.79 per ounce

The buying power has dropped. So to have the value of around 100 million dollars from 1982 their current 2013 income would need to be 477.7 million dollars per year.

Price of Detective Comics 27 in Mint Condition:

1939: 10 cents
2010: $1,000,000
So the dollar has fallen to one ten millionth of its old value. Or: the comic has become more valuable.
Similarly, the price of silver might have changed over the last three decades, based on new silver deposits found, people discovering that silver is useful in the manufacture of solar panels, or many other economic and cultural factors. Silver is not the one substance in the universe of fixed value against which all other things can be compared.
Given its use in currency...its pretty accurate.

Except that currency wasn't silver based in 82 and isn't now.


Silver (usually in the form of electrum) was an important component of currency up until around the time large amounts of silver were discovered in the Americas in the 19th century and governments worried that the price of silver would plummet, so they went over to the gold standard. Nowadays, 98% of money exists only as numbers in bank computers. Silver may be a good measure of the value of the dollar, but it may not: In 1980, the Hunt brothers cornered the global silver market and the price shot up to five times its previous value for a couple of months. This did not mean the dollar was worth suddenly 20% of its old value, unless you had to buy silver for some reason.

You know what a reliable measure of the value of currency is? The consumer price index that we use to calculate inflation.

The Exchange

Matthew Downie wrote:

Silver (usually in the form of electrum) was an important component of currency up until around the time large amounts of silver were discovered in the Americas in the 19th century and governments worried that the price of silver would plummet, so they went over to the gold standard. Nowadays, 98% of money exists only as numbers in bank computers. Silver may be a good measure of the value of the dollar, but it may not: In 1980, the Hunt brothers cornered the global silver market and the price shot up to five times its previous value for a couple of months. This did not mean the dollar was worth suddenly 20% of its old value, unless you had to buy silver for some reason.

You know what a reliable measure of the value of currency is? The consumer price index that we use to calculate inflation.

Dont measure the value of a dollar against the price of an Oreo if I only eat gingersnap. I use silver because silver is a resource. CPI is based on rapidly spoiling commodities.


There are a lot of non-spoiling resources out there, but you seem to focus only on silver. I'm thinking... werewolves?

OK, I'm out of this thread. I don't want no trouble with werewolves.


Matthew Downie wrote:

There are a lot of non-spoiling resources out there, but you seem to focus only on silver. I'm thinking... werewolves?

OK, I'm out of this thread. I don't want no trouble with werewolves.

Don't be silly. Werewolves? Hah.

Obviously, he's a weredingo.

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