congrats!

Now time to go find the highest foot traffic bar you can and make sure it has space for 4+ games!

Let's get all that investment cost earned back for you!
If I am ever in the area I will be dropping quarters in your games.

First lesson of actual routing, always test your coin mechs, dbv, and for inadvertant free games. Most players will never tell you when your game is giving out free games.

We recently put out a maiden with a DBV and there was a bug in the code with how it worked with DBV, it was giving out something like 12 games for a buck. Quite a few happy pinballers that month. Luckily we have a few honest regulars and they realize that if the games don't make money then they cease to exist. One called me as soon as he found the error. I ended upcovering his bar tab and slapping free games on everything for him.

Lesson two, always take care of the guys that tell you about issues.

are you going to find another location for them?

sorry to hear you had to pull out form the first.

My best advice for finding locations when people take on this task is:
1. Find something close to you (servicing games is easier if it is near you or near a path you take each day)
2. Find something where the owner or staff really want pinball (owners/staff that like the games are better to partner with and will always let you know when issues happen)
3. Find a place with the highest foot traffic possible. (more people = better chance they drop a quarter)
4. Put 4 games at minimum in your location (that is enough for people to travel to play and the bar will notice that and that is where they really make money... on the beer and food)
5. Start up a monthly gathering/ competition. (pinheads like to meet other pinheads)
6. It will take many months for any location to really bloom (people take time to come out and it takes at least 3 meet ups for people to start making friends; once they make friends they will come more often and help tell you when games have issues)
7. Diversity is good. I know your niche is EMs, but having 1 EM, 1 Early SS, 1 DMD, and 1 Other is a good place to start.
8. Have a change machine on site and near the games (you would be amazed how many people dont want to bother staff to make change and if you have a changer then it is easy to play)

Good luck and looking forward to the next chapter!

I really love the thread and your sharing!

cheers and stick with it.

It takes guys like us to keep banging at it for pinball to grow in our cities.
I think if you keep looking then you will eventually find that right location and start making a little extra so you can afford a newer game.