I think it has jumped the shark, but it's all relative. I bought a GZ premium, but justify it in my own head by selling games that I bought cheap and fixed up. So is 9k a crazy price for a pin? Absolutely, but is trading a High Speed, Comet and Pinbot for a GZ crazy? Not so much. Would not want to be just now entering the hobby though.

No way!

I quit my “real job” years ago to operate games, I work at a free play arcade, and work on my personal pinball projects in my spare time.

High prices can’t stop this pinball addict!

Not sure how to vote. This does happen to many of us from time to time. Sometimes I can't tell if it's Pinball burnout or just general malaise from way too much going on. Getting a new game is always exciting! But it doesn't last ... lol. Hm, maybe I should sell a couple games...

Temporary trades are the solution you seek. Find some local pinsiders and do "temp trades" with them. Hey bud... you got a Spiderman and I have a Deadpool... want to trade for 3 months?

Trying to be a “collector” is the burnout piece. Focusing on competition is the addiction piece.

Once I stopped trying to acquire all the pins, which doesn’t really work unless you are super rich and have a warehouse the size of PHOF, I found Pinball to be much more enjoyable.

Stressing over a Pro vs Premium for Godzilla? Or any other pin? That’s collector FOMO. Just find either of them and play.

Or invest in a Multimorphic P3, you can get a new game whenever you're bored in literally 15 minutes!

Pinball typically takes a backseat for me in the summer months due to kids sports and many outdoor activities we do, I will go months without even turning them on. I certainly don't look for machines like I used too when I first got in the hobby. I have also thought about selling my games because I go so long without playing them, but what is the harm of having them in the basement ready to play when I want too. Although I wouldn't be surprised if I was down to 1 machine or non at all in 10 years or so.

Edit: then again I wouldn’t be surprised if I had 5+ in 10 years or so.

All good and dandy if you know that other dude will care for your machine the same way you do.

It’s not like your letting them borrow a knife, lawnmower, or a bike… this machine is a beast and expensive.

Ain't bought a game in 10+ years but still have and play and fix/fiddle with the seven I kept. More of a pinball retirement than a burnout.

No.

But I will admit I wish someone would invent the self cleaning/repairing pinball machine.

Followed up by self cleaning floor.

Last request : Toast that butters itself.

LTG : )

No.

When I was eight years old I knew I wanted to become a pinball repairman.

My problem is that if the glass is on, it only takes me 45 seconds of play before I want to take the glass off and fix or tweak something.

That having been said, with (usually) twenty or so pinballs on my sales floor, and a constantly changing selection, there's almost always something to keep my interest... you know, to fix.

?Play pinballs? Who does that? There is so much to fix!

Few of the above. Pricing has jumped the obviously; but you can get a deal on a shit game like TMNT if you wait a year

I haven't had a ton of time to play though; so fixing up is always on the menu.

I dont even play them anymore, I just tear them apart and put them back together for fun. Ive accepted that these prices for new games are just beyond logical for purchase so just give me a piece of crap $300 dumpster find and im happy as a clam for 9 to 12 months making it look decent again.

i finished a playfield swap on an Evel Knievel in January and haven't looked at a game since. I've probably played a total of 2 hours since then.

I did pick up a GZ Premium a few weeks ago but still in the box, not sure if I want to spend the coin on it. I figure if I don't open it i can get my $ back.

I'm hoping this winter I get my juju back, I have at least 3 project games waiting for attention.

I’m kinda bored with it recently tbh

Aren't they still going for way above? Or has the new batch of made games driven down the price?

Don't know, haven't really been paying attention.

I’ve been working on my restoration in the garage more than playing my games upstairs recently but I tend to switch back and forth.

The nice thing is restoration scratches a totally different itch vs playing so it’s harder to get burned out.

I’ll get all fired up and do a resto, then take a few month break until I get all fired up again.

There is an ebb and flow to the hobby after you've been in it so long. I don't care about competing anymore because the multiple time world champ lives in my area now, its wasting money to enter a tournament.

The prices have gotten stupid, but Stern is making some of their best games ever, so it all evens out to me. Currently waiting on Elwins next game before I cut a game or two loose to make space for it.

No

I love pinball, that's all. Not buying or selling, repairing or maintaining... just playing. Never get burned out.

I absolutely love projects and repairing / restoring. They are not going anywhere at least. When you are ready to back to them, they will be ready for you.

I find that I rarely play at home during the summer. I will almost always play on location if I come across them no matter the weather.

When it gets colder I fire them up far more often.

Would be good to find guys to do temp trades with. Even though there is a couple in storage I could rotate with.

My interest seems to decline a little bit every year. Still enjoy playing to some degree but not so much fixing. After fixing up so many non-working project games it feels more like a chore than fun. With that said I've been in it long enough to know to hang tight. As mentioned, interest usually comes back, especially in the cold months.

Watching people here spend $15K for a machine when the absolute tip top was $8K a mere 10 years ago blows my fucking mind.

It’s easy. Just ignore it.

Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything.

Just don’t do it. You don’t need it. (Whatever it is)

Anyone who FOMOs and slaps down a deposit on something then bitches about it only has themselves to blame.

Once you work out FOMO is just stupid and you’re being played by marketers, life becomes a lot simpler.

rd

I feel i don't care about pinball nearly as much as most of you. I really like it, but can go three or four weeks without playing. I declined a tournament loclaly recently because... "ah fuck. Then i have to play pinball for 5 hours."

Also - I’ve seen you mention some podcasts before - turn them off. Listen to some comedy podcasts or music or something else instead.

Hearing constant negative opinions over and over will f**k with your head. Turn them off.

rd

If you have burnout, walk away for a while (6 months or so).
I would advise you to NOT sell your fav pins, as they might be harder and more expensive to buy back!

This is my story in a nutshell. My collection hadn't changed much in 20 years and then a fellow pinhead sent me a tip to get a GZ Premium back in June. Snagged it and since then I've bought 3 more Spike 2 games and a Funhouse (I've wanted one of those for like 20+ years), but I had to sell 7 games to pay for all that (soon to be 8). But that is cool, just glad they were still sitting there, had I sold them all when I lost interest I'd have nothing to trade and all the money would have been spent. So in a way leaving my money in pinball is better than the stock market, and makes getting back in much easier.

I sold my 5 machines in a span of 6 months. Since I was the only playing I couldn't justify spending that much on pinball. With that said, I miss having at least 1. But then when you have 1, you have to have 2. And if you have 2 you must have 3....

My burnout is a 1 to 1 correlation with my scores.

I love tinkering with all my custom games and mods etc. I find it therapeutic to be in my garage working away on pinball. I also love helping others do their custom stuff and parts etc. I love talking to and meeting like minded people around the world also and get an insight to life around our planet. I love casual get togethers with great friends as well which I try to do every month or so. I love the art and sound and the tactile nature of pinball more than actually playing. I'm an average player at best.

I have zero interest in podcasts, competitions, meets, social media identities, new game hype and the greedy and obnoxious people in the industry and hobby.

So ...life is good. I am down to about 6 games now from 24 at one stage which seems great.... cycled through almost all of the A Listers. About to get my first EM..C37...which I am excited about purely on the beauty of it.

So I think burnout is avoidable, especially if you block out the aspects you don't like in the hobby which I have done.

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This sounds like me. I don’t really play much anymore I just like working on them and cleaning them up. Let other people play them.

I don’t buy NIB anymore or run out to locations to play the newest games

My herd is getting thinner, hair is gonzo, and have no plans to buy in the future.

It comes and goes. Sometimes I can't find time to play for a couple weeks in a row and get very frustrated that all of this is sitting there when some of that money could be used for house projects or whatever, and other times I'm playing, fixing, tinkering, and thinking about pinball from morning to night.

I have a lot of hobbies and interests, so I'll have times where I'm all about pinball machines and arcade games: playing them, buying/selling, making room for new games, adding mods, going to expos, etc. Then I'll hit lulls where I don't touch any of my machines for months on end while I spend time on other interests.

I've considered selling everything off several times - but I know my pattern, and I always come back around.

I've been collecting for almost 20 years now, and I'm just coming out of my biggest lull yet (I went almost 5 years without buying or selling anything, and playing my games only sporadically).

Sometimes all it takes is one game to suck you right back in. For me, it was visiting a local arcade and playing Halloween. In a matter of weeks, I sold a couple of my arcade games, bought a HWN, and now I'm back to playing my games again.

Yes, everyone wants to be the best something, whether that be the best venue, the best player, the best tech. Some people seem to build their lives around it and I just want to play pinball man.

"?Play pinballs? Who does that? There is so much to fix!"

This! I feel the same way!

I play a lot when it's winter and not so much in the summer.

I've been getting a little burned out. I think the last project wore me out. It was a DE Batman pandemic project, and the anxious feeling of getting it fully working led to sleep loss. I know...crazy to let something like pinball lead to any sort of stress. Now that my 4 pins have been working flawlessly this past year, I have relaxed and played on occasion. The other problem is that all my friends (and nearby family) have zero interest in sharing the fun of playing these games. I'm not sure about you all, but I prefer playing with friends and family. At least my brother (several states away) shares the enjoyment of collecting and playing.

I mostly just play and hate to work on them anymore.

What will help is stay off pinside for awhile. That will stop the burnout.

Yes! The combination of me playing every night for 6 years, Pinside becoming insufferable, and enjoying the nicest summer we’ve had in Chicago in a long time somehow brought me back to my OG hobby which is audio/turntable/hi-fi or whatever you want to call it. I sold a game and upgraded my turntable and speakers and I’ve realized that while pinball will always be a passion, nothing makes me happier than the sound of a stylus dropping on vinyl.

I’ll revisit this one as I’m pretty deep in the hobby. I don’t have pinball burnout but my interest in pinball has evolved over time. Playing the same pin a thousand times gets old, but I don’t want 40 pins in my house (actually I do, but I have to stop myself and have a hard limit at 6… I used willpower and folded one up I’ve presold for York and put it in the garage until the show).

I have found that the key to having fun in this hobby is not necessarily having what you want, but wanting what you've got.

I now view my hobby as more of “curating my collection” than just playing or collecting pinball machines. Have I had pinball burnout before? Sure. I when I did my playfield swap on my AFM I was so sick of working on the thing I sold it 2 weeks after I finished because I couldn’t stand looking at it anymore. I still play my pins at least 30 minutes a day, love trying out new places, and always try to get time on new pins. I don’t chase the latest and greatest anymore as that’s expensive and I’ll never keep up with the Jones’ here.

However, in “curating my collection” I have switched from trying to have a bunch of flagship games, to having a collection that represents different types of pinball that play differently. My STTNG and LOTR are bolted to the ground, Flash Gordon is approaching that status, I have a Weird Al coming in (dream theme) and I have a Deadpool Pro or JP Premium an Super Mario Brothers I’m using as “temporary trade loaners” to keep my lineup fresh. I can rotate that Spike 2 for most any other modern Stern over time, and SMB gets me early 90s B games and 80s A games in temp trade. I’m trying to keep 1 pin per decade since 1980. I have also had infinite fun decorating my arcade and have expanded to adding a pool table and a wall of One Ups (cheap).
I still love working on pins. Touching up cabinets, re-rubbering, LEDing, putting toys in, and in general “flashing them up”. I hate doing board work things, but with a few rare exceptions new parts are readily available.

I have started some competitive pinball stuff. I’ll never even be regionally competitive but I have fun with it. I realize that I’ll never make it to finals, but playing competitive pinball has opened up a whole new world. My local haunt has 40 pins, 8 of which I used to play. I now play a different 20 pins or so, the ones I keep getting beat on. Strikes and Spares, Kiss, and Playboy used to be completely boring to me but now that I have competition on them I am compelled to get better, and learn/know the way things work.

I also used to be into the latest Sterns and be after that deep 1 pin experience. However, competition and learning about older games has me opening up to older games.

All in all, the Hobby has changed for me. I still love it but it is just different now.

Great posts gentleman. I find personally it’s not burn out that gets me. It was the conflict between my wife and I. I wasn’t over spending to put us into money constraints. It was enough to cause resentment between us. I didn’t like that and finally we have worked it out. I can just work volunteer OT and buy what I want. Minus Taxes on that of course. I have almost stopped drinking. Down from 3 cases of beer a week to about 8-10 beers every two weeks. I think balance is the key. Money, family, non pinball friends and other hobbies. You need to be in balanced with your pin addiction. You will find you actually really enjoy your pin habit.

No burnout but I go through phases. When I first started it was all about system 11’s, then DMD, then SS, then EM’s, then LCD and now back to EM’s other than Halloween because they game is just pure AWESOMENESS! I play Halloween pretty much every day!

Burnout no, but interest comes and goes a bit. Sometimes I don't touch the games for weeks, then suddenly I get into the mood and play a lot. Other times I just want to tinker with them but hardly any playing.

I've noticed my transitions between these periods are often triggered by friends coming over for a visit and wanting to play a bit on my machines, thus triggering me to play and "get pinball interest back" for a while again.

I don't see myself selling the games though, even in the periods that I don't touch them at all simply as I know it would be tedious and very expensive to buy them back again.

Still love playing pinball but have to admit that since I purchased my first that incessant urge has been dampened simply due to ownership. Before owning my first I spent a huge amount of time chasing them down in the wild, not so much lately I mean why should I they are at my fingertips anytime the urge to play hits me. Like anything else, a new car, girlfriend or even a job it all seems to lose a certain amount of luster once you have them.

Pinball is relaxing for me. Whether I'm playing or working on them. Sure the thrill of owning my 1st game will never be back but pinball is there when I want it even if I don't play for some time.

I work too much so it is nice when I have an opportunity to do pinball related stuff. But I have other hobbies as well. Hiking, exercise and working on vehicles are also ways that I spend my free time. Moderation in most aspects of my life is key.