Quoted from TigerLaw:2) the rise of Pinside. Pinside was around before 2010, sure, but it was nothing like it is today. The message board had just launched and it would take months to drop off the front page. Pinside, as it has grown and been constantly refined by Robin, has provided a great environment to discuss pinball and a great market to not get ripped off in if you are a newbie buyer.
These two things combined grew the player and collector market, which allowed all the advancement in machines we are enjoying now.
Totally agree about this. If it wasn’t for pinside, I don’t think I could have stayed in this hobby. I knew nothing about pin repair before I started, other than that pins always need to be repaired. It was with the support of the pinside community that I gained confidence to diagnose and fix issues which in turn gave me confidence to buy more pins. Thank you, pinside!