i think its a cool idea. But makes me nervous just thinking about it. Considering both have different values and conditions, just too many issues that could happen. Whether on purpose or not, potentially there's alot to lose.

Many times with a few buddies who I trust. Great way to have access to a new pin, play it for 4 - 6 months then return it and you're stoked to be able to play your original pin again.

Terminator 2 for Whitewater
Theatre of Magic for Indiana Jones
Addams Family for Fish Tales
Theatre of Magic for Star Trek Next Generation
Demolition Man for Junkyard
Addams Family for Dracula (soon)

Couple of us locals have done "Pinsitting" I deliver the pin to a buddies house because I run out of room. But I have never traded titles for a temporary amount of time. I like the idea and may try to implement it.

I've done a bunch of temp trades with local guys. No problems.

No contracts or anything. Try to trade games that are in the same ballpark $ wise in case something terrible actually happens. Your game gets destroyed by flood or fire at the other guy's house? Now you own his game. Simple... and what are the chances?

Don't temp trade your holy grail pin. Don't temp trade if you're anal. Shit happens.

For good friends only

Yep, but only with people I trust. Well, mostly. I think I could take them in a fight... At least I know where they live, I mean. Sh1t, maybe it was a bad idea afterall...

I have put some thought into this scenario in the past and realized that it would require good communication and understanding between the folks trading. If 4 people offered up pins that everyone agreed on and they keep them for 3-4 months each and when its time to relocate you would move your own pin. If anything more serious than a light going out the owner could be called. A few other details but I think it could work with the right group of owners. I would be willing to discuss this further if anyone in my area is interested.

I traded my BSD for a Family Guy for about 6 months approx. But, it was with one of my best friends, so there were zero worries that way...

I have temp traded and loaned games several times with good friends. Never had a problem. I have BSD on loan to a friend right now as I was out of space for a bit. As others mentioned, a temp trade is a great way to get a lot of time in on a game you either wouldn't buy or may be considering buying. When you trade back, the game you loaned out seems like a new game again!

Brian

Traded my NBA Fastbreak for a friends Johnny Mnemonic for a couple months. No issues. Trusted each other and communicated.

I think it should be done more as people can play the pin and see if they like it before buying it. Save some cash as not every pin needs to be purchased.

Its no big deal... just do it with your GOOD pin freinds, and dont do it with destitue people that cant afford to replace the machine if a fire or flood thing happened..

Pins are just wood, glass, and metal in the end...

but i would not do it with a casual pin aquaintance..

I have done it in the past and would consider doing it again. Both pins were similar in value so there wasnt that much risk. We both agreed to fix any issues that popped up on the others pin and keep it clean. We swapped for about 6 months and it was a win win. I didnt have anything in writing, I knew the other guy and he was active on several forums.

When you have to do any of this to swap pins for a while with someone, your doing it with the wrong person to start with...

Make some good pin friends then entertain the idea...

There are a few pinheads in my area I would feel comfortable trying this with but these are folks that I have been to their homes and played their lineup and vice versa. These are friends. None of them have crazy kids, wild dogs or vice versa.

I have talked to a local friend about it and we will do it one day. Not worried about it at all.

Cool idea!

I've done it a couple times. My TAF for a SS and my CV for a SM. The trade was done with a good friend whose respect for his games matched mine or I wouldn't have done it.

There is sort of a running gag around my area about how many people have loaned machines from me. But that isn't really a trade, since I never get anything back, other than the knowledge that someone is loving them.

Hell, I'm crazy enough that one of my pins is loaned to an operator to have on route, which I TOTALLY love doing. Gets pinball out there more, even though I'm not making a dime from it.

I have a friends POTO on loan right now, because he needs the room at his house for a while. I would let him hold onto one of my games if the situation were in reverse, or for a temp trade.

Anyone want to buy a POTO?

Great idea I just wish the pins were lighter as truly it is so much work sometimes to move them from one location to another !!!

I can see where this would be a good thing for people that like to have a smaller collection 1-5 pins as larger collections it truly is tough to get bored and you have enough variety. I had a 5 pin collection from 2007-2011 (same 5 pins) and did get bored and the boredom forced me out of the hobby (I also didn't have the strongest collection...T2, Dr. Who, TEED OFF, Cue Ball Wizard and GNR because I was new to pinball and truly didn't know any better as I never played much pinball when I was younger). I got back in last year and went to 16 pins (with a lot of A listers this time) and truly found that was too many (well the wife felt it was too many...LOL) and we both agreed on a 10 pin collection (mixture of many newer sterns and oldies but goodies like FH and TZ) which is the perfect number and is enough that I never get bored so swapping really isn't necessary in my opinion but in a smaller collection I can see where it makes A LOT of sense.

Again, if only they were lighter as the Elvis I just bought is still sitting in my SUV !!!

more answers from a post of mine http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/trading-pins-for-a-certain-time-period

trade with friends. pins get stale, freshin things up mang!

I traded my TAF for WH2O once for a year. It worked out well.

Pretty much what everyone else is saying. I have pins on loan\ at the pinsitter (cuz i'm in the process of finishing the basement)...I've temporary traded pins...I'll be loaning a couple pins for an upcoming tourney.

There's probably a handful of guys that I would consider temp trades in my area. I have 100% confidence where my pins are now..and they'll be taking care of properly (and have). You also have to have an open mind if something breaks. I mean does it really matter who pushes the start button when the 'Check Fuse F115 and F116' error pops? We actually just had that at the 'pinsitters' last night

Now the bastard that has my AFM...and installed the ColorDMD without asking is gonna have a talking to when I pick it up

I agree with pretty much all the comments here... I don't think I could ever do it though, simply because my machine is in my basement and I really wouldn't want to drag it back upstairs and out of the house!!! Was a bit of a chore getting it down there to begin with!

I can't believe this thread. I was thinking about how to do this and implement it in a good/safe way a month ago. I told my wife about it and how I thought it was a great way to try out pins and have variety without having to shell out all kinds of money for them. It's especially cool if your limited on space, because now you can have a different game in the same spot every month. I even had the name picked out for it. I was going to call it the "PEP" Club (Pinball Exchange Program).

My idea (if possible) was to get 4-6 people in a general area together and get them to swap equal value machines around for 1 month at a time. SO, if I put up my South Park machine, then the other people in the club would put up a similar priced game. Say T2, RS, FT, Taxi, PZ and my SP for an example. So, I'd pass my game to a person while I get say, Taxi. I then have taxi for 1 month. Then I swap taxi to the next person in line while I get say, RS. I have RS for a month and then pass it along again while getting the next machine. 6 months later, I get South Park back. I could do the same thing with TF (although my wife would probably kill me as she loves it LOL). And that grouping could be say...AV, Xmen, MET, AC/DC, and ST. And so on.

It could be a lot of fun. The only down side is moving the pins around. That's a pain in the... no matter how you look at it. Of course, you need to do this with good/trust worthy people who you know take care of their machines and would inturn take even better care of another persons machine.

Thumbs up to the OP.

I have multiple games out for storage reasons. So you could call it a trade. I trade my game for a period and they give me space to store it.

Only with people I trust wholeheartedly and only in instances where if something catastrophic occurred I could live with it.

Mike O.

Never pins...only wives...

I love Ted..

I've found that 6 months is the perfect time for a temp trade. Enough time to work your way through to the wizard mode and get a real feel for the pin. You'll know if it's a title you want to buy in the future or one you're glad you didn't.

And you really do not want to be moving machines more than you have to, even when you're careful as hell and wrap everything up you're going to at least get a small scuff moving it out or in.

I like this concept as having room for only 2-3 pins and interested in trying others .
I would like to find some pinsiders in my area that treat their machines good, and would be into doing this, as I don't know anyone else personally that owns one.

There are some locals that have that I know of. I have not due to lack of close friends in the hobby. None of my friends have machines they just come over and play mine with me.

Me and Fattrain have a few times we live a mile away from each other and try to have different lineups so we keep it fresh, I would only do this with a close friend.

Joe(acejedi)

Pin trading is a great idea. I really like it. Like I said though, it's a pain in the butt to move them. All in all. I just wosh I had a damn arcade 15-30 minutes away I could shoot off to for a couple hours to enjoy playing some different machines. Nearest place to me (Pinball Wizard Arcade) is almost 2 hours away. *Sigh* I'm actually headed there Saturday if anyone from the Boston, NH, ME area is interested in hanging out and having some fun. I even started a thread for it. I think I'll find it and bump it up. Check it out if your interested.