So I had this thought recently when playing Sega's Viper Night Driving - "Why am I having so much fun? I'm not supposed to enjoy this pin, am I? It's not sought after, not A List, not highly ranked and Pinsiders will crap on it."

I think Pinside, pin ratings, "A" List oPINions, and all the new game hype has subliminally caused me to purchase pins more expensive than my previous self-imposed price ceiling. For the longest time $1500 was my limit, but usually you can't find higher ranked games in that range. Then I picked up a Shadow for $2000 because it was a good deal for a "respected pin. Dracula and Judge Dredd soon followed. A few weeks ago I bought a local Viper Night Drivin' for $1400 and now it's my wife's favorite game and I've been playing it non-stop compared to the others.

So I just sold Judge Dredd and soon I will be selling The Shadow and Dracula. Thinking I'll keep the cheap project Maverick I'm working on, get the TFTC finished and get back to "just enjoying pinball". Plus all the extra money will help fund a bathroom for the basement.

My friends and family don't know what's considered "A List" or for example, how The Shadow has great rules and is a deep game. To anyone outside the hobby, all of them are just pinball games - and no one likes Shadow. I dislike the term "pinball collection" that gets bandied about so often here because I started to think of my pins as a collection and tried to obtain a "respected" lineup. A lot of keeping up with the Joneses that occurs in this hobby I think. I'm a guy who enjoys playing and repairing pins, not collecting them.

Just wondering if anyone else ever had these thoughts about our hobby and decided to sell pricier pins and replace with less expensive ones? Not because of financial reasons, just because if you can have a blast on a $1400 pin then why pay $4000-$8000?

This is my second pinball owning era. Sold all my arcade machines and the few pins I owned back in 2004 when I moved. Plus I built a MAME arcade machine when I realized a mint Ms. Pac Man machine was just as boring to play as a beatup one. Decided one machine to rule them all was smarter and then I also wasn't constantly moving 300lb cabinets.

A few years ago my wife suggested getting a pin for our basement bar. Found a Party Animal for $400, which was cool because it was one I owned back the first go around. I'm at 8 now, 3 are projects though. Sold the Judge Dredd because my wife didn't like it and wouldn't play it when we had our tournaments against each other. So, bought the Viper and was like, great I'll sell Dredd, Shadow and Dracula and keep the much cheaper projects in their place.