I am into it a good 35-40k.

Too far...

We have owned over a hundred games.
So we have almost hit bottom, if there is one.

I can't imagine having more than a few $K tied up.

Ive only been in the hobby for a year or two, and it pretty much is an obsession at this point. 24 machines have passed though my hands, and am finally about at my ceiling for my collection, as only adding in keepers at this point, at least B/W games that is. Stern keeps punching out such great games there will always be a flow of new/old sterns coming in out.

I have about $3600 in my two machines but in 2 years they're worth more than that.Not to many things keep their value like that.

I feel like pins are a decent investment. Rarely do I lose money on resale. I at least break even.

In 4 years I have owned about 50 games...with 13 being the most at one time...interestingly enough I have found that I enjoy fixing them up more than playing them, and now spend much more time learning and practicing restoration techniques than playing....lucky for me my wife plays them every day

I'm 7 dogs deep so far. My wife's hobby is dog sports and stupid past me made a deal a few years back that every pin I buy she gets an automatic ok for another puppy. Thank god we live on 5+ acres.

Balls deep?

I've bought twelve games in the last eight months...

I went from 0 to 8 in five months. But I'm making up for lost time: have been into pinball forever but never considered owning until just recently.

Half of the machines that I bought seemed like fate: my most desired machines just happened to all come up for sale at reasonable prices (or is that just what everyone tells themselves? ). The other half were opportunistic bargains I couldn't pass on.

I arranged my first new purchase this morning, but now that's it - no more room. I'm not sure what happens next if something desirable comes up. I'm looking to the veterans around here for ideas. It seems the prototypical behavior is time to upgrade to new residence with more room.

Wow, I thought I was bad. I think you got me beat, 12/8 = 1.5 machines per month. I'm at 8 /5 = 1.6 machines per month. Oh crap, I am bad!

Started almost 3 years ago with 1. Within 60 or so days turned to 4. Currently I own 4 and am "holding" one for a friend. In that time I've rolled through 25+ games and show no signs of stopping. Yup I'm an addict. Don't regret one purchase, road trip or otherwise. It's been a great ride so far.

We went from zero to four in about 9 months. We're currently out of room (tee hee).

To echo a post above, I still love playing them but find restoration and repair to be the most satisfying part.

I will get the damn strobe light working on AFM I swear!

My going rate seems to be a machine each year. Both needed a good amount of time and parts to have them playing like they are now. Around 6k (machines and parts) invested in total. If space wasn't an issue i'd probably have more.

Been in this hobby since 2001 (actually owning, collecting and restoring) At first I would pick up pretty much anything I could, but I have slowed considerably from that plan and now I very rarely buy a pin just to buy it...My collection is holding steady at 50, with several projects (and a few duplicate titles not counted in the 50) in storage that I haven't gotten to at this point. I very rarely sell any games. I do trade occasionally, last pin I traded for was a Red Jungle Lord back in Feb. I am pretty settled with my collection ATM...So I guess in reference to the OP ? I'm in pretty deep, but treading comfortably along!

Phoebe

A solid 6 inches

EDIT: er ummm I mean like totally 8.5-9 inches

Jumped in March 2012 with a $800 JM. 4 years nearly to the day last week, bought a $8250 AFM.

I think I am on machine #20 or so. Try not to think about what I've spent...would hate to jump off a bridge.

14 games of which most were resurrections over about 5 years. I can't believe I own RFM.

Currently have two machines with one on order - started in early 2014. Unfortunately for me (fortunately for my wife) space is limited so my future collection will probably max out at 4 to 5 machines.

Have:
LOTR LE
Avengers The Pin
TH SE (on order)

Interested in a bunch and excited in the future offerings!!

Got into collecting around '03, been a fan since 3 years old during late 70's. Gorgar and KISS were the first two games I ever played.

Had about 6-7 come and go since then. T2 and STTNG are keepers to me, the STTNG is a beaut too. Can't find barely anything wrong with it cosmetically or functionally. Have a BK2K and Demo Man coming, had a Demo Man once before and still feel it has the best ramps and trails of any game, personally. BK2K I've wanted since I first played it in '89. Now to get a bigger place to get more. A small apartment can only fit four as it seems.

Well I guess when you have that many pins you don't count the duplicates. I have dupes on Diner, HS and LOTR and I count them to make my collection seem bigger. The rest is about the same. I rarely sell and when a deal comes around I let the Sanctum guys know so they can get it and I can still play it

...says the guy with 41 pins.

I've been in for 2.5 years and have about 60k into the machines. But I'm taking a break/backing off later this year to catch up on the parts of my life that have taken a back seat. So the money, time, and Pinside presence will dramatically lessen for a while.

Not thinking dollar amount but I average buying and/or selling 3-4 pins a month

I'm certainly obsessed but its a bit different for me. I don't have the space or money to collect heavily. Instead I'm spending time and money to fix the two machines I have and re-theme both. Money that could buy me a few more machines or even a NIB GB is instead set aside for a 3D Printer/CNC and workshop to fit them alongside the 24x48 Vacuuum forming machine I made a few years ago. All of that so I can try my hand at making my own machine from scratch. In looking for a new place to live, I'm not thinking much about room for lots of pins, but am fixed on space to set up a workshop. I'm sure the other part will come, but I'm no better with cars. The vacuum forming machine was made to make custom parts for that.

I was wondering if anyone would notice. Most people don't really read each others posts, just post and run. Only 38 technically, Phoebe says we don't count dupes. But then I have a ton of arcades also.

I have been in way too long. The good part is I got games like TOTAN and TZ for under $2K. Those were the days.

I believe it when I see it. Oh, on that AFM paint job I think you missed another spot.

+1

I hadn’t played or thought about pinball for over 25 years. But I was a KISS fan and always wanted an old school 70’s KISS pinball machine, really just because I knew it would be a cool looking collectible. Three years ago this month, I finally got one and as it turned out, I really enjoyed playing the game of pinball.

Three years later I still have the Bally KISS, along with a Stern KISS, Metallica, Ted Nugent, The Game Show, and a Hurricane (I figure I've spent about $17-18K on the games, bulbs, rubbers, service, etc). I have no plans to ever stop buying games. I’m currently out of space, but am house hunting now. The #1 thing I’ve told me Realtor is the new house must have a large, wide open basement for lots of pinball machines!

This is the #1 thing I think of whenever a thread like this comes up. Have you had to move in order to get more machines? That's always the question; and the answer is usually "of course."

In it for a pretty long time, but managed to restrain myself to what i have now

I bought my first machine in about 1994, then my second a few months after that. Then I sat on those two same machines for over 15 years. Then, 2 summers ago, me and a couple other buddies all got bit bad, and now I've currently got 15 games at my house and am bringing 5 to MGC.
I also love to tinker with these things, so lately I have also found myself working on them more than playing, which I sometimes need to consciously change.

I'm in pretty deep.

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I moved into a house for pinball and told my realtor "No stairs, at least one big ground floor room for pinball" and they kept trying to show me houses with "only 3 stairs" or big open layouts any spouse would hate being full of machines. Real estate agents just don't understand.

I found a house with no stairs to roll games inside and let me tell you it's the greatest thing ever.

I'm in for 70k so far
I have 7 machines, room for 1 more.....Kinda waiting to see what the next remake is.
Lots and lots of MODS, PDI Glass for all, Color DMD's for all that are available. Clearly I have some sort of sickness.

I have 3 I got NIB - ST LE, GoT LE and MMR LE
LOTR I got is HUO and didn't have a lot of plays on it, so it's super nice.
I got a STTNG I did a full cabinet/playfield restore on.
I have a TAF I am preparing to do a full cabinet/playfield restore on.
Also a TZ I will be doing a full cabinet/playfield restore on.
When I am done with my restore projects I will basically have 7 pristine machines

I repainted yesterday...still not happy. Doing another touch-up tonight.

I'm looking to get deeper. Had one, replaced it with another. Thought all I wanted was one. Now looking to add a second.

Probably 30k, and realizing that this is too deep and I need to back up some.

Was talking to someone yesterday and saying that it's funny, how on a whim I just dropped like 700 bucks on new plastics and opto boards to perk up my TOM. Meanwhile when I finally caved and bought a tv last year, it took me 3 months of research and humming and hawing before dropping a few hundred bucks on that. For some reason while the rest of my life is overanalyzed and too rational, pinball urges are completely unchecked and irrational

That's what I said about my last girlfriend.

Add to that with a walk out and easy access to get to it!! If we decide to move to another house, the instructions for my realtor will be, #1 Walk out FULL basement, large open area, with a small house attached. I also need a garage/workshop area for restorations...I have come to the conclusion that I am better off staying where I am and remodeling what I have to get what I want! Unfortunately the walk out basement is not possible where I am so I have to deal with hauling them up and down steps when I want to take them to shows and such, but the remodeling plans have been in the pipeline for a few years now, just gotta win the lottery to get them accomplished!

I only say that, cause I'm not exactly sure how many dups I have anymore (that's a sign that I'm in pretty deep right?) Oh and I have some arcades too, I didn't count them either!!

Phoebe

That's how it starts!!! As of this typing...there is no cure!

Phoebe

Started in the hobby 20 years ago come August 10th. Since then (at this point in time) I've owned 573 pins and kept 75 of those here in the basement. Not sure what I've spent right off the top of my head without looking it up but I can tell you that everything and I mean everything in the basement is paid for (and then some) through the games I sold off over the years....all it cost was my time (I kept track of the dollars, not my hours) which has been a great adventure and I'll continue to do so for many years to come.

John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, MI.
269-979-3836

Ugh... started with a few cheaper pins just for fun for a few thousand dollars , it has now turned into a collection I never imagined id own 3 years ago. Ive put in alot of hard work and hustle to get what I have without breaking the bank and am quite proud of where I am in the hobby at the moment. Were actually looking at moving into a bigger house bc im out of room and hate selling something to get another. All in all probably put in around 25k but with my current collection its valued much higher than that . But nothing beats the amazing people we've met and great times we have had , with many more to come which is the most important and best part of this hobby. .

Bought my first pin 4 years ago on CL for $1200...thought that was crazy money! Bought 4 more NIB since then...now $30k tied up and still looking for my "next" pin...it's a sickness with no cure!

I'm totally in control. I can stop at any time...

Careful with that expensive paint. You are going to pay more for your cabinet than I paid for my whole game. (faded, but fun)

I bought my first pin a Party Zone shipped from North Carolina in 2009 for 1350 and have owned 13 pins since but narrowed it down to 9 currently and have spend 45k. Out of room or I probably would have bought more classic 90's Bally Pins. I am pretty happy with the current and most are in top condition with 3 being HUO.