While I played Pinball as a kid and teen, I didn't start collecting until well into my adult years. My buddy gave me a non-working, moisture damaged Meteor that was sitting in his basement in 2005. I got it working but then moved to Germany for about 4 years. When I came back, I had to get it working again. That is when my pinball problem started.

For me it is all my sons fault! About 8 years ago we bought a house with my son & daughter-in-law (we live in the In-Law area and they have the main house). About 8 months after moving in my son comes down to my basement office and says "what do you think about putting a gameroom in the basement". My reply was - that would be cool but if we are going to do it we need to learn to fix machine ourselves - "I am not going to deal with finding someone to repair them".

8 years and over 400 machines later I am still buying these stupid things! The first 3 years we bought, fixed up and sold enough machines to pretty much pay for our collection. After that I have mostly just been buying - nothing sold for over 3 years - but a bunch of machines will need to go soon. I am getting tired of paying storage rent on 4 storage units!

So my goal in 2017 is to get the game count down to under 50 machines so everything will fit in the house again. With that said I have offers out on 3 machines and have picked up 14 machines in the past month and also have a deal in the works with a guy for his entire collection (50+ machines). Talk about being INSANE!

I don't recall ever really playing pins when I was young. Came across a slightly beat up Indiana Jones at a bar. Would play it while waiting for friends to get their checks. Then talked with my friend about the Addams Family pin that I had remembered from childhood and how wild it was. Heard about a TAF on location at a skating rink, and played the shit out of it. The place would open for like 4 hours, and I'd just feed that thing quarters for 4 hours straight. Next thing you know i'm shopping for my first pin, and so on and so forth hah

Dad finished up basement 10 years ago and let me pick out a pinball machine which I played a lot. Then a few years ago I was playing for fun in Columbia, MO and a random competitive player was watching me put up a billion on TAF and the rest was history. Love the hobby and the people.

Walked into an arcade in 1996 and noticed prices on the games. Didn't realize that you were allowed to buy pinball machines. Ended up buying my first game shortly thereafter. And the rest has been a downward spiral into obsession, compulsion and sheer poverty; but I wouldn't have it any other way.

My friend said we should start an arcade business. "Buy arcades and put them on location and make money for doing no work" he says. 3 years later I hate arcades and only vend pinball machines and have put hundreds of hours fixing the damn things. And I LOVE IT.

Yeah, I thought you had to own a business to buy one. My uncle had one in his basement but his father owned a bar.

I have a serious aversion to saving money. Also, nothing is cooler than pinball.

Started Playing in 1965, I was 5. Bingo Games on the Boardwalk on the east coast.
Then on to the corner candy store and small arcades.
Bought my first game in 73......and sold/traded...repeated an insane amount of times over the next 43 years.

Now, I have too many.

My Brother bought one first

My Wife said I needed a hobby....straight downhill from there....

Yup, 13, Saved my money from delivering Newsday and NY Daily News...10 cent tips, saved to buy a Sing Along for $150.

I played pinball a bit as a kid but mostly played video games growing up. About 5 years ago I cleaned out a work room in my house and started turning it into a man cave. I bought a cheap pinball machine (Cosmic Princess) as I wanted something to put in there. The collection grew, I learned to fix them, buy project games when I can find them and I route pins and organise local tournaments.

Wondering what another 5 years will bring. I have a plan but not sure if I can pull it off

it turned into an ugly buying frenzy after that

I think Lloyd did the same thing 10 years earlier!

From 8-12 years old, Id draw play field designs all day long, in the hard black covered notebook, and mail with a letter to
The Pin companies then.....only David Gottlieb replied with a letter....something to the affect of "keep it up, come visit when I finish college"

My dad, brother and I when I was about 13 found a near mint almost completely home use only 1959 Gottlieb Queen of Diamonds in my grandpa's basement in 2009... I was in absolute shock and never knew that my dad had his own pinball machine in his house in the 70's..we bought 3 more ever since and We plan on buying more! Build on the collection for life!

Amazing! Do you have a picture of the letter?

No idea where it went....middle 60's.....probably with all my Mantle Baseball Cards and Comics in the Trash.

My friends parents had an EM pin their living room when we were in grade school not sure what one it was but that always stuck with me how cool that was to actually have one... My aunt also had an EM pin in their garage when I was kid same thing no idea what it was. All I can remember is the ball got stuck when you played it. What got me interested in "collecting" was a creature pin in the game room of a local resort I worked at when I was in high school and it got me thinking about the pins my aunt and buddy had years ago. When I asked about them at that time they both said the same thing we gave that away to a neighbor year ago... Then I got my own place and it was all down hill after that.

About 7 years ago my wife wanted a pinball machine. You know what they say.... Happy wife happy life! We have 6 machines at the moment and she wants to change the house around so we can fit more. Happy wife so life is good!

She put a craigslist ad in my face one night ( about 6 years ago) saying " you need a hobby, all you do is work". It was for a KISS machine at the local arcade in the mall. Got inspired, went right down with cash in hand, and the guy sold it 20 minutes before I got there. Machine was still there, I offered him more than he was asking ($1500.00, I think) but he wouldn't nix the other deal ( a good op).

All bummed, I went to the other end of the mall where another small arcade was...3 games there, one of them TAF...the memories came back, and bought one a few weeks later off eBay. It was my pride and joy ( still is)...kind of beat, but put a ton of work in it to make it a great machine.

Then it looked lonely, so naturally I just needed " one more" ,TZ, to have a great pair. Logical, right? Found Pinside....Now you can fill in the rest....9 machines and 2 more coming. I now have a hobby, for sure.....

Found a Williams Taxi pinball machine around 2010 when I was about 13-14 years old, and spent years prior creating distant memories in campground arcades. The rest is history. The 80's games are where my nostalgia (they were around a lot in the 2000's in campgrounds) and real heart lie, but EMs turned out to be my babies. I let them take over my collection and have no regrets, but I'll be damned if I don't have an 80's section.

I love having people over and seeing the smiles on their faces. I think it gives a lot of my close friends a good feeling knowing the hobby will continue after their generation is gone.

One day, particularly after that time is gone and pinball is on its last legs(?), I'd really like to open up a pinball museum. However, I plan to do it within a reasonable amount of time from now, and see where it goes. If it doesn't go well, I'll be keeping my hoard of machines for later on to do it again years later for that purpose.

IMG_2657 (resized).JPGIMG_3012 (resized).JPGIMG_3014 (resized).JPGIMG_3010 (resized).JPGIMG_6908 (resized).JPGIMG_6941 (resized).JPGIMG_2507 (resized).JPGIMG_2521 (resized).JPGIMG_2546 (resized).JPGIMG_0827 (resized).JPGIMG_1056 (resized).JPGIMG_1054 (resized).JPGIMG_1058 (resized).JPGIMG_7523 (resized).JPGIMG_7817 (resized).JPG893eb06500b37e1aa24360ba3f6f9f2cada31525 (resized).jpg03004d720fd85d60ce34884fde8a17fa6c3ca5dc (resized).jpg

Been into pinball since about the time I was able to walk. We had a couple of those toy marble games to play with, but where ever we went, there always seemed to be a full size pinball machine.

Whether the grocery store, the donut shop, bowling alley, etc.., I would try to scrounge a nickel or dime or whatever it took to play. If I had no money I would stand back and watch others play.

Discovered pinabll in college. I "remember" many hours of MM, RFM, SWEI, and such at the local watering hole. I would still seek it out on location when I could over the years. The bar down the street always has at least one machine in rotation: NASCAR, T2, Taxi, and currently CFTBL. It wasn't until I got a Skee Ball Model H for the basement last Thanksgiving (that's another story) and was on the internet trying to figure out how to repair it/find parts that I discovered that a home market existed. Came across some retailers selling Skee Ball machines, who also sold pinballs! Intrigued, I took the plunge down the rabbit hole. Decided that the Model H was lonely and needed some company. Picked up my first machine from a Pinsider, JM, this past March. I found my second a mile down the road from my house two weeks later.

1979 I was 15 and bought my first game from a retired operator. Four Million BC.

Grew up in the 70's & 80's. Was always a big gamer....board games, pinball then video games. I was the first kid in my town to get an Atari PONG (well before the 2600). and have owned virtually every video game system.

I remember my Uncle had an old EM (1965 Gottlieb Dodge City) in his basement in the mid 70's. My bother and I (around age 8-10) thought that was the coolest thing ever. Every time we visited my brother and I went straight to the basement and played that pin all evening.

When I finally bought my first home it had a nice basement. After settling in I decided that basement needed a pinball machine. I found a POS F-14 Tomcat locally for $500. Boy did I learn a lot on that thing! It was constantly breaking down. I had no idea how to read a wiring schematic or how to solder.......but I learned.

Machine #2 was a BNIB LOTR in 2003....lol, guess I was tired of fixing the F-14!

Then I faded out of the hobby.......until 2012. That year I discovered Pinside, Traded the LOTR for a WCS94 and a Getaway (plus got cash) both games were in great condition. Since then I've bought and sold 18 or so and met a lot of great people.

I've been an addict for just 4 years but it seems like so much longer.

It's started when we bought a summer home and committed to making sure it was a fun place to go to. Sort of a way to take weekend type vacations. In the process of buying furniture, etc. my wife and I decided to put anything we could dream up as "fun" into the house. So ... We added ping-pong, corn-hole, canoe, speedboat, archery range, 2 channel vinyl stereo system and ... Wait for it ... Our first pinball (TOM). One was fun and the pinball got played and used more than all the rest combined. By the time we were done, the top floor was full and we had 8 machines.

We went to the summer house one weekend and never came home for over 4 months. We loved it there and loved having the neighbors over to play pinball.

We recently sold the summer house BUT the pins came with us and now that we have even more room we've added 9 more.

I was complaining that we were out of room at the summer house and I'm doing the same here. Wish I had room for more!

I probably did not play pinball 10 times as a kid. I distinctly remember playing (probably an old EM) in a bar and trying to look cool doing it but feeling totally intimidated inside - literally afraid I would do something stupid and embarrass myself. No way I thought I would ever own and repair/restore my own!

I've collected vinyl records, CDs, guns, compasses, and a million other things but Pinball for me is the best of them all. I'm a fine arts major and can so much appreciate the beauty of the art. I love the amazing complexity of the machine hardware. I really do enjoy repairing and restoring machines to good as new.

I've also made friends that I simply would never have met otherwise. Playing with others that have the same passion is what it's all about.

Finally, I love to play. I can look back at my scores 4 years ago and see how much I've learned how to play better. I can also look at some of the better players and see how much is left to learn!

Couple pics of unloading and setting up TOM - first game ever (still here)

P1180119 (resized).JPGP1180131 (resized).JPG

lol I thought the same thing about "lonely"

OK,children,here's mine!!! I started playing pinball in the mid fifties,I was 5,and my Grandpa worked in the summer at a resort north of S.F.called "Rio Nido" on the Russian river road! He tended the snack bar at the arcade there.At that time,pinball arcades were everywhere.At about 15,I became a hippy(1965)and only saw a pinball once in a while!Then,in 1990,driving bus,our union got a Adams family,and a Funhouse in our break room to generate funds for the Union!!I was hooked again!I retired 11-11-11,and my Wife bought me a Galaxy as a gift! and as MK6pin says,it was downhill from there!!

Thanks, dude! My dad told my brother and I that when we move out and get our own house, we can split the pins we currently have! My brother and I are already trying to figure out who should get what! Haha my mom is getting annoyed because she knows I am always looking online for a project pin to fix up THE BEST HOBBY

Bought a neo geo off a guy he told me he had pins in the basement. Haven't seen a pinball in 10 years and he never let me in the basement. So I was on the hunt.

EM heaven!

F14 Tomcat!