It helps to have soldering skills and the ability to read a wiring diagram. Many people can create more problems or even do more damage than good. Just saying. Some people are ok with the easy coil or diode replacement but board repairs are a different animal. I can do 95% of my own work. Lately time is the issue these days for me. I finally got to my Star Gazer after 5 years. It's almost done. I have a Kingpin/Hellacopters clone I haven't started on yet.

Plus diligence, dedication and drive

Well, you see, many small business owners don't claim all of their income, and therefore do not pay their fair share of taxes. This is now de facto disposable income and can be used for leisurely activities, including pinball machines.

This thread is a great example of what I love about us
No matter how few games you own, no matter if they are A list, B list or all the art is missing from the play field, you are welcome to the pinball fraternity

How do more people getting into pinball screw up the hobby?? I think it makes the hobby stronger...yes some machines cost more than others due to demand....but more people in this hobby ensures it stays for years to come

because you own sorcerer. The games you own are the worst ones to play. Because they do not play like yours. You can play a game every day and the more you play it, the more your only used to that particular game. Sure you know the rules, but every shot is totally different than what your used to. Angles are different, flipper power, rubber, the works. You won't be able to hit shit on games you own, unless they are damn close to the way you have them at home. WHich they never are.

Agreed. I've met some class acts in my four years of collecting and working on pins. There are d-bags for sure but they stick out like a sore thumb and are easy to ignore.

More to the point, my pin collection started with an auction lot consisting of an air hockey table, empty arcade cabinet and a Skateball pin. There was only one picture taken from far back so I bought it sight unseen...for $50. I immediately threw the air hockey table into the dumpster (it was garbage), made the empty arcade cab into a multicade and sold it, and fixed up the Skateball which we got running with minimal effort and a whole lot of cleaning.

I don't buy "A" title machines...someday maybe. I'm up to 20 or so "B" and "C" titles that keep me busy enough while I get better at restoring them. I love the hobby and search every day for machines on multiple sites. I pick up about 4-5 per year. Building collections takes time. Don't be in a rush.

Thanks guys, I've added a lot more pins to my wishlist, even though it will change down the road.

Well stated

I've been diligent and patient. It's not really about money. It's about picking up games in imperfect condition at a good price, doing deals and trades. It's taken me about 10 years to build up my collection.

Well, ok, money can make a difference. But every machine I've ever bought I got a good deal on. The only game I probably could not sell for more than I paid is the first machine I bought because I didn't know much about pinballs and didn't realize what it would cost to restore.

To me, every game I have is a story. I'll look at one and remember where it came from and what I had to do to get it working. That's why I started my web site, pinballhelp.com to chronicle my process of getting machines so I can share the fun with other people.

I rob banks, and I'm good at it.

Gerry, Is your big bus your incognito flying-under-the-radar get-away vehicle?

To all: Great thread topic & some great posts. Thanks for sharing your thoughts/stories.

To me, pinball as a hobby is much more than just playing pinball. ....but playing pinball w/ friends is pretty high on the list of good aspects.

moneeeeyyyyy!!!
and with money you get all the room in the world and all the pinners available!

I have never spent a lot on a pin other than WOZ. I do not go looking for a specific pin, just look for any pin. I just bought a very nice WWF for $500, better than my other one I am playing. Left at 7am drove 350 miles and got back at 2 am.

I had a friend that picked up a MM and IJ (Williams) in average condition for a great price. I would have bought them but it was his lead. If I told you what he paid you would not believe it.

There are great deals out there if you keep cash ready and look around.

We stated Neo. I try to explain this to people and they don't get it. "Oh, you have that game, you'll blow it up!!" Not always the case. PAPA's A bank this year had a Radical. This was my machine 6 months ago. My actual machine that I sold to PAPA. Of course they set it up tougher, and of course, I couldn't hit a thing on it.....I stopped playing it (and Jack*Bot and Taxi which I own) to play other games like Goldeneye and Flash Gordon and had better success....

Time and patience, nobody can afford to buy them all at once.....it takes time. I do extra work and that money is all dedicated to pinball, even a little debt occassionally is healthy (like buying a boat or something). But my rule is paid off in 3 or 4 months. Don't waste money on bad habits, or other hobbies.

But to address the time fact "how do you keep up" personally I work on the broken ones one evening a week. Still seems something is always in need of repair or shopping. I also have a buddy that likes to repair pins, so we get a lot done on play night. In fact I enjoy working on them as much as playing them

Yep, there are too many variables for each game to be the same. To break it (the works) down further and adding to what you mention, there's also, playfield surface material, type of wax used, degree of playfield slope, ohm of each playfield coil, gap of each playfield switch, position of each adjustable post and there are varying degrees of wear to pivot points to moving playfield parts. All these things effect the ball in one form or another. Even the ball material is key, (IMHO) I use SS bearings in my older games because they are less porous than carbon bearings. Less friction over the amount of play and faster.

PAPA bought that Goldeneye from me...

While I don't track them on paper, I do use excel to track my pinball buying and selling history. Mostly it's fun to see what I had in the past. And if you are honest about the game and other items people don't mind coming to get games or call you to sell their games. I have gotten a few this way along with patience. I've only been around for 1.5 years or so "collecting" but pretty much buy and sell to pay for my collection and I try to describe the game as best as possible.

Nice read, thanks for the post.

This is pretty funny actually as the original post was about people having many machines. Even under 2k, or even at a 1k average, this is still a ton of money. The author of the topic is asking about pinsiders that have 40+ machines, do the math and tell me that you don't need money. We aren't talking about the guys who have 3-4 machines, read the original topic over.

I spent years getting my collection, being patient and not over-paying. I know another guy new to the hobby who has amassed a really nice A-list collection in less than a year. He's also paid market value or higher for his machines. The difference between those with a ton of disposable income and those that don't isn't the size of their collection as much as how patient they are to wait for the good deals. The good deals always come, but you have to be looking for them. In my area, I'm known as the "pinball guy" so if any of my friends run into someone with a machine they refer the people to me. I've gotten many games from friends who heard someone say they had a pinball game in a warehouse or storage building and told them they had a friend who might be interested if they want to sell. I also have friends who do estate sales and ebay sales. I'm their go-to-guy for appraising pinball machines and this gives me a chance to get in on deals.

Agreed, I'm referencing this post to the people with 50k, 100k, 150k+ in machines. Those guys have a couple bucks to burn. I'm not looking at the guys with handfuls of em's or beater b, c, d titles.

It takes money to afford a ton of quality games. The source has to come from somewhere. Their either drowning in dept, still live with their parents, have lawsuit settlements, trust funds, inheritances, investments, or just have really good jobs (150k-200K+ yr). And/or people who are single, with no kids, and zero dept including mortgage. Others have saved, and done well for themselves, and now splurge. I get that. Saying you don't need money is just crazy. It's like people who own a ton of collector cars. Of course it takes $$$$$$$ to own a huge collection.

Or we could simply work hard

Or sheer luck. Saw a guy practically give away a Sega SWT for $50 on CL.

Something a lot of people don't realize is that just because someone makes 40,000 a year and has 40+ machines they got at say an average of 2k each if they got them a while back and on deals is that many pinsiders with this many machines can fix them, resell them etc. I know personally I had 5 really solid machines at one point and checked my excel sheet and over the course of the year I was only down $650. Not too bad. Just buy, fix them and sell them. If your hobby can make you side cash and you love it, why not?

40+ machines worth 4k+ does not mean they were bought retail or purchased quickly. MAny of those 40+ guys have been collecting for a few years or far more.

For example, I know a guy locally with about 25+ machines (roughy). Anyways, all A or top B list games in GREAT condition. He doesn't have a ton of money by far. However, he repairs, fixes and also bought a lot of them in late 90's to early 2000's when they were cheeeeeap!

Yes you are correct and most of us agree, but I mentioned earlier that with today's prices anyone starting out and looking to build a collection of that size is not gonna have the same financial opportunities with buying machines that existed 10 years ago. Today, building those size collections is gonna take some $$$$$$.

I'll share mine I had about half my collection and then bought SIRI at .10 a share when I sold it I bought about 10 more machines over the last 2 years figuring I'd rather invest in something I can enjoy.

It is very difficult keeping over 20 games running. I'm not looking at pinball to make money though I try to be very fair and when I sell a game a tend to run +/- $200.00 per machine. I do this hobby as break even and of course my time is 100% free.

My biggest complaint is I try to make all of my games perfect which just isn't possible on older titles. Right now I have a Jack Bot and Twister. Jack bot just needs new pop bumper skirts and Twister I need an elusive sega white/clear target and sticker for ball lock.

I have $2300.00 in Twister getting is right and I know that may be a hard sell. The damn game is almost 100% perfect though.

Last machine I bought was last month, a Mars God of War for $50. It's in really nice condition too. Deals are out there if you're patient.

Plus this notion that prices are not going down is unlikely. Prices will go down. EMs used to cost $1500-$2500+ new. Now their average price is about $300. Modern DMDs will eventually lose value too.

LOL!!! Yeah I know this...and I made a comment to Lyman to the fact that I was going to stick with my don't play games I own rule after totally sucking on Cosmic Gunfight in the classics...on which I did not even break 100,000. Lyman said no it is good to play games you own, because even though they are not set up like yours, and play totally different, you know the rules... I will say that, in the C bank, I did ok on WW (had the 6th and 7th high scores in the tourney), SM not so much, and Sorcerer...well...I won't even go there... but the other games in C bank I didn't know at all, and I played them out on the floor, and wasn't impressed...with FT or Dr.W...and HG is just evil! so I went with what I knew...I gave up on Sor. a bit too late, and switched to T3 after Chuck took me over and taught me how to play it...just one of those things...maybe next year. Still had fun seeing friends and visiting, was kinda sad about the weather, had a cool tailgating set up that I didn't get to use because of the wind and generally yucky weather...but then again, next year!!

Phoebe

Great write up! I would consider that MAJOR success, so grats .

There are only two ways that I know to have a large collection in Australia.

1. Lots of time - you've been in the hobby forever and/or you have been buying, selling and trading for years and place zero value on the time you've invested.
2. Money - lots of it.

Most people I know fall into the second category, it might have taken them 6 or 7 years, but whether they realise it or not, they've pumped $150k+ into the hobby.

I think there's another factor we're going to be seeing in the future that we haven't seen much of before: collectors selling their collections. It used to be the big bulk deals were from operators liquidating their inventory. I think now there are some collectors that are getting older and there could be circumstances where they decide they have too many games to manage, or they pass away and their collection gets dumped in the market. This has been starting to happen more often lately.

~$6500 for a pro
~$9000 for a LE

Price fluctuates with every model depending on the exchange rate and some other factors.

AC/DC pro was $5995, but that was the cheapest a NIB machine has been here for 10 years or so.

Ouch, those are rough prices you guys are stuck with down under. I hear they were only paying $5800 on the moon.

WTH??? Don't y'all have an indigenous brand for less or no?