My first pin was a T2 which got sold to fund an IJ. Since then i have bought and sold 3 of them and currently have one in my collection again. I sell games off when i quit playing them. I tend to keep a lot of games based on theme and not so much fun factor. Once the initial excitement wears off and i haven't powered it on for at least a couple months or i find myself playing every game around that game, ill list it for sale. But i have started overflowing into my sisters game room so some of the titles I have gotten tired of are getting played so i don't feel the need to sell them off as long as they are getting used. I also have been getting the urge to play some of those games again after they've been away for awhile.

First it was a matter of fun vs price. that or if I could trade it/sell it to fund a purchase to build my collection.

Then it became all about the rarity. Was fun to collect what others don't have or what you never get to see. You learn a lot by working on games that not many know about. Learn to make your own parts too or track down things that are considered unobtanium.

Now I still go after rare stuff, but the list is narrow since I have most of what I want. Eatpm is the only thing on the docket to let go of, but its been fun building up through trades. Started with a fire damaged and gutted LAH which I sold to buy a rbion with issues which I traded for eatpm.

I have 3 pins, and have gone through 10 in the last year. I don't plan on keeping any of my pins forever right now, and am really enjoying the fixing up old games aspect of it, along with learning and exploring new tables. My tastes have changed since I dove head first into the hobby and I'm sure I'll "settle down" with a few pins one day, but I really like that I can sell my pins for about what I have in them pretty much anytime.

Various reasons through the years.

Back when times were great in my industry, any game pissing me off was the next to go.

Now days it's more about what comes in, what can go. For instance with the AFMR being so great for me, no need for the original. So I had it for sale off and on, no hurry to unload it. And late last year it sold and enabled a title at the top of my want list ( AC/DC Luci Vault ) to come in.

LTG : )

I've owned 11 pins in total, and have 4 currently.
I have 3 now that will likely never leave (super mario bros, shaq attaq and monopoly), and then the final spot is my rotating game spot. I promised my wife that I would keep the collection limited to 4 pins for now, so that results in me usually selling or trading one to get another.
In fact I just traded a breakshot for a haunted house, and in a few months will maybe feel the need to trade/sell haunted house too. We shall see. northerndude , you know from our message conversation that I have a limited attention span with pins lol. I barely get one in the basement and I'm already keeping an eye out for the next one.

When I started in the early '90s I didn't know anyone who purchased any pins NIB. My buddy and I would play all the latest pins at various arcades and bars and talk about which games we'd like to own. For several years I hunted down my favorites, mostly through the local distributors, and they are all keepers to me.
Along the way I did make three "opportunity" buys of games not on my must-own list:
1996 Gottleib Barb Wire (barely used) purchased in 1997 in very good condition
1994 Sega Baywatch (used) in 1996 - cabinet nicked up but playfield great and recently added ColorDMD
1997 Sega X-files (NIB) purchased in 1997 on a close-out (I still have the box)
I'd consider selling those three, but I'd rather keep them than sell them for the prices they bring. They're still pinball.

For a while, I was grabbing cheap oddball games. But, I was sinking a lot of time and effort into repairing them since there's little documentation and few people who know how to repair them, they weren't long term keepers anyway, and I wasn't even breaking even on them when selling them. So, I've been going with more mainstream titles that I enjoy lately. I can at least get my money back on those for the most part.

Once I complete the final wizard mode its done, BK3 which I haven't completed yet might be an exception just due to theme and music and overall funfactor but for the most part and especially a deep coded pin thats the end.

It's just aboot space really. For me the question is past what/should I sell...it's should I store them somewhere and not sell.

Got a pretty solid system going myself, and it seldom lets me down.

* How often do I play said title, and how long does it hold my attention when I do play it?
* After putting up a great score, do I walk away or can I enjoy playing it again immediately?

If you are not playing a pin much, and then you do play it and you kick it's ass and you feel bored after, like you are done with it and would rather play something else, that means time to swap it out is coming.
This does not mean it is a bad game, it just means you are almost done with it and ready for some other of the 2,000 common pins out there.

Never buy and sell due to theme....fun factor should rule all.

Limited attention span with pins and you can list bad, real bad, and OK as your never leave titles?
You lost me there. I'm not criticizing - to each their own.
Just wondering what you see in these? There are so many better titles for similar coin.

Several of my games are up a two-tiered flight of stairs with several sharp turns involved in moving them. I've thought about selling one, then I thought about moving it. . . its still here.

Other reasons I keep a game include how difficult it would be to find the title again once I sell it -- I hang onto the ones I enjoy playing that would be difficult to find again.

Games I put a lot of my time and effort into making look nice/play reliably have stuck around too.

haha no worries, I know that my 'keep' list is a lot of peoples 'never buy to begin with' list. And that's ok.
I quite enjoy all 3. I think if you are only basing them on if they are super deep in code and game modes, then yes, they will rate poorly. But in my humble opinion, they are good, simple, easy, fun pins. I live in a small town. Most of my friends that I have over never play pinball outside of my place. My kids are 1.5, 5 and 7 years old. They're not looking for complex gameplay either. Each game has a fun theme, with light gameplay that to me make for a fun, relaxing experience. Most of my guests roll their eyes if I start explaining what to shoot for, how to start modes, etc. I'm sure eventually I will get some deeper, higher rated pins mixed in to my collection. But for now, these fit my friends, family and myself well.
Also, I was able to get all 3 under their suggested market values by a fair bit, so that was nice too.
I'm curious, have you played all 3 a fair bit, or more so going by pinside rankings? I'm asking as I don't want to assume that's the case. Just like you, I'm just wondering.
I should also note, that I have several friends that live about 2 hours away, who have very nice collections with lots of the top rated pins. So I'm able to experience a lot of the pins that budget wise I wouldn't go after myself for my own collection at the moment. I quite enjoy attack from mars, royal rumble, congo, elvis, bride of pinbot, etc. In fact, I haven't ran across too many pins that I don't enjoy, even if for just one small reason or another. Maybe that helps explain why I'm happy with the 4 I currently have lol.

I have learned that the hardest part of selling a game is deciding to sell it. Games i thought i’d never sell i have and afterwards felt no remorse. I’d say more of a liberating feeling. I really enjoy the hunt so if i miss something and want it back i get to go back on the prowl .

My style tends to lean more towards a “collector” style. Not in the collecting pins in general sense, but collecting certain styles / themes / genres. Like System 11’s, Spooky’s (current kick), or spooky themed pins. When i decided i had more than i needed i didnt just sell 1 or 2 Sys 11’s. Basically they all went (still have one im doing a pf swap on but it’ll leave eventually). First was very hard, then became easy because the collection was broken.

Right now i decided i wanted some diversity since i didnt want to be a B/W snob lol. So i am going for 3x each Bally, Williams, Stern, Spooky. Yes i know giving both Bally and Williams their own category is cheating. Baby steps...

You can't take them with you to the grave. I'm sure in whatever afterlife there is you could just imagine a game and voila.

That said don't leave it to your family to sort out when your 70+ and can't move a machine without calling your Son or grandkids. Cause your wife or kids are going to have one heck of a fire sale. I've seen it happen to many times.

That said. I keep a game awhile. I sold a few that were sentimental and other than BSD I've never had any regrets.
If I was able to pay a % of the value of my personal collection via admission or coin drop I think I'd hold on longer.

This is so true for me. When I first started Tucson Pinball I would buy anything I could afford if I had a spot on route for it. It wasn't an impulse thing though, it was more of a physical savings account for me. Buy a game, fix it, route it and some day sell a few to buy a high value game. That was the plan, but starting selling was hard. I like them all for various reasons. Now I am selling, but the ones I've had a while and played a lot. I could list 2-3 to sell based on that, but if I got into trying to pick 5 to sell it would get hard pretty quick.

I love working with my hands and fixing things. I started out wanting an EM that i could fix and get running and thats exactly what I did. I picked up a Gottlieb King Rock 4 player. Backglass, Playfield and cabinet were all in good shape. However, as most all EM's, the score reels needed some work and the underneath was a mess. Got it all working, played it, loved it. I thought I'd never sell that game. Then the sickness really set in. Over the next few years I bought a Sky Jump, Atlantis, El Dorado, Jacks Open, Abra Ca Dabra, Hit the Deck, Jumping Jack, Jungle, Captain Fantastic, Volley, Buccaneer, Flying Carpet. I found King Rock really sucked as a game and was boring. I decided to sell it because it was taking up space and I didn't play it. But I had a hard time letting it go, I even told the guy " If you ever want to sell it back to me let me know". All of my EM's needed work, some I did complete restores. I dumped in a lot of money into making them play and look nice. Now Im tired of all that work. I like EM's but my tastes have changed. Now, Im all about newer games. I've since sold off most all my EM's. I have only kept El Dorado, Hit the Deck and Jumping Jack. But now I have a game room full of my favorites. Aerosmith pro, Metallica pro, Ghostbuster LE, Batman 66, Last Action Hero, Family Guy, Austin Powers, Elvira PM. It just so happens I got tired of FG and sold it this week and I already have a Simpsons pinball party to pick up next week.
So to answer your question, for me, it's hard to get rid of games because I feel attached to them because of time and money i have into them. I now am collecting for my grail games. I realize I have to give up a game to get another game simply because Im out of room and now the prices of the games I want are way more expensive. When thinking of buying a game I always ask myself, do I like xyz game better than yzx game? Met, GB and B66 are always off the table, so I dont even consider selling those games.
As of the last 2 weeks I see my old King Rock is up for sale at double what I sold it for. NO WAY do I want that game back!!
Funny how our tastes change.

Barring special circumstances, whatever I'm playing the least is usually highest on my list of potential sale games.

I usually know if a game is a keeper or not before bringing home but in the last couple years I have had games that are on probation status. I will buy a game and keep it in the garage to play, if it makes the cut after several months then it gets moved inside, if not it is sold or traded. I think having at least one or a couple games always on the chopping block helps with not having to part with keepers. My problem is the keepers keep growing. To me the main determining factor is if it is a fun game and it never loses it's appeal. I have games I have not played in months but I still love them.

Same.

I still have my first pin-- it would also be the last one to go. It's not the greatest game (Bally Gold Rush), but it lived in my uncle's basement for more than 40 years before I inherited it, and I have so many fond memories of playing (thousands of games) on that machine at every family function at their house.

As far as the rest of the collection, I've got an odd mis-mash of stuff. The classic B/W games are all keepers for me. The others are things that caught my fancy or things I picked up when people said "Oh you like pinball? I've got this old...". Some of those I'll trade or sell as space warrants, others I've grown really fond of. Some are, in my mind, too rare to just "sell"-- I would need to find the right person to be the next caretaker.

My wife plays more than I do, so it depends on which ones she likes the least. My collection has changed for the better since she started playing as she helps fund the new ones and she has better (more expensive ) taste than I do.

My wife calls me a "collector of collections." As such, I can tell you that you see this behavior in every type of collectible. The more access you have to a good quality or quantity of games (arcades, friends collection, your collection, shows, pinball leagues, etc), the easier they are to sell. Also, the less time and money you have into a game (sentimentality), the easier they are to sell.

I love all pinball machines, so I feel your pain of selling...but some are just better than others. If you have access to go play games at arcades, expos, friends homes...go play them. Build a "wishlist." Go find what your favorites are and those that didn't qualify become easy to sell.

Don't invest tons of time and money into them at the start. Once you do, they become more difficult to sell. Find out how they compare to other pins first.

Narrow your pinball search to begin with. Inevitably you will gravitate to certain things. It may be lighting, sounds, theme, ramps, etc. Once you find what you fancy, it becomes less of a chore to buy what you like...or to sell it if it doesn't meet your criteria.

Once you get a game..how much do you play it? If it is a few times a week, you should probably keep it. If you go weeks without and you don't miss it, it's time to move on.

Space restrictions. Only having so much space will help you make the tough decisions. It's much easier to sell pins when you can only have 3 as opposed to having room for 100.

Lastly, money decides a lot for you. Would you rather have a current pin or another at the same value? Would you rather have that pin or the money? These hard questions will unearth a lot of truths for you.

Access, sentimentality, time, space, and money ultimately dictate what comes and goes. You have to decide where your values lie for those.