I started with B and C titles, modded them, restored them, made a little money and upgraded to mostly A titles now. Not a reboot entirely. If I was just in the hobby for collecting just to collect I'd say ok, but we love our babies!

Atomicboy, your collection is set to private, hard to see whatcha got!

Twice. Once because I thought I was bored with the hobby and the other to move. Both times I paid more to replace games in lesser condition. Wish I would have held onto them.

Go for it. Purge and splurge

crap,I have a hard enough time letting one game go,never mind all of them

You've got almost all winners! Not sure what you'd reboot to, change is good, but not always.

I'd be proud of that collection if it were me!

Hard to beat that collection! Maybe just start rotating 5 games in and out.

I am in a partial purge at the moment. About 18 months ago , I was mostly Stern in my collection. Lately I have seemed to have moved several Sterns and am getting back into B/W. In that time give or take, I moved out RBION, TSPP, AVLE,POTC,Monopoly,ACDC, MSF, AvatarLE. This is not an anti Stern move. I really liked all the games and they were in great condition. I also have a Transformers LE that is about to leave as well.

What I ended up buying,in a lot of cases rebuying, are B/W's. I ended up buying some games I did not like the first time around when I first started collecting back in the late 90's. Rebuys include TZ, STNG and CFTBL. I seem to appreciate the "old" designs better now I guess. I just bought two really nice examples of FH and WW. I got to admit, the FH and WW are really great designs and are getting the most play. Maybe simpler is better. One thing, obviously, While I am paying more then the first time around, I am ending up with much better examples.

If you are ready to make a change, why not make a list of your bottom 8 or so pins, and sell those first? It is easier to take one step, rather than decide whether to slash and burn the whole. Then regroup and see how you feel. You probably won't even miss those that left, and can evaluate things again from a better perspective.

very nice collection. I have to say lately I am feeling the same way. you have most of the top games in your collection. it gets boring and stale when you get all of your "grail" games. I am an arcade collector with some pins. I love the "hunt" to find the grail is the major "high". well, I found all my grails. major havoc, quantum, warrior, varkon, you name it I probably have it or had it at one time.so now I find myself seeking the pinball grails cause I am bored. sold many games thruout the years. I bought many the same games back or replaced them which cost me more money. its a very weird line collectors walk. just remember you will regret selling some of those pins and it might cost you more getting them back, you will probably have sellers remorse. it doesn't matter what you collect, but all collectors have a lot in common when it comes to getting that "special" piece and that is a very gratifying high, then you come back down to earth seeking the next piece, its a cycle. well good luck whatever you decide, just my 2 cents and hope you can get something out of this dribble.

I would have to agree with Underlord, you have a number of games that you should never sell, especially because you have the room to house a number of games. Don't be like me, I can only fit 4 games so I buy back games 2-3 times. The only games I see that you need to own are listed below. I am always looking to buy so if you are in the North East hit me up and I will gladly buy a few off of you.

Metallica
Iron Man
Kiss
Star Trek LE
Getaway
WOZ

See that Atomic, list your collection and let the negotiations begin!

I'm just kidding ya. If you want to remain private, all the power to ya. But thanks for sharing this time!

Bought my first pin in 2001 - F-14 Tomcat for $500.

Bought my second pin in 2003 - NIB LOTR.

Kept both for a long time and played them sporadically. F-14 kept breaking down no matter how many times I fixed it.....got tired of fixing it and in May of 2012 sold it (not working) for $500.

Walked back down to my basement and saw LOTR just sitting there by itself. I still liked pinball but I was tired of loooong ball times on LOTR. So I thought to myself....I can't have just one....I wonder if maybe I could do a two for one trade for my LOTR?

Started looking up the current value, found Pinside, listed my trade offer and got TONS of responses. Traded LOTR for a Getaway and WCS94....both in fantastic condition.....plus got some cash. AND BANG! I was back in the hobby!

Have bought/sold & traded 14 more machines since then (16 total since selling the F14). And have no plans to slow down. Going from one machine I was tired of, to two new one's really got me off and running.....so glad I did that and I've meet some fantastic people along the way. Mostly thanks to Pinside.

I'm sure a lot of people are constantly morphing their general collection through trades, sales, and acquisitions -- but I don't think many people that would sell everything and start from zero.

Sold 4 last fall, kept 2, back up to 4 with one on order. Purchasing only keepers now. No more beaters, only prestige enters this house.

I started collecting 12 or so years ago and had a lot of great titles starting with T2, BOP, STTNG and gradually settling with 5 pins

TZ
IJ
TOTAN
CFTBL
POTC

was my lineup for 5-6 years as I was not on Pinside for a long time and semi retired from collecting, I didn't know what was going on at all, after POTC. I was dealing with a retailer and when he left the area I didn't have a place to try new games, he was always bringing in new stuff and I could try all the games and maybe rotate my pins out. But after he left the area, I just kept the 5 games I had, and gradually fell out of the hobby.

So about 3 years ago, my pins were not being played much and I was thinking of selling out, but I came here to Pinside to see how much my pins were worth. I found a lot of excitement regarding Tron and AcDc and the beginning of XM and WoZ excitement. I also found that I could sell my pins for about what I paid for them maybe a bit more. So I did sell all my older games because they were 7/10 condition and just kept POTC since I had bought that new and it was still 10/10 condition.

Then I slowly began selling my old pins and adding new pins in this order:

XMLE (NIB)
Tron pro (NIB)
AcDc Premium
SM
STLE (NIB)
IMVE (NIB)
TSPP

Between selling my 4 old pins (A list), I was able to buy 3 of my new games with very little out of pocket. I've put a lot of money after that into my games but I have a very solid collection and could keep them all a long time, I'm not getting tired of any of them yet.

My new pins, for the most part have been fantastic. I was for a while disappointed with XMLE, even after the latest code it was not my favorite, but the more I played, the more I liked it, and I think it's a strong keeper for me.

I have all Stern lineup and I love them all, if I had to pick one to sell it would be very hard. So I am trying to get deeper into the games and try to get high scores and get to or complete the Wizard modes. For me at least these games are very challenging, even PotC which is quite simple for rules, is quite a long player, that my hope is to some day get to and maybe complete some of the Wizard modes.

I have been moving this way myself in the past 6 months or so, sold my TSPP, LOTR, MET and went back to B/W and picked up a MB, IJ, STTNG, RFM. Deep games and long ball times can be fun, but then again sometimes you want a little more shallow game with some humor that everyone can enjoy as well and that's where I'm heading at the moment.

I have to reboot a title once or twice usually to realize I love it and it's a permanent keeper.

Agree totally with this. Although I loved my Sterns (ACDC Premium, Tron, Star Trek etc) I find there is tremendous value in B/W games. Most of my friends/visitors are casual players and can never progress deep into any rulesets.

Sold off everything other than Tron several times. Keeps it fresh and interesting for me

I would mostly move game out and then in 1 or 2 at a time but I found it limited my ability to jump on games i wanted when they showed up for sale.

Selling 50% or more of your collection allows you flexibility to go in a different direction.

Dont think I would ever go all EM but have thought about introducing some and also some of the classic early SS vs the typical line up that can get stale.

Yep I do this alot so my collection is always changing and anything is fair game at some point

Put your current lineup in climate controlled storage and build a new lineup of SS/EM. It won't cost near as much money to build up the SS/EM lineup. Then after a year or two with that lineup, you'll be aching to bring back your DMD lineup. At that point, come back to this thread and thank me for my advice.

I had an all BW collection and I sold them all to buy an all new stern collection. I wish I could go back to my all BW collection I had.

Started collecting in the 70's through the early 90's. Started selling off in late 90's to get out of the hobby pending a lifestyle change and move. Sold all pins.

Restarted again a few years ago with a F14.

Not really a reboot but sold more than half my collection for space (and time) reasons. Tried to prioritize the least played titles down on the list and let them go. Sometimes I wonder if I sold the right half since the sold list would have made a great collection too.

Sold:
NGG, CV, JM, MB, Congo, JD, STTNG, CFTBL, WH2O, BG

Kept:
AFM, F2000, TZ, TS, LOTR, BSD, HGT, WOZ, TH

My advice would be to sell a few at a time.

Eric

Like others have said you've got the cream of the crop. I have a problem letting any go now and like u I've been through 110 pins in 10 years and landed at these. I'm just changing my want habits to games I've never owned since I've had multiples of titles. Games on my interest are some classic sterns. Very nice collection BTW.

I haven't sold them all and started over, but I only have one game left that I have owned for more than two years.

Keep three of them. Put the rest in the bank

Mine is rebooted. I lost everything in a fire in December of 2012.

Very interesting topic. I don't know how I would reboot my collection personally, but it would be fun to hunt them down again. Started collecting at a very young age because my family was involved in games on route. It would be near impossible to get the games I got back then at even double the price. My wife always says I could pay for my daughters college with the sale of some games and maybe one day it will come to that but until then I love interacting with my friends and now family members about collecting/playing etc. It is a very cool hobby and I have made a ton of friends along the way. To me that is really the coolest part.

I did it twice. Started with a collection of EM's about 30 of them. Sold them all over a Xmass season. Bought another 30-40 early SS pins. Repaired and sold them to get money down on my first house. Spent another 5 years buying same titles back. Did the same thing with my Video collection. Had some really nice games. Sold all but 3. One thing I learned, prices keep going up. I'm paying more fore games then what I sold them for years ago. Now I won't sell or trade any unless I have several of the same title.

The only person I know of who has done a reboot is Chad Keller. And he still kept about a dozen of his most favorite pins.

I couldn't do a full reboot but I have no problems selling a pin to fit a pin.

The good news for the OP is if he sells his Monster Bash he can buy 6-7 or 8 nice EMs for the money

It is a quandary .. Especially somewhere like New Zealand. If I sell my Monster Bash, I'll probably never get another one unless i import one, as there are only like 6 in th country, and nobody ever sells them.

About 2 years back, I quit all my DEs and Segas (I'd had them for ages) and imported (from the states) a lot of cool SS machines, and some nice EMs. One of the main reasons I did it was because there aren't many of these machines in New Zealand, and people can play/experience some different stuff when they come to my place.

I sold off AFM,MM and some other nice ones too, because several of my pin buddies have them nearby so I can play them anytime I want to. No need to own them, I'd rather have a Future Spa as nobody else has one of those for me/others to play.

rd

Been selling off 1 pin at a time...(Just to see how it goes), don't see a reboot in the near future as of yet.
Although I would get a Munster slot if one shows up.

i've not been in the position to sell anything yet. But i would love the titles you have. I agree with the earlier poster, i would pick the 8-10 or so and sell them and rotate in some new ones.

I sold off nearly all my games and started over about 3 years ago. Like the thrill of the hunt. Also liking new games, so it free'd up some cash to order new games,

It's your hunter instinct. Most men have it genetically embedded.

Thrill of the pursuit. Yeah I get that. That's why I'm on my 6th wife...

What a bummer on the fire. Did your insurance cover things? Looking for some advice to ensure I have proper coverage.

No, don't do it. Look at my collection for the comparison. I am not rich in a big house, but I have been doing this a long time. I own 39 pins (2 basket cases and 2 projects) with 22 setup.

I built the collection by fixing up and either falling in love or selling. When I thought I had no room I would sell but eventually learned furniture was over-rated. And my video game collection has steadily been given away or cut up for the dump. I have never paid over $5K for a pin (so its hard to get new stuff) but I have watched the prices increase. This is where the issue I have comes in.

I have found myself buying back the games I had sold in the past and I hate paying more than I sold it for so I have learned if there is any chance I might miss it don't let it go. I wish I never let go of my SI, an awesome version of Junkyard for $2K and who knows how many others. I wish I had bought all of those old classics like Fathom before everyone realized how cool it is and made the price crazy. There was no way to ever know back then what repro parts and playfields would eventually be made, but now I feel I can't risk it.

And the big one - I also have a Fireball Classic. Great game and I have helped others restore theirs. Regrets suck.

Also the fact that if you DO regret anything you sell. It's going to cost more to get any of them back. Sounds like you've already made up your mind? Great thread by the way. I enjoy reading eveyones experiences.

This is easier said than done and as others have pointed out any game you want back will almost certainly be more expensive.

I got back into the hobby a couple years ago when we decided to finally finish our basement. At the time, I had 40 some machines and knew I would have to get down to 20 something. I went through the thought process of "regardless of what I have, what do I want?" And even though I already had more games then I knew could be set up, there were a number of "new" games I wanted (or thought I did).

Think long and hard before you blow up your collection and start over.

I had a number of games I once thought were keepers that I sold:
Haunted House - bought back the same game (!)
Elvira - sold an HUO game, paid a lot more to get another similar condition game back
Central Park - sold a nice original, really regretted it almost immediately, got a restored one
Sky Line - sold it early in the process. Regretted it a year later. Bought another. No room - sitting in my work room.
Time Machine - sold. Wife mad, bought a marginally nicer one for a few hundred dollars more
Strikes and Spares - bought another, but sold that one too. Kind of wish I hadn't.
ST:TNG
Monopoly (purchased NIB) - really never thought I would sell this.
Ice Revue
Jumping Jack
Teachers Pet
Universe
Flipper Clown

I bought, and then sold, games I thought would be keepers:
Earthshaker
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Wizard of Oz (never took possession)
The Hobbit (never took possession)

I bought games that were new to me (or games that were new production):
Monster Bash
TAF
Majorettes
STLE
AMH

Games I knew I wanted to keep weren't exempt from the process:
Whirlwind - bought another, kept the best of both, sold the other
Creature - bought a HEP, sold mine
Medieval - was going to sell my NIB original and get an MMR. Never did.

I bought two games I liked, but never thought I'd own - Sittin Pretty and Target Alpha

Games I was convinced I wanted for the new lineup, but never bought:
Tron
Stern SpiderMan
24
Wheel of Fortune

Someday it may happen...just sell it all, the games the stuff upstairs the house, cars....everything. Buy a motorhome and just go. Not any time soon, but maybe some day.

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

Thought has crosssed my mind to shrink my collection so can buy woz, hobbit, or any nib on a whim and then just do a lot of game cycling. Would that be better, i don't know.

Tell me about it. We have a lot of money tied up in our games rooms ....

rd