I don't. I buy project machines for super cheap, put them into my shed and don't touch them. Occasionally I'll get pissed at the amount of projects I haven't touched so far and just buy a working machine.

I play games of pinball in my head. You can do those anywhere or anytime.

Will you Southern guys stop whining about the heat? You've got the best damn BBQ in the country - that's the trade-off for sweating your ass off in the summer. Here in Jersey we just have pizza and bagels. Oh yeah ... and temperatures that have only topped 90 one day this summer.

How do you afford pins working 6 months a year? #signmeup

are you going to shoot him when he shows up?

Probably the same as working three days a week. Mac and cheese!

My EX use to say we never would have had children if I didn't toss and turn in my sleep.

It is damn good BBQ, but I personally still think NC BBQ is better than SC. )

They've tried bringing the water down from NY/NJ to try and make good bagels like you have, but they still sucked in comparison.

Some of us west coasters do a pretty mean BBQ as well. Goes good with the Jack and cheese.

You're welcome up here anytime!

Only way i will have time for the hobby, is to retire,
which i have done now this month,
but unfortunately i am finding that i am now too old
now to do much with the games i have,
cause it is very hard work to move games and to bend over and strain your back to work on them.
Definitely a younger persons hobby.
My back is aching from just breaking down a couple dozen games
and preparing to move just a small part of my collection up north.
Slowing coming to realize you can not have them all and you can not take them all with you.
One is not enough, but you have to know when to say enough is enough.

I told you I'd be willing to help. Hit me up before I get too old.

Awesome. I'm 45 and see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have one kid that's moving out in a week, and I'm looking to retire from the rat race job by 50. I carve only a little time out for pinball ... too much else in this world to enjoy before the game is over.

This.. also me and my wife work slightly different schedules, so I get an hour each morning if I really wanted to take a bite out of a project every morning. My wife is pretty accepting of my hobby, and she likes playing. Hell, she even wants to help fix them, but in order to teach I feel like I have to become an expert myself first, but she's done a few things here and there.

For me full time job during the week, shopping out games on weekend (if I have nothing else planned). Of course my projects are going much slower now that I am employed but I will take a paycheck + experience in my occupation over this hobby any day.

I read somewhere that hobbies aren't your passions. The difference being passions you are willing to suffer for, whereas a hobby you engage with usually for its relaxation capabilities. A passion is hard to replace, but with a hobby there are many substitutes.

It's all a state of mind. If you consider pinball a hobby it will be easy to put it away for awhile or completely even if need be for more important matters. If pinball is a passion you don't make excuses on it.