I don’t have any control over the prices and they are what they are so I am going to comment on what the prices have done with respect to the hobby for me. For me this hobby started out as a way to work with my hands. In my youth I used to spend a lot of time working on motorcycles and cars and as I moved into adulthood I moved to the big city, became an IT guy, bought a house without a garage, had children, became a hockey and baseball coach so really lost touch with working with my hands. So suddenly discovering an old EM for sale near me became a way to work on something in my basement during the winter months. I love fixing things and cleaning things (my motorcycles and vehicles were cleaned and shined by hand weekly). I grew up loving arcades and pinball so the discovery that I could buy pins for less than 2k for my home was a revelation and a new hobby was born for me.

The hobby for me at first was about finding, fixing and playing. Then it became about building a collection and going to shows. Times were good and pins moved a lot because they were cheap and you didn’t really care if some stranger ripped you off by selling you a 1,000 game for 1,200 right? But now with prices so high it has taken some of the flexibility and joy out of the hobby. Having to treat a pinball sales transaction with the same financial risk evaluation as buying a car is not as much fun as when it equated to buying a nice push lawn mover. More money has also meant more sharks in the hobby.

I would be more willing to change up games in my collection if prices were lower. So the prices are what they are but it has sucked some of the joy out of the hobby for me personally. But hey change is the only constant and besides prices for everything leisure related is insane now (boats, motorcycles, snowmobiles, etc.).

Keep on flipping folks!