Probably because every man can relate.

Funny, now that you say it I’ve had a couple of deals fall through because of the “wife” excuse and didn’t think twice about it. Damn us Minnesotans and our niceness and naivety!

Didn't you make a whole thread about how you were leaving Pinside? What happened? Glad you are back.

It’s a complete lie....I reached out to do a trade a few days ago...now that I’ve had time to think about it..I want to keep my game...the first thing I thought to tell him is...”I’ll tell him my wife won’t let me as she is a huge Robert Downey Jr. fan”...was just that, a quick thought...I think we go right to the wife as the other party will most likely not question that....so now off to the thread to man up and tell the truth............Joey

If you are the seller, it sounds like people are showing up and not seeing what they are expecting to see. If you are the buyer, someone probably came along with a better offer that is closer to asking price. You have to do your homework, and make the ad text and their photos very clear. Price the item for what the market says it is worth. Pricing a LW3 at $3500 and Raven at $2000 might get you a sucker noob, but they will often do their research after "agreeing" to buy and then back out. Not worth the hassle.

It’s the thrill of the catch. Decent pin at a decent price. Someone sees a pin they want and they impulsively make a deal to buy it. Then they tell their wife last minute they are going to drive “xx” hours on whatever day to go get it and are spending “xx” amount of money. Impulsiveness and lack of communication gets the better of some of us so it could be the wife putting her foot down. Thankfully my wife doesn’t care too much and we communicate. I told her today I was getting another pin even though we don’t have much space left and she was supportive of it because she knows it was one I’ve been looking for.

I had a used car lot for 3 years. I get guys come in and their wives don't listen to them, their kids don't listen them, and their boss leans on them all of the time. They are bored, lonely, and no one will talk to them; And no one wants to listen to their brand of shit. So, they cruise the used car lots where they can talks cars with the salesman who has no choice but listen to them.

But the salesman tries to close a deal and the wife excuse pops up. But that's when you ask, " Who wears the pants in your family?" Sometimes that works

Sometimes it's not a lie, but woulda been a big mistake. Was gonna trade this away, went to take a pic of the audits, and realized it wasn't a good idea.

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Glad I never got married.

I don't mind when people get cold feet and back out of a deal before there is "offer and acceptance". What I do hate is when you make a deal, pack up your pin, drive 300 miles and then the other person backs out or their other pin wasn't as advertised. I always do my best to show good aspects of my pins as well as bad with detailed photos and usually a youtube video walk around.

My only horror story is the tale of the 2 broken pinbots.

The week before my first Pinball show (Allentown last year) I made a deal for a booting Pinbot. I was supposed to meet the guy at the show. I bought a junker Pinbot for spare parts while I was there to fix up the broken plastics on his machine. Well, he said he was going to show up later and then later. Finally he announced he wouldn't be there until 2 or 3 in the morning, but that I could meet him part way up. I ended up doing the exchange in a casino parking lot at around 11 at night. The machine wasn't as advertised. He had put in a replacement rottendog board incompatible with the machine so there were all sorts of crazy issues. I ended up selling the pair of pinbots at a loss. Ad and relevant thread below.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/archive/79516

I've occasionally started buy, sell, trade discussions before talking it though with my wife. In some cases it's about not wanting to bother discussing it unless it's more of a sure thing. Sometimes after talking with her we've decided it's not the best timing to be spending the money. I don't think this is some "she's holding me back" or "I'm asking for permission" thing. It seems healthy to discuss major purchases with your significant other. The greater question is when you should do this. Before looking seems obvious, but I kind of feel like the Bruce Banner in the Avengers when he say's "That's my secret Cap...I'm always angry"...I'm always looking. It's probably often just an excuse, but it can happen.

So is every female on the planet...(assuming that’s your side... ).......Joey

Aside from furniture, appliances and other things for the house, my wife has no say over what I buy.
Typically, she finds out about the items I buy when there is a delivery truck in our driveway.

Aside from her opinion, pin purchases and sales aren't dictated by my wife. She has her play money, I have mine, and never the 'twixt shall meet.

I once helped a friend pick up a Foosball table from a bankrupt bar in a bad part of town. The basic substance was good, but it was gross: Really sticky, covered in a gummy mix of nicotine and spilt beer. And the smell!

We were heaving it up the four storeys of stairs to his apartment when I asked him: how did you persuade your wife? To which he replied: oh I haven’t asked her yet. In that moment the front door opened and wifey made her way up the stairs and squeezed past us without saying a word.

His wife, Elke, is a small but determined woman and she mustered the foosball table with a look of disdain and announced: That price of junk is not coming in our apartment! (That is a very polite version of what she actually said) And she literally blocked the stairs with a clear threat of violence LOL.

My mate considered the situation and then asked his son, who has a one-room apartment next to the family apartment, whether he wanted it. And so a mutually acceptable solution was found.

In the meantime Elke is more chilled about these things. There’s an Indy in the living room

Wifes, is part of the reason the divorce rate is so high, men are the other. Me and my wife are the same person, meaning we think the same. She makes decisions without me if she is 100%. If she is not 100% she will ask my opinion. Same for me, if im not 100% I will ask her for her opinion to get me to 100% or not. We trust each other. We don't ask permission to do anything. Just purchased a new home (sold old home) and I went hot tub shopping. I asked her what do you think I should spend and she said IDK 6-7k? So I go out and research tubs. Ended up getting a tub for 13k installed in my sunroom floor inside my home. I knew I wanted this said tub due to how it was built and its going into my home so build quality was a must. The sales guy after discussing/negotiating price said to me as I'm handing him my CC to pay "Im sure you have to talk to your wife first..right" and I just shook my head and said No, just charge my card. He told me that every tub he sells is because the wife OKed it. Its just sad IMO.

I'll never understand this excuse. Then again, we keep our finances separate so her money is hers and mine is mine.

I do what I want with my money, and vice versa for her.

I can't imagine living and wondering "Can I do what I want with my money? I sure hope so...."

Same here, mutual trust is huge. Potentially spending thousands of dollars on a machine is a big purchase. I would never have to “ask permission“ especially since I handle the finances and she trusts my decision making. Also, I would never go behind her back and spend a huge amount of money without her knowing either. She honestly wouldn’t really care if I did but I still like to be open with her.

In case you weren't aware of the story continuation, your buyer gave up on them too, and passed them on to me!

I've had some unrelated stuff to deal with since then, but once the collection is back in order, the better machine is getting a reworked original CPU and a swap for the other machine's nicer backbox. Industry peers are telling me the junker isn't economically feasible to bring back, so its standard constituent parts will supply the whitewood for a homebrew.

I don't know if knowing that it still hasn't been fixed makes me feel better or worse.

That second pinbot wasn't a complete waste. The 3 bank that's in the good machine came out of there. I think the playfield would make a great looking wall hanger, and if you've got little ones around that made a great toddler play table.

Having gone through a half dozen machines myself since that pinbot I am convinced that a new original board or rottendog board compatable with it would fix the issue. If it was me I'd throw that rottendog board in another of your system 11s (the compatible ones were printed on that board) and throw the original system 11 board in the pinbot (after proper research!).

Long story short, don't buy pinball machines in the dark in the rain from internet strangers in a casino parking lot.

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Bring home a disgusting, beer and spit-covered Fooseball table and see what she says

Actually, the comparison isn't the best. You have a garage aka quarantine/cleanup space, so you probably could get away with it...

Feel better. The only two reasons I haven't gotten it up and running yet is (1) rental space issues and (2) it took a looooong time to get them delivered close enough to drive for.

The original Sys11 board out of the junker is the one I'll be messing with. Going to tackle the reset section next, already have the parts.

I bought a Wyoming trail horse without my wife’s ok.....still haven’t lived that one down.

You really should have got a Clydesdale!

I remember when I no longer had to ask my mommy for permission to do things.

Must admit, as long as I have room for it, when I "ask" her answer is if you have the money, you don't have to ask me. She completely supports my addiction, right up to the door between the house and the garage game room.

My wife thinks all major purchases should be discussed before buying.
This sounds logical in theory, but is really only a chance for her to veto my buying anything.
It is her chance to again voice her gripe that I get everything I want and she gets nothing.

She wanted a built-in swimming pool in our backyard. I counter-offered an above-ground pool (easier to remove when she quits using it) or a season pass to the local pool, but neither was acceptable to her. She wants us to buy a vacation cottage on a lake close enough that we could spend a few weekends there in the summertime so she could swim. I am against both of these for multiple reasons (expense, liability, maintenance, etcetera). Another factor is that I will be 71 in March.

A few years ago we replaced everything in our kitchen (ceramic tile floor/oak cabinets/stainless appliances/quartz countertops/all new light fixtures/custom laser-cut stainless steel backsplashes) because she wanted a new kitchen. This doesn't count because it was for "the house" and not for her. Two years ago she wanted a Nordic Track. Bought it for her and set it up in our guest bedroom and added a 55" 4K flatscreen for her to watch while using it. She used it on and off for two weeks and hasn't used it since (I continue to pay for a third cable box for that room and she hasn't used that TV since either). More recently she wanted an expensive internet-connected exercycle. I assembled it and she tried it for a couple days and hasn't used it since. I am afraid her desire to go swimming (whether in a pool or at a lake house) is her looking for another low-effort way to exercise, which she would also quickly abandon.

I like your style, but lol, can you blame her? You've got 17 pinball machines, 4 or 5 collector cars, a guitar collection, etc. It doesn't sound like you want for anything/

Kinda like this?

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Sure, take her side over that of a fellow pinball enthusiast.

Im tired of the Emasculated male role, like Victor in Sheryls She Shed, where thanks to facebook, my wife now feels she is "StrongWoman" (South Park).

The Alpha Male today is Sheldon from Big Bang.....

You know what they say, happy wife, happy life! In all seriousness, if you've gotten away with buying a nordic track or excercise bike every once in awhile, you're way ahead of the game.

I work, have a good job, make decent money, my wife no longer works.

I can't tell you anything about any of my finances, bills, retirement, etc., wife takes care of all that. I know we're in good shape and funding is good, but couldn't tell you what goes where.

I wouldn't have to ask "permission" but I sure would have to inquire "Can we handle this?"

I've never backed out of something because of my wife, but I've also not committed to things based on what she tells me we can/can't do.

She would love this to not be the case btw, but I have 0 understanding of finances, rates, deductibles, etc.

hey no worries I spoke to your wife and she agreed she'd sell me your machines, $100 each.

I guess this is true.....

Here is the "flip side" of the story some of you guys might love. 7 or 8 years ago I went over to a local "flippers" house to pick up a couple junk pinball machines to part out. My wife came along and as we were loading the two "junk machines" she was playing a Getaway machine the guy had just picked up. We walked in after loading the two junk machines and my wife asks him "how much for the Getaway". He gives her a price & she says "we will take it". Never looked at me to see what I thought of the price - no talk about what do you think or anything. Just "Skip give him the money and load it".

The seller about fell over. I had been doing business with him for several years and typically bought "cheaper junk" from him. His next comment was "typically the women are complaining as we are loading what their husband just bought. I have seen women that were OK with the guy buying the machine but in the 20+ years I have been doing this I have never had a woman drop any money on a machine let alone nearly two grand". But what was even crazier to him is she didn't even ask what I thought.

We have been married over 40 years and neither of us waste or spend a lot of money. But when we like something we do what we need to do to get it. She liked playing that High Speed (Getaway) and she knew from hanging around with me that the price was OK. So all was good in the end.

On the way home I asked her about the "impulse buy" and she said she knew I had an envelope full of money in the truck because we were making a cross country trip the following day. She than told me was her logic was: she knew what ever I took with us on the trip would be spent and we would enjoy ourselves but she figure if she bought the machine that would be something to enjoy when we got home and we would just spend a little less taking the trip.

So some woman are keepers for sure!

Mmm...."Bloody Birthday"

My wife and I agreed before we got married (33 years ago) that we would always agree on major purchases. That has eliminated purchases becoming a major friction point between us. We have a “pinball cash” envelope, so I feel free to spend that on my own. Even though it’s my hobby, she plays the pins (and is now beating me far too often), comes with me to most shows, and has even encouraged me to buy a pin when I was on the fence. I try to get pins when she likes them, and I’ve even sold some because she didn’t like them (totally my decision). It also helps that I have all EMs, so my entire collection has cost me about the price of about one NIB LE.

Someone who bought a pin from me at the York Show one year asked my wife how he could get his wife to play pinball. She replied, “Get machines she likes.”

Sorry, no calls from my estate. A couple of my kids like pinball.

I did see a statistic recently that said that in 26% of dual income households the woman is the primary bread winner.

Young Pinball Optimist - I’ll take your game but am unable to pay your price. I’d like to because it is fair, but the wife won’t let me. She is demanding $750 off and his hands are tied.

Me - well I have been trying to sell this game for seven months so I will lower price to get this pos moved. $750 you say, well ok then, I’ll reduce the price by that amount for your wife and you can pay tomorrow when you pick it up.

24 hours passes with no word. Reached out to new buyer and he says his wife won’t let him proceed with the deal. Says she won’t throw away that much money on this pin. As to why he hadn’t contacted me back. You guessed it, the little witch had a hold of his cahones and he didn’t want to piss her off. He offers that if i was to deliver it for free and she could look at it, she’d be happy.

Me - ok I’ll be in your area this weekend and can bring it along. Get the cash on Friday and we will have you playing said game on Sat. No word from buyer for three days. Sat morning I stop by his house with game in my truck. I ring the door bell and the wife answers the door. Bobby can’t come to the door and he certainly can’t make any deals. If you know pinball machines, you can come in as I have two you can fix for free. But then you must get your truck off of my driveway.

Edit - I think the wife is often just an excuse. Usually best to walk away from a deal when you start smelling the bullshit.

Careful there, Art. You might restart that Monkeygate/alpa male vs. beta male battle.

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Oh shoot.....I forgot about that. Ill just leave this here....

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