Area 51, NV
Quoted from brundaged:I'm genuinely curious. I'm wondering what's different about basketball compared to pinball for his customers.
Most customers don't understand how to play pinball and pretty much everybody can shoot hoops.
Quoted from ExtremePinball:n my arcade downtown, my $5,000 basket ball game makes $450 per week, while my $8,000 pinball machine makes $34 per week.
The basketball game will go at least a year without needing service, while the pinball machine requires at least monthly maintenance + repairs. All factored in, I don't care if I just put that basketball game in a dumpster in 5 years.
The only issues i've ever had with my hoop fevers besides minor stuff like missing balls, dead flood lamps, and torn nets, is a full magazine on the dbv.
I spend hundreds of dollars on replacement pinball parts every year and some games can be a real bitch to keep running. The only reason i operate them is because the location owner wants them. There is no way i'm paying 9k for a machine with such low and slow ROI compared to everything else.
It's pretty frustrating when your only service calls are for broken pinball machines when they are the least earning equipment on route. This is why major street ops and arcades rarely have them on the floor anymore. If new pinball machines earned money then places like D&B and Chuck E Cheese would still be buying them.
