I also have 8 in "overflow". You know, no matter what the number is for your space. I have a feeling it will exceed that. I like to fool myself and say I only need room for 30 games. But I know i'm just fooling myself, and once I fill that up, there will be some more crap I want.

I have 5, but I think about selling 4 of them quite a bit. I usually just play Metallica, and the others just sit. I like playing the other ones, just not as much as Metallica. I also have 4 arcade games that I rarely play. It would make since for me to move Metallica into the house and sell the others. Then I wouldn't have to pay to heat the garage. I will have to go out there and play them all this weekend to try to decide.

To me, it all boils down to why you own the pins in the first place. If all you care about is playing them, then I see no need to own any more than 8-10 pins. This will give you a nice variety of games to play, without taking up too much space. If you view your games as a collection, however, then I can completely understand wanting to own more. There is nothing wrong with owning games you rarely play as long as they bring you pleasure on some level. In this regard, collecting pins is no different than collecting anything else. I tend to fall somewhere in between these two camps. I love playing my pins, but I also derive a certain pleasure just from owning them.

For me between 4 and 12.

If I could stick at around 8, that should be enough, until the next game I want appears for sale

With the setup you have, you should have 35 pins.

Eh? Sounds like I need to try to get to Brian's one of these days to check out "the setup"

yes you should. His collection is great. but his space has so much potential. Oh what I would do if I had his "space".

I currently own 1, but my goal is to eventually have 2 or 3. I am thankful for what I have.

I've been wondering about this too. At 15 games, total (some video, some pin) we have way more than we thought we would ever have. I keep thinking "I'm done." and then I play something at a show and fall back into the trap.

The funny thing is. We don't have more enjoyment out of the 15 games than we did with those first 2-3. Just have a little variety but I can't put my finger on anything in the collection I'd like to get rid of, lol.

I think it's a little like this.. I used to live near this apartment where the maintenance guy of the apartment won a bass boat. For the 5 years I lived there he was out there washing and waxing and talking sweet-nothings to that thing, all the time.

That dude with his one boat that he never thought he'd be able to afford (and evidently won) is probably having WAY more fun than the president of my company and his 10 cars, 3 houses, etc.

I guess it's all in your mindset of learning to enjoy what you have.

It's all about mindset and being happy with what you have the space for and can afford. I was happiest when I got my first pin. I was ecstatic at the novelty of having a pinball machine in my house and I was very thankful for every minute I had to play it and tinker with it. Getting my second pin was still exciting, but honestly not as much as the first.

Now that I have 4, I still feel very fortunate to own what I consider to be a good collection (B and C titles, but I love 'em). However, the law of diminishing returns is certainly in place and I sometimes even have trouble finding the time to play all my machines at least a few times during any given week. I don't see my collection getting larger than 5 or 6 pins.

Well said, I have the same feelings. I like your collection, LAH is one of my favorite games ever. Have you tried the custom ROM for it? If you don't have it, shoot me a pinmail.

Diminishing marginal utility.

The more pins you have, the less time you have to play each individual pin. Eventually, you reach the point where another pin actually has a negative effect on your utility. More pins means more maintenance, which typically means less time for play.

I like variety, and I think somewhere between 7-10 pins is what I'm personally comfortable with. I have space for 9, and I constantly evaluate my collection to determine what pins I want to shuffle out to get my "dream" collection. It's just an idea I chase, I guess. What complicates that is I get attached to certain pins. I hate moving them, so letting one go to find another example some day just doesn't sound appealing.

I've this exact discussion with my brother quite often. He reminds me that I only wanted 3 pins at one point. I remind him that 50% of his collection doesn't work.

Man do I agree with this. I have 27 now, would like to realistically get down to 24 which is my main gameroom size, beyond that, more realistically (haha), due to maintenance alone, would love to get down to 5-10. But .......... I just can't. Everything I have now is an ultra keeper.

It's so silly, but I can't even pick one to lose at this point. What a sickness.

I know - I KNOW going down to my top 5 machines would be just as good, but I just can't lose any.

It's simple, MORE is always better. Wtf else are you gonna do?

Everything else is just BS pontificating.

We all don't live in Texas there Ice

Apparently according to this article covering CES and Stern's announcement of WWE, anyone with 30-40 machines is a "Super Collector".

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/biometrics-and-pinball-five-companies-on-ces-early-watch-list/

Darn. I guess that just makes me a "semi-super collector".

I'm a semi super as well.

That should be "I'm a semi super as well. "

My dad always warned me to own things, and not let things own me.

If you feel like the burden overcomes the joy, and possibly even feel guilty for not playing/doing enough, chances are you own too many.

For me, I think I'd like to have 12 machines in a gameroom eventually.

We should have shirts.

I guess I should sell one of my cars...could put 5 pins in its place and have $$$ leftover

I have 14 games in my basement
6 pins and 8 video games plus a bar and a pool table and small Entertainment / TV area with sofa and love seat.

All my games work 100% and are clean waxed and well maintained. Most of my video games have been cosmetically restored by me.

I want to add a few more pins, so I need to figure out a better layout that won't blow my breakers, or require electrical work.

I may have to start rows as the way I have them set up now, all my available (wife allotted) wall space is used up. I've been in basements and gamerooms where thats all it is, one big gameroom, those are awesome, but we entertain frequently and have a large family, so I need room to set up at least 5 or 6, 8 foot tables w/chairs.

As an afterthought, I could just not invite the family members that bug me, and have room for a few more pins.

I used to have 29 pins (and a ton of vids)..... never had the time to play them all, let alone work on them. Downsized to 16 and that's much easier to manage. I keep a spreadsheet on plays for every game each month, so when I see the game gets no love for a long period of time, I sell/trade it away. Can always get another down the road

Less is more when you don't have enough space, and you have to tell yourself less is more.

ROFL, I have a enough space, I just don't want to be one of 'those' guys you know. God bless them, but I'm a space guy, I like a space for everything, sleeping, eating, relaxing, playing pinball, etc. I cannot even imagine having pinball invade my home to the extent of having a machine in every room.

I don't not want a large collection because of space, I don't want a large collection because I think it's too hard to maintain, too hard to enjoy, and, yes, I suppose, too hard to find space for when you get 'so big'.

And then, you know, if you ever win the lottery and become a multi-millionaire, those ideas changes. So really, the concept of a small collection being better is based upon the ability to maintain said collection and enjoy it. What good is a large collection if you can only play 1/2 of your machines? It's kind of like a 'my precious' deal at that point.

Me too, unfortunately, I can only fit 3-4, unless I start taking over the rest of the house and I already have one in the dining room with my MAME machine.

I live in one of those old houses with a small scary basement that you wouldn't want pins in. I managed to commandeer one of the enclosed porches as my "arcade" It don't fit much.

Less is better if you ask my wife, now me - I want more but realize I'd be more content with just a handful so I can maintain them and play them equally.

I had space for 12 in my game room then squeezed in one more by replacing a poster with a wall-mounted 22" flatscreen TV that is narrower. So I guess I agree with your "space available + 1" rule.

I used to have 65 and now I'm down to 25 and much happier. I still think I have too many. Instead of trying to own them all at once, I rotate (sell/buy) them in and out (even the rare ones) and just buy them again if I get the urge. Its much more manageable given a full time job, limited space, time, money, etc.... plus the chase is half the fun.

move the tv over the machines, and you got space for one more...

image.jpg

true though... thinking about it, if i had space for 10, that would be how many i would likely have... they'd get enough play, and i could handle the maintenance without it becoming a chore... there are 6 or 7 machines that i would want as keepers, and that would leave room to rotate in 3 or 4...

i dunno about 20 (or more) though... i think they'd get enough play (i usually play an hour or so a day, and em game times are short), but it would be too much for me to take care of... knowing me, i'd end up with a bunch of them that all had issues that i'd never get around to...

Shit that's the truth...I've got 8 and most of them need a little love. But if I had space for 30, I'd have 30. If I only played 10 of them, then 20 would need no work. Meaning at least 66% of my machines would be in perfect shape...which is a much better average than now.

I thought this way exactly. Had room for 12.........and had 12, trying like hell to figure a layout for a few more. I am actually getting more enjoyment since I scaled down to 6. Now I have a rotisserie in the corner where I am making a custom machine, having a blast doing it.

If I get enough to realize I'm wrong that's a great problem to have.

So, never then?

As in, never have enough

see, there was a reason they made us learn 'rthmetic back in school... you very easily made the case for 30 machines over 8... since i have 8 as well, and only 50% of them work perfectly... 2 others are taken apart (and have been for TOO long), and 2 others that haven't begun rehab yet... so 66% is definitely better than 50%...

The number of pins is your decision. Space, money, and interest seems to be what limits most of us. I currently have 8 pins set up, however I also have lots of other games to add diversity. If I took the ball bowler, pool table, arcade games, and furniture out of my basement that would be tons of room. I bet I could fit 30-35 machines easily in my basement. The huge problem is how the hell would I pay for that many? How would I take care of that many? I would never be able to play a bunch of them due to so much competition to play other games. I like variety too, even though I really like pinball doesn't mean that I don't like billiards or video games.

I was up to 12 games last year and felt a bit overwhelmed with projects on games. If it feels like I have too many projects then it becomes less fun. Although I do enjoy working on games, too many at once is not good. A rule is if I don't have the game set up to play then it need to be fixed and sold. I don't like having games standing on end waiting to be serviced. Even having 8 pins sometimes have several issues. I feel like 4-8 pins with some other variety of games is a good number. Everyone is different though.

Probably not...Just bought a new house to get more room and basically out of it already

Ummm....I thought this was shop class

I have space for 5 or 6, and I've found that i can generally keep 4-5 running while 1is undergoing restoration. I dream ablut a bigger space and more games, but forniw would not have time to maintain them.

Never! The pool table stays! Such a hit when I have friends over. Pop on some tunes in the jukebox, crack a beer, watch a sporting event, and shoot some 8 ball. It is timeless, way cheaper, and less maintenance than coin op games.

if i had room (we need to make "iihr" an acronym), i'd have a pool table... i love to play pool, even though i suck...

when/if i ever move, i WILL have a basement... and i've already warned swmbo that there will be a pool table, a ball bowler and a skee ball in it...

I used to have a 10 foot skee-ball, it took up space and I owned it for 3 or 4 years so I sold it. Everyone gives me shit for selling it but I don't miss it. I want to get a full size 13 foot with the 100 point holes. If I were you get a big ball bowler before you get a skee-ball. The ball bowlers are way more fun IMO.

Yeah if I had room I would have kept it too...just too much real estate.

Def agree with Ball bowler before Skee Ball...way more fun.

yup, that's the plan... full size skee ball like i fed a zillion dimes into when i was a kid, and as nice a ball bowler as i can lay my hands on as soon as i move in... alex talked me into a ball bowler awhile ago...

now i just have to actually move... which sadly, isn't happening anytime soon...

You'll get there...takes awhile though that's for sure. Then you get the pleasure of having your games tucked away for a long ass time and then fixing them to play correctly. Always something

Keep the EM's and sell the DMD fests....