I own a small brewery and we installed an arcade about a year ago. We have a hybrid model with an operator running skee-ball, basketball, two cranes, two pins and a juke box. We are up to five pins that we own now, for a total of seven. The machines that the operator owns net about $800/month, split two ways. My 5 other pins net about $60/week, which is enough to maintain them. In my case, I have value added because I own the location, so I absorb all the additional revenue in beer sales when we host tournaments, and for the (quickly growing) group of people that are falling in love with pinball that come to my location because it’s the only place to play in town. Looking at the revenue from the pins versus the other machines, even though I have a lot of people playing pinball, it’s clear that if I were just an operator pinball would not be profitable. However, since I own the bar, the pins are making me significant money because good players, of which we have many, can play a machine for a LOT longer than, say, a claw machine. The machine itself doesn’t make a lot, but I do because they are staying and drinking. All that to say; no, do not route pins to make money. If you want to increase pinball culture in your area, enjoy working on machines, and are just passionate about it, absolutely go for it. It will at least (probably) pay for itself, not counting repair time. But as a moneymaking proposition… well, it really isn’t.