Pinball machines are not designed or priced for residential use. They are a commercial device designed to make money in a public venue.

Pinball as a hobby has many different avenues, and private ownership is only one small facet of it. If you can afford to have them in your home, good for you. If not, go find one of these public venues that is promoting the hobby and support it.

Nah, even if what you say is statistically true, the way machines are designed and priced hasn’t changed. They are still built to withstand a heavy amount of play and are priced accordingly.

I may have agreed with you about where most machines end up 5-10 years ago, but location pinball is absolutely exploding. This benefits you even if you only play at home because it’s necessary to keep the industry alive and will eventually reduce price through economy of scale.

This wasn’t really the point of my post anyway. He’s acting like if he can’t afford to buy a bunch of brand new pinballs he’s priced out of the hobby. The hobby is much bigger than that and some of the most enthusiastic players I know don’t own any machines. But they play in leagues and tournaments and will talk Pinball for hours. All you need for this hobby is a few quarters and a lot of passion.