Quoted from graffixpinball:

Here are my thoughts on this topic (which is a great one, btw, to whoever started and chimed in on this!)
Let's take a look at the last time we had inflation this high.. the early 80s - people were losing homes left and right, economy import cars where popping up all over because of an oil crisis, people couldn't afford gas (thank you for that Jimmy Carter, you SOB). You couldn't get a bank to give you money at a fixed rate, many people had home mortgages at 12-16% interest.. Plus we had a real threat of a nuclear war looming over our heads.
Hmm, looks incredibly similar to our current world situation...
Pinball was well established then, given it wasn't the golden age yet; but they were around. Most of them where in bars, laundry mats, arcades, bowling alleys, etc.. Today most of the pinballs are in privileged peoples basements or living rooms.
Let's take a closer look at this hobby we all love and cherish - its just that - a hobby. Yes, some people are in business with it as well (like myself). Covid gave a lot of people xenophobia, and our wonderfully ignorant government fed those scared cave dwellers far too much money for hiding away - which over heated our economy. This created a perfect storm for new pinball buyers to jump into the hobby, and they did.. full steam ahead. A NIB pinball game became a justifiable purchase when you are stuck at home, and you have all this free money falling out of Uncle Sams pockets. Then add a supply chain crisis to the already strained increased demand, and BOOM, basic supply and demand issues. Plus, the new pinball apps on phones, and V-pins readily available turned a lot of people into pinball fans.
I don't see how machines priced at (or often times OVER) $10,000 will be selling like hot cakes.. Let be real, it doesn't even make much sense to do even WHEN you can afford it. Not to mention, I just had 3 machines shipped last month, and they were peaking at $750 with STI. I have even noticed these pinball dealers (who normally are begging you to buy machines) are now not answering emails, calls or even letting you pay with a credit card because of the percentage points they are losing. That isn't good..
Have you ever owned a trampoline? Its the greatest thing ever - for about 6 months. Then its a giant obstruction in your yard that never gets jumped on. Pinball machines are similar.. that's why most people don't have 'just' one. They get boring after the new wears off. However, when you don't have thousands of dollars to buy a new one every 6 months, people will just sell the one or two they have.
ALSO - one thing I have noticed a lot of lately, home owners have no idea how to take care of, or repair their games. Often times I find routed games are better than home use games, especially when the home owned games are around kids. When a game is set on free play its nothing for a family of 5 or 6 (and all their friends) to pound on 50-100 games a day. Meanwhile; nobody is changing balls, cleaning or waxing the playfield, adjusting switches, etc. When the game breaks down they don't know how to fix it. Route operator tend to be a little better on maintaining their games frequently, since it is a paycheck. Plus they could only wish they got 100+ plays a day on their games... Most people see route games as tainted - that is frankly further from the truth if they are cared for.
Personally, I expect a bust with pinballs starting in 2023 and on. I hope I am wrong, but the good thing is pinball always seems to prevail, a downswing won't last forever.