Quoted from mrgone:that's 8 different groups making pins. even at the height of the early 90's there were only b/w,gottlieb,data east/sega and Capcom right now there are double the groups making pins. one could argue that most of the groups making their first game are small boutique pins,run in small numbers. true,capcom never ran big numbers when they were making games. alo to note is the fact that when the big 3 makers of games first started they were small,family owned companies.
Exciting for the home buyer side of the hobby maybe. Depressing time for the location side of the hobby.
In 1992, which you mentioned in the subject line, more than 100,000 games were built. Last year, Stern built maybe 6000. Most of the boutique builders are targeting the home buyers. The home market will never buy in the numbers operators once did. Pinball machines in the home are $6000+ luxury items. There isn't enough wealth in this country (or any other country) to bring back those kind of manufacturing numbers.
The best way to support the hobby is to play on location regularly and encourage others to do the same. It's going to take more than home buyers to bring this hobby back to what it once was. If there are no location games in your area, or the few that are there are in poor condition, put your own games out on location.
