LOL the NE is very densely populated. if i am not mistaken nj has more people per sq. mile than CA. and pa. is a rather large state. and densely populated. so drive thru and buy some pins! don't be shy!

oh and we have allentown pin-fest , york , papa, o yeh coin-taker

It's my fault. Sorry.

They had to go somewhere

My wife telecommutes to Indiana and she has pinball at her office.

At times I feel very lucky living in Central PA and collection machines but at other times it does get a bit frustrating. Lots of machines seem to come up for sale but they never seem to be close by. On the average I drive at least 250 to 300 miles round trip for pretty much every machine I buy.

Most of the stuff I pick up comes from Washington DC area (or at least in that direction) and that drives me crazy because to is about a 6 hour round trip every time I head that direction.

I have learned not to go to NJ for machines because of sooooooooo many machines in NJ coming off the boardwalks and having water or moisture damage. I know there are plenty of areas in NJ that are not close to the Jersey Shore but it seels like more often than not when I head any further east than Phila machines seem to get much rougher condition wise.

Anyway - for those of you jealous of all the machines for sale in PA remember to drive from one side of the state to the other takes about 6 or 7 hours and even with me being in the middle of the state going to the eastern or western edge takes a full day to make a round trip.

Grass might look greener here but it really isn't!

I'm in NE PA. It is a conspiracy. We are all pin hoarders. I have 14 with room for 10. Yet I'd like to buy more. Anyone in PA have a quicksilver or a medusa?

Mike

ShinyBall - it seems like I see a good many machines listed out your way when I am looking at machines online. Nice thing for you being in the central of the country is you will never have to ship coast to coast if you find a machine that needs to be shipped!

Thats where I got my BoP. The promised land of Penn!

Lots of pins in PA. Lots of overpriced project pins in PA too.

To offer an actual explanation as to why so many pins are in PA -- aside from it being a large state -- I think you'd have to look at the history the coin-op industry has had here. Nearly all games are made in IL of course, but I'd say more games have been re-sold by distributors, restorers, operators, etc. in PA than anywhere else. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, York/Harrisburg, Scranton/Wilks-Barre were all hot spots for these companies. Most of these companies are now gone (latest being Betson Phila., still hard to believe), but the employees who worked there have coin-op in their blood and continue as hobbyists/re-sellers. I could identify dozens of guys who fit this bill and have probably owned/sold 100+ pins easy. When coin-op was dying and before pinball came back into strong demand (so 2000-2010) I think a huge quantity of pins spilled out from these groups and across PA. Now thanks to Pinside it's that much easier to see.

Also, it's a pretty cold and boring state so playing pinball indoors is how we have fun

Up here in NW PA, we were snowiest city USA last year. This equates to needing entertainment indoors. It's weird to have the beautiful beaches here in the summer, with half of Pittsburgh driving here every weekend, then a frozen wasteland

If it makes you non-Pennsyltuckian's feel better, when we're looking for something we often have to travel to another state. At least that's been my case usually.

Well, I was born and raised in Pee-Aye and spend quite a lot of my time outdoors all year round. Mostly mountain biking(they have snow tires) and hiking or trail running.

That being said, I do also enjoy being in a pinball paradise that I call home.

BTW, ShinyBall, Pittsburgh is one of the closer PA locations to IN.

PA = Pinball Anarchy.
What can i say.

There are so many great games for in PA, but everytime there's one I really want it's always Eastern PA

I drove clear across Pa to Ohio for my Shadow...17 hour round trip.

and your wallet is still sore!

And carpel tunnel syndrome from the fuel nozzle trigger.

How about a not-so-secret club? There is a website you can visit: www.libertypinballclub.com. Stop by and leave your contact information; we'll soon be posting information on our next meeting in 2015.

And here I was under the impression that the central part of the US had all the machines! Seems every time a machine comes up that I want its in WI, MI etc

No doubt! If you were raised anywhere near the NY, PA, Del area, you've most likely been to the Jersey Shore Points. Back in the day the boardwalk was full of pinballs, most having originated from a Philadelphia op, (since those areas are very seasonal and only an hour away). More than likely many of those machines probably ended their commercial lives in other areas or back in PA. 26 years ago I began collecting and flipping pinballs in Southern NJ. An advertisement in the local mailer back then got you phone harassment the entire week with several calls each days from people pleading with you to come take the "Big Ugly Thing" outta here. I guess if they didn't get shipped overseas, they probably didn't go too far.

What hasn't been mentioned along with the large amount of machines is the huge cluster of collectors in the area. With so many pins at the time, probably started the interest and other memories the local pinheads strive to re-create. Only 3 times did I ever ship any games, (twice with OshKosh Ron, now THERE is a name from the past, and once with Dennis Dodel). Never had to, there were just too many collectors in the area willing to make the drive.

Can't forget OshKosh Ron........I remember on one visit, he pulled in to the driveway of my residence with his 18-wheeler at 7AM one morning, (my street was all 12-14K square foot lots with houses), probably woke the entire neighborhood up with that booming country voice of his, then upon leaving, pancaked all 4 of my trashcans filled to the rims. I had to pry them off the street with a crowbar. Those were the days!

I imagine these days, lots of pins, lots of collectors and lots of high-volume hot spots in the north east would be your reasoning.......

PA has 3 large cities all spread out. Erie in the NW which is 1 1/2 hour away from Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Buffalo. So we import games into erie from those area's. Pittsburgh is on a river route which connects to New Castle-Sharon-Youngstown-Akron and Cleveland and Pittsburgh gets the Jersey and new york crowd. Not to mention the Balt/D.C. area is only 4 hours from both Pittsburgh and Philly. Secret word for good deals is Shamalamadingdong!!

The problem is Penndot! 4 hour rides turn into 7 hour rides because every highway in PA is under construction all the time. Went to college in Gettysburg. This is fact!

I live in Western PA, so not only did many pins end up here like ReplayRyan said, but we're pretty central to where there's even more pins! I've bought/sold in IN,MI,OH,WV,MD,VA,NY... heck even Ontario, Canada. All of those places are within 6 hours of me.

Well our seasons here in PA *are* winter, still winter, almost winter, and construction.

I live in pa and have been here going on 10 years. Came for Southern Cali. I lived in the orange county area for 20 years. With that said you are correct lots of pins here. But more hotrods in California. And great Mexican food

I guess I need to start buying more machines since I'm in PA too!

PA needs more pins!

i am trying to take one or two more out of jersey now!

Hey!!

hey what! i will be saving them from flood water!

Oh...ok then....

Very interesting to hear. So I guess that's the secret to my disappointment everytime I look at a PA For Sale thread

Easy explanation. Today you say or call it Pennsylvania while actually, it was originally spelled and said as Pinnsylvania!

I'm a PA native and a PSU grad but me and my small collection of pins are in VA now. I console myself by saying PA to VA is just a one-letter change!

-Rob
-Visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets

Headed from central PA to NJ to pick up one tomorrow so there will be one more pin in PA tomorrow evening. I agree there are a lot of pins in the PA area but I always have to drive 200 to 400 miles from central PA for every pin I buy.

Seems like most of the pins in the area are south, east, or west of central PA. Baltimore / Washington area seems to be loaded with pins from my experience buying them. Over 1/2 the machines I buy come from somewhere between Baltimore & Washington?

what are you picking up?

Looks like somebody beat you to it!

plenty of games in jersey too! so many pinball so little money. i can't buy them all.

OP - Where are you located? How far from PA are you?

Chris

I've brought back 2 from the Detroit area to PA. Seems like there's alot of pins around Detroit.

I just bought parts from Michigan. If you take pins a little at a time they don't notice as easily.

What a great line!

Every frickin time I see a Gottlieb System 1 for sale, its usually in PA