Pinball in the 2020s - What do you see?

Higher prices.

More of the same. Don’t see why anybody would expect anything to change.

Fan layouts and higher prices!

WiFi updating games. One major new title. And a smattering of other new pins.

LTG : )

My secret invention of a pinball machine on wheels to use as my walker.....oh wait,...drats, where's the edit button?

I don't know. Prices keep going up and that trend will happen until the next economic snap which is due to the insanity of free money out there now. I'm not interested in lighter weight machines and don't want to jack with ballast. To be honest, the number of titles coming out makes my head spin. I just picked up a really nice BM66 catwoman for $6k that is essentially new. I really don't see how they sell a super LE for $15k when it is the same machine. I don't know how Stern will sell it's newest machine based off of a Netflix show, but I guess people will line up for it?

I like pins with good movie or show themes like Star Trek (especially the LE which was Stern's last real LE in my opinion). My TZ is my all time favorite pin just due to the excellent integration of the original series events. I don't think the Sopranos or shows like that will be remembered in 30 years and neither will the pins that have the title.

WIFI update is great as long as the WIFI is supported in the future. I can still burn a chip and put it in a machine and a USB dongle still works. I suppose a WIFI unit could be replaced if it becomes outdated.

Theme and how it plays is my biggest draw. After buying a GBLE I cooled off real fast on the pre-order craze and just wait for a used machine to come available letting the first owner deal with all the code updates, warranty issues, and paying more than necessary.

I still enjoy the hobby, but am finding just as much fun in buying and trading 70s-90s video games. Less money and a lot of fun remembering the simpler days.

I do think it'll be a nice buyers market for used in the 2020s. In the 2010s pinball made a huge comeback, but at this point I wonder if supply is going to start outpacing demand.

This sounds very stock markety, though. I don't really give a shit as long as I have good stuff to play both at home and within a 60 minute drive.

I picture less pins in my future, just because I’m starting to get older and these things take up a bunch of space. So I’ll cut down, but because I’m stupid, I’ll also add. There is always room for a special game.

So whatever the industry does, it had better be good. Because that’s the only way you’re getting my money. It better be fun, and it better be durable. Give me crappy playfields with pooling, ghosting, and chipping, and I’ll pass. So that’s what the industry should do, build a durable playfield!!!! That would be nice so it isn’t playing a frigging lottery when you buy a game.

I'd like to believe, I'll buy a cool pinball machine in 2020 from this list https://recroompick.com/best-pinball-machines/
And I think, that in the nearest future it will be the best purchaise for me. That would be so nice, I'm waiting for this moment for a long time.

Your list is very insightful!! Having even a few of the things that you mentioned come to fruition would be neat indeed!
Many express their displeasure with higher game prices. One way to deal with that is to not buy them and wait for them to become avail on the secondary market. The tier pricing you slide to is also a Novel approach. Time will tell. One thing I can say is that I am glad that the economy is doing well enough that many folks can continue to pump their monies into this avocation to keep neat titles coming down the pike. Thank you!

I do think pins could be 'smaller' to take some of the weight down. When I say that, there is generally a ton of open space under a pf. You could eliminate all that space and bring the weight down considerably. You would have to redesign how you connect the legs slightly, but keep them the same length as they are currently, and re-arrange some other items that sit on the bottom, so really the only thing you are losing is cabinet footage top to bottom. We don't work on pins with the pf down, so it would not impact very much on most pins.

Sure it might look cheap and awkward at first, but that would be because we are so used to seeing the huge things that they are currently.

I see more and more people getting into Pinball and it growing even further in the coming years.
Out on location It seems like there are a lot of younger people playing pinball.
Themes like Stranger Things, Rick and Morty and other hip/current subjects are going to help fuel this and do incredibly well on location.
More locations are opening up all the time. A lot of tradition video arcades are putting pins in them or are expanding the number of pins they have.
Pinball is alive and well and I see it continuing to do so.

NEw ideas and much in games, JJP does a good job of that but can’t find the flow of a Stern, want the best of both worlds as Sammy Hagar would say in Van Halen

Ya for sure. Higher prices are inevitable. I'm seeing less and less pinball machines out there.