Who are you to judge anyone for how they choose to enjoy pinball?

It's whatever anyone who enjoys it wants it to be. There isn't one way of doing it and we don't need you to be the "Pinball Pope" and show us the way.

Most of the games that are in private collections - operators didn't want them anymore! Should they have just gone in the dumpster?

I'm in the process of figuring out how to put a few games on location in my town. I finally got a couple of insurance quotes (I figure this is important, there's probably enough risk of theft, damage, vandalism to warrant insurance). Now I just have to find locations to host, and work out a deal that makes financial sense.

Any tips for people who are putting stuff on location for the first time?

Your heart is in the right place, but many points are debatable. I do agree on most of your points in concept.

As a person wanting to play out in the wild I need a properly set up, leveled, working game. Doesn't need to be perfect, and it can be filthy, but basic playability needs to be there. One of the best location games I played (a Police Force) had weak flippers and was filthy, but was still a blast to play.

Lighting and sound (the lack of any discernible callouts) can greatly affect the fun. It's a benefit to all that the operator make an effort. Install a headset mini jack and one of those problems is more or less solved.

Thanks for putting pins out there, Chris. Any updates on games at the Alexandria Crave or more games back at Town Hall in time for Winter league?

duly noted.

Id love to open up a pincade but Im not rich and if it dont make money or at least pay for its self well that would be very bad . True fully I dont know if it would work in my town I still have yet to find another person who likes it as much as me so doubt it would do well here.

Am I misunderstanding you? In your info, it says you have 37 games in your "collection". Are you an operator? Do you own these 37 games and have them all on location? Please explain.

I'm unfamiliar with the OP. Do you have an arcade? If so, I'd like to see some pics. Don't see many arcades with 37 pins in it around SE PA.

Fantastic. Shitting on collectors does nothing to accomplish your goal. We aren't "the enemy" of location play. Take it up with the locations and operators.

Says the guy with 37 pins in his collection.

Pinball is both a location game, and a home game. I played about 9 hours of location pinball yesterday. I happen to be one of the lucky ones that has quite a few machines within one to two hours. But seriously, how much fun was Iron Man with a Monger that cannot register a hit?!? How awesome is a WOZ that has a trough problem? How great is Transformers when each hit to Megatron causes you to wait for a ball search? How many balls need to get stuck in Ripley's before it gets frustrating? All of those happened to me yesterday. If I had keys to the games I'd have spent a half hour on each one and they would have been playing 10 times better. I also would have upgraded all the software.

Don't get me wrong, I had a blast on other games. A bad switch on AC/DC did not dampen the fun. I'm not expecting the games on location to be as nice as the ones in my house, but shouldn't I expect them to work?

Pinball is both a location game, and a home game. Both are fun, but man did that Transformers bug me.

Locations here are ACTIVELY SKEPTICAL of pinball machines and we have to twist their arms to get them to put them in. There is not a single location advertising for people with pinball machines to operate them on the premises. I have my IMVE going on location in a week to help support a local guy trying to increase the number of location games in Sydney. We are on freaking PROBATION with the premises. Don't blame the collectors mate, for a second.

You're absolutely correct. Pinball is a location game. Almost any location in the world.

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That's admirable then. I hope you can stay on top of maintenance on them so that your customers have the best playing experience possible.

Yea I think alot of the issue is ops dont wanna keep them maintained probably because they just dont make what they use to however its a double edge sword because if they dont play nice or work correctly they definitely wont make money guess there has to be a happy medium somewhere

I'm taking my games off freeplay next time you're over.

Chris, glad to see you are still fighting the good fight! I miss getting my ass kicked by you in Dallas!

Yes, the pinball INDUSTRY is driven by route operators. The industry is handicapped by bad operators. Many ops have let their pinball repair ability completely atrophy away. Mobile is indeed a pinball wasteland. I tried op-ing a pin with limited success. These days location is everything.

Don't be too hard on collectors. Once a game has served its time in the trenches and no longer earns enough, the OPs recoup some investment capital by selling to collectors. That also helps keep the industry going.

Even the NIB-HUO-LED-MOD-Blingers have their place in getting product sold.

I agree, and wish pinball was king of amusement games again with public rooms full of banks of pins. Maybe we'll get back there one decade. Your point is well taken and pin ops are saints IMO, but your delivery was a little rough around the edges.

Take is easy Chris, and I hope to see you at a show again one of these years.

KEEP ON OPING!!

Though it will NEVER replace the real deal, apps like this keep pinball on the brain for me, for better or worse.

Can't it be both?

Chris- please place some pins in RVA.

Ok. So what I'm getting is you have location pins at...various locations. That's cool. I really think you should have started your thread with several shots of people of various ages playing these pins. Not just a rant. Trust me, you'd be getting so many thumbs up, you wouldn't know where to stick em.

When my wife saw this REALLY old lady playing an Addams Family in Todd Tucky's York 2014 vid, she was all like "awe, that's so cute." And she couldn't give two shites about pinball. Appeal to the human spirit man. That location pinball spans the ages.

And Hagerstown md ill even keep them fixed for you

I go out and play pinball fairly regularly. I think I am going to just play my games for the month of January just in case the OP is in my area. This is the kind of pinball operator I would actively not support.

A lot of ops I know started as home collectors till they figured how the games worked then stepped up to become ops.

I hate to see someone trying to learn to work on their first games on route

Don't take it so personal. He has a valid point, just delivered it in a bit of an insulting/dismissive way. He wants what we all want: more pinball in the wild to enjoy. I know here in the Pinball Sahara I sure could use some route pins to play!

We can all get along...

Newsom,

My first game is Gottlieb Out Of Sight. Tell me what operator is willing to put a 40 year old game out on location? The story on this game is that arcade owner closed his business and gave this game to his nephew. Its new location was his parents finished basement where it was played for a while. Then it sat neglected for years needing to be shopped out. I bought it about 4 years ago and that's how my collection began.

Bob E.

It might be worth noting that if not for home collectors pinball manufacturing would have died some years ago.

Atlanta. The Southern Fried Gameroom Expo. June, I think...

From his past post sounds like he's in VA area so I think you're fine

The home use market is what has allowed some of the new locations to happen. If you take away the people playing in there homes pinball would likely already be dead. The popularity with home buyers are why you see new barcades opening up all of the time. So bash the home use market all you want but you likely would not have your location games with out us.

Interesting thoughts, I can see that the reception to those comments is about right for a site that doesn't cater to players as much as it does to collecting. I'm here because I need the occasional tech support for my "collection" which exists due to a lack of places to play on location. I will never have $50k in Sterns machines in the basement but congrats to those who do. I'll keep my retirement in a couple of real investments and I'll find places to play them on location. I was back in my hometown this past week and my son and I spent several hours on location, we dropped about the same $ as a tune-up kit for one of my machines.
Have I considered taking my hobby to a business level... sure, but for a number of reasons it isn't going to happen as long as I'm otherwise employed with frequent travel involved.

I get what you are saying and I guess I agree but I'm not sure you reached (or convinced) a large audience here.

I have scoured everyplace i visit for pins to play. On vacation, yep always looking for pins in the wild. Ive visited every pin in a 50 mile radius of my house.

You know what i find... A few playable gems here or there. But mostly a broken half playable waste of money where mechs dont work, ball troughs loose track of balls causing famtom drains. And my fav are games that are powered off for months at a time, making it a complete wasted trip...

But i usually drop a couple bucks in the machines even if they are barely playable....

Know where i find playable enjoyable pinball.... Yep thats right in my basement

I think there is room for both collectors and locations pinball.

My basement is a location...

Are you a purist about the intraweb as well? It's not supposed to be for the public, this is a government tool only made of punch cards and thermionic tubes!

Get with the times grampa!

Amusement park rides are a location game too.

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This is very similar to the "Watch the game at home vs. Go to the game" debate. Yes, going to the game can offer an experience that can't be had at home. It's not as comfortable, you can't see as well, and it costs money. But, it's an experience. On the other hand, I can order a pizza, drink cheap(er) beverages, sit on my leather recliner, and watch the game in surround sound with a buddy. It's more comfortable, I can see better than the referees can, and it's less expensive.

I, for one, love playing pinball on location. The only issue is that there is only one pinball machine on location in my town. So, do I take the 10 minute trek up to the back of the truckstop to play RollerCoaster Tycoon? Sure... every once in a while. But, I'd much rather stay at home, drink a cold one, and play my (less impressive but still fun) Bobby Orr Power Play. And, when space allows, I'll invest in a few more machines to add variety.

I own a ton of games but when I am on location I still play a ton. I would bet most people are in the same boat.