Agreed. I'm new to the Pinworld as a 'put-in-time-and-effort' enthusiast, but what brought me here? Playing on location; BUT it seems like many locations have pins that are always in need of some sort of repair.

Now I'm looking at owning my own machines. I want to be able to play when I want and put in the effort to keep them running smoothly.

The only real locations to play around me are bars, which is not where I want to be on a busy night. Additionally, I can't pick what I want to play. I look up locations on the Pinmap, see what's interesting in the area, hope that it's working, and head out for a few hours. No locations in my area have overly impressive collections. Even those new-fangled 'Barcades' only have a few. That's not how I want to spend my time.

I'm American. I want sh!t now.

So what do I do? I creep pinside and ebay and other spots, keeping my eyes open for deals so that I can own the games that I want, play them when I feel like it, and know that if something fails, I'm not going to have to wonder if it will ever get fixed.

I enjoy location play for what offers, but sometimes that's lacking. That's why, at least IMO, both location and private collections are important.