Captain Cook, HI
Simple question. What is your yearly budget for purchasing pinball machines?
Please vote in the poll and leave any comments you may want to share.
Thanks!!
(Topic ID: 67586)
Quoted from jsauce85:Not sure what I spent this year is a good representation of what my yearly budget is or will be in the future. Way too much is all I can say.
+1....next year will pale in comparison
haha yeah same here for my first year , 6 pins , abouts between 8k and 11k .... way too much and way too much addictive .. 
The first year is the most expensive, because you are buying them straight up. After a while you max out for space, and are just swapping them, or trading up, so it isn't as tough.
Not sure how to vote. Collection is around $30k, but I only buy new stuff by selling stuff, so it depends on what I want to sell!
It varies each year. One purchase this year completely skewed the results. And I am very sure it won't be anywhere close to this much money next year. I'm also really happy with my collection now, so no need to really go nuts again.
Quoted from frolic:The first year is the most expensive, because you are buying them straight up. After a while you max out for space, and are just swapping them, or trading up, so it isn't as tough.
I did this and then regretted getting rid of machines thus purchsed them again!
I now plan to keep them in storage and in a year or so get them out and put others away.
About 30k in for all game room items but now I sell to buy or trade new pins, so the big spending is done, only spending on maintenance and mods.
I'd put the game room budget for these things at maybe 3500 for the past year.
There is no 'budget'. I don't plan to spend 'x' amount per year. If I need something and I have extra money, I purchase what I need. If I don't have extra money, I wait until I do.
If I want 'X' machine, I either save for it or I sell a machine to help finance that.
But no, I don't plan to spend a set amount each year.
You had no option for what i do so i did not vote.
My first year between pins and mods was around $35k. I did sell one to make room for STLE, so the STLE jump was not as bad. I do plan on moving to a bigger house, so I'll probably have one more big year, but then I'll be maxed out again.
Edmonton, AB
Well last year I spent $750, year before $500, year before $1200. All those machines were more project or hobbyist purchases to work on an improve the games.
This year, $12500...
That ramped up fast hey? "Budget" implies planning i suppose?
Purchased my first pin in August. Have 4 now and spent a little under $9k. Now looking to buy 2 more this year of more recent titles or more desirable Williams in the $4k-5k range (if the opportunity arises). Next year will be reserved for MMR and maybe 1 more.
I have room for 8...unless I kick out a tenant on my rental. 
Villejuif
Around €5500 ($7.4k):
- One NIB pin (Nemo this year, Predator likely early 2014). On the other hand, I lack space so one older machine has to go... fortunately this generates some cash. LE models are currently out of my reach ($8k translates into 8000 € with taxes and transport). Predator and Nemo are around 5000€ here, minus resale value - again, highly variable...say 1000€ - of another game.
- Magazines, Books 100€
- Playing at Arcades 50€
- Organizing 2-3 tournaments / year + a local league: 200€
- Repairs 300€
- Attending expos and tournaments: 800€
Not counting beer while playing (!) 
nor flowers or gifts to The Wife when away playing...
Quoted from maddog14:There is no 'budget'. I don't plan to spend 'x' amount per year. If I need something and I have extra money, I purchase what I need. If I don't have extra money, I wait until I do.
If I want 'X' machine, I either save for it or I sell a machine to help finance that.
But no, I don't plan to spend a set amount each year.
You had no option for what i do so i did not vote.
This ^^^
In one year I have bought 5 pins and have spent about $13,000 on machines and related expenses. My wife has said no more so I don't think that I will be spending much more this year. That's o.k. I can spend some time enjoying the ones I have. Party on.....BigB
isn't it more about a budget to buy vs repair budget?
About $800.00 repair budget so far,
I'm good with 2 pins so $0 buy budget next year.
-Rev
Some interesting statistics and some great info!! Just to clear things up a bit I see a lot of you mentioning that you will sell a pin to get another. So for this poll it doesn't matter where you get the money from to purchase another machine. So what is your yearly budget for purchasing pinball machines? And it doesn't matter if you get the money from your work, savings, robbing the bank, or selling off some other pins.
Thanks for all the great input!
A couple of years ago I probably spent over 20k onmachines and parts
This year less than $5000
NNot planned but just the way it happened
I just started collecting in Feb/March this year and I have already spent $40,000. Why didn't you guys warn me 
I can't say that I have a budget. Space is my issue. I completely refinished my basement this summer (at a hefty price) and only planned room for 3 pins (wife restriction). My issue is when to sell TOTAN to make room for my MMRLE which is going to hurt since TOTAN is second only to MM (for me) but it feels dated next to LOTR and METLE and someone has to go. Bummer to be in a one-in-one-out position with only three machines.
Here is an interesting comparison to other hobby/entertainment type yearly expenditures made by average Americans. We see that if we average #8, #4, & #3 we get an average of $690.00 spent a year on things that could be considered similar to pinball. But from our poll here we can see that the average pinball household spends a LOT more on the pinball hobby!! Is there something wrong with us?!!
Here is the link to the info presented below:
8. Entertainment Equipment and Services, Nonessential
Annual Amount Spent Per Household: $400
% of Total Annual Expenses: 0.8%
Products in this category include bicycles, trailers, camping equipment, hunting and fishing equipment, sports equipment, boats, photographic equipment and supplies. The average expenditures dedicated to items in this category among all households is $400. The greatest average amount, $870, occurs among households with a husband, wife, and an eldest child age 6 to 17 years. In households with only one parent and at least one child under 18, the amount drops to $188. In 1989, the average amount for all households was slightly less, at $369.
4. Pets, Toys, Hobbies, and Playground Equipment
Annual Amount Spent Per Household: $690
% of Total Annual Expenses: 1.4%
The average household spent nearly $700 on pets, toys, hobbies, and playground equipment. Nearly 80% of the expenses in this category come from pets, including food and veterinary bills. In contrast, households only spent $140 on toys and games. Families with the oldest child under 6 only spent $670. Families with a child older than 18 spent nearly $1,200. Most of this difference comes from significantly more spending on veterinary services. Households in the Western United States spent $800 on pets, toys and games – 20% more than those in the Midwest. These expenses have increased from 0.9% of household budgets in 1989 to 1.4% in 2009.
3. Television, Radio, and Sound Equipment
Amount Spent Per Household: $975
% of Total Annual Expenses: 2%
In 2009, the average household spent $975 on television, radio, and sound equipment, including cable TV, video game hardware, and movie players. This amount is up from $429 in 1989. For comparison, the average amount spent on reading material, which is another household expenditure category, was only $109. The group which spent the greatest portion of their budget in this category, 2.5%, was those who made between $5,000 to $9,999. The group which spent the least was the group making the most. Households earning $70,000 or more spent only 1.7% of their budget on items in this category.
Mine is a negative number.
I buy, fix, sell and pocket the profit. When I want something I take it from the 'pinball kitty'.
That's how I started in this hobby in college, and have stayed this way for 30+ years. There have been times when a barn raid has put me in the negative, but that was always my incentive to sell quickly to get out of pinball debt.
How is it a negative number? This year, I put $1k toward new kitchen flooring.
Quoted from Jags:Here is an interesting comparison to other hobby/entertainment type yearly expenditures made by average Americans.
Interesting to read, I love looking at stats like this, even if it does make me feel like I am way overspending in some areas.
Counting what I've bought and sold, I'm currently invested $500 in the hobby. That's just machines, not counting gas, parts or time. My budget is probably $1500 to $2000 max at any given time.
Paycheck to paycheck family here for this enthusiast... Although I did pay $950 for a Firepower and $400 for CPR PF this year, but that's extreme for me... My budget for 2014 will be just parts for the 3 games I have, probably less than $500.
-Steve Ridge
Louisville, KY
Quoted from lpeters82:invested
careful.... 
Prior 2 years I'd say maybe 3-4k/year out of pocket... of course I rolled substantial gains back into the hobby when I sold machines I took from dead to beautiful...
This year will be more like 8k out of pocket...and that's gonna be real rough. Making some serious sacrifices to get MMR, or our first LE-type game if that falls flat for some reason.
This was my first year in the hobby. Ended up buying a great JD for $2200 (i know it's a $1400 pin....) and $3300 for an excellent STTNG. I was cool with that & made it work, love both pins and now I couldn't be happier But the thought of dropping another 8K for a pre-order Hobbit makes me reallly start to sweat. Never thought I'd even consider spending 10+K on pinball in my first year. Once you get that itch (and have the scape), it's really hard to stop.
I'm one of those guys who works on their machines more than I play them. I keep my pinball funds separate from household funds and have actually been taking money out here and there. I try to keep about 10K liquid for deals but MMRLE just absorbed most of that.
At first it is going to be a lot until I get the main ones off my wish list then it will be whatever happens to be available as to how much I will spend per year. The bottom line is I will spend what my "entertainment" budget allows for.
Really don't have a budget (probably should get one).
Last year sold/traded $5350 in pins but spent around $5900
This year sold/traded about $4200 but spent $6500.
I'm about to get the largest bonus I've ever received (won't show up until Feb.) Guess how much is going towards pins......probably 0. Wife knows about every cent and is already planning a trip....plus my kid will need a car, and we really need to sock away more towards retirement (and college funds).
But....I will probably get into some more selling/trading to shake up the collection (maybe).
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