50/50 split is a relic of the past. You said "split" and I'm taking that to mean "split evenly."

Also, are you checking your audits to see average game time, number of EBs, etc.? MET can be a hard game if it's a casual audience, and you might get more $ if you set it up easier. Pending what the audits say.

Also also, make sure you're running the latest code. It has some bug fixes and makes some multiballs easier to get by default.

I hope you don't mind my asking.

Did you just put it there ? Or did you do your research. Zoning ordinances ? All the required licenses ? Your own insurance on it ( never depend on others for that ) ?

$43 a week won't go far if you are doing this right.

LTG : )

I think 70/30 is pretty standard.

As long as you don't get caught ! / sarc

Someone gets hurt playing your machine, you'll think a lot about it then while you are being sued into oblivion. Start by checking with your insurance agent.

Some areas you don't. Some you do. Some cities have heavy fines if you get caught without them. Some cities confiscate the equipment.

LTG : )

Lowest I’ll go is 80/20 or I won’t even bother. 90/10 is my start and 100% has worked at times. Pitch it as “I pay for all the upkeep and parts cost, you make more money because it keeps patrons busy and you can sell more drinks”
Start a league and then the patrons give the bar everything they need and comparatively the coin drop you make is NOTHING. Drinks make waaay more money.

He’s right. Many places don’t seem to care much anymore. When asked about licensing and permits for location machines I know my locality said “...what?”. It’s such a relic of the past and location pinball has been dead for over a decade.
Definitely get some sort of insurance from the bar in writing

Location coin op, non pinball stuff. Isn't dead.

Best check. Be sure. Get it in writing if they don't care. Cover your own a**. Cities are always looking for ways to make money. Licensing is part of it.

Who exactly did you talk to ? License division of the city hall in your city ? Receptionist might not know anything. People in the licensing office will.

LTG : )

Nobody in city hall knew anything, the city clerk deals with licensing and tax permits and had to look it up in the book and she said she didn’t even care.

I know location coin-op isn’t dead but location pinball has bee. In most locals, pinball has specific licensing/tax laws that are totally different from jukeboxes and such.

It would be better to get your own. That way you won't be left in the lurch if something happens and the bar suddenly has a bout of amnesia about you.

i don't know what kind of bar your friend is running, but chances are that unless you promote pinball being there, the only people who ever see it are the bartender, the guy who cleans the place, and some regulars who are there everyday when they open at noon. none of them are going to put even a single quarter in it, and you'll probably make more by scraping the cocaine residue off the glass every morning. folks need to know to go there to find it. pinball people. the kind of people who go to a bar and put $10-$20 in it for a session. get on some social media that reaches pinball players in the vicinity and tell them it's in there. and while you're at it, tell the owner that if they don't let you put at least 2-3 more in there, it's never going to take off. remind them, it's the beers they sell as a result of pinball being sought out, that pays them. the coin box is yours. then, buy a lot of tools and spare parts and be prepared to repair it often. if it ain't broken, it means it ain't getting played. keep in mind, this isn't just an investment, it's a job. it will require time, attention and sense of responsibility. this isn't just free money.

Which means you should put it on the online pinball maps, too.
.................David Marston

Run a TOPs tournament. My best one paid out over $400. Software is already there. Charge $2 for a tournament game with $1 of that going towards the prize pool. Once started, the display shows details about the tournament including prize pool and current top scores. I ran mine for around a month each and always finished them on a weekend so people could get paid that day. You'll need a tournament button, if you don't already have one. Marco sells them.

Many cities now have all their rules listed online. Use search terms like amusement, video games and of course pinball. Rules can vary greatly from city to city and lots of large cities have no rules at all regarding pinball machines and video games. Always best to check first. Some cities have quirky rules leftover from the 80's when video games went nuts. My city requires a police background check if you operate 10 or more games at a single location, which I never did.

I never considered getting insurance when I operated pins because in the 50 years I've been playing (and 10 years of operating), I've never seen or heard of anyone getting hurt by a pinball machine. The businesses I put my games in did have insurance.

Huh? Have you looked at the pinball map in the last ten years? While we haven't had a huge resurgence, numbers have steadily increased for more than ten years. The popularity of barcades has played a big part. Covid has set things back, but saying pinball has been dead is flat out wrong.

Bear in mind it isn't a perfect system.

A good player can come in. Put in $1. Play a game and win 10 games. Then play 5 tournament games. Prize pool goes up $5, but the money didn't go into the cashbox to cover it.

You have to keep an eye on it so you don't lose a lot of money running a TOPS tournament.

LTG : )

That can't happen. You can win one game max on your first game. Stern's don't allow you to win more than one game. You might win a second game by getting the GC score, but that takes an awesome game and you can easily turn off replays for GC scores. No way at all to win 10 games on your first play. Once you do get a replay, the replay score reflexes up and it gets even harder to win a second game.

I ran a dozen or more tournaments. Had some of the best players on the planet compete in them. Neil Shatz, Rick Stetta, Andrei Massenkoff, Marc Connant. Every tournament made me money. Please stop repeating this misinformation LTG. You're flat out wrong.

it can,
Imagine your in regular play and somehow you were able to hit the progressive replay score 10 times in a row (pretty sure you can hit it in ToPs also, but I don't remember). Then you use those 10 replays to play ToPs 5 times and raise the prize pool. I don't know anybody that's good enough to do that, but hey.

The progressive replay value on sterns raise so dramatically, that it'd be near impossible for anyone to take real advantage. Regardless, if somehow that did become a thing you can take the replay % value off default and raise it to some insane number if u wanted to. Just keep in mind the whole point of replays/matches is to encourage players to keep playing.

You may have run a tournament on wedgeheads, but you didn't run a TOPs tournament. The software is only on Stern Whitestar games and newer. No software on wedgeheads.

LTG said a person could play one game and win 10 replays. That can't happen on a newer Stern or most any other game built in the last 40 years.

In the scenario you suggest, a player has to play 10 epic games, all getting replays, before playing any tournament games that count. Even if you could do it, you would be fatigued after those 10 epic games and you're not going to play your best with any remaining games. Not a winning strategy on a number of levels. When I play in a TOPs tournament, I play one non-tournament game to warm up, then play tournament games. As I said, some of the best players in the world played in my tournaments and they all made me (and the business) money. The audits don't lie.

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.pinball/c/dUAKUzXyVFU/m/MYaMV-eSy0UJ

ahh I see what you mean, didn't think of it in that context. Yeah ToPs usually help boost earnings on most games.