You would need a huge deposit. Hope your game (and the people you rented it to) are still there after the rental time is up.

An operator here in Austin rents for home use. One of our league players got great at TWD by renting one for a few months.

I would never pay $200-300 to rent a pinball. That is literally throwing money out of the window. Owning pinball for me is playing whenever I have time which is not that often. For me it does not make sense but that's only me.

Plus, pinball are a pain to move god knows.

I would call this a lease, rather than a rental.
2-300 isn't too bad for a month, but moving machines in and out, up and down stairs, heading over for repairs, and then of course they are going to have their friends over, hammering on that game all through the night. It starts to be a case of earning your money, and taking some wear on the game.
If someone wants to truly "rent" a game from me, Its $100 delivery, $100 pick-up, and $100/day, or $500/week.
And make up a contract, get it signed.

Ive considered this but too much risk. If people disappear or don't pay you now have to be a bill collector. Some of these games are 5K plus and the loss of one game would vanish any profits on this venture.

I know you said you wouldn't bother with liability insurance but one bad accident and this little profit adventure takes your house away.

ive rented games from a really close friend of mine with a 25+ collection. He charges $100 for 3 months if i pick it up/deliver and $150 if he delivers/picks up for 3 months. I fix any issues myself and LED(he pays for any mods) them if they need it so he always gets games back in better condition then when i recieve them. He has trouble keeping up with all his games so its a win win for him and i got to play alot of titles till i got bored of them instead of having to spend $5-8K on them to play then sell.

He wouldnt rent games out to just anybody! He only rents games out to 1 other close friend of ours and we've all been friends for 20 years. I would advise against renting to just anybody.

Person rents pin to another person ....said person has machine in basement mancave ... all is well until that system 11 that never had the bridge rectifier fused goes up in flames....house burns down... said person sues your ass off. Just a scenario...just sayin.

I think it's an idea worth exploring further maybe trying a few locations. As others have said the mob and demob could get costly, I would want to recoup that somehow. I like the idea on the arcade machine as a "bonus" to renters. Appropriate house insurance to cover all involved is a must. Commercial liability to cover you and your machines? I wonder how much that premium would be per month for you? Wouldn't be worried about theft so much but as mentioned w the bridge rectifier scenario..... I think you should try a few known great (people) locations. Report back with all the secrets in how we can make $ with pinball machines! J/k

I've often wondered how to make a mobile arcade using an enclosed trailer. Obviously this would need some serious design/engineering consideration, but it seems kinda cool to me at least to imagine rolling up to a wedding reception with an instant arcade. Might be a dumb idea..?!

I've seen these years ago at county fairs and festivals. Able to be done. Not sure if it's worth it when you figure cost of games, maintenance, travel, food, hotel/motel, insurance, local regulations, etc. etc.

LTG : )
Disclaimer : My Dad got a trailer and was going to do this in the 1950's. His partner backed out, so the idea never hit the road.

I think it's viable. My co-worker wanted to do the same with my pin. I think a deposit makes sense. You need to do a lease contract. You also need to document a maintenance contract as well.(who pays for parts, labour).

Stealing may not be a concern for you in you community. But, renting/leasing to friends or friends of friends is likely to cause you to lose said friends. It wouldn't be long before an issue arose (machine not working, cabinet scratch, fuse blown, glass broken, spill, board, could be anything.) Then you are in the position of either having to ask this person to pay for repair or eating that yourself. Now you face potential disputes about whether the issue/damage happened on your watch or theirs, and it just sounds like a recipe for disaster. I think you will lose friends and money. Sorry to be negative on your idea, but I think there is a reason this type of arrangement is uncommon. Nothing like money, even a few hundred, to come between friends.

I like the idea but $200+ is expensive. I think the price should be relative to game's value. It would be fun to do once in a while. Get something new and play it a bunch without spending too much. That would be great for new Stern pins. I don't mind paying a little if I don't have to move the pin or fix any big issues. That said, there is a lot of risk and liability on your end dealing with strangers.

I own a rental company, different industry, but the fear of theft is more overblown than reality. Liability coverage is obviously a must, and I know I would be interested if their was a professional company that rented pins. Price wise we use A percentage of MSRP to set rental rates, and I think something like 10% of MSRP for 90 days seems fair, at least that's what I would pay. Since moving pins is an issue, I would also make it a minimum of 90 days, so travel doesn't tear your machines up. The people saying that others might bash on them could be correct, but i feel like pins in the wild would receive if not the same or way more abuse. We also service our equipment between each rental, so the chances of someone having an issue are slim.

Look, find a couple of good trustworthy friends. Swap games, lend games, have fun.

I've had games at friends houses. Right now my Getaway is at a friends. I trust him, and he is a completely reasonable guy. If anything goes wrong from playing, he would fix it. If something electronic goes, I'll fix it. Everybody knows the deal with games, they break. And reasonable people can figure out where it should be fixed. That's why you only do it with friends you trust. Skip all the bull crap.

Make more friends that own pinball machines, and you never need to rent anything.
Eventually collectors will give you machines to borrow.