Molly,

I lived in L.A. for something in excess of three decades. Really sorry your scene was not underway until after I'd left, or I likely would've become a regular. The situation was highly variable -- had to travel all over, in search of decently maintained games that wouldn't pick the player's pocket. Even at a "premiere" route location like Pinz in the Valley, it wasn't until about the last couple years of my being a resident that the OP (Area Amusements, I think ?) was taking *prompt* and really good care of the tables there. (And they damn well should, at 75 cents a game !)

I like to think I'm a dedicated player, regularly driving as much as half an hour each way to play a favorite route pin. And half an hour at a speed of mostly 65 takes you a lot farther away than is possible around metro L.A. I don't mind springing for the gas and doing that, provided the game is working o.k. once I get there.

Wherever you are -- if there are still routes around -- you'll probably run into the full gamut of types of OPs. We're lucky here to have a couple of Collector - Operators. One has something like 90 tables spread around 2.5 counties, and reportedly a staff to tend to them. Another has a fraction of that, in just a few locations, one of which hosts regular tourneys. In both their cases, I'm sure this is much more a labor of love than a paying proposition. Though there is nothing like the extreme cases of neglect detailed in this thread, encountering seriously malfunctioning games is still a regular occurrence. Sometimes they languish that way for quite some time, despite the problems being reported. These two OPs are certainly among the best. I've met others who apparently couldn't care less. Somewhere in the middle were a couple others who said they were on their way out of the business. One swore he was going to haul a defective table into the shop for repairs, though weeks later this still hasn't happened.

I completely agree with those who've said that the location pinball experience is a vital exposure this hobby and artform probably cannot ever thrive without. The basements of the fortunate few is simply not going to cut it, and it's very hard to replicate what is reported to be going on in the Bay Area.