#1 pulled me in a couple years back. "the williams collection" ended up costing me a lot more than $29 bucks

I think all of the above.
I also think the ease of finding machines for sale due to the internet, ebay, clist etc... has helped too. 7 years ago my buddy gave me a non-working Meteor he found in his basement. While trying to get it fixed, I found out just how easy it was to buy a pinball machine. Up until then I thought you had to know someone who knew someone who owned a bar or route and didn't want one.
I would also add that MAYBE the increase of Stern producing titles with a high fun factor is causing collectors to buy more NIB pins.

We are becoming a more hermit-like, antisocial society. We like our entertainment to come to us instead of us going to it. We are turning our houses in to our castles, complete with our mancave dungeons.

Good point. And not just anti social but less physical. I had a buddy's kid turn down a quick job because he "didn't like to sweat."

that and hunkering down for the upcoming zombie apocalypse.

I don't have an answer for why there is a resurgence, but after putting four machines on location a little over a week ago I can say that people still want to play pinball. The machines have been very well received and the location's owner has gotten a ton of positive comments about them. People are dropping quarters and enjoying the game.

Sadly, this is very true. Have you seen teenagers these days? They will sit there texting each other when they are right in the same room. When I was growing up, the arcade was one of the social hubs of the neighborhood. Nowadays, everyone hides behind their computers and smart phones. Our society is losing touch with the fine art of interpersonal communication. I'll give you a perfect, example. There have been many times where I have been negotiating back and forth via email on a pinball machine. At some point, I generally ask the person to give me a call so we can discuss it over the phone. I can't tell you how often this is the last I hear from them. It's like I'm a freak for suggesting that we actually TALK.

You are no where near here, but thanks for running some machines on route.
Just can't figure out why there are so few. I would play pretty much any I see. Of course that's a sample size of one.

That freaks me out also. Sat behind a family group at a Tigers baseball game and the kids were typing on thier phones for the entire game. Not sure they saw any of it.

i'm sort of bashful for saying this, but that is EXACTLY how the online dating scene is working for me right now.

So true, and sad at the same time!

#1 is definitely my reason -- Williams HOF, but Pinball Arcade pushed me over the edge. Just closed on my first pin this week -- a TOTAN. It's the pin that got me to love pinball back in 1996 at a local nickel arcade. From time to time I've always pondered owning a TOTAN but never pulled the trigger.

Can't wait to take delivery next week!

I think the biggest two are the people (us) remember thewm and have a little money and now with the internet everything is avialable to purchase. Those two together make it possible for people t make money selling pins as well. Everything ties together in the end.

I got into pinball because I used to play them as a kid in the arcade. Now I have a wife and a home with a nice basement and I want to deck it out with pins. So I fall into categories #2 and #3.

Good theories. I'm not sure what happened in the last year that created so much interest in the hobby. I personally stumbled upon pinball in late 2004 after about 6 months of collecting video arcade games. I'm in my early 30s and was never really a video arcade guy to begin with, let alone pinball guy. It's still a mystery to me why I decided to buy a Galaga vid arcade game back then. I quickly owned most of the classics (Galaga, Ms Pacman, Centipede, etc) and was quite happy until one of my arcade game "suppliers", who has now become a great pinball friend, sold me a sweet T2 pinball machine in 2004. That was it! Next thing I know I'm selling all my recently acquired vids and buying every nice pinball machine I came across. I think I owned most of the top 25 pins with the exception of the elusive MM over the next 6 years. I sold away my MB and AFM in 2010, kept the pins in my collection now, and disappeared from pinball until about 2 months ago. I was surprised to see where pin prices had gone in that short amount of time. Geez. If I had known this was gonna happen in 2010 I would have never sold my AFM as it's one of my favorites. If not for the fact that my income will be significantly increasing in a few weeks, I would never be able to own AFM again. Alas, I'm back and I may just treat myself to both AFM and MM!

By the way, to put things into perspective as to how crazy pin prices have gotten...I was a student when I first became interested in pinball and I was still able to fund many of the top titles. And I'm anal, so I wanted my games to be super nice! So they weren't beaters either. They were nice examples of TZ, STTNG, FH, AFM, MB, CFTBL, etc. I could never afford these games if I was a student now. Crazy...

I agree with you point 3 as a main reason for the home collector. Guys in their 30 and 40's who grew up playing pinball, now have a house with extra space and extra money to fill it with games. And for the most part - not to many places to play on location

Now for a resurgance in location pinball I have no idea as in my area they are few and far between, and mostly the games are in bad shape. But maybe location pinball is goes in cycles, wasn't there a downturn before the boom in the ninties?

Finally, I think it was george carlin that said man will always play pinball

Also keep in mind pinball is like CRACK. You get 1...you can't stop...so the more people get into pinball, the supply can shrink by multiples per person!

I think it's actually quite the opposite. What do many pinball collectors do? Go to shows, tournaments and join communities like Pinside and RGP. We create leagues and throw parties and have people over to hang out.

I've read about that online

totally agreed. I played pinball in my youth and now that I am 32 and have a home and a good income I can finally afford my own machine and have the space for it.

However I think this boom will eventually see a decline as all of the people jump to buy a machine become tired of them after a few years and drop the hobby. Lately I have seen people on here talk about getting out of the hobby and we even have someone trying to sell all three of their machines at once at a loss to themselves. Plus one of the places you see them most is bars, I have a feeling that will decline in the next few years so anyone below drinking age at this time will not be as interested. Plus the amount of upkeep required and people more and more nowadays will not have the patience to learn how. Dont get me wrong I am not gloom and dooming the hobby I hope it thrives until I am old and grey but I have a feeling this huge resurgence will plateau and drop at some point.

I also think that saturation in the video game market is contributing to this trend. Greed especially, take a look at EA Games and Activision and see if you can't find at least 20 different games released by them on a game store shelf. Plus the fact that everything is online now; you're always updating the game software, playing with hackers that ruin the online experience, and in turn re-signing terms of service agreements with crap in them saying it's illegal to file a lawsuit against the licensor because you want to run homebrew software that you wrote on your gaming console (Sony). New games are shallow, watered down messes that still costs $60 a pop right off the shelf that are most likely poor unoptimized conversions of a game designed around another system, such as the PC. And not to mention Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo gets a majority of the royalties generated from game sales, leaving little room for the actual development companies to innovate and leaving little incentive to actually make something good. I'm not saying all game franchises are this way, but things are definitely going downhill fast in the console gaming market. Millions of players are turning to smartphones and tablets for cheap games. Nintendo is nearly bankrupt. The 3DS and Vita handheld units aren't selling. And did I mention the community is furious with Sony and Microsoft dropping support for used games?

I help maintain 2 video games and 4 pinball machines at a local laundromat. Even this time last year pinball was simply not making money for us. Now, it's anyone's guess as to why pinballs are our best earning machines. I think just the general public are getting sick of hearing about "the new:" bigger, better, faster, puts the one month old model you bought last week in obsolescence. It's tiring, I think people are actively seeking a break from this. Pinball is a great option because of the nostalgia, the fact that it's such a random game as opposed to video games, and the level of skill required to explore what you haven't seen yet. Most people haven't seen these things in years, and have completely forgotten they exist. It's all new to them again, and it's fun.

I think of all of those, 3) is a very big one. You have a lot of boomers retiring and you have a lot of Gen-X in their own homes with the disposable cash. It's two generations chasing pinball and arcade memories.

All home entertainment has prospered since every police department in the country started sitting outside of bars a few years ago and pulling over everyone that left and stuck a PBT in their mouth. That all started when municipalities started having funding problems.

I don't know of any bar in my part of town that is even open until 2 AM anymore, and the streets are empty after midnight. People stay home and entertain themselves now more than ever. Our department used to only lock up those who blew over .10, and now they are locking up people who blow .07 and sometimes .06!

I had to take my wife to the ER last month at 1 AM and I only saw one car on the road except the officer that was following me, and its about 7 miles each way. He finally passed me and pulled over the car that was ahead of me and I never even saw the guy do anything wrong. Scarey stuff...I'd rather stay home and drink beer and play pinball.

+1... I blame Farsight

This thread explains the video game market in more detail:

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ea-games-in-a-nutshell

I think your point #3 which is about demographics is huge. Guys in high school and college in the early 90s played some great games in their college unions, pizza joints and bars. They're now hitting their 30s and 40s and have homes with basements and a few extra bucks. And they want to remember and re-create that fun time in their life. I think the surge could last a while. It doesn't suggest a bubble but a long term increase in demand. I also think it explains quickly rising pices on A games. They remember those games! I sold my Scared Stiff to a guy who fit this profile to a T.

Agree with all your other points too.

I think the video game market might crash again. BTW, downloadable content is another factor. You pay for more stuff in the game. Why didn't the producers put the content in the game when it CAME OUT?????

For me, it was video pinball.

...at first, I was like "holy shit", I remember playing pinball. Then I was all "holy shit, this sucks on Vpin/Pinmame/Fpin.

Then I saw the light. Real pinball machines.

Perhaps the high price of gas ppl are fed up & just want to stay home and do something more meaningful then watch TV?
But I do like your theories jimjim66 as well as the rest of you

Another factor is availability of funds! I don't look as pins as an investment, but when the bank only offers 1% interest on my money, and wallstreet is rigged, I'd much rather have my money invested in something I can enjoy and have full control over, with little risk! Also, whenever I pick up a new pin , my wife considers it a fiscal responsibility (:
The man cave 401k?

I hope it's not like the dinosaurs.

They tended to bulk up before they went extinct.

LTG

(this was in response to someone calling this behavior anti-social...)

To be totally fair, that is being about as social as they can be. Maybe not with the people that are right there, but they are communicating with *someone*.

Every generation looks at the next generation and goes, "Oh my god, they are going to destroy the world!" and pegs it on something different, and every generation turns out all right. We were all supposed to be destroyed by video games, I don't think we're that bad.

Anway, to reply to the first poster's question, I have predicted something like this for years, but a lot of people didn't believe me. I'm about the same age as most of the people on this site tend to be, but when I started collecting (age 19), there weren't really many other people my age around. Everyone complained that the kids just didn't "get it." I suggested they did, it's just that they didn't have the room or the money (or the foresight) to buy machines at that time. I have always been super-careful with money, so I had a little here and there to start buying them... and I also had the luck of having a business that got a storage space that I could plop games I couldn't put anywhere for the day I got a bigger space.

Now, let's look at the reasons...

I don't think this is overly prevalent. It may be that those people are more likely to drop coin in if they see a machine on route, but while a few people get reminded and want games, pinball compilations are not unique to this generation or last generation, and I think that it's a relatively negligible amount of people that play it and then decide they need to buy a $15k MM.

2. Man caves and game rooms are more popular than ever and pinball is something that just fits for these.

I don't think that they are, there was a huge game room boom in the early 2000's just before the poker boom. The economy made these all fade a little bit, and while people do still have them, it isn't the biggest driving factor. Also, those people tend to get one or two machines, not 4 or 56.

3. Since people grew up with arcades, and now most are gone, that generation has grown up and has disposable income, so now is the time to recapture those memories.

Ta-da. I was 13 when Jurassic Park literally changed what I thought of arcades, and I spent from age 13 to past my 20s playing in arcades regularly, mostly pinball. When I first got into Jurassic Park, I remember telling my parents that one day I'd own one, and them sort of dismissing it.

I've now owned my JP for over 5 years and it will never go anywhere. I like it just as much as I did when I would dump all my money into it on route and my parents would suggest that I stop doing that...

4. Pinball shows are bringing in new people.

*Somewhat*. The majority of pinball shows bring in people who already know and care about pinball, they don't necessarily open it up to new people. A *few* shows out there bring in new blood, but the crossover appeal for most of them isn't there. It's not like someone who doesn't like pinball is going to go, "Ooo! A pinball show! I'm IN!"

I know that there is some of this happening though because I know a number of people that realized they could own machines thanks to the Midwest Gaming Classic, and have started their collections because of that show when they only collected video games before... but I can't say I know anyone who goes to Expo for instance and says, "Hunh. What's this pinball thing?"

5. More parts and distributors are getting more pins operational.

Well, more supply means less demand usually, but I think that what has happened is it has become less of a risk to buy a pinball machine because you have parts to keep them working now. Just as a couple for instances, when I started collecting, you could get TZs all day for like $1200ish. I know that multiple times I passed on them at that price and lower because I didn't much care for the game. Why were they so cheap? Because things were ALWAYS broken in that game, and unless you bought like two and combined them, you would have issues.

Now you can buy one, and if something breaks you can buy a new part that is generally better than the old parts to put in and leave the machine working for years. It's not that more machines are becoming operational, it's that more machines are able to stay working.

What you have is the perfect storm I think of the people who are the right age starting to get some disposal income to spend on buying a few machines, and the fact that there are now parts to insure that they continue working without needing tons of ability to repair them. Finally, it doesn't hurt the market that NIB prices have risen significantly over the past couple years. People can say whatever they want about how MM is easily worth $15k or whatever, but when your top of the line SM machine cost $3900 NIB, it was much harder to justify a machine at nearly four times the cost of a NIB one. Now, with NIB machines costing upwards of $7500 regularly, it's much easier to say, "Well, I like MM twice as much as any other machine, $15k really isn't that bad of a price!"

I, unlike a lot of people, do not think that the bubble will burst on a lot of these so-called "A list" machines for a long, long time -- but I also really doubt that there will be a similar crazy price increase on the "B/C/F" list machines any time soon. The machines that have inflated like crazy were the route monsters that people found, fell in love with, and could keep finding years later (most of the A list is still on route within 15 miles of me). Those who are looking to get a pinball machine like they used to play don't want that Judge Dredd that they played once before it was pulled because no one played it, they want that TAF or MM that they played every time they went on vacation for 10 years straight... That didn't happen with the B/C/F list.

I fully believe, actually, that the reason that RFM specifically isn't worth triple it's price is because the PC issues it had meant they didn't last on route long. Had they been out there longer, I think they would have really developed their own following...

All right, that was WAY too deep and it's WAY too late to be thinking that much!

I wonder what the pinball equivalent to a dino-killing-meteor would be to wipe out this resurgence we're seeing?
Avengers, Hobbit? $9K NIB's?

I think as a whole we have become more of a "Shut-In" society but, like Zaxxis touched upon earlier, the yearly shows seem to be growing in popularity and pinball in general is usually more fun with friends.
I kinda built my gameroom in hopes that more people would come over and play/interact.
So far it seems to be working well...
I guess we'll see in a couple of years how everything turns out.

Farsight... I blame thee...

I just think pinball is the new car collector era. Used to be a huge market of people buying old cars, fixing them up (like tim allen on home improvement). Now you have all the generation X's that didn't grow up fixing car, or dreaming about cars, but playing video games and pinball, and they want that experience back. The same experience of fixing up something broken, or not pretty into something wonderful, learning how to fix, feeling proud of a collection, a LOT of us want that feeling.

Why the SUDDEN surge? I don't know, but I do know it sucks to get into the hobby late and have to pay high prices. I always knew I was eventually going to get my own pinball (s) someday when debts settled down, just didn't think it was going to be when it peaked.

Why should they call you ? You are interested and want to buy, you call.
You only give the impression to demand more from them so they prefer to sell to someone less demanding.

I had the same on my site and even explicit state on my contact page now I will not phone someone back.
Every few weeks someone would email me 'my pin is broken please phone me to tell me how to repair it'. You cannoy believe how many times this happened.
I just got tired. Im not a pro that makes money off repairs I just spend time helping others.. So I will not phone if you do not bother to explain more in mail. And if someone wants to talk I give my nr and what hours they can reach me.. But its on my terms when I feel like helping. Not because some stranger needs my help and commands me to do something for me..

Me,me,me,me,me!!My time,my advice,my website.How dare you command me!!You're taking yourself and this hobby WAY too seriously.You should try talking to people because it's a polite and often enlightening way to meet your fellow humans.You might actually LOL,instead of typing LOL,you might actually LOL.You could make a friend or.....wait for it.....MEET a CHICK!!!I know your website,its not that big a deal.You need a customer service policy that's not so impersonal.Lighten up.Scott

In their defense I also prefer to have prices negotiated in person or in writing.

I agree. Best way to make pinball a part of the mainstream, give one free $500 pin to every household.

I got back into pinball in 2003. Everyone does what I do. Being a popular leader is difficult at times but I van deal w/it.

I got into pins a couple years ago because gorilla got into it and he is always a leader. He's popular and who can help but follow his lead? I hope someday to grow up and be just like him. It's difficult for him, to be such an inspiring leader, but he carries his burden of responsibility on his broad shoulders like the man he is.

I think it already is. Many of the classic arcade games are now available on game consoles, with very much the same experience game wise than in an arcade cabinet. Why go to a venue that might have one or two video game cabinets when i can buy a collection for my PS3 and have very much the same game experience (or better since I don't have to go out).

Where I think this fits in with the resurgence of pinball is in the same vein (and a point mentioned), but a different result. I can buy a collection of pinball games for my PS3, but they are very much different game play than standing in front of a table. I think its in this that the home market is picking up for pins. While one can fairly well replicate the experience of playing a video arcade game on on a game console (thus bringing the video arcade experience in-house), playing pinball on a console doesn't replicate as well. And I think this is being appreciated more by players who used to play pins when they were younger. Obviously the better exposure to the pin market the internet affords only helps in getting pins in-house.

I think all the points are valid - some are simply more valid for some ppl than others.

In 2010, I was 30 years old, hardly ever played pinball, but downloaded Pinball FX2 for $10 b/c I was bored (I used to love that game, but now realize how lacking it is. Farsight is the way to go).

Then I got hooked on Williams Pinball Hall of Fame... Wanted to play real machines, but there were none out in the wild.

Now I own 2 NIB Sterns and have played in 4 tournaments. It's video pinball that did this to me!

man is not the word for the fearless gorilla.

For me it was a gradual transition from video games --> arcades --> pinball. It's evolution.

this is it for me

Disposable Income + Tolerant Wives = Money Spent on Pinball..

Yup. Now im on the younger side of the generation (27) but as soon as i got a good job and a house of my own what better furniture to fill it with. Plus no wife to tell me "no pinball in the family room lol.

For me, it's a combination of 1, 2 and 3 - but all fueled by the internet. Many years ago, I stumbled across the IPBD. Seeing the games I played in the late 70's and early 80's brought back a flood of memories, and re-sparked my interest in pinball. I started looking for some pinball video games, and like others - the Williams classic collection was like throwing gas on the fire of my pinball interest. Being able to see and hear those old familiar sounds (Black Knight and Firepower) made me want to take the next step. The internet helped me locate a local dealer. Once I was on the showroom floor, looking at the vast collection of pins - I was done - I had to have one. ...then two, then three - y'all know the rest of this story.

To reply to the gentlemen who is blaming the police for the rise of pinball playing. WTF!!!