I think Road Show was a great earner as people would do multiple buy-ins to get further across the country (in the game)

TAF
SP
IJ or IJ4

All do "well" on route. I wouldn't drop that kind of money in exchange for $20+ a week in return though, unless it's some kind of tax write off.

MM

And yes, I also heard that RS did/does great on location.

Id bet the more recognizable the theme, the more people it will draw in. X-files might be good.

JP has been a real consistent earner for me. It gets the young crowd playing it all the time. It's as reliable as Tales. Tales was my best earner for a year, now JP has had the title for the last 4 months. I just put RS on location last week, but it's been off while I addressed the outlet situation at the store. I fixed that yesterday, so we'll see how it does. My only problem is the 5 games I have on location, are all lined up in a row at the same store.

Here's a list of what I've had on route:

JY - did well
NF - did good
LW3 - did poorly (pity, as it was in HUO condition)
Laser War - did ok, SS game
HD (Sega) - did ok (very fun game)
The rest were SS games

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pictures-of-my-new-lineup

There's a pic of my current lineup in a post I did yesterday, if you want to see what I have on route now. It's under "my new lineup"

I remember an operator here in Indy saying Indiana Jones ('93) was his best game on location. The recognizable theme, fun play, and reliability were all factors. He said he rarely had to fix the game as it was "rock solid", even after 15+ years. I had played it this particular game and it was one of the better examples one would find out the wild.

I don't route but a bar owner bought my newly restored Time Warp for under $500 and put it on site. It's been rock solid and made twice that back at $.25 per play. So I guess it begs the question. As far as return on investment is concerned, can we also come up with a list of early SS machines that would still make money on site? Some people actually prefer a single level table to play on as it doesn't confuse them...plus at 25 cents it's super cheap.

Shadow would not do well........nobody liked the movie and it's a shooter's game.

Road Show
Tron
ACDC
South Park
T2
Funhouse

I'm still trying to figure out why people are trying to make money off routes. A financial advisor/planner, would squash that asap. Fun toys at home but making profit on location? Com'on now. Common sense people.

Doesn't South Park have the title for 'best earner of all time?'

SFII seems like it would make sense. Plus it's cheap. Plus it's a System 3, so it's pretty solid.

My best earner on a weekly average by far (and I mean far) was MM. Next in line was TAF. The rest all make about the same.

My location (a sports bar, 19+ age minimum) sees decent traffic. The only pin that did not make any money was Star Trek 25th. The new pins on rotation always get the most play for a couple of weeks, then they taper off and the money gets spread around. I think it's currently a very nice line up for a town with 0 pins on location. Since I'm the only location, it's really a core group of people who play pin that come in to play. They appreciate that I really don't put in 'filler' games. If I put in a game that sucks, it won't get played.

Current line up consists of TZ, Tron, SM and LotR. Next in line is WW or Catacomb, which ever I get around to fixing up first. TZ will be coming out for a good shop out.

photo_(7)_(1024x768).jpg

Who says we're all trying to make money? I certainly have no illusions about it. That's my man cave!

Not in the house: Check
Girls serve me beer and food: Check
Sports on the big screen: Check
Some great pins to play with friends: Check

Plus, maybe some new people get introduced to our wonderful hobby!

I get it, but if you read the title....

Agreed. Just wanted to clarify my position! Sorry if it came off snarky

It is also the loudest of games with a shaker motor. Be sure the location tolerates it.

LTG

I'll post my earning order below. Take note of the pricing, it affects how I'm reporting the data. As you can see by my data, IM is a pretty good bet.

IM - Best by far
JP
SM - limited data, but appears to be about even with JP. May overtake it.
SWE1 - Earns about the same as JP but is prices at 75 cents/game vs. JP being 50 cents/game
Whirlwind, TSPP - Pretty much a tie
Tri Zone - The only reason this is last is because it is 25 cents/play. Some weeks it out earns Whirlwind and TSPP even though they are 50 cents/play. People play the crap out of Tri Zone.

My experience is based on a location that gets a lot of play from kids (party room in a pizza restaurant). If you have games in a bar, I'd approach it a differently. But in my case if it appeals to kids it does well, hence JP, IM, and SWE1 being big earners. I also see tons of kids dropping quarters in Tri Zone because it is cheaper and easier to figure out. So in some cases a simple game may be the right choice.

What I'm looking for to rotate into the lineup is a DE SW and a TAF. I think they would do well.

I really don't want to blast into your personal business or current financial situation, but can you please help me understand the cost involved and the return?

How much did you pay for Tales from the Crypt, Sopranos and Judge Dredd? 5-6K? How much did you put into shopping them. What are the repairs or maintenance costing you so far? Is there a split fee with the owner? How much profit are you seeing, if any, every week? $20-$30? Divided by the cost of the machines? How long is it going to take to actually break even? 3-4 years? We're talking break even now, not even profit at this point. I must be missing something HighProtein.

I agree, money in the bank isn't greatest interest earner right now. But, at least you're not losing money. Also, paying off debt is one of the greatest ways to actually save money. Most people have dept in some shape or form. Not all but, a large percentage of people have something(s) they wish they could pay off.

I would think those two options would be a something to consider if you plan to make a couple bucks. Then again, it's not my life, and it's not my business. It just seems like a total loss, but maybe I'm missing something. I don't want to come off like I'm picking at you, but making money on route doesn't seem logical at all.

Unless, it's some kind of tax shelter. Start business, purchase games, report loses. Take the write off, and support hobby.

You aren't missing anything, other than license fees and insurance, and maybe if you need to supply a bill changer. Add all that into the expenses. And in my case, sales tax comes out of the 50 cents/game. And I pay sales tax on the purchase price of the game if it goes into operation. I can't speak for him, but unless you find a honey hole, it is a break even to maybe make a little bit of money venture (if you are lucky).

And the IRS has stipulations on how much you can lose/write off before your business becomes a hobby, so you can't just write off losses and support the hobby ad infinitum:

"The IRS presumes that an activity is carried on for profit if it makes a profit during at least three of the last five tax years, including the current year"

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=169490,00.html

MM is a top earner today for sure...

Sure, but are you going to put out $12,000 in capital to make $30 a week?

A skill crane makes over $150 a week and costs $1600.

:DMy pins are at one location, owned and operated by me. It is a sports card/memorabilia, comic book, Magic card, D&D gaming store.

All my games are set at a quarter. My friend owns the store, and I have a great arrangement with him. I'll keep the details private, as I'm very lucky for the arrangements. We do a split of the quarters 50-50. That's as much info as I'll tell.

It's nice having a bunch of games at one location.

Saves mucho time and gas

IJ4 earns A LOT...and never seems to break...Ive seen a few dirty examples but I've never come across one that has a major fault.

SM earns a lot as its popular with pinball fans and kids too.

Shrek earns a lot depending on where you put one. In an arcade by the beach or at a themepark Shrek would earn the most a machine could ever earn, at a pub or a tattoo parlour not so much.

There are games on location in Portland that are approaching $100k in lifetime earnings. One game, $100,000. I think any financial planner would like that return on investment.

Don't discount the fact that after earnings the machine itself can typically be sold for more than the original purchase price. That means on-location earnings are profit in most cases. Especially in the case of MM, if it's earning more than average on location and appreciating in price more than the average pinball machine, it becomes a very attractive option.

There are a couple of things that are even more important than which games you place on location. Most important is the location itself. Two pizza parlors with the exact same games across the street from each other can have very different earnings. No two locations are alike.

The other huge consideration is being able to rotate games. If you don't have games to rotate in, your earnings will drop and stay low. You have to rotate games to keep earnings up.

That said, if you want an idea of what earns on location, what better place to look than Portland.

http://www.pinballmap.com/portland

One city, 245 locations, 514 pins. 13 MM's, 14 Spideys.

For me personally, I don't think the game matters. What matters is that it works. Flippers are a must. But games that are good for me generally aren't good for you. I.E. I'm playing them for free most of the time.

Problem is that I go places to specifically play their pins. But when I go to a bar with arcade games in there, I play the two pins for maybe 2 hours and while I'm the only one playing the pins, the basketball shooting game next to the pins has a crowd of people around it all night.

Also, at a place like Blackbeard's cove, I'm playing POTC and killing it, and a girl comes up and puts a credit into Funhouse, possibly killing her pinball experience for life.

I'm not talking lifetime. I'm talking 2012. I'd love to see earnings.

So recouping your invest by more than 30X over 15 years isn't profitable to you? That's not a 30% return on investment, or 130% return on investment. That's more than 30 times what you paid for the game. You feel that's not a good investment? If so, then you should go to Portland immediately to let the 13 operators there that have MM"s out on location that they shouldn't be doing it. Bad investment.

I see you edited your post and added this...

Doesn't the fact that there is currently 13 MM's on location in Portland tell you something? You think those games aren't earning well? I'm friends with more than one operator up there. Trust me, they earn just fine in 2012.

Very few games do that.

Recently there were three HUO Transformer LE's for sale around $4800, way less than they cost, so I suspect routed ones would be even less.

I wouldn't buy a game and route it on speculation the game will appreciate in value.
LTG

It certainly helps that pinball machines show their age fractionally as fast as video games do. A Crusin' USA looks and plays like trash compared to modern racing games. Whereas a High Speed II looks and plays awesome compared to new Sterns.

Only in the last few years due to the never before seen Pinflation.

Normally, games earn less and less, get more and more worn and finally are sold at auction for a fraction of their original purchase price. I have sold many hundreds of pinball games when I had my route - very few for more than I bought them for, LOL.

The point of the thread is to identify the games that earn well, and I assume that would take into account holding their value. NIB should be expected to suffer depreciation, but on the flip side, players also tend to put more money in the latest games, which is doubly useful to ops since they're 100% functional don't have to be touched for a while. If a Transformers is on location and hasn't earned its depreciation and maintenance I'd argue it's the location rather than the game choice.

Let's say you have $12,000 sitting in your pocket.

Do you buy one MM to put it on route, earning more than the average pinball machine (lets say that is $60 a week - double the average).....

....or do you buy 8 Skill Cranes that have average earnings of $150 a week?

At the end of the year, the MM has had the decals peeled, a few plastics broken, the dragon wings broken and has required 50 hours of maintenance (waxing, transistors, coil or two), but it has earned you $3120.

At the end of the same year, your team of Skill Cranes have needed a few rubber prongs tips replaced, a new florescent bulb or two and minimal maintenance (mostly refilling). You have them set at 30% autopayoff so they have earned you $62,400.

Even if we play Devils advocate and say the Cranes were in the worst locations in the world and earned 1/2 the average, you would still have earned $30,000.

There is a reason that Skill Cranes are in every Kmart, diner, and gas station - they are a much better earner than pinball machines.

A fact that should have broken the heart of every pinhead long ago.

It does break my heart, believe me.

Even more evil than the skill cranes are the Barber Cut games - those make $500-600 a week but cost $5000 to buy.

$2 for a chance to win an Ipad.... who can resist?

Ouch, that hurts to think about

I will say my Iron Man has had zero issues since I uploaded the newer operating program off the stern website. Im almost thinking of putting this out at a business somewhere by me.....