It amazes me when even pinheads will complain about the price of playing on loaction. I think many do not actually understand what it takes/costs.
Normal location math:
$1 for new Stern gets split 50/50 with bar. Game owner needs to pay the full sales tax on the original $1 also.
That leaves .44 out of each dollar to the operator.
Now account for game liscense costs (in Madison that is $55 per year)
Then Account for insurance for the games and additional incase some drunk cracks their head open on a game (~$600 per year is the cheapest you will find and it goes up for better coverage or more games).
Now you need to factor in wear and tear and time in maintainence.
In general terms a game needs 500 plays on it before it even gets back to the break even point on fees/insurance for the year. Needs another 500 plays to account for just general wear and tear and maintainence time/costs.
If a ramp breaks or plastics crack or board fails or speaker blows or ... well you get the idea.
Keep in mind you also need to swap out a game every 4-6 months to keep it fresh.
Unless you are fortunate to live in a town with lots of location players it is just not being done for profit. It is being done because people want to support location play (or they are a bigger operator and bars require pinball in order for them to run redemption stuff).
I can't blame pinheads for complaining about it, but after just a few months of trying to support the local pinball scene by having games on location the reality is very different. I would happily pay $5/3 plays on ANY good playing DMD.