Quoted from cottonm4:What I'd like to say is that I appreciate you wanting to leave your hoarding ways behind and get some pins into circulation.
I'll go to Pinball Owners website and look to see how many people own a particular pin and if they might be interested selling. Probably 70% of the owners will say their pin in storage and awaiting restoration and that they will NEVER sell it. And many of these forever-in-storage-never-for-sale hoarders have multiple pins listed this way.
So while I struggle to get a particular pin, someone is letting one rot in storage and no amount of money will break it loose.
Many collectors are not hoarders, they are "game rotators".
Once a collector owns more that 20+ machines, not considering projects, unless you have special provisions built into your home, you cannot fit them in a house, or least until it is planned to do so.
Most hardcore collectors can have around 30-40 in their house if their is a dedicated game room in say the basement.
Once a collector has over 50, things get really difficult.
I managed to have over 50+ machines in my collection in a 2600+ sf machine shop, and it is incredible to see the amount of space they take up.
Once a collector has over 100, there is no way to manage them in a standard home of any size.
Once a collector has over 250, you require a separate facility.
Once a collector has over 500, an actual warehouse is needed.
Once a collector has over 1000, you need multiple levels of storage and mediums of transportation, including a 30 foot truck.
I would not say many are letting them waste away, some are simply being protected from being "parted out" by people who would sell them for parts. Other games are used for reproduction purposes, which otherwise would not exist.
The same thing could be said for things such as backglass collections stored in racks and boxes, because I do not know anybody that has enough vertical wall space to display over 100 backglasses in one room in frames.
The "struggle" is one reason people stay in the hobby.
It is the big game hunter in all of us.
If you want to have a game "break loose" from a collector's hands, I will give you a professional tip:
Offer something in trade, particularly parts, playfields or backglasses which compensate for the value, not pure money.
Collectors want something that is hard to find too, not just cash in their pockets.
Cash has less value to those that have been doing this for a very long time.
Keep flipping.