Yep, totally agree. We do a few major house improvements per year, pick and choose major vacations, and don't buy a new house every 5 years like I've seen some people do. Generally have one reasonable car payment at a time. I have other hobbies as does my wife, but none of them are very taxing financially so most of my extra "fun" money goes to pinball and I try to make the most of it. That said we also make sure all the essential stuff is taken care of before buying games, which is really the best pinball related spending advice I can give. Don't buy if if you can't afford it and don't chew into savings and emergency money for games.

Lead a global program for a large social media company. Have 4 kids and am the sole provider but do well enough to purchase and flip most NIB’s for moderate losses. Have a “you only live once” mentality and know that I’ll eventually have to change my habits.

3-betting fish

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I'm a televangelist.

God bless you for believing...

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I do marketing for a Fortune 500 company and set aside a portion of my annual bonus to cover a game. It also helps that we live significantly below our means, so the bonus is treated like a bonus.

You buy the games in the early 2000s when they were practically giving them away. Now I have to route them to make enough to buy more.

Former software engineer turned alchemist.

I'm a doctor

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I'm with the mattress police

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Like I told my wife, I bought two games and put them in the basement. One was a boy game and the other was a girl game.
Before I knew it, the whole basement was full if games!

Better start putting the machines on $1 play to stay current with pin prices these days.

I’m a non-Fletch related doctor. Basically just a doctor I guess.

I'm a regional PACS Administrator for 2 hospitals and 3 standalone imaging centers. It sounds like it makes more money than it actually does.

I work at a museum in a community with a low cost of living and I'm fortunate enough to prefer early 1980s machines to new Sterns.

I love how this became a Fletch thread.

Many people "have the money." It's a matter of choosing what to spend it on. It's a lot like TIME.

I'm blessed to have enough of both to have fun with pinball and some occasional travel.

Not a software developer, but I sell software to the government. Any other sales guys here?

I fix peoples cars that make far more money than me...

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I did not have funds but...put in every coin after you paid off monthcost...learn to fix pinball..buy objects..fix them..sell them..buy 2 new objects..keep one and repair and sell one..do it again..and again..and again. After 10 years you have alot of pinballs.

Be retired, be independently wealthy (Thanks, Grandpa) and have purchased all or most of the machines you ever needed (or wanted) before the year 2000. That's what I did.

Music Producer for major record labels, easy enough.

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Fred Garvin, male prostitute. You know he’s LEs all the way!!

I'm a sunscreen application specialist at a nudist colony.

I sell couch insurance and test market positive thinking.

Lots of software guys, manufacturing guys...

I run a McDonalds! - got a wife & a kid,
Boy likes pinball, wife doesn’t really care... well she doesn’t like how much they cost.

I was thinking this the other day... 5 NIB in 3 years.. and WONKA on order..

Good job people have to eat!

I have a drug cartel in Manheim Pennsylvania. I provide pinball machines to a state trooper there to keep the heat off of me. It is a nice arrangement.

I'm a flight paramedic and career long public servant.

Stay strong my brother, the struggle is real in public service.

Director of Facilities for a large institution, and senior officer in the National Guard. Guard income funds pins/toys acquisition now, and when I retire from the military I will actually have some time to enjoy them!

I'm a doctor and fortunately I can pick up a lot of extra shifts to help pay for pinball machines since I spend all of my other money on paying off my medical school debt and on my Ghostbusters Ecto-1 replica and movie props collection (yes, I have multiple, ill-advised and expensive hobbies...damn you pinball for coming into my life after I was already so deep into that other stuff).

I’m a fool... and I had some money.

So it was inevitable that we would part ways!!

4 young kids and an amazingly understanding wife.
Anyone else out there an Endodontist?

I’m an engineering manager, my wife is a specialist librarian. Both pinball crazy. Secret to my Success? Buying out operators with my buddies in the late 80s and early 90s, and buying up as many as we could store. Wheel, deal, buy seconds to improve a game you already own. More selective now in these days of high prices- she slelects the game and I buy it. Love our TNA.
Don C.

Truck driver Dispatcher for the Oil Sands ...

I repair pins, jukes ,arcades. Got into business about 1981 then Pac man sucked in all those quarters. Hauling 5 gallon buckets of quarters out of the arcades.

This x 1000!

I put my entire pinball collection in the Underhill’s American Express card.

...left home at age 18, joined and excelled in the military (specialized electronics -#32870 for USAF Vet's), self-paid upper-division education, retired Director of Facilities/Operations last year. Thirty-three years of State service. Nothing but pinball, classic cars, motorcycles, and large-scale model airplanes.
Work hard (w/ long hours), obtain all necessary credentials for your occupation. Always maintain that 'niche' and marketability. Learn to stop paying for services which you can perform yourself (home improvements/maintenance/repairs, auto servicing, cleaning, appliance repair, etc.). Live below means and never adopt the behavior of 'keeping up with the Joneses'. Drive inexpensive and economical cars, avoid costly exotic vacations (like freakin' DisneyWorld every other year). Last, but not least - invest, invest, invest - especially in Technology. No day trading bullshit - buy & hold. Understand the concept of compound interest. It's the 8th wonder of the world!

I build power lines and work 80+ hours a week for years. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the last 15 years and working double what a normal work week is has allowed me to have some pins and take care of society and my family. I also do all my own repairs which saves a lot and my interest have changed to older games that are more affordable. If I could ever get out of paying taxes I could afford at least 10 new games a year even JJP pins. Don't go on vacations and don't eat out and you will have more money than you would think. Don't police officers still get free food these days.

NICE!!!

That’s Mr. Poon to you sir.

I drive an ice cream truck.

I'm thinking of making a porn movie and selling it. I've got a guy in another thread that says he's open minded. I asked if he likes donkeys ?

If this works out I'm on my way to fame and fortune. Swimmin pools movie stars.

LTG : )

I am a networking technician for a rather large company that produces computers, tablets, and smartphones. Sorry to crash the software engineer party here. (Pun intended).

I make enough to live comfortably, but not lavishly, and even if I did, I wouldn't. I'd hate that kind of attention. But my gameroom makes it look like I live in excess. Sometimes it bothers me, because I don't like people thinking I spend the amount of money they think I do. I "afford" this by having no debt aside from my mortgage. I don't buy expensive cars, clothes, or upgrade my phone every year. That means I *ALSO* don't buy my games at full "retail" price, which is something a lot of people don't realize when they ask questions like "how do you afford all these?!" All my arcade and pinball games were purchased way below market value and fixed up to my desire, or traded for. The only exception was my Cirqus Voltaire, which I made a rare splurge as a gift to myself for achieving a promotion I was working towards for years.

Maybe a few GB owners are Ectodontists? Some play it with clenched teeth...

I own an A/V company and don't play golf....

Retired Air Force, now an airline pilot. Two adult self sufficient daughters, now an empty nester. Both daughters got through school debt-free on scholarships.

Self employed.

I sold overpriced ditch weed to stupid rich college kids. So thank you to the parents who gave them money!