Quoted from NJGecko:

As much as I hate to say it, yea...Pinball Arcade has done a ton. I had some contractors doing work on my HVAC last year. One of them was in my gameroom, saw my CV and commented how he loves to play it on his iPad...where else can you take a game that sells for $7k (don't quote me!) and play it any time you want for $5?
I wouldn't necessarily call it a resurgence though. A shift in price, or a lack of further decline maybe.

Quoted from Sly_Old_Devil:

There are more diverse environments where PINS are sheltering these days as well but only in relatively small numbers, burgercades, pizzacades etc and they make appearances at various conferences (aside from comic/pin confs) where stalls and manufacturers want to "attract" people over to view their wares. I was even talking to some Vodafone marketing people about commissioning a PIN with a SIM card in it to a) attract people over to our product stands and b) demonstrate machine-2-machine communication possibilities. Near Field Communications to pay for a game, self ordering of battery's and pinballs every year, self-healing.......
Everything will be connected at some point, what is known as the internet of everything vision of the not too distant future, then PINS will be able to find their friends and meet up to exchange high scores etc. At this point real machines will be talking and competing with the digital and virtual machines on leader boards in real-time.
All depends on someone actually being able to bloody work out IPv6 of course so I'm out.

Quoted from Sly_Old_Devil:

OPs and home users with collections would/could have a hub set up so that only one connection (even via the xDSL account wirelessly) would be doing any transactional activity, or not, it is their choice to participate in real time world leader boards etc I guess. Choose a provider with the deal that works for you/them.

Erm lets not go OT with a provider bashing if poss just talking ideas and possibilities especially as I have no idea how the landscape works in the states. I take your point about not wanting any extra costs though if your an Op.

Quoted from Sly_Old_Devil:

Yep agreed new standards would have to be introduced and settings would have to be categorised and audit-able such as tournament, hard, medium, easy, with sensors to know if the glass was removed or magnets used etc. complicated but doable and potentially costly. Just not realistic short to medium term yet so would only be high scores JFF like showing screen shots or posting them on a pin forum. Being able to do updates or order more beer automagically is appealing though, the actual comms is easy to achieve and is ubiquitous today.
Cheers.

Quoted from dgarrett:

I think all of the above are right - money in demographic friendly, age group with nostalgia attraction, virtual pinball esp. Farsights "accurate" repros virtually on ipad have been great (The Sharpes are marketing pinball, helping farsight play-test games, Josh and Zach are making tourneys easy to run, the PGA style points system, the PAPA style chess rating system, the PAPA circuit) all of those tourneys are generating local leagures, local leagues are feeding good coin drop at locations (owners and operators are getting a boost) - then collectors are starting to have money, new collectors = new demand.
You may see a bubble for a while on 90's williams - other 70-80s gottliebs and williams / ballys that are the nostagia rich era for 50-60ish with disposable income, are buying for themselves AND teens and grandkids. I don't know how many WOZ JJP sold just for the kids/womens interest in the theme and LCD coolness - but I've seen a ton of interest at Expo and PAPA from kids, teens and ladies that I've not seen ever for pinball as a tourney player and part-timei operator.
So its cool to play pinball again. Add a few locations that are combining beer and pinball arcades (some offer free play, with pricey beers), These beer cades are doing well - and that just adds fuel to the tourneys and home buyers.
Nice to see.
Dan