"What is the maximum number of pinball machines you have seen in one location?"
BLUF: Pinball is not growing in the manner people are directly thinking. Pinball has not recovered, yet. Pinball collectors are only a small part of the equation in regards to the industry and whether it can be maintained in the future. This is technical explanation of the question for pinball historians below.
Direct question answer: Around 2000+ games in a multi four story warehouse.
Non-inclusive to the same owner's collection in his home which was around 300 or so.
He owns more than people like Gene Gene Cunningham (~1650) or Tim Arnold (~1350) ever have or had.
I only mention these two people, as most will at least recognize their names which others they might not such as Raphaël Lankar.
There are only a handful of collectors in Europe and the Americas with more than 1000 machines.
There are none in most other areas of world, as these are luxuries for the most part were exported from the United States, with only a handful of exceptions in the 1970s and 1980s.
Most of the older collectors know each other by name, face, and relationship anyway, although private.
Private ownership cannot subsidize the comparison to past operators by any possible means starting from the 1960s and which collapsed in the late 1970s. The industry never recovered.
Although private ownership is larger than it was in the 1990s, private collections of more than 100 machines are a severe minority.
Collectors did not expound significantly in the 2000s, games were simply gobbled up by existing collectors.
Those that own more than 1,000 machines are less than two hundred people in the entire world.
Expanding the canvas net, we are talking about less than 5,000 people in the world that own large volume collections (more than 100) in general.
This is out of less than 500K machines made in the entirety of pinball history!
People have a tendency to try to overestimate pinball machine importance based on fad growth in the past 10 years, but the circle of ownership remains very small, but did double in the past 5 years.
There are also a limited number of each title made, which reduces every year, until a game reaches survivor status of only 10-15% production run after approximately 30 years. There are exceptions based on popular titles. This means there is a limit to the potential owners directly as well.
The easiest example I can give of this aspect is a game like White Water.
A little over 7K were made in 1993.
The game is now over 24 years old.
Less than 40-45% remain on average, which would put the total around 3150 or so in number.
This is a smaller number than the number of original MMs made in 1997, of which many more of that title were saved outright due to popularity by either collectors or operators, as they still were making money today.
However, many people want one for a cookie cutter WPC collection.
This is simply not going to happen, unless the game is remade.
That is an example of simplicity of supply and demand, but it applies to nearly all pinball games, but not to the entirety of the market or ownership in general.
People relate what they know to other pinball owners, not the actual reality.
That is not a "fact" within understanding the market when it comes to the people who own no games at all.
If a person walks down their street and knocks on a door, as says, "Do you own a pinball machine?", the most common answer is, "A what?", not "No."
When the economy is sour, this hobby shrinks to previous levels as it has done before, again the same games being purchased by the remaining hardcore collectors.
It is not uncommon for some to have 2,3, or even 4 games of the same title in storage.
This is a pretty important concept for those that are not aware.
Four times this market has plummeted to be exact in the past 40 years.
Presently, the market currently is stalling slowly for a number of reasons, some that are being self inflicted by current manufacturers.
There is serious distrust growing in the industry.
Some people are starting to "sell out" again, but it do not currently outweigh the influx of new potential buyers.
Remember this quote for the future from business professionals, "A pure hobby industry is not a healthy industry."
It is not something non-pinball enthusiasts are willing to commit to for investment out of lack of return.
99.9999% of the world's population does not care about pinball in comparison to most any other type of collectible.
A person should never equate market or pricing of games directly to the industry, as they are not the same thing, simply interconnected.
Non-theorists try to oversimplify the market and the validity of ownership.
Sometimes it is completely artificial, as a marketing tactic by manufacturers, such as terms of "scarcity" as applied by Stern in their "buy it now" mechanism of stating they never will make more of a title, and then simply continue to produce games such as Metallica, AC/DC, and other titles made in the past 18 years. That is not supply and demand either.
Pinball machines are bulky, heavy, and require maintenance that many either choose not to want to learn, or have time for overall.
That is not a "+" for most people to own one in their homes, let alone many.
The nature of the current pinball industry sales catering to homes exclusively as "high end collectibles" with excessive MSRPs noted by every single major pinball historian today (a recent interview with Roger Sharpe is a great example) prohibits expansion in the long run, simply due to average private owners being priced out of the hobby and lack of volume pinball sales to the general market.
You cannot hold an industry or promote growth in the long term with making 500 production runs (or less) of a single title.
This is an example of what is called "short term profit methodology" and every current manufacturer knows they have to be prepared for an end at anytime. This is why the games are being designed with "throw away technology" and are not easily repaired. The same games today will not be around in smaller numbers than games made 20-50+ years ago, that were designed to be repaired by operators and technicians. People that believe they are otherwise are fooling themselves into a false sense of security. Ask any experienced operator their opinions.
In ending, I will give this visual example again to help new pinball historians below.
How many manufacturers in this photo remain viable or are still producing pinball machines?
This is not even a complete "who's who" either.
If a person does not recognize certain manufacturers, they might be surprised to learn how many games they made in comparison to every single current manufacturer today.
Many outright dwarfed them in every possible manner, both in production capabilities, titles, and production runs, yet they no longer exist?
Some completely failed.
Others I cannot list, because they were never a real company.
I will let people discover this knowledge on their own, it might be educational and fun.
How does this compare to new ownership?
Simply, more manufacturers means more growth overall, less manufacturers means the tide has already turned.
2017 was a period of predicted downshift change in the industry, and it happened, even if some remain in denial.
Keep Flipping.
Pinball Manufacturers.jpg
Rochester, NY
Toronto, ON
