10-20%

3.14159265359%

That's a cherry one.

Is it percentage of enthusiasts or hobbyists? I think percentage of enthusiasts would be much lower

Not as many as everybody thinks. I think 10 - 20% would be close. Most of my friends highly recommend that I do not go on any forums. Too many people from all different races, countries, financial status, genuine and non genuine all mixed in one place is a recipe for disaster.

I cannot hear any complaining when I can give them info to fix their pinny straight from Pinside!

The answer is 42

5%, time for more beer!

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If you're including everyone that has ever used Pinside to sell/buy a machine or found a helpful Pinside post through a google search then it's probably like 90%.

Honestly, it sounds like a recipe an amazing place! Being able to communicate with people with whom you'd never be able to meet otherwise, and learn from them, and interact with is what makes the internet and forums so much fun to be apart of.

1% at most.

No pin owners who I service games for read it.

No real operators read it (real = full time and only job)

No casual players I meet at the arcade read it.

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I think only once in my life have a met a pinballer at a bar who happened to have an account here.

-

I fixed a guy's Bally KISS and asked him if he saw the new Stern one:

Homeowner: Really??? There is a new KISS pin?!

Vid: Yeah, it actually plays 10 songs in stereo! Do you ever go on Pinside?

H: Pinside? I think I went there once. Is that the place where people put dolls and toys on top of their games?

V: Yep, you've been there.....

LE buyers? Over 50% of the buyers are on pinside.
Pro buyers? Probably 10% or less.

Here's a different question...

How many internet assholes that play pinball read pinside?

If I was to guess I would say less than 1% who give a guess in this thread have any experience to even give a wild guess.

Plonk.

Maybe they just don't tell you?

Well I believe anything vids writes so ya less than 1 percent

How many pinballers are there in Yemen?

How are any of these people hobbyists?

4 that I know personally, but I'm sure there are more, lol

Pinsider #45551 just signed up, so that would mean there are 4,555,100 are pinball hobbyists in the world to have it at "1% at most" that are on Pinside.

However, I am inclined to believe vid1900 because, it's vid1900.

That should even out with all the duplicate accounts I use for trolling.

It's tough because what is a pinball hobbiest? Someone who owns 1 or more machines? Or someone who seems out Machines while at a bar or arcade.

Also are you including worldwide? It that's the case then it's probably a low number. How many people love pinball that don't speak English? That will eliminate alot of people who use the site

Sorry but your last digit is way wrong, the 9 should be an 8, I ran this by Trump and he verified.

LOL

Less than people think....

I seem to meet a lot of lurkers at shows that recognize my handle or pinside badge, and stop to say hello. I usually have nice chats with them, but I wish they would participate here more often so I could get to know them a bit more.

Way higher that what we think.

I am with you! That is why I am on here and love it!

I tried to think of everyone I know that is at least somewhat interested in pinball, either playing, repairing, collecting, buying/selling, etc.
I went with 40%, but that might be a bit high.
Perhaps the answer is between 20 to 35%.

3% maximum. I'd wager heavily on it being less than 1%.

Tomtest,
Got to disagree with you on this one.
If o-din had carried out his pi number further places and had incorrectly put a 9 instead of an 8 at that particular place, then I would agree with you. But due to rounding in this case o-din was correct to put a 9 instead of an 8, since the next digit in the number pi is a 9.

Carry on o-din. Your pi number % guesstimate seems to actually be a good estimate.

I would say there are lots of lurkers here, probably more lurkers then members.

The alternative is to become an isolated, hierarchical based, insular dump like AA where those who fall outside of the designated purple circle are treated with suspicion, hostility and berated to contribute financially to the site creating a perpetual barrier to entry and participation.

In my dealings in the pinball world I can't think of any normal person who isn't inherently servile who would willingly want to participate in a system structured like that.

Pinside isn't perfect (what system is?) but it is as close as you will practically get to an egalitarian based forum and the participation numbers versus our local alternative speak for themselves. That is, hundreds of actual individual forum participants instead of one dozen at most.

Little wonder then there are so many current AA members from the plebeian ranks who quietly look to pinside for not only information but outside perspective of what is actually happening in the hobby.

Most "serious" people in a hobby don't spend a lot of time of forums from my experience with several hobbies I am involved with. Talking about a hobby is just that and serious people tend to do less talking & more doing. There are always exceptions but my guess would be less than 5% of the people in the hobby visit any forum and less than 3% are likely to be active on a forum.

I sell used pinball parts on eBay and when I communicate with customers looking for something specific I don't have I tell them to post or watch Pinside and I would say less than 5% know about Pinside when I refer them to the site.

It is kind of a shame more in the hobby don't visit websites & forums because there is a lot of good information exchanged. But most people I know in the hobby just don't like dealing with the drama. I post & lurk here when I am taking a break from the real world but rarely stop by unless I am bored. These days it seems like Facebook (closed groups) are a much better place to hook up with the more serious people. I know a lot of people who were active on Pinside & RGP that have moved over to Facebook lately.

Just look at the owners lists for X-Men LE, LOTR LE, and Tron LE...it's obvious that pinside is buying at least 50% of the LE's on the market.

Then look at a title like AFM, 810 people on pinside have it. They only made 3450. 810/3450 = 23.4%.

That's with all the lurkers and people not putting games in their lists, which is also substantial.

I participate in two leagues that have 60 plus pinheads between the two. There are 10-12 of them that use this site.

Maybe its an age or tech savvy thing? Most of the younger guys in my league are all on Pinside. A few of the old timers that are pinball fanatics are on here, but the rest don't bother with it.

Out of all of the Pinball population in the world...

Hardcore Pinheads=20% have checked out/participate on Pinside
Rec Room Pinheads=04%
Video Game Lurkers turned onto pinball=02%

What I wonder is how many of the total members of Pinside ( not sure on number-14,000?) actually participate or make comments. It seems like there are a couple hundred pinsiders that actually participate? I see the same posters over and over, maybe just a bunch of lurkers or old inactive accounts? Seems like average logged in is 500-1000 including non-logged in. If you divide that number by the actual amount of people in the world involved with pinball it seems relatively miniscule. I love Pinside and I hope more people can see it's benefits and features are worth checking out.

And when you take into account the not-insignificant number of those machines that either no longer exist or are sitting in some former operators warehouse gathering dust...

Look on any thread, it's the same ~30 people posting.

When I was doing repairs and restorations, I always would chat with the owner as I worked on their machine. I would always bring up Pinside (or RGP in earlier days), and it was rare that any of them actually used the site. Many were aware of it, but most just never used it beyond buying and selling needs.

Couldn't have said it better myself! As with any hobby there are always a few people active on the forums and those people tend to think more people are paying attention then there actually are. People who are serious in the hobby are typically much too busy to waste time on forums. And it is even more rare to see people in the business on forums unless they are offering something for sale.

As far as number of people with "new machines" that are active on the forums or Pinside members - that is because most of those people are not busy restoring old machines. Most of those guys are people with deep pockets who have plenty of spare time & money. So I can understand how or why there are more of those type people here.

Realistically I would bet under 3% of people who own pinball machines even know about Pinside. And that number might climb to 5 to 10% if we are just talking about people who are active in the hobby

None of the 4 Sellers I purchased machines from knew of this place. If they had the price would have been much higher and the free machine I got wouldn't have been free.
I do tell people about Pinside but it seems none of them visit, or if they do they lie about it.
I had an offer to purchase 8 machines from a lady who's Husband had died. I recommended the Market here to get high visibility, she said she would contact a friend "In the Business" instead. Gone in 2 days.