My story: I grew up riding my mountain bike a block away to play 4 pins at the local strip mall arcade called Thor's. I remember getting dropped off at one of the biggest arcades in elk grove called "game r us". No joke, they started out as a single strip mall store, bought the one next door and knocked down a wall, then again, then again. Used to be a giant arcade/bowling alley called galaxy world in carol stream (only accessible by older brother and his friend's cars). In 2010 I was in a dark place, really hated my job. I thought to myself "when was the last time I was really happy? I remember pinball making me pretty happy, and de-stressed me". So off I went, finding the cheapest pin I could (not sure if I was going to be able to work on them). Found a $150 non-working EM. Got it mostly working, sold it off. Bought a solid state, and then another, and another. I have 5 pins (two that need work), and yet I still find myself looking at CL even though I don't have the funds, space, or time.

Addiction, you fricken bet!

I think it depends on how often you play, and what condition it was originally in. I play the hell out of space shuttle, and I only keep tweaking the aesthetics (never have mechanical issues now that i got the bugs out). I can see how having a large collection (anything above 10) where a lot of time could get eaten up just maintaining (mostly cleaning)