(Topic ID: 336739)

What’s the sweet spot for number of pins in a collection?

By Caponicus

10 months ago


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  • 79 posts
  • 66 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 months ago by PrinzFred
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    Topic poll

    “What’s the sweet spot for number of pins in a collection?”

    • 2 3 votes
      1%
    • 3 9 votes
      4%
    • 4 16 votes
      7%
    • 5 25 votes
      10%
    • 6 24 votes
      10%
    • 7-10 71 votes
      30%
    • >10 92 votes
      38%

    (240 votes)

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    There are 79 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 2.
    #1 10 months ago

    How many pins before the marginal return doesn’t pay off? Put another way, what is the max number of pins to own while keeping engaged with each one? There are always limitations like financial constraints, space, or effort. But at an emotional level where is the sweet spot?

    #2 10 months ago
    Quoted from Caponicus:

    How many pins before the marginal return doesn’t pay off? Put another way, what is the max number of pins to own while keeping engaged with each one? There are always limitations like financial constraints, space, or effort. But at an emotional level where is the sweet spot?

    Bold to assume my engagement would drop off. Every pin consumes me.

    #3 10 months ago

    24.

    It's like a sheik w a harem - too few and you get tired of them, same thing over and over. Then when you go back to them, it's a love fest again.

    #4 10 months ago

    I’m only at 7 but I have yet to say I wish I had less games….
    When I had probably 4 or less I would play every game every time I went to my basement but now I don’t usually have time to play 7 games and often will play 2-3 games of the same game. Last night I played guardians 3 times, Jurassic twice, judge dredd twice and hook twice. Next time I play I’ll probably play comet LW3 and striker. This has kept the games more fresh for me although I will play them all at least once a week.

    #5 10 months ago

    Depends how much room you have for this hobby! Don't for a minute think that after buying no.1,you won't be looking for another!

    #6 10 months ago

    I had 13 at one time. They were packed in there (we have a small house and just use basement for pins). I found that too many to play and keep running. Probably a lot of variables but am saying 5-10. Much happier having 5 now. And room to work.

    #7 10 months ago

    I'm at 15 (13 in the house) and it's definitely not enough, but I only have room for two more if I lose the basement couch and really cram them in. I could easily go 25-30 if I had a bigger house.

    #8 10 months ago

    I think as many as you can with your space. I don't play some of my pins very often but when I do, they become my favorite pin all over again. I'm going to have to make some tough choices in the next couple years. Space is the true limiting factor for many NIB buyers.

    12
    #9 10 months ago

    The ideal number of pins in a collection is one more than you currently have

    #10 10 months ago

    Maybe selling moderation to enthusiasts is a tad biased! I though the most common answer would be in the 5-6 range

    #11 10 months ago

    I have 21, I think I can make 30 without a divorce, I think 30 would be about right.

    #12 10 months ago

    It’s starts at 4

    Then you say 8 max

    Well, maybe 12 is the right number?

    After that, all control is lost and sitting at 25 now.

    The sweet spot, when I had the most fun, was 4-5. Played em a lot more. Now it’s just overload, in a good way but not!

    #13 10 months ago

    I got 10 and that's all the room that I have room for.

    #14 10 months ago

    Nice to know I am on here with a bunch of well reasoned sound individuals

    #15 10 months ago
    Quoted from ray-dude:

    The ideal number of pins in a collection is one more than you currently have

    Getting two new ones at once is pretty nice.

    #16 10 months ago

    I like 3 to 5.

    Good overall variety.

    Not TOO many to keep running/work on.

    Plenty of space to get between each one when I have to work on one.

    Not TOO much space taken.

    Not TOO much money invested.

    In a finished basement with a coin-up pool table and coin-up skeeball machine = looks the part, great variety for guests, not too much of any one thing.

    The most I ever had was 9, and I was like "ok, it looks cool, but man, so much space taken up" and when I sold 5-6 of them, wow, the return on my purchases was insane vs 5-10 years ago.

    Everyone is going to believe differently. Those are my reasons.

    #17 10 months ago

    22. What my business has room for.

    LTG : )

    #18 10 months ago

    I am tapped out at 23 arcade/pinball. This gives me a kiddie ride, puck bowler, dart machine, a wall game and other various pinball and arcade machines. It is chaotic and crowded. But how does one downsize?

    #19 10 months ago

    2nd post -

    Sure having a lot of games looks cool, and it's nice to go back to one you havent played in a while and get to know it again, but i honestly will be happy to go back down to 8 or so again someday. Less than 10 games, you can keep them clean and running perfectly and still have variety.

    At 24, I find that if one breaks I have a tendency to just go play a different one. Before you know it you have 4 games with problems.

    #20 10 months ago

    Been up to 24, currently down to 7. I've revisited a few favourite titles now more than once but have owned pretty much all the games I have liked or wanted now with the exception of 1 or 2....
    None of the new stuff out or coming out interest's me really, mainly in part to the hype and quality and then having to wait up to 2 years in some cases to land one anyway. Not something I'm interested in doing.

    #21 10 months ago

    Depending on your time allowed to play , I would say 4 .
    2 Bally/Williams and 2 modern Sterns

    #22 10 months ago
    Quoted from pinzrfun:

    At 24, I find that if one breaks

    You are running an arcade without the arcade income.

    LTG : )

    #23 10 months ago

    New pin owner here:

    Barring external constraints like space/time/money/wife I see 2-5.

    A nice variety to play (flow, em, shot making, etc.), If something is broken there's something else to play, and not too too much space taken up.

    Growing up, my dream was always one pin, and arcade cab, and a skeeball. No room for a skeeball for the foreseeable future. And the fiancee will only allow one pin for now....

    Also, (and this is sacrilege I know), I love pinball, but don't want it to bey whole persona people see you know?

    #24 10 months ago

    When I bought my first one from Wick he let me know it was addicting. Of course, I said, no way, I only want one. Then I got a second one. Now I am up to 3 and want a new Godzilla Premium. Is there a counselling support group for this problem? Is this covered by insurance?

    #25 10 months ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    You are running an arcade without the arcade income.
    LTG : )

    You make it sound like a lot of work, Lloyd!

    I'm just staying in my lane and leaving it to the pros!

    #26 10 months ago

    It’s not so much the number, but the love to pin ratio. Of the nine working machines I have, I’d only replace two if the opportunity came up. Seems like a good ratio so far.

    #27 10 months ago

    As many as you can afford without unfairly taking time away from your family with a hard limit of 6 working and a project.
    I personally like breadth and depth in a collection. I love modern Sterns. I love 90s DMDs, I love system 11s, I love early solid states... 6 is the most I can reliably keep going. I love trying out new machines and have found that temporary trades are the way to go to expand your collection and scratch that itch. If you have a Spike 2 Stern LCD game, there are 10-20 other games you can temporarily trade for if others with similar machines are around. We all like new stuff. One of my machines is a P3 with interchangeable modules, but I couldn't see keeping more than 3 or 4 because I just wouldn't have time for them. I can rotate the P3 module every week and have a different game every week of the month. Every other month if I get some mini games. I try and keep a couple of Sterns, one as a temp trade loaner (currently Bond) and one as a explore more deeply (currently Elvira). I have a favorite bolted to the floor game (STTNG... never see them in the wild and they are difficult to move), a Whirlwind, and an early Solid State (Xenon). I can temp trade those or sell/buy another game pretty easily. I'm debating the Whirlwind 2.0 kit down the road to be able to play 2 games on one machine. I'm hugely in favor of games that play multiple rulesets (see other threads). I'm scratching the tinkering itch with a Vulcan EM this summer. If all goes well I can pick one up at the Allentown show, fix one up for next to nothing, then sell it at the York show for what I have in it and have a different EM game to play every summer without sacrificing precious basement space. In other words, with 6 or so you can rotate them and keep things fresh.

    Of course I'd be perfectly happy with just a World Cup Soccer (how I started off), or random system 11. I'm lucky and there is lots of location play around me. I try to avoid games I can play locally. I have expanded my arcade into a handful of Arcade 1ups (super easy to move) and some upgraded ones (I have a 60 in 1 and a Robotron home made). I just picked up one I'm going to convert into a knock off play choice 10 or just a Pandora's box. Arcade1ups are super easy to trade. I picked up a T2, traded it for an NBA Jam, and just traded that for a Killer Instict. I have a used coinop pool table that has been infinite fun as well.

    I guess it really boils down to I've been having a blast with this hobby. I could replace my pool table/arcade 1ups with pins, but I'm trying to keep things "reasonable". Once you limit yourself on pins to a hard number instead of slowly adding as resources become available you cans start slowly upgrading. Thats essentially what happened once I ran out of space without being unfair to the family. Great discussion.

    #28 10 months ago
    Quoted from BMGfan:

    New pin owner here: Also, (and this is sacrilege I know), I love pinball, but don't want it to bey whole persona people see you know?

    This could be a whole 'nother thread - I think about this too. People see me as "the pinball guy" now -

    It's funny, the first 35 years of my life I was a lead guitar player in rock bands and THAT'S who I "was" to everyone - I bump into people I havent seen in a long time and first thing they ask is "You still playin'? (along w an air guitar gesture). I tell them no, they ask why not, then I show them the game room and tell them that this takes up most of my time now.....

    #29 10 months ago

    I have between 80 and 90 and most games never get turned on for sometimes over a year. I got elvira house of horrors 2 months ago and have yet to play one ball on it.

    #30 10 months ago

    As many as you can fit without pissing your SO or spouse off.

    #31 10 months ago

    I’d say six gives you the opportunity to have a nice variety of pins both new and old with different manufacturers. 2 Stern, 1 JJP, 1 Other Manufacturer, 1 System 11, 1 Classic Stern.

    #32 10 months ago

    I have a strict limit of 5 in a collection.

    Also, I like to keep 5 or 6 different collections. Maybe 7.

    #33 10 months ago

    It not a number total it's percentage of eras.

    #34 10 months ago

    1 more than you have room for

    10
    #35 10 months ago

    if you don't have 150+ pins and built a 4000 sq ft spare building in your backyard you are just a poser. Put some effort into it.

    #36 10 months ago
    Quoted from Tophervette:

    When I bought my first one from Wick he let me know it was addicting. Of course, I said, no way, I only want one. Then I got a second one. Now I am up to 3 and want a new Godzilla Premium. Is there a counselling support group for this problem? Is this covered by insurance?

    dude i want a godzilla prem too now!!

    #37 10 months ago
    Quoted from Electronmagic:

    I have a strict limit of 5 in a collection.
    Also, I like to keep 5 or 6 different collections. Maybe 7.

    That's some funny shit right there.

    #38 10 months ago

    I've got about 40 games and its hard for me to keep up with them, while having a full time job and 2 or 3 houses to watch over. But I keep buying anyway!

    #39 10 months ago

    It was 15 a couple days ago, now it’s 16! Promised myself today, no more this year.

    #40 10 months ago

    65. Definitely 65.

    #41 10 months ago

    I can fit 9 without spreading into another room. I was up to 8 at one point, but felt like too many. For me, 5 or 6 which is what I can fit comfortably on one wall and will play each enough to justify having them.

    #42 10 months ago
    Quoted from schudel5:

    65. Definitely 65.

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    #43 10 months ago

    Ummmm all of them

    #44 10 months ago

    I always trying to find the sweet spot.

    #45 10 months ago

    I think 10 or so to be able to keep them in top shape. 7-8 if you want to play them all most nights. 15 or so is a good number if you have a bunch of pinball people over and don't want them standing around. I find you only need 1 if your doing a project or restore cause you don't play much

    So it depends.

    #46 10 months ago

    Personally, I’m going to say 3-7.

    The small end gives you one modern pin, one 90s pin and one EM, which I would cycle through, replacing them with similar era pins every 4-6 months. The larger number gives you a larger variety of eras and manufacturers, as well as maybe a machine or two you have a strong emotional attachment to and just can’t live without.

    I will say that I’m currently limited to only two pinball machines in my space right now and I’m also not super prone to the “gotta collect them all” instinct. Though, on the flip side, I do get emotionally attached to things and don’t give them up easily, I’m just not prone to keep adding, at least in other hobbies.

    #47 10 months ago

    45 pins!

    #48 10 months ago

    I have have 4000 sq ft of finished basement space, I have around 30 and for me that's great. Plenty of variety. I could do with less but I have a hard time selling any.

    #49 10 months ago

    To me it seems to be x+1....

    I just get rid of furniture to fit more in. Soon I'll be sleeping on them.

    #50 10 months ago

    I've been thinking about this lately, after less than 2 years in the hobby I recently went up to 7 machines. I keep finding/ creating space to put them in, but at 7 and the only person in the house who plays them I'm finally thinking maybe I've gone too far lol.

    6 means if I played them all the same they each get 2 months play a year. Obviously it doesn't work out exactly like that but to look at them and think they sit for the equivalent of 10 months a year not being played is really making me wonder if I should slim down.

    To be honest I think I could be happy with 2, whatever my favourite game is and a rotator spot that I frequently swap. Sometimes the rotator would take over the favourite spot. I don't think I'll be going down to 2 anytime soon but I think I might sell 2-3 and be very happy with 4-5 machines at a time.

    There are 79 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 2.

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