Anybody's wives moved to a new house because of your Pinball Hobby? LOL!?

No need to move...1,800 square feet of gameroom. Yeah it's completely full.

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Wish I had the room for your set up for sure.

I'll be looking into that as well. Where's PM Wolf when you need him

In my case, they dug out the area just like doing a new build. Set forms, drilled the existing foundation and pinned the new basement to the old one. After it was poured I had a doorway cut between the old basement and the new one. ( I do have two sets of stairs going to the basement, the original and a new set in the new addition for easier pinball moving). The new foundation and part of the exposed old foundation was wrapped in a plastic material with dimples to wick moisture away form the walls and allow air to flow through. Drainage put in. Sump pump put in, floor poured, walls backfilled. Then basically the first floor built just like a new build. Basement is dry as bone.

I wouldn’t say I moved because of my pinball hobby...but when we did move 3 years ago, space for my games was a factor on the house we chose.

Kind of backwords as i built a 5 bedroom with full basement in 2000 . Then was trying to figure out what to do with the basement so 7 years ago i bought a JM for 1400 just for fun . Well now we got 12 pins , pool table ,video game and movie center and no more room

I've helped a number of pinball guys buy homes here in the Bay Area and it's always tricky to find ones with a good gameroom spaces. Generally no basements around here and very high dollar per sq ft. The garage, family room (if your wife is tolerant), or spare bedroom is where the pins usually end up. Last year I found someone a house with a 500 sq ft gameroom over the garage. And I was very lucky to find myself a place with a spacious gameroom as well. It's almost like finding a Unicorn. We are all extremely jealous of you guys with full-length basements.

Yes, to that question as well.
Not all relationships are conducive to the hobby.

I added a daylight basement to my house similar to what pm wolf did. Well more accurately its a cut and cover tunnel connecting my house and a gamesroom cut into a hillside. About 1750sq ft in total. I'm thinking about extending the gamesroom part of it another 1400sq ft.

I'm in sales and will often drive 1,000 miles a week. Bought a hybrid? Nope. Bought a Mazda CX-5...for pins.

Moving would cost money and raise the property taxes substantially. Which would mean less for pinball or other various sundries. And then I'd have to get a real job.

So I am fine staying put for now.

Best way to save space is to not get married and don't let a woman move any of her junk into your abode.

Rather than go to the trouble of moving house and packing up/transporting everything which would take me and my partner months even with hired professional movers I usually opt to buy another vacant block in the vicinity, erect a sealed/lined warehouse sized shed with security system and store any overflow there in the interim rotating them in and out on an as needs basis.

Most of the fresh container imports, ongoing restoration projects and machines for immediate sale are at that location so it works well as you don't have the inconvenience of randoms showing up at your main residence. Whilst at the same time you keep the finished restored products in the main residence gamesroom for regular play.

I use this same method/rationale for a bulk of my car collection as well. The lesser valued vehicles get stored offsite in one of the secure sheds, the Ferrari and other high value models stay close to home base for obvious reasons. More practical for insurance purposes as well.

Actually downsized. Kept all the pins, just got rid of the other stuff. Like the pool table. HOWEVER, definitely made sure the new gameroom has walkout access!

I've done it twice

Difficult to do with real estate prices being what they are here in California.

So, I'm attempting a very modest renovation - and detailing in this thread:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-1987-ford-escort-of-game-room-renovations#post-4256598

I have a huge walk in basement, however I bought a building a block away because it had a huge storefront with room for as many pins as I could ever buy. I ended up moving my collection there, then moving it back.(my brother and friends wanted to kill me) even though it was only a block away, I'd rather them be right downstairs.....now the 2 rental units above help resupply the pin fund.

Had this built more for a work space and storage. 1200 sq ' and 200' of it heated and air conditioned.

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question for those that have built a big out building that is temperature controlled...

What is the most efficient way to heat and cool the huge space?
Thinking geothermal with in floor radiant is worth the investment?

Eventual plan (dream) is a 80 x 40 building.

I wouldn't think the additional expense makes sense for an out building. Its expensive. But I have radiant heat in my home and I am so spoiled by it that I can't imagine ever living without it. It is simply the best.

Beautiful outbuilding and lawn. Well done

I was under the impression that a vertical or horizontal loop system allows you to just use the circulation pump to keep things as a pretty stable temp (55-60) year round? I would assume some smaller wall units for more rapid heating or more likley to assist with cooling when hosting a big party?

Some of you guys have amazing game rooms and detached out buildings. Here in California those are rare and far between.

Curious; being detached, do you find yourselves maybe not going to the out building as much, if it was attached?

I do like my attached 3 car garage; 2 bays for pinballs (22) and 1 bay for wifey's car. I maybe less inclined to go out to an out building, if it was detached as much. Then again, my lot is only 9,000 sf. That's another thread all by itself

If I found an out building, I probably wouldn't leave

You mean you got to keep the pins?

I've got a 3000 sq ft outbuilding on my place. It is 300 yards from my house. Although it is used for pinball storage I rarely go out there. Even before I built the games room I didn't go out there often. If you go the outbuilding route, make sure it is as close to your house as possible.

Very nice and even has the ice dams on roof!

I tried the out building but quickly became paranoid after what happened to Rob Anthony.
The way it was set up on my property, (its large) someone could pull in back with a truck and take their sweet time breaking down and loading up games as I slept. Even in the middle of the day it would be unlikely I'd hear anything.
Or if I were to go out of town as what happened to Rob.

This would be an unlikely event I know but I sleep much better knowing my baby's are in house.

When we were finishing our basement there is a "pinball closet" designed into it. It was the perfect size for holding our one pinball machine. Well, one became two, two became three, three became four, etc. If I had it to do over, I would likely have designed things more purposely around my this hobby. Having said that, perhaps it's a good thing to be limited. If I had more space I'd just fill it and I'm not sure I really NEED anything more.

Agreed. No dust being blown around the entire home like with forced air. Really helps if you have allergies and pets. It runs silently and is very energy efficient.
And a personal observation, no dry, scratchy throat during winter months from the dry, hot air blowing around.

Hilton, here's decent article to read: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/radiant-floorvs-forced-air-heating/

When my wife and I were house shopping 5 years ago, the basement was a huge factor. We immediately ignored any that even remotely smelled of mold, or had strange footprints or would require entire demo and rewiring. We tried to find a walkout for the 18 game collection but they were few and far between.
We ended up with a 1900 sq ft ranch with matching basement footprint, unfinished and dry as a bone. We were able to design the electrical to split the load on the games so no worrying about blowing breakers.
We had looked at homes w outbuildings, but I couldn't justify heating and cooling another building, and I sleep much better knowing my valuable collection is right downstairs. Last but not least, Michigan gets cold - if I have a few minutes and want to play a couple quick games, I don't want to have to get all bundled up and trudge through snow or rain to a pole barn I'm keeping at 50 degrees - I wouldn't end up playing half the time.

Actually, I have sold half of my collection to help buy a winter home in Scottsdale. You can't take them with you.