Some of us like to set the game for coins even if it is at home. Kinda enhances the feeling

I want the front of my machines smooth like a Ken doll.

plenty of LE's on route out here. The operator is still in mind when making games. If they are not out in the wild, the company doesn't get exposure anymore. They do not want to reduce that press.

Owning a coin-op machine is part of the charm and is a collectable hobby in itself.

Plus coin doors are nice for stashing things.

Because they look cool and provide a way to access the cabinet. Stern at one point didn't include coin mechs (assuming this was corrected) and people lost their shit. What the heck else would you do anyway? Aracade1Up is getting flak for not including a fake coin coor on the T2 cabinet. People love their coin doors, just don't ask for it to be powder coated.

Also edited to add: My first pin was a Doctor Who and it had no coin mechs. I assume the route operator that sold it didn't want competition. First thing I did was get some. Never used though, but it felt naked without.

Don't give the manufacturers any ideas !! they will just remove it make us pay extra when we do want it and you won't get any more toys / feathers.

When pinball manufacturers remove stuff they never pass on the savings to the customer, the savings go to their profit.

I can't even get used to Stern moving the power switch. It wouldn't look like a pinball machine with a blank door.

It would only save about $50, but would require them to have two different options per game...not worth it.

They did it once and it was awful. They look like cheap toys without it. Also you’re incorrect thinking the hobby is collector driven. Operators still make up a huge chunk, and hobby operators mix both and are a massive reason why pinball still exists.

You really should do more research. I’d expect this opinion from someone who just bought their first pinball machine yesterday and says dumb crap like “Stern should make us pay for new code so it’s better!!”

Oh the history of the notorious coin door.

Why does one need a coin door?

Well when I first got into the hobby I learned first hand why you need a coin door. I purchased an Iron Man Classic without the coindoor and striped down features to save a few bucks.
What I found is that pinball machines without coin door slots are not worth nearly as much(worthless) and are difficult to sell. Pinball machines hold their value primarily because of the potential revenue it can earn on location,etc.
Lots of arcades/barcades still use quarter machines. Hell the number one venue in the United States(PHOF) uses quarters.
Could we eventually move towards digital currency,etc.-time will tell. I do not see the coin door model going away any time soon. I actually appreciate dropping coin into the slot and for some reason it feels satisfying. Would I ever buy another machine without a coin slot? I do not think so-I was tempted by Jack's Jurassic but the value was not there for me considering the cost.

Until they come up with another primary payment method you will continue to hear 'Coin Operated'.

Probably, if you try to sell a game without coin slots, people think about stripped down "home" games and refuse the offer even though the game is a full version. But in current prices, an extra $100 for the coin mechs and proper coin door does not contribute much to total price.

Has nothing to do with the cost of the coin mechs(unless you are Planetary)
Could be $50-$200 does not matter

It has to do with revenue potential-machines that do not make money are WORTHLESS

You can’t get rid of coin doors because then home collectors wouldn’t have a place to put their awesome coin slot mods.

Ops just use bill collectors now. Coin mechs aren’t needed.

I disagree-all of our major barcades here use coin

PHOF #1 uses coin

Bill acceptors are becoming more prevalent but have not taken over by any means

The question is: When will digital currency media take over as primary payment method universally? Stern can incorporate a digital payment method with their new insider connect platform. Again-time will tell

Only problem right now with coin drop is the rapid inflation

.25 cents is not what it once was

Almost like a penny .01-Is it even worth bending over to pick up off the street anymore?

With the rising cost per game-dropping a bunch of quarters gets silly

Thankfully lots of Barcades still do .50 and make their money on beer/liquor.

Single coin mech if we have to have one. and insider connected relocated to door from factory gets my vote.

Here's a thought-let's re-invent the wheel shall we...What if Stern redesigned the coin door entirely? You have two coin slots in case one gets jammed-ok I get it. You have QR reader on apron for visibility-I get it(although I hate it). If an operator wants a bill acceptor-let them pay for it and add it themselves-this I do not get. Time to get with the times. Introduce a multi-payment method coindoor. One coin slot, one bill acceptor, one QR reader, and room for card reader for the dying Dave and Buster type establishments(minority)-actually the QR reader could incorporate new swipe less technology as well and swiping CC could be in the past very soon?

This would work as well. I honestly can’t remember a time in the last few years where I’ve been in any arcade in my area where I actually dropped any quarters in the machine.

Ask any manufacturer what happened if they tried to leave off the coin mechs.
It has not gone over well when it was tried.

If anyone doesn't remember:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/amfr-pps-announced-next-remake?tq=coin+mech&tu=

I have asked Stern this question for years and continue to scratch my head on how they can justify the 'Pin' production cost-do they sell enough units? Is it a loss leader(write-off)? I keep saying ditch the home version with no coin door. I have had the thought recently about how Stern needs to get into the virtual pinball market. That is a machine for home owners without the need of a coin door. Would it impede on their current sales for standard pinball machines-I do not think so. Just another division with potentially high profit margins.

And we will pass the savings onto you!!!

I don't give a shit about coin mechs, coin doors or anything coin drop related. The games are in my house and I'd rather have something more interesting artwork-wise on the coin door space.

I guess WAY back, it was "cool" and unique having coin operated games in a home. It's not anymore.

Especially today, with supply constraints and enormous demand for the more expensive pins. I am amazed that The Pin models are still slated for line production in 2022 and were not quietly dropped like Vaults were.

Trust me I had the same thought-until I tried to resale a pin with no coin door

BTW-I could not sell my Iron Man Classic for two years and ended up trading it for construction work. -Flippin worthless-never again I said to myself

I wouldn't even consider buying a pin without a coin door.

My Jeep came with an ash tray. Now what'd they go and do THAT for, I don't smoke!

How about a factory decal panel with more themed artwork, with cutouts for the coin slots?

The blank door with no coin mechs, theoretical savings or not, is about as exciting as a bus station locker.

If we didn’t have coin doors the bars would just have very expensive blinking furniture.

All of the locations in my area still operate on coin drop. Even if they didn't, part of the appeal for collecting is that these are commercial grade coin-op devices. Without coin mechs, it will always be a home game. Drastically changing or removing the coin door to save money would be too big of a fundamental change in what a pinball machine is. I guess this could change over time if cash ever goes away entirely, but not any time soon. Even if the manufacturers succeeded in transitioning, there's 0 chance the savings would go into additional features on the game.

The bill acceptor and the card readers go in the same spot. Dave & Buster’s types don’t use DBVs and the card swipers are designed to fit the same profile.

Truthfully, we will probably just start evolving to dollar coins. They’re super easy and convenient to carry around and they’re more robust than paper money. Almost all modern soda and snack machines payout in dollar coins. Quarters are out, dollar coins are in!

The only reason Stern would remove coin doors would be to make more money. I could see them removing the coin door entirely and just wrapping the side art around to the front. Then we'd actually get to see some of the art in a line-up of pins.

Coin doors would turn into an option like A/C in your car or shaker motors. Remember how it worked when phone companies were transitioning to pulse dialing. You want pulse dialing? That'll be $2/mth extra.

I have over 30 machines on route,26 are Limited Edition machines and all are currently set up to take quarters. I think Stern knows what they are doing.

It's nice to have more than one way to put money in a machine.

Coin mechs are an important part of that. That is why most USA doors have two of them.

LTG : )

There are lots of coin op games outside USA... in Europe we have 20c-50c-1e-2e coins and coin slots accepting all those. So inflation has not hit that bad, we don't need a pocketful of 20c coins to play.

You must not get out much. This is the exception much more than the rule for pinball in the Chicago area, especially for smaller locations that just have 1 or 2 games where card readers are pretty much non-existent. All of my locations operate on cash only and I prefer to keep it that way. If you want to alienate a large chunk of your customer base while also getting less pinball out on location, this is one way to do it.

In one way, it's painful to read this thread. Once upon a time, the distributors that were selling to operators would offer coinage options on new games from the factory. You can see hints of this on old flyers. At the factory, the game would be built to order with single/double/triple coin chutes and the coin acceptors as requested. Appropriate pricing plates would be used at those factories where their door had pricing plates. (This was before virtually everybody bought a pseudo-standard door from an outside supplier.)

Aside: redundant quarter chutes only started appearing when 2/25c play came along in the USA. Before that, there was one chute for quarters.

One aspect of the old practice still survives: games are built-to-order for the country specified in the order, which (I assume) means coin acceptors vary by country.

Many arcades and family entertainment centers use "swipe cards" now, if they have dozens of games. But that type of location might not have too many (or any) pinball games. Operators seem to be resigned to refitting their doors, whether it be with swipe card electronics, dollar bill validators, or even just token acceptors.
.................David Marston

You don't care until you go to sell and the buyer (who wants to rout) says: no thanks!

lol, haven’t seen you for so long, and this is the quote from you I stumble upon....

As much time and love you put into machines, this actually surprises me.

Back to the topic, I get the thought behind the post, but I(like others here), expect the mechs to be part of the machine. Yes, eventually it will get phased out, but hopefully not for a long time. Even with at home use, our kids love plunking in the quarters, it’s just part of the experience for them. Much like it was for me in my younger years.

Because we want our games to collect money.

Vending machines are shipping with a single coin slot, a dollar bill validator, and a credit card reader (some with tap and pay).

Juke boxes around me have no coin slot, a $1, $5, $10, $20 bill validator, a credit card reader, and on-line pay options.

Arenas, stadiums, concert venues, theme parks, etc. are going completely cashless.

Why are we so hard-headed in our thinking? We build the latest technology into the games, then resist the change that could actually help us improve revenues.

THIS! (resized).jpg

Seems like it would be more appropriate to sell machines with a dollar bill accepter and a credit card reader on the door for modern machines.
I'm not exactly sure how the credit card would be charged, but it would make things a lot easier for players.
No need for bill changing devices either if the machine only took bills and credit cards.

That's what the Idea with the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was in 1979. Dollar coins last longer so they're cheaper in the long run than continually printing new bills. Besides, how many times do you run into bill validators the just keep rejecting a bill because of the condition it's in?

Most men love slots

Slot machines got rid of coins and the old folks went crazy. ...For about 10 minutes until they learned how to use the paper tickets. Technology changes and coin slots will be obsolete soon. Nevertheless, I agree with others that the games, even at home only, would just ‘not look right or authentic’ without the coin slots, especially in a lineup with other games. Also agree any money saved would not be passed on to customers. When the change to digital or card only payment will make more money for the big manufacturers, that’s when it will happen.

Why do you think we like to go to Vegas?