I have no idea whether pinball is thriving. At first glance all of the new manufacturers give me hope that demand is more than the supply....what worries me are the prices. I understand that most hobbies do not come without a significant financial sacrifice; but I worry that initial entry into the pinball universe is becoming increasingly more difficult.
I would love to know the stats on how many people/families/households can even entertain the thought of adding ANY NIB machine to their homes? ESPECIALLY in a country that is not the USA. Being in Canada, the prices are insane.
I do not live in a bustling metropolis but a city of roughly 300k people. I can count on one hand the amount of places that have a pinball machine (and only two of those places have more than one). It is next to impossible for an OP in my area of Canada to purchase machines and make any money. If we can't afford NIB in our homes, and there are no places to routinely play, we can buy used/older machines right? Maybe in the past this was a viable option but even used games are becoming untouchable for the masses. There was a stat I read recently that half of Canadian families were within $200 of not being able to pay their mortgage/rent...that is scary.
I think pinball will survive forever as long as people are able to get involved and enjoy. It can't be too far off from peoples means. I think eventually, pricing will have to come down across the board to balance the market, getting more involvement, thereby increasing pinball's popularity even more.