If the other choice is sell outright, of course I'd rather route and still be able to own and play them!

AND, if someone opened up a place and wanted me to supply pins AND if my collection was route worthy, I'd do that too!

No.

You aren't going to get rich. It's a labor of love.

How bout I just kick you in the nuts. It will be less painful.

Do I have to be the one that moves them?

I've thought about this several times as I run out of space and don't feel like selling my machines. But it always ends in the same decision. Nothing is unobtainable. You can get back any machine you want. Way easier to sell than to try and operate. I really don't think operating is a casual endeavour. Just look at Eddie's breakdown thread. That would be your new life.

Want to take all the fun out of your hobby? Make it your job.

I would.

LTG : )™

You're a pro though Lloyd. You can fix things just by looking at them.

I've thought about putting one or two games in one of the local watering holes that is pretty nice (non smoking, good management and staff, etc.) but I never have enough free time to add in what it would take to do that. And I certainly wouldn't put my A-list games out there for that kind of abuse (I don't have enough of them to begin with). The only reason I've even considered it is because I always wish there were more places to play pinball "in the wild" - even though that has gotten much better lately with barcades opening in the area.

Uh, no. That is what Lloyd does. It is called an operator. It is why they are built to take money.

The fixing just makes it more cost effective.

Not only "no", but "Hell No!!"

I have all the respect in the world for an operator, but zero desire to become one.

How many of these question threads are you starting each day?

Sure I would.

I have one pin that I am considering putting on route after I restore it, if everything falls into place.

I certainly wouldn't put a pin that I actually care about on route, though. I imagine that the costs involved would far exceed anything I'd get back.

Agreed. When I was helping a friend at an arcade he ran (remaining nameless) it reminder me why I could never do that for a few reasons. Kids are F-ed up and pretty stupid. But it is their F-ed Up parents letting their little darling do whatever they want that would have me in the news. Then of course there are the "professional" players who think kicking, throwing the game two feet sideways into the next game and glass slapping when they drain is "playing" pinball.

Yes, but wait another month or so. This market has a little more to go. Funny, I was going to start a thread on the market but we'll use this one.

However, sell the pins now and keep the cash until it's the perfect time to strike which will be in 3-6 weeks. Get on Zacks.com and start studying.

I bet that's the title of the next thread

What do you mean, "Uh, no"? Do you mean Lloyd CAN'T fix things by looking at them? Don't shatter my illusions! I was sure the force was strong in him.

Sure, I would love to have sticky soda spilled on and into my machines, have them picked up and dropped when a ball gets stuck, have someone damage the front trying to pry open the coindoor to steal a few quarters, have some thoughtless idiot carve his and his girlfriend's initials into the cabinet, etc. Where do I sign up?

If it was 1990 I would say yes, go for it but these days, unless you are a huge corporation with deep pockets and can afford a fleet of new stern pins and have sweet locations to put them in like amusement parks and shopping malls, I would advise you to save your money, buy yourself all the pins you want for personal use and invest in something else.

I was an owner operator from 87 to 2000..it is a labor of love but all of a sudden one day it became less about the machine and more about the quarters and as others here have mentioned, it becomes a job.

If I had all the machines I sold back then in my possession today, I would be a very rich man....but I sold things...even if I loved the machine, I would sell it to get something new for my locations because as I said, it becomes all about the $$.

No....

You've started 6 question topics today. Kick rocks!

This only flaw in this statement is the last two words. If your primary goal is to "make money" you will do better with your time flipping burgers and leaving your pins at home. Routed pins break constantly if they are getting played... it is definitely a labor of love if you want to keep them in decent working condition.

My ST Pro is on location and it has worked out well. I still own it, make a few bucks and people can enjoy it etc.

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye.

In before the lock.

No, but I have considered having them available to Wounded Warriors at certain weekends or times. Time for payback to those who have done so much, asked so little and received even less...

I have pondered taking 4 or 5 of my "B" list titles and routing them. I have one bar that would let me put the whole group in. Here is my issue. I think it was vid1900 that posted awhile back about some of the negatives. One always stuci in my mind. One day 1 or 2 guys walk in wearing coveralls and tell the barmaid its time to service the machine back at H.Q.

You know the rest to this story

Maybe this is the better question-

Is it in fact possible to make enough money doing this to even begin to pay yourself anything close to what your earn on your real job. Cause if its not - then your starting a new crappy hobby where you get to fix all the shit everyone else breaks on your games-

I thought about opening my own place with all my personal pins for people to enjoy . Of course id be there most of the time so in that case I would but that be the only way bc I have some very nice condition pins .

Yup, except don't route HUO pins, unless you don't care about losing the title of "HUO"

It happens.

Many years ago an op posted on RGP about putting a new Corvette in a laundromat. First time they went to collect, it was gone.

LTG : )™

Haven't you heard? You never lose the title. Even with 35,000 plays...even with wood showing through on the playfield...even with slurpee and beer stains under the lock bar, it is still huo!!! Lol, I actually had a person try to convince me of a pin being huo like I mentioned above. Well, cept for the 35,000 plays. Not sure how many it had. I walked 30 seconds after his BS started!

never would consider it.

All 16 of mine NO WAY IN HE double L. I'm not THAT crazy. But to have 16 pinball machines maybe I am.

Lol!!!!!
It's true though, Hahahaha

Many cases like that, machines listed for sale as "HUO" but have a big security bar acrost the coin door, etc, etc

Lol

No

Be fair now.

Some of these games are in tough homes.

LTG : )™

Something usually goes wrong when I have guests over for a couple hours playing my collection. Games I've brought to an expo have ended up being turned off in my absence due to issues until I came back to address them. I can't imagine how stressful it would be to route a game... No way I'd be interested in doing it.

I respect guys that route but after seeing some of the animals in the wild play pins and even at my house I would not even consider to put my gumball machine out there

I wouldn't do it to make money, but I would do it to help share the love of pinball with the world.

I know two ops personally, and they constantly tell me how much work it actually is. Plus, one of them put a TAF on location, and the PF glass was busted in 3 days. Glass in every nook and cranny of the game, and then somebody spilled a drink on the PF because nobody covered the game as he asked them to. What a mess. That would be irritating. I am with bigd1979. Opening a small place on your own, with your own games and where you can hang out to monitor play with rules in place might be an option. Still sounds like a lot of work, and the money you would make would probably only be enough to pay for parts and to make repairs constantly. Unless your Lloyd and can fix a game by staring at it.

Only way I would was if I owned a cafe or something and just wanted to put a game there.

Hahahaha