Hands down my games. Heck my wife is amazing!

In my case, the wife left before the pinball machines arrived. Didn't have to go through the painful division of pin assets that many others have had to deal with.

I take TrophyB over the pins any day.

Odin-WTF? No slanted poll????

I value my wife way more than the pin collection and can honestly say that collecting has made our marriage even stronger. It is the first hobby that we both truly enjoy, aside from pin parties and league I really only play when we both can usually Fri-Sat nights--pinball a few cocktails, time together de-stressing after a long work week it doesn't get any better. While she always has supported my previous interests, mainly off-roading Jeeps and quads she didn't have any interest in participating.

My wife stays. Getting the pins this year has made us spend more time together which has been a nice added benefit. She doesn't play them much, but likes to be in the garage with me when I'm playing or working on them. She sits back, has a beer or two, and sometimes will play some Sorcerer. But, if things came down to having to choose (don't know what situation that would be) I'd always choose the wife. She's awesome. And so are my stepkids. Well, at least my stepson. The stepdaughter makes me want to strangle someone. But, overall, she's cool.

Being only married a month now to someone I've been with 4 years now, I can tell you I'd gladly trade all my hobbies for our marriage. TFTC is nice, but a life partner is way more important. My DeLorean that I've had and continued to make better for 10 years now, it's nice, but stainless steel doors are cold when they hug you. It will continue to look barely brand new while I age over the decades. I'd rather have someone to grow old with <3.

Too much of anything is bad for you - even water will kill you in too vast a quantity. I would rather my wife reign me in and say "maybe not this pin....." than me get carried away with my hobby and put us in a financial bind or pins act as a wedge between us.

I truly believe the best relationships are founded on close friendships, and that's what she is to me, my best friend.

My wife has limited me to 1 pin in our small condo. She stretched to agree to have another in our storage locker, 15 feet down the hall for an easy swap-out when I need a change. She's putting up with pins being moved in and out pretty frequently.
Our agreement is that the pin is in the bedroom so it doesn't look odd in our Dining room or Living room. Works for me. I can play it in there!
Yesterday, I was in the Living room when I heard a number of call-outs from the ACDC machine and went in to see how well she was doing. Song Jackpot for 30M+ on the line. Cannon starts moving... She nails the shot and yells: "I DID IT!!!!!!!"
Give and take baby. Since she enjoys the pins almost as much as I do, I think it's more than a fair trade.

Playing a game together and alternating between balls is a blast too. High fives after scoring an extra ball, cheering each other on... So much fun.

My wife-

She doesn't like pinball, but respects that I do and you can't ask more than that.

Married 27 years. Collecting Pins for 14. I've sold 37 pins over the years, still have the same wonderful wife! Yeah - No brainer...

The emotional answer is that of course I value my wife more, but as it turns out that is also the right economic answer. The market value of my collection (including vids) is under 50k. OTOH the cost of a divorce is at least half of all my assets, and probably the loss of my basement.

Divorce >> Pins and Vids.

My wife wins over everything. She's the ultimate keeper.
Only into pins since Jan of this year but have been bitten by the bug for sure.
This hobby is much cheaper and easier to get your money back than other hobbies I've had in our 20+ years together. I actually think she gets that and has bought into it

Been married, divorced and looking to marry again. Pinball has no say, they aren't married to you. We are easily willing to sell, trade them on a whim no questions asked. Gotta realize if you were left nothing the worst of times, will your wife stay with you through thick and thin along with the obvious, best of times, or trade, divorce you on a whim like your pinball machines? If she's there for you no matter what...realize you have something very special and worth never letting go of, no matter what the price, marriage to the right one is priceless!

The fact my future looks good with my girl loving pinball too, I'm ecstatic about my new future!

I value what cost the most. My marriage by a landslide

Not married yet, but working on it and have a date set for next April. I went from 0 to 7 pins and a Slugfest in 7 months. My fiancee is still with me, even though we're saving for the wedding and I just went into a bit of credit card debt getting my JP... I actually included her in the decision to buy it and showed her how I can budget to pay it off and still save for the wedding. She's been super supportive and I sure hope it would never come down to having to choose one over the other.

Luckily I bought a house with plenty of space, so I'm not stuck having to convince her to have games in the living room, kitchen, or bedroom like it sounds like some have done.

I'm a lucky guy for sure!

Jim

Well I haven't found a pin yet that is as good at sex as the wife is. Not a very hard choice here. Wife wins.

Slightly OT - but does anyone remember the Luna City Arcade (Peter Hirschberg)? If not do a Google search. Seems in the end the games got between him and the wife/kids - amazing home arcade was dismantled and pieced out.

A happy wife is a happy life!

Cannot replace her for the world. And she would never give an ultimatum like this so no trouble.
If she is telling you pick something you love or her than maybe she is not the "one".
The right person for you will encourage and support you and everything you decide to do in life.

IMHO.

I love my games and would not give them up. I also would do everything in my power to keep both.

I'm single. Problem solved.

easy one... wife...

Of course!

I sell pins from time to time to free up some cash so the wife can tackle a project she wants to do. Sold one a long while back so she could buy a car and a new couch, lol

My wife and I are a team....... there is nothing that I would choose over my family. However why would you have to? If your wife says me or pinball, then she has other reasons for being unhappy, why would she leave you over material items?

Pinball is healthy and wholesome for you and the family. Alternatives for relaxing similar type entertainment......I don't know go to the bar every night, strip club, hang at an arcade and look like a pedophile.

I choose to stay home and play pinball with my family......probably what more families need.....quality time together.

Every Friday night is family night at our house, pizza, movie, and pinball. No getting out of it, and I love it!

Q: Why does divorce cost so much?
A: Because it's worth it.

And it had nothing to do with pinball.

Without question, I value the marriage far more than the pinballs (or anything else for that matter).

Thankfully, my wife is not only beautiful and smart, she's supportive too. A few weeks back she was out with our boys, hitting the junk shops up and down the island looking for raw materials for her outdoor sculptures and she sent me a text message... store she was in had a "Forgotten Worlds" arcade machine sitting there and she wanted to know if I was interested. Unfortunately, it was in on consignment and they couldn't reach the original owner in order to do a deal on it, so we left it.

Lol... just before that, I'd hauled everyone here off to Sechelt for a day-trip to pick up a Seawitch. While "taking the wife and kids on a 16hr road-trip to pick up a pinball machine" is crazy to begin with, consider this... I don't drive. Never had a license. So, she is the one driving the whole trip, all so that I can meet up w/some woman in Sechelt for half an hour to load this Seawitch into the back of the truck and we then turn it around and head home.

I love my wife.

Ha!

You just lost all creditability...

My current GF plays pinball, but I used to tell my old one when she would complain about anything "Hey, it's this or the stripbar".

It would shut her trap every time.

Anyone who values their pins over their significant other needs a new significant other.

A pinball collection will last longer than the average marriage and the only wrinkles on the body will be a few where the legs attach.

I have been married 21 years. My wife met me in high school and she used to come over and play pinball. I still have that Fireball. We didn't start dating until we were in our 20's. Dated off and on for several years. Now here we are over 21 years into marriage with two great kids and a litter of pinball machines running around the house. hahaha

If only they accepted quarters at the strip bar....

People trump everything. If you don't understand that, I'm sad.

Yeah, don't put your quarters in the slot...that would be a quick way to get thrown out by the bouncers...

Is that a roll of quarters you got there, or are you just excited to see me?
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They do pick up dollar coins in Canada with their...er....grippers.

Here it's even frowned on putting dollars on the stage. They try to force a bunch of $2 bills on you.

In more ways than you know brother!

My wife is awesome. Lets me buy what I want, and do pretty much what I want. Never complains , even when pins fill up the dinning room and kitchen. Never gives me crap and we never fight. Having someone with you, that you don't want to strangle every second of the day and feeling like your walking on eggshells, takes a bunch of stress off ones life. So if you pick the right person, you never have to pick someone over your hobbies or interests.

Man, even an obsessed pinball nut like me would give you shit for that.

yea, but she knows they will only be there for a month or 2. We don't always have pins in the kitchen.

Until shower time.

Wife all day. I am lucky mine likes pins too!

I'm not married, but I co-own a house with my girlfriend which is close enough for most purposes. True story: she couldn't stay in her apartment so I gave up my pinball room so that she could have a bedroom in the house with myself and my then-wife. Said wife is now my ex-wife and she became my girlfriend. A year and a half ago, I was having trouble with all five of my pinball machines, so for a Valentine's Day gift my girlfriend looked up and found a local pinball repairman and paid for him to come out and fix my machines. Best V-day gift I've ever gotten, better than every other gift combined.

Best line of the whole thread. "with some piece". Quite.

Wow...now THAT_ had to be an interesting arragement.