What was the life expectancy of pinball machines BITD?

pookdolie

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What was the life expectancy of pinball machines BITD?

I know that, for video games, it was only a few years - they expected OPs would make their money back (hopefully more) and then convert, sell, or trash them.

What about for pinball machines? How long were they built to last?
 
The shortest tax write off is three years. So the manufacturers were hoping 2 to 3 years and the op would replace it with a new one.

LTG :)
 
I don't know how long they were built to last but I remember playing a lot of the 70's pins on location well into the mid 80's. Games like Captain Fantastic, Mata Hari, Solar City and a lot of the Gottlieb EM games.

Even now, I see a lot of Williams pinballs on location that are at least 15 years old.
 
The shortest tax write off is three years. So the manufacturers were hoping 2 to 3 years and the op would replace it with a new one.

LTG :)

Manufacturer Warranty was 90 days period.

You were expected to make the cost of the machine within 30 days. Game makers were pumping games out as fast as they could to take advantage of the market before it crashed. Anyone waiting 2-3 years on anything would have been retarded and definitely out of business in very short order.
 
Manufacturer Warranty was 90 days period.

You were expected to make the cost of the machine within 30 days. Game makers were pumping games out as fast as they could to take advantage of the market before it crashed. Anyone waiting 2-3 years on anything would have been retarded and definitely out of business in very short order.

on pins? That would be hundreds of plays a day for the first month
 
on pins? That would be hundreds of plays a day for the first month

Your math is good, sir! Note, the pins were like 1,500-3,000 or so when they were coming out. Or less on occasions. Don't use today's pricing of $5,000 and whatnot
 
if the game was $1500

you would need 200 plays a day for 30 days at a quarter a game, to get your money back.

if a game lasted on avg 3 min thats 10hours a day uninterupted game play.
 
if the game was $1500

you would need 200 plays a day for 30 days at a quarter a game, to get your money back.

if a game lasted on avg 3 min thats 10hours a day uninterupted game play.

Yes, but games have been .50 for a long long time.
 
I bought a Gottlieb Eye of the Tiger (EM 2 player Sinbad) from an operator in Pa that had just been taken off his route and it was 3 years old, back in 1981. Still have it. Came out of the YMCA in Washington PA. Game was set @ 2 games for .25 cents.
 
on pins? That would be hundreds of plays a day for the first month

Your math is good, sir! Note, the pins were like 1,500-3,000 or so when they were coming out. Or less on occasions. Don't use today's pricing of $5,000 and whatnot

if the game was $1500

you would need 200 plays a day for 30 days at a quarter a game, to get your money back.

if a game lasted on avg 3 min thats 10hours a day uninterupted game play.

Avg pin ran roughly $2800 BITD.

Your math is all correct, and a lot of the larger operators didn't pay for their games until 30 to 45 days after they received them from the distributor. The big boys did lots of shady shit that the local pizza joint could never get away with no matter how hard they tried.

My wife's uncle ran a few huge arcades BITD, and he was so shady that sometimes he would keep a game for 30 days, then send it back to the distributor because he "didn't like the game". (The game wasn't making enough money for him)
 
I know that, for video games, it was only a few years - they expected OPs would make their money back (hopefully more) and then convert, sell, or trash them.

What about for pinball machines? How long were they built to last?

50 years! :) Seriously, it is amazing the number of games out there that have been going for 30+ years now. Even more amazing when you consider how bad the engineering in the power electronics section was in so many of the games.

I don't see any games being built these days having the lifetime that so many games from the 80's and before have managed to enjoy.
 
Avg pin ran roughly $2800 BITD.

Your math is all correct, and a lot of the larger operators didn't pay for their games until 30 to 45 days after they received them from the distributor. The big boys did lots of shady shit that the local pizza joint could never get away with no matter how hard they tried.

My wife's uncle ran a few huge arcades BITD, and he was so shady that sometimes he would keep a game for 30 days, then send it back to the distributor because he "didn't like the game". (The game wasn't making enough money for him)

So 10 hours of continuous use every day was the norm back in the day on a new pin? Seems amazing

What's more incredible is that a distributor would take back a pin with 5,000 plays on it (half the average meaning it was a poor earner)
 
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