What's the lifespan of somebody staying in the hobby?

The good: playing these wonderful old beasts and gazing at them with their interesting cabinet shapes and art work.
The bad: when a monitor stops working.
The ugly: when you got to move a freakin' heavy machine like a Spy Hunter.

I've been here longer than most; although I was inactive from about 2014 to 2024. I still don't have the house/basement and had to give up 2/3 of my games in 2013, but I'm still going and will hopefully continue for 25 more years.
 
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Phetishboy said:
Normally, I don't like posting on threads like these, but because theres always been something that's bothered me about this subject, I'm going to. I joined the site back in 2006. I remember lots of people talking to me as if I was going to be a flash in the pan and be out of the hobby within two years. I remember people burning out and leaving almost monthly. I remember some people would just sort of fade off the forums and you'd never see them post again. And I always thought back then how the hell can you be interested/obsessed with these wonderful machines one day, and then just not care about them anymore the next? I mean I get it if you start when you're 30 and you get tired of them by age 80, but when you start at 30 something and then get tired of them while you're still 30 something, what in the actual fuck is wrong with you? When you get into a hobby like this, it's not like a Mexican Cocksuck where you commit yourself for a weekend or 2. In a hobby like this, you need to be in it for the long haul or don't even bother. It's kinda like the guys that completely leave the Arcade hobby for pinball. I trust them about as much as I trust motherfuckers who won't eat a bun with their burger.
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Well said. The more people who go full pinball the more I want to arcade machine harder.
 
Phetishboy said:
Normally, I don't like posting on threads like these, but because theres always been something that's bothered me about this subject, I'm going to. I joined the site back in 2006. I remember lots of people talking to me as if I was going to be a flash in the pan and be out of the hobby within two years. I remember people burning out and leaving almost monthly. I remember some people would just sort of fade off the forums and you'd never see them post again. And I always thought back then how the hell can you be interested/obsessed with these wonderful machines one day, and then just not care about them anymore the next? I mean I get it if you start when you're 30 and you get tired of them by age 80, but when you start at 30 something and then get tired of them while you're still 30 something, what in the actual fuck is wrong with you? When you get into a hobby like this, it's not like a Mexican Cocksuck where you commit yourself for a weekend or 2. In a hobby like this, you need to be in it for the long haul or don't even bother. It's kinda like the guys that completely leave the Arcade hobby for pinball. I trust them about as much as I trust motherfuckers who won't eat a bun with their burger.
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Omg! Very well said although some of the pinball dudes may not like to hear this cuz it would put them in their place
 
alfonzotan said:
I am certainly a small timer in this community in terms of quantity, but I landed my first game in 1996, and I haven't stopped yet.
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And I should add that if I'd had the means, the room, and the simple knowledge that owning arcade games was something pretty much anybody could do (especially so in those days when cabs were going for pennies on the dollar), I'd have started even earlier than that.
 
I'm not sure what the definition of "being in the hobby" really is. I've only bought games twice, once in 2006 (bought seven games at once, was an all or nothing deal, none of them worked) and the second time was 2014 (a sit down pole position again didn't work). I still have all of those games and I made four others from scratch. I don't play them as much as I did once I got them working (actually the pole position still doesn't work right). I just have other things I do, but the games are there when I want/work on them and I can't ever see myself getting rid of them. Heck, I never thought I would ever have even one arcade machine, but I now have 12!
 
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bottlejunkie said:
Makes me think of TMNT bed sheets.
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Nice! I get that reference. Technically, isn't he still in the hobby? I see a random Kaneda thing pop up but have no idea if it is same dude.
OMG..I had no clue he was still going
www.kineticist.com

Timeline of a Kaneda Meltdown | Kineticist

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast aka Chris Kooluris has a major meltdown. See what happened.
www.kineticist.com www.kineticist.com
 
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i was 5 years old connecting Christmas lights and motors to my constructs (kinda like Legos). arcade stuff is just an extension of an electronics hobby. i got into arcade stuff 2 years before my oldest was born 23 years ago.
 
I made my first 4-game purchase back in 1991. I have been in the hobby for over 30 years. I was a daily reader of RGVAC. I lost track of how many arcade and pinball machines have come and gone. I have been on so many arcade and warehouse raid road trips. I find it really hard to part with the machines I have now. Fixing and playing arcade games is a part of who I am.
 
I was born into this hobby. My dad had 3 pinball machines and a bowling machine. Then in the mid 80' he got an asteroids upright and a pacman cocktail. I'm 47 so yeah I'll keep going till they put me in the ground.
 
I was born on a junk yard and was destined to work on something. Lefty loosey, righty tighty was a lesson learned a long long time ago. This is where I currently landed and I like it.
 
ArcadeJason said:
i was 5 years old connecting Christmas lights and motors to my constructs (kinda like Legos). arcade stuff is just an extension of an electronics hobby. i got into arcade stuff 2 years before my oldest was born 23 years ago.
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I had constructs. Those were awesome. A simpler erector set essentially
 
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