why are pins so pricey

mrcain

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It seems I can't find a decent pinball project in my area for under 350.00 and anything working that is newer then mid seventy's is over 500.00 even in rough shape.
 
It seems like everyone and his brother wants pinball machines. Even people that didn't frequent arcades want one for the game room. This keeps the prices up. But keep watching you will eventually find a reasonable deal. How long have you been looking? Too bad you aren't closer to me, I just picked up a truckload of project games that I am going sell for way less than $350 each.
 
I've been looking for a while now but with limited funds and a wife that would kill me if I spent $1000.00 on a nice pin I'm kind of limited. We do have an auction in Detroit in October so maybe then.
 
It seems I can't find a decent pinball project in my area for under 350.00 and anything working that is newer then mid seventy's is over 500.00 even in rough shape.
I have around 20 pinball machines ranging from the late 60's to early 80's and I have never paid over $300 for any one of them. Some were bought working and some were bought with minor problems.
Glennon
 
You just need to keep checking craigslist all the time. I found a pinbot and one called space station for $1000 for both. Not a bad deal for 2 working SS pins I think. So what is this detroit auction in october? I haven't heard anything about it, do you have a link?
 
The reason is they remain playable for a much longer time than video games. 90% of video games get boring and repetitive in short order. Plus you can emulate video games.
 
You can also emulate pinball machines...

Emulating a video game with something like MAME still plays almost the same as the original. Assuming you've got the right controls for the game you are playing, the experience may differ not at all from playing the real thing.

Playing a pinball in emulation, on the other hand, is a completely different experience than playing a real pinball.

In real pinball, you have a steel sphere that reacts according to the real laws of physics, and therefore is extremely hard to predict or control. Things like temperature and humidity can change how a game plays because some of the parts expand and contract slightly. No two switches ever most exactly, 100% the same, things slide faster or slower, and friction does all sorts of weird things to the movement of the ball. And you can feel and hear the movement of the ball through the cabinet. And you can nudge the cabinet to get the ball to do interesting things.

Virtual Pinball (of whatever variety) has a nice simulation of the laws of physics, and it hits all the major stuff (and even a bunch of the minor stuff) but it's still somewhat limited in scope. And no matter what, you can't feel the ball through the cabinet in the way that you can in the real thing.

That's not to say that virtual pinball can't be fun as all get out. I've got the Pinball Hall of Fame for the Wii - it's a great game, and I love to play it. But playing those pins in simulation isn't anything like playing them in the real world. Both are fun, but they are inherently different experiences.

You can think of the experience of playing pinball in emulation as being a more extreme case of playing a video game with the wrong controls (for instance, a joystick instead of a trackball). It's a completely different experience. Not necessarily worse (both ways can be fun) but definitely different.
 
Emulating a video game with something like MAME still plays almost the same as the original. Assuming you've got the right controls for the game you are playing, the experience may differ not at all from playing the real thing.

Playing a pinball in emulation, on the other hand, is a completely different experience than playing a real pinball.

In real pinball, you have a steel sphere that reacts according to the real laws of physics, and therefore is extremely hard to predict or control. Things like temperature and humidity can change how a game plays because some of the parts expand and contract slightly. No two switches ever most exactly, 100% the same, things slide faster or slower, and friction does all sorts of weird things to the movement of the ball. And you can feel and hear the movement of the ball through the cabinet. And you can nudge the cabinet to get the ball to do interesting things.

Virtual Pinball (of whatever variety) has a nice simulation of the laws of physics, and it hits all the major stuff (and even a bunch of the minor stuff) but it's still somewhat limited in scope. And no matter what, you can't feel the ball through the cabinet in the way that you can in the real thing.

That's not to say that virtual pinball can't be fun as all get out. I've got the Pinball Hall of Fame for the Wii - it's a great game, and I love to play it. But playing those pins in simulation isn't anything like playing them in the real world. Both are fun, but they are inherently different experiences.

You can think of the experience of playing pinball in emulation as being a more extreme case of playing a video game with the wrong controls (for instance, a joystick instead of a trackball). It's a completely different experience. Not necessarily worse (both ways can be fun) but definitely different.

Completely agree, you can't emulate pinball.
 
The reason is they remain playable for a much longer time than video games. 90% of video games get boring and repetitive in short order. Plus you can emulate video games.

Absolutely.

Pinball machines offer so much more replay value and that is one of many reasons they hold most of their value. You really get what you pay for in most cases.
 
Put a ad out for Items Wanted on craigslist for pinball machines. Most likely it wont take long to find a pin under $250...a lot of people have them in their house and aren't using them.
 
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