Why I love JJ & STERN, but probably will not own one

Atari The Jedi

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I've got to say at least over the past 10 maybe 12 years the hobby has really changed. While I don't quite understand it, it isn't all bad. I mean most of the people that I see that go for them usually go for new games only, which leaves the older games to people like me who still want them. I love when I go to a show or something and a good old 90s or even 60s classic sitting there just like a ripe Peach. While everyone else is crowding on whatever the new flashy wizz-bang thing is. I swear to God if Stern decided to make a Cologuard machine at next convention or show people would be lined up out the door.
Why do people do this? I've talked to quite a few supposed pinball hobbyists, experts Etc yet they don't really know anything before 2010? Talking to one person he acted like pinball basically started With The Wizard of Oz and even that considered old to him.
I mean I know we're in a new golden age for pins, but you wouldn't go to a car show and say I'm only going to look at everything that's 2010 and newer. And not even know what a Bel Air is. You wouldn't say while I'm a Green Bay Packers fan but I don't know who Bart Starr was. The mentality seems off to me. It makes me feel like a lot of these people are just carpetbaggers here today and gone tomorrow yet a lot of them are still here. Don't get me wrong I love some of the new games too, played Godzilla and absolutely love it but I don't think it's the best game ever. Also I found the King Kong to be a little bit repetitive topping some of the similar call outs.

Trying to avoid sounding like an elitist here but my games are worth like $2,500 bucks or so well some people have Toppers more expensive than that and they'll probably sell the machine to buy the next one that comes out from the big dealers
 

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Different strokes for different folks. No doubt pinball has brought in a bunch of new collectors. Many of those have deep pockets and view their machines as investments.

My fondness starts with System 11 stuff. Taxi, High Speed, Whirlwind, Earthshaker etc. I've rolled through a lot of those titles in my lineup but have pretty much settled on modern pins. Don't get me wrong. Love the older stuff and if I had more space and deeper pockets I'd hold onto them but I have room for about 5 comfortably and have chosen to stick with newers stuff mainly for the depth of the games.

I believe that a few years down the road the road these new whizz bang investors will see that they made a mistake and sell them off. It'll be good for real enthusiasts when this happens.
 
...so, you've been watching Retro Ralph, eh?

Anyone who starts out with a new pin, will continue to buy new pins. They just play different.

I continue to buy older, broken pins. Buy cheap, repair, play and enjoy.
The problem is always when you run out of space, so you sell 2 or 3 to make room for 1 (more expensive) pin. Eventually you end up buying new pins with the money from all that sweat equity that you've accrued. Now I've got a mix of "holy crap why did I spend so much on this thing" pins, and EM, and Classics (like Whirlwind).

I guess you could pull the sweat equity out of your hobby, too, so there's that 3rd kind of pinball owner... sell the old, to buy a different old.

Also, Going to a pinball show would be fun. I'd play ALL the new ones, for sure. They'd be the ones that I can't play here.
 
Disclaimer: I am not a Pin guy; I enjoy playing pinball but don't need to own one (although wouldn't pass by a Rush if I saw it being hauled out to the curb), so by all means feel free to disregard.

But, a couple of SFGE's ago I was hanging around the vendor area, and, frankly, eavesdropping, and the guys running the exhibits were basically all saying to each other, "Yeah, this is nuts. It's totally a bubble, but we're going to ride it until it pops."

Take it FWIW…
 
People gravitate towards what is "current" when they get into pinball. If you grew up playing EM's in the 60's, you have an emotional attachment to those going forward in many cases, though you can absolutely enjoy stuff coming out afterwards.

Think of the number of older pins that are dirty and/or ill maintained, or simply worn out and in need of thorough shop job. If your only exposure to an older pin at some show is one that is perhaps pretty/clean even, but functionally crap - weak flippers, slings and pops - that's going to color your interest. Newer stuff ties into what's going on in the world - current movies, and themes that people are also interested in.

The "newbies" (people getting in over the last 6 years or so) started with these more modern games, and many simply are more interested in the newer themes, or the higher tech that's present (multimedia, light shows, etc), compared to the themes and what's in the older stuff.

As others note, if/when this bubble at least deflates a bit hopefully that results in better deals for the rest of us who've been around longer - and I'm content to have them pass on older stuff since that keeps the price (more) reasonable than the newer stuff... I'm otherwise happy that we at least have a resurgence in pinball, and have new games and manufacturers out there, even if the prices are ridiculously inflated in some cases (ie those topper prices).

What grinds my (and some of my local pinhead's) gears are the newbie folks who get in, and proclaim themselves experts in all things pinball, when they couldn't install a flipper rebuild kit if they tried. Example - I'm aware of a "lead tech" who's part of a pinball club that had to ask a friend how to add credits to a 80's solid-state Bally pin - and who also didn't understand that all lock-down bars aren't interchangeable - or that there are differences in leg and head bolts - or how to test a bridge with a multimeter. Yet, they brag and position themselves as being an "experienced pinball technician". THAT is what boggles my mind the most, as the other newbies around them just eat it up.
 
It's not just noobs. I started playing High Speed in the 80s and been playing ever since. Have owned EMs, 80-90s wms, and lots of Sterns. Almost 100 different titles. I think the past few years have produced the best pinball machines ever made. I still love Whirlwind, Twilight Zone, Dirty Harry, AFM, No Good Gofers, ect... but games like Godzilla, Elvira, and Iron Maiden are much better tables. I'll put time on an older game at a show or arcade but I can't see buying anything older than tspp era stern.
 
It's not just noobs. I started playing High Speed in the 80s and been playing ever since. Have owned EMs, 80-90s wms, and lots of Sterns. Almost 100 different titles. I think the past few years have produced the best pinball machines ever made. I still love Whirlwind, Twilight Zone, Dirty Harry, AFM, No Good Gofers, ect... but games like Godzilla, Elvira, and Iron Maiden are much better tables. I'll put time on an older game at a show or arcade but I can't see buying anything older than tspp era stern.
Exactly. That's where I'm at now. There's very few SAM / Whitestars I would want at this point and honestly nothing older.

My oldest pin right now is Stern Star Trek LE (WHAT A BANGER!). Love that game.
 
People gravitate towards what is "current" when they get into pinball. If you grew up playing EM's in the 60's, you have an emotional attachment to those going forward in many cases, though you can absolutely enjoy stuff coming out afterwards.

Think of the number of older pins that are dirty and/or ill maintained, or simply worn out and in need of thorough shop job. If your only exposure to an older pin at some show is one that is perhaps pretty/clean even, but functionally crap - weak flippers, slings and pops - that's going to color your interest. Newer stuff ties into what's going on in the world - current movies, and themes that people are also interested in.

The "newbies" (people getting in over the last 6 years or so) started with these more modern games, and many simply are more interested in the newer themes, or the higher tech that's present (multimedia, light shows, etc), compared to the themes and what's in the older stuff.

As others note, if/when this bubble at least deflates a bit hopefully that results in better deals for the rest of us who've been around longer - and I'm content to have them pass on older stuff since that keeps the price (more) reasonable than the newer stuff... I'm otherwise happy that we at least have a resurgence in pinball, and have new games and manufacturers out there, even if the prices are ridiculously inflated in some cases (ie those topper prices).

What grinds my (and some of my local pinhead's) gears are the newbie folks who get in, and proclaim themselves experts in all things pinball, when they couldn't install a flipper rebuild kit if they tried. Example - I'm aware of a "lead tech" who's part of a pinball club that had to ask a friend how to add credits to a 80's solid-state Bally pin - and who also didn't understand that all lock-down bars aren't interchangeable - or that there are differences in leg and head bolts - or how to test a bridge with a multimeter. Yet, they brag and position themselves as being an "experienced pinball technician". THAT is what boggles my mind the most, as the other newbies around them just eat it up.
Yes your last paragraph Nails it on the head. I mean I can't understand someone calling themselves an expert and not know the basics of A machine. Relating it to car enthusiasm for example I could understand if somebody was like really knowledgeable about like '90s cars but when they come up to a 1930s machine they would be a little lost but they should be able to pick it up real fast. I just don't see that the hobby lends itself in the same way. Again I might be alone in this some of the new games are awesome but it's starting to feel a little bit cut, copy and paste which is fine but a lot of these new pinheads claim that everything that comes out is better than the last and that's not always true
 
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