Wife wants pin's on locations (start business)

Steelhorse

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My wife brought it up and said let's get some NEW pins Iron Man and Avatar and put them on location and make some cash. Anyone out there done this? Discounts from Stern for being a company? We have our business license. This may mean I can get NIB pin for our home.
 
I think there's already people that have tried that..

Oper-something or other?

There's probably a reason they're a dying breed. People just don't have the time to drop quarters into a wooden box anymore, assuming they have quarters on hand, at all.
 
Even at a distributor price, you'd be looking at about $3500-4000 per pinball, with a suggested retail of about $5000 - plus shipping.

20,000 quarters just to break even per game. You'd better have some damn good locations....
 
My wife brought it up and said let's get some NEW pins Iron Man and Avatar and put them on location and make some cash. Anyone out there done this? Discounts from Stern for being a company? We have our business license. This may mean I can get NIB pin for our home.

I JUST OPENED A CLASSIC ARCADE.
It HAS 4 Pins. 50 cents they actually do better than vids.
Vids set at 25 cents
Average 150 bucks a week
Unless you have a SUPER LOCATION DROP THAT IDEA.
It is at a seasonal location and has been running for four months.
N/C At the moment for location.
Tough Times. People do not want to part with a BUCK!!
Good Luck
Butthead
 
I had an interesting conversation w/ the operator that I bought my Elvis from. He said it's just not worth it for them to route pins....they usually do it because the location wants them in the mix. He told me that his pins make about $60-80 a week ...and he has to split that w/ the location. His Terminator Salvation light-gun games make $600-$1000 a week. Redemption games make 1000's as well... WOW...I love pinball, but I understand why ops don't want to bother with it.
 
I had an interesting conversation w/ the operator that I bought my Elvis from. He said it's just not worth it for them to route pins....they usually do it because the location wants them in the mix. He told me that his pins make about $60-80 a week ...and he has to split that w/ the location. His Terminator Salvation light-gun games make $600-$1000 a week. Redemption games make 1000's as well... WOW...I love pinball, but I understand why ops don't want to bother with it.

At a buck a game, I could see why T Salvation makes $1000 a week. To play through both missions costs about $15-$20. It's an okay game.
 
I have been told the same thing from ops, pins are on location only because the location wants them. Even in a good location, some of the more popular pins on route only pull in 125-150 a week.
The REAL money is in the 8-liners (though they rarely have 8 anymore), about 5k a week in a good location here, though there is the purse and split to consider as well.
 
So true. I met an old school collector a few weekends back. He had at least 6 uber rare laser games strewn about his garage. Piled in with tons of other garage junk. Why? He's been operating for a few years and the joy of collecting is GONE!
 
Started a route in april and have been doing ok...3 pins right now plus a red tent...i've been breaking even with all the parts and maintenence and thank god for my night job!!!!
but it is fun and have met a lot of like minded people!!!
www.parbab.com
 
I say go for it. Get a NIB Spidey and Ironman and when the venture fails, you got 2 new pins to put in your gameroom. WIN!!!
 
I'm suprised that no one has mentioned the part about getting a business license and any necessary permits. Also no talk about your profit after paying the location owner their cut. Then figure how much money you need to have left over just to make the payment to the bank. It's not as easy as it sounds. I've talked to a few OPS and there's a reason there's not a whole lot of pins on site these days. I was told (true or not) the real money is in jukes and not vids or pins.

And from personal experience I will tell you having a machine setup for quarters only is a terrible idea. If it has a bill acceptor you're gauranteed to get a dollar instead of .50. How many people carry around quarters these days? Most people are too lazy to go to the bar and get change. I had a multi in a fairly busy bar and I would be lucky to get $15.00 a week (quarter a play).
 
I'm suprised that no one has mentioned the part about getting a business license and any necessary permits. Also no talk about your profit after paying the location owner their cut. Then figure how much money you need to have left over just to make the payment to the bank. It's not as easy as it sounds. I've talked to a few OPS and there's a reason there's not a whole lot of pins on site these days. I was told (true or not) the real money is in jukes and not vids or pins.

And from personal experience I will tell you having a machine setup for quarters only is a terrible idea. If it has a bill acceptor you're gauranteed to get a dollar instead of .50. How many people carry around quarters these days? Most people are too lazy to go to the bar and get change. I had a multi in a fairly busy bar and I would be lucky to get $15.00 a week (quarter a play).

Around here, almost everything is cranes, cranes, cranes and they seem to do pretty well. Pins are almost non-existant. Galaga/MsPac reunion machines seem to be all over the place too, then again those two games always were earnings monsters.

-Hans
 
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