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Operating WCS for a month

Spadge

Spadge

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So my machines are generally low play, however one of them, World Cup Soccer 94, has been on free play in the office as part of a tournament whilst the World Cup itself was on. I've been quietly surprised at how it's held up during a month of play.

Problems:

- F116 fuse blew twice, which is caused when the 5v drops likely from driving the colour dmd. I'm putting in another transformer to help this by running the colour dmd from it, so shouldn't be an issue.
- Keeper plastic lost a screw, nothing surprising given the bashing it gets. Put a new one in.
- Had a wedge bulb pop out on the right ramp.
- One of the protector rings in the kickout holes came loose (didn't refit)
- Three or four stuck balls (on top of the TV Award mostly, once in top left switch after diverter)

All in all, had to do running repairs a few times, but nothing major.

Everyone had a great time and the table is well liked. Surprised me how much fun the table was, I had a great time revamping it.
 
What a great idea! Good to hear so many people enjoyed it!

Just a thought though, if the machine was on site and you got called out for each of those issues, would you consider that many in a month to be a reasonable amount?

I've been there personally and can tell you that is why i site newer Sterns whenever i can!
 
Out of interest, what sort of money can you make when siting a machine? Averages - not "game dependent" obviously.
 
Problem is they ARE game dependent. Although Dialed in is a far superior game to Star Wars (IMHO), Star Wars will take probably 10 times what dialed in will take. Sited Pins are mostly played by the casual player and therefore theme is everything. As for a figure, £100 per week per pin? This again depends on location....
 
Matt Vince said:
What a great idea! Good to hear so many people enjoyed it!

Just a thought though, if the machine was on site and you got called out for each of those issues, would you consider that many in a month to be a reasonable amount?

I've been there personally and can tell you that is why i site newer Sterns whenever i can!
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I've no idea what would be suggested as reasonable. Most of the stuck balls, blown fuses and such were major problems, but it was on free play so no big deal. I'm not sure I'd want to be operating them for real as such.
 
Tucks said:
Problem is they ARE game dependent. Although Dialed in is a far superior game to Star Wars (IMHO), Star Wars will take probably 10 times what dialed in will take. Sited Pins are mostly played by the casual player and therefore theme is everything. As for a figure, £100 per week per pin? This again depends on location....
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Hmmm, that is interesting so a 2.2 year payback on a modern Stern (assuming a 50/50 split). I am sure there are huge things to consider such as insurance etc. But siting some older WPC games in Norwich could be a decent little business potentially? Or do people already cover Norwich? Not many pins out and about...
 
Tucks said:
Problem is they ARE game dependent. Although Dialed in is a far superior game to Star Wars (IMHO), Star Wars will take probably 10 times what dialed in will take. Sited Pins are mostly played by the casual player and therefore theme is everything. As for a figure, £100 per week per pin? This again depends on location....
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Totally licensing dependent I agree.

James said:
Hmmm, that is interesting so a 2.2 year payback on a modern Stern (assuming a 50/50 split). I am sure there are huge things to consider such as insurance etc. But siting some older WPC games in Norwich could be a decent little business potentially? Or do people already cover Norwich? Not many pins out and about...
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TAF still trumps many I'm reliably informed. Mostly because its a good theme and average playtime is quite short (mean game as it is) and it's addictive.
 
I bought my TAF 3 years ago and it paid for itself within 8 months and I can probably sell it now for what I paid for it. Don't forget there is a bit of maintenance involved.
 
James said:
Hmmm, that is interesting so a 2.2 year payback on a modern Stern (assuming a 50/50 split). I am sure there are huge things to consider such as insurance etc. But siting some older WPC games in Norwich could be a decent little business potentially? Or do people already cover Norwich? Not many pins out and about...
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A decent earner in a good site will do £100+ a week.

If you are putting an older title out you better make sure it's bulletproof. A game suddenly switched on for 12 hours+ every day and being played a fair bit after years of light use in a home environment will soon let you know what it thinks about that :D

Go for it though if you can identify a potential site. Nothing to lose.
 
I'd wondered about putting a couple in the local pub thats being done up, he's a pinball fan and I could do with room for new pins :)
 
If anyone has any advice on this, what is required etc. Advice I would love to hear it, I don't want to be stepping on anyone's toes in the area though of course. Please get in touch though, as I may look at this as a way to up my collection and as a side earner to fund more machines...
 
James said:
If anyone has any advice on this, what is required etc. Advice I would love to hear it, I don't want to be stepping on anyone's toes in the area though of course. Please get in touch though, as I may look at this as a way to up my collection and as a side earner to fund more machines...
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I think there has already been a few threads on this. Lots of useful info in this one - http://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/maintaining-a-sited-pinball.35006/#post-187442
 
I have my WCS in my local pub down the road and it is making roughly £40 a week which is split 60/40 in my favor. That might not sound like much but when you think the game is probably worth maybe £1,600 and I’ve had zero issues in the last few months it’s been there it all adds up.

I rebuilt the flippers before putting it on site but that was about it. :thumbs:
 
My Spiderman is in a comic book and collectibles shop in Watford, it's out the way of the main drag so footfall is relatively low but has taken a regular £80 per month- low compared to what would be available in a pub, but it's safe so I'm happy with that!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
Yeah, knowing @pinsinthewild he operates a ton and has said it's a lot of work for not a great payback especially given the amount of maintenance. I'd just fancy having 1 or 2 in my local since I'm friends with the landlord and he's a pin fan. I wouldn't operate any of my current blinged collection, I'd buy one to operate.
 
My mate is doing something similar with a new vw camper. He couldn't afford to buy one, so he rents it out to cover the loan. He is hoping to have it paid off in 4 years time. Then he has his dream van. The issue is it might be fooked by then.
I thought it would be good to do the same with a new stern. The money it makes would contribute to it and I could go play it whenever I wanted. But knowing my luck the pub would burn down a week before it was paid off.
 
Hence my point on insurances and contracts, which you would need IMHO
 
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