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Pinball ownership and cash flow advice/input needed

huggers

huggers

Site Supporter
Joined
Sep 22, 2016
Messages
3,243
Location
West Dorset
Alias
Andy Hug
Really just thinking out loud here/looking for advice. I currently own a beautiful huo GB Pro. I've not long had it as many of you know. It is a stunning machine and I'm thrilled to own it and can play it for hours. However. As I'm sure is the same for many of you, real life and pinball ownership aren't always the best of bedfellows when it comes to finances. I have a lot of outgoings and a gf looking to do lots of grown up things that don't involve walloping a silver ball over a bit of wood with mechanical flippers. They do however involve travelling and installing a new bathroom.

So. What to do. My options as I see it. Keep my GB and enjoy it but have to hold off a good while on the grown up things. Sell the GB and step away from the pinball game for a while. Or, downgrade to something a bit more humble but still fun, like a Fish Tales, Getaway or Road Show. Have any of you guys found yourselves in similar dilemmas? Any suggestions?
 
I wouldn't necessarily see exchanging your GB for a 90s machine as a downgrade. You do an exchange deal on here maybe ?


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windoesnot said:
Did you not tell her pins are all £500?
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Yep, pinball rule #002 right there.
Were I in your position sell it while the value is still high and buy something for about £1K instead. A good machine ought to give you nearly the same experience for a lot less money.
Course if you bought it off here, relist on here, that's rule #001.

;)
 
Jonwolf said:
I wouldn't necessarily see exchanging your GB for a 90s machine as a downgrade. You do an exchange deal on here maybe ?


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Yeah I did think this might be an option, offer it up for something cheaper + cash. Either way if I let it go I'll put it on here first.

Kenny Taylor said:
No fun in a bathroom. It wouldn't stop. She'll want a kitchen next and then a new suite.. Just keep your GB and save up for whatever she wants next.
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Thankfully the kitchen has just been done. The garden follows the bathroom. It's never ending!

Monkeyboypaul said:
I'd choose experiences over objects any day, and we did happily until mortgages & kids arrived! Now we only really have the one option. Sell, spend/travel, enjoy the time & come back when it suits.
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This is what I'm thinking. The hobby isn't going anywhere. I'll have a good think over the coming days and come up with a plan
 
Kenny Taylor said:
No fun in a bathroom.......
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Seriously, you'e never lived! Pinball is fun, but watching one of the finance girls strip off, jump in a bath and you pour champagne over her beats it hands down.... expensing the champagne which said finance girl would sign off the end of the week made it nigh on perfect....
ahhhh, the world before kids and marriage....
 
"grown up things"?

Surely the reason we play pinball is so we don't grow up. Escape reality for a few hours when reality (ie grown up stuff) is actually wife, kids and bathrooms!

Life is about experiences and I spend most of my money doing stuff. Never want to be on my death bed saying stuff like "wow, I had a great life. Did jack sh*t but had a lovely house to sit in each night"

Maybe it's just me but life's too short.
 
I'd vote for experiences over possessions. On your deathbed will you look back and say 'I wish I'd played more pinball" , 'I wish I'd showered in a better bathroom' or ' I wish I'd watched more sunsets on the beach in Bali' ?
 
And to me value of a game has hardly any relationship to the fun gained from playing. Can have as much fun on an £800 game as an £8000 game.

And can have as much fun on an 80's game as a 90's or later.

And some 'C' listers are way more fun than many of the 'A' titles.
 
I recently "downgraded". I'm totally happy with what I have now and the extra cash really helped!

Agree that experiences > possessions. Possessions in themselves are garbage.
 
No easy answer here. All down to your financial resources

No point spending 2k on a pinball machine you do not care for and will never play

If you are a responsible spender and your other half is moaning about your spending, get rid of her. This situation will get worse.

If you are an irresponsible spender and your other half is moaning about your spending then listen to her.

I expect few will agree, but imho the TV/ internet often offer better experiences at a fraction of the cost than the real thing.

I have been to sports finals for example _ invariably better to watch them on TV. Other than ice hockey.

I have done safaris, scuba diving ..... Better on tv

Other folk have wasted serious money feeding me, boozing me, putting me up in hotels. I would rather have a pie and a pint with my mates

I played a game of banzai run today. Two multiballs. Scored the jackpot on my second one. Scored 5m. This ranks pretty high up my experiences list
 
I tinker with my pinballs so my boys have something different then at their friends houses. In no way are they my toys ;)

Seriously though I would never spend or have tied up in pinball what I could not afford. I don't look at it as a status or investment, it's just a bit of fun.

However, I would not sell a machine for a holiday, they are overrated. I would sell to free up cash for home improvement.

And home improvement never ends...
 
Real life stuff comes first for me; house, holidays, family stuff etc. and sold plenty of nice machines to fund those over last five years. Pinball toys come afterwards... if you got space, get a couple of older cheaper machines and pocket the rest of the £ you need for other things I reckon. You can always buy a GB again in future.

... and don't ask @lukewells , he'll tell you the exact opposite !
 
The way I view it is that any money I have tied up in pinball machines is money that hasn't been frittered away into the ether and can be converted into emergency cash if need be. I wouldn't consider a holiday or a new bathroom to be something to break into emergency funds for. It's trickier to cash in a spent holiday or 'new' bathroom suite if you suddenly get made redundant for instance.
 
Trade your 5K+ GB for a 2K game that's just aa much fun. Your gf will appreciate it. Spend a grand on her and put 2K towards the bathroom. She'll appreciate that as well. So you get to enjoy the fruits of all the appreciation
 
Ahhh feck that. All being an adult means is that you have the skills and resources required to afford expensive toys and experiences. Everything else you hear is just moaning from people not happy with their lot in life.

If your bag is world travel, save up for a trip to North Korea. If you like expensive last-year arcade devices, buy pinball. Change your mind later? What's the problem? If you would be made happier doing up your bathroom, then no more depressing of a thing than forgoing anything else to feed a hobby.

Make yourself happy whatever it is. Tell anyone that tells you to do something that won't make you happy, to **** right off.

If that's your wife though... maybe you didn't pick so well :eek:
 
Haha I should point out my gf is superb and never puts any such pressure on me to speak of. I'm leaning towards what Dan and one or two others have said. Trade it/sell it down and get a 2ker.
 
huggers said:
Haha I should point out my gf is superb and never puts any such pressure on me to speak of. I'm leaning towards what Dan and one or two others have said. Trade it/sell it down and get a 2ker.
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Happy wife, happy life as they say.
 
Replay said:
Happy wife, happy life as they say.
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That's why I divorced mine at the end of last year after 17 years together. She was always miserable and glass half empty. **** that, I'm a depressive anyway so that's the last thing I need to be around.

I agree with all of the advice offered, do what makes you happy dude. Life could be gone in an instant, hit by a bus or whatever. **** em all. Do whatever won't hurt others but will still be enjoyable, I'm sure it's gotta be the best road to happiness at the end of the day. At least I hope so.
 
Replay said:
Happy wife, happy life as they say.
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I was at a bus stop in my youth and the GF of the time was bitching about something when this old lady who was also there piped up and said...

"Patience is a virtue, find it if you can, never in a woman and seldom in a man"

...I didn't think much of it at the time but it stuck with me for some reason and it rings true now in my life.
 
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