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Stages of pinball ownership

I don't have an issue honest! They are in transition …. some coming, some going
Wife quote 'Why do we need to sell the sofa?' , Me ' We don't use it, and it could pay towards a holiday :) '
 
You forgot 'when it's time to buy a car, only look at ones that will fit a pin in'. I'd put that into the rational category :)

I've thought about this a few times, but for the amount I move pins (maybe 3 or 4 in a year) I can never justify the extra running costs of a bigger car for the sake of having a handy pin mover. I'd rather give Martin the business and have my mini :) I probably save the £75 I would give to him in petrol and wear and tear having a lower mileage, more economical car. If I was moving pins every month though I'd deffo consider it.
 
When I was after a new car I really really tried to like the Jazz due to it's flat load space but I couldn't stand the idea of driving around in a granny-mobile, so I've ended up with a Kia Rio and I'll just continue to use works Astra Van for pin moving :p
 
We've just bought a second hand Honda Jazz especially for the occasional pin moving. ;)

A great small car with massive luggage space. :thumbs: No need to drive a Tank around all the time with the problems of parking it anywhere, or hiring a small van anymore.
 
When I was after a new car I really really tried to like the Jazz due to it's flat load space but I couldn't stand the idea of driving around in a granny-mobile, so I've ended up with a Kia Rio and I'll just continue to use works Astra Van for pin moving :p
Que @TYHO
 
Depending how quickly WPT arrives I may briefly venture back into the 4 zone or the 2 zone :)
 
Sizing up any space from a living room to a warehouse and thinking how many games would fit must be stage 4 and above
 
well I'm at stage 2.. I had a DE Simpsons sold it and bought a Bally Shadow. :) I'm looking forward to stage 3
 
I have done all of the stages ..lol
The only thing i really don't like doing is selling them...

Stage 6 is sell them all and finishing the house extensions that i started in 2009 ...
 
So I'm at stage 1. But that sounds like I am no closer to getting me a table, which is wrong.

There was no way I could even consider stage 1 until I had a place of my own. Now I do I could potentially put a pin in the cellar or loft conversion. Cellar preferred now I have the damp/hunidity finally defeated but getting it down there would be a pain in the **** (as would getting it up to the loft). So maybe I need to work on the missus for the front room...

Also pre-stage 1 was saving up to buy a milling machine. Now I have all the machining capability I could ever need (except for a CNC conversion) the next thing to save up for is a table.

Anyway, point is, I think pre-stage 1 preparation should be a stage in itself.
 
Here's the stages I went through...
Day 1: Looked for Paragon, the pin of my youth... couldn't find one, bought BoP instead.
Next day got a call from Dave Kingston saying 'I hear you're looking for a Paragon'... 2nd pin arrived in day 2!
This was a pretty stable line up for around a year an half!! Then, got bored of BoP, decided to look for a change... the local op who I bought BoP off was getting out of pinball and offered me 11 games at a bargain price... bought them and hired a lock-up...
Realised there was some money to be made to pay for eventual keepers, especially in Belgium at the time where I often went for business trips... bought cheap van for next business trip, and came back with another 12 games... put games in spare space in lockup.
Next trip to Belgium resulted in another van load of games, squeezed them in lockup and started putting them around the house in places where they wouldn't be in the way.
Realised that 4 cabs placed on their sides fat end to thin end made an excellent base for a double matrass... started sleeping on them!
Filled van up again an other trip, but no-where to put them, so left them in the van.
On another trip to Belgium bought more games using the works van, but couldn't bring them home... so hired a lock-up in Belgium.
Bought another van because 1st van still full of games, filled that van.
Looked for a house with a big garden so I could build a large gamesroom to put them all in... found one, built the games-room and filled it with machines stacked on end... only space to set about 4 games up and over 100 stacked on end.
Since then I moved to Czech, not for pinball reasons! And am now in the process of building another games room... all the pins were shipped out here in 2 articulated lorries about 4 years ago... and are in rented storage (storage is cheaper than in the UK thank god!).
While out here I became aware of Spanish games and my enthusiasm has been re-ignighted... probably imported around a further 50 games from Spain since being here...
:tut:
 
Thanks to Lee, I now feel like I'm quite sensible! Cheers :thumbs:

That was the problem... I met people who were much more consumed by the hobby than me... like Ray Foster... I visited him, and several rooms in his house was filled with games stacked on end... or another collector in Belgium who gave me a tour of his collection buy walking on top of the coin doors! And you think... ahhh, I'm not that crazy after-all... so you relax, you think that buying another van-load is normal... it's the slippery slope :sad:
 
I remember your games cabin with the backglasses (and possibly playfields ?) as the ceiling tiles of the suspended ceiling and thinking thats crazy (in a cool way)

The buying of a second van due to the first van being full may have been a sign... :hmm::suspect:
 
I remember your games cabin with the backglasses (and possibly playfields ?) as the ceiling tiles of the suspended ceiling and thinking thats crazy (in a cool way)

Yes, they were playfields... I had to take them all down and they're now out here with the same idea in mind... Can't wait to get them up again!!!

My advice is: best just to give in to it... or you'll only suffer from "I want another pin but I'm refraining from getting one for reasons I don't understand' syndrome... those kind of thoughts can mess your head up! Where's that devil emoticon???
 
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