Uncomfortably. There’s no room for a bloody bed as the whole floor space is taken up with hoarded pins
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Where have all the pins gone?
- Thread starter jonathan
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Uncomfortably. There’s no room for a bloody bed as the whole floor space is taken up with hoarded pins
You know it !The bigger question for me is how your partners put up with you having so much space and money tied up in Pinball machines? You all must be **** hot in the sack.
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I agree some of the 80's classics are hard to find for numerous reasons.
However, if you ignore cherry titles like Fathom, Centaur etc, there is plenty of fun to be had if you pick titles that aren't in the cool club.
There was a Skateball ( one of Elwin's favourite games, hence goes by Sk8ball ) on this forum that went unsold for months and months... ( this year ).
I took a chance and bought it as it looked fun and you can ignore the tourney strategy at home, which even Keith doesn't enjoy!
Admittedly, it needed a fair bit of tinkering/fixing to get it fully dialled in.
But, turns out it is one of THE best games I have ever had in the home.
Drop targets everywhere, and a dangerous to build bonus, that never gets old when you nail the max bonus.
Set it up fairly hard, 3 balls, so I can play a game sometimes while the kettle is boiling
Fantastic for multiplayer as unlike my modern games, I don't have to wait 15 mins for a turn!
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I was thinking the same
DefoI was thinking the same
I normally hate Country Music, but absolutely love Roadshow and the music doesn't irritate me at all. I find myself playing Roadshow before some of the others I own as its a fun quick game, and unlike modern stuff, I know what I'm meant to be aiming at. Really good game.Nope.
I often go weeks without playing Roadshow. Then I'll play it multiple times a week, even when I've got home from work late at night
I like knowing Roadshow is there for me, when I'm down I'll spend some time with Ted
I spend more time fiddling with games than playing them. I play more when I have company or I'm obsessing over one particular game.
I'd be surprised if most people on this forum play each of their games every week. You're saying they shouldn't own any at all if going by your logic.
This is a hobby. Folks can’t have rules
I love how I got credit for this quote, and I would have said it but this time it was @Silverpaolo who said it.Uncomfortably. There’s no room for a bloody bed as the whole floor space is taken up with hoarded pins
Interestingly when i picked up my TZ, was from a guy who lived in central London. Went into his place, and the whole flat was full of pinball machine Heads (With Translites). He assured me that he had the bodies to them all..
Literally - Floor to Ceiling... from door, all the way around the walls, back to the door again... must have been 100+
Literally - Floor to Ceiling... from door, all the way around the walls, back to the door again... must have been 100+
Yep it’s a funny thing pinball … they are meant to be played to be enjoyed, as a classic car is meant to be driven to be enjoyed … however just simply having and admiring also gives a tremendous amount of enjoyment and satisfaction … it’s a lovely feeling marvelling at your collection
Straight to hell with you!Think I’ve got three of the pins Vee has posted wanted ads for and probably haven’t turned any of them on since July.
I can easily go for 18 months without playing a specific game.
Even worse I’ve currently got two tombstoned.
Oh well.
I don't actually want a Fathom. I have a Centaur
Neither do I especially want an MM because it costs more than an AFM and does the same thing I find it fascinating that people immediately read someone making an argument and assume it's there for entirely selfish reasons, and about sour grapes
We don't have room for more than five pins and we currently own seven. Having recently advertised for a bunch of stuff that I realised I couldn't choose between, because I didn't actually want any of it, it's certainly not coming from a position of rage over stuff I can't own. If I desperately wanted to own this stuff, I'd just import it from overseas
The reality is that I've owned more than 2,000 board games at various points - more than I could ever play. They didn't make me happy and the marginal cost of space/playing mediocre games to see if I liked them, outweighed any possible pleasure. I've sold most of them and am still selling them. Seven years after my dad died, I'm also still clearing his 700-square-foot-self-built workshop - another dude who loved collecting stuff that he didn't use. He owned tonnes of heavy machinery - I recently removed an entire truckful of wood. He didn't use half the stuff, it didn't make him happier, but it sure as heck made me (and my mum) more miserable when he got dementia and smashed it all up.
So, if you want to know where the emotion is here, it's the desperate sadness of searching Pinball Owners a few months ago (before I got the Centaur) and seeing collectors (largely in mainland Europe, I admit) with 150-200 pins listed, all "In storage, Awaiting Restoration" and knowing every one of them probably planned, one day, maybe after retirement, to unfold every machine and get them working. But, as my dad always said "life is but an empty dream", and the miserable reality is that there would be too many pins to work on in a collection even a tenth of that size, and those collectors' children - who probably aren't interested in pinball - will end up (depending on condition) either putting those pins in a skip or sending them to an auction - all still "Awaiting Restoration".
Which is so desperately, desperately sad when retro games are so popular, and league pinball is growing, and they could - at the very least - donate some of the D-list titles to a secondary school somewhere, so the kids could get the pins working and have the pride of enjoying their achievement at break-time.
Because... share the love, I guess
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I'm sure it's the same with anything retro, mechanical and collectable be it watches, cars, juke boxes or anything else. . . .There will be a large number collected and an equal amount awaiting repair.
Things are getting done though as can be seen by the shop logs on here and folk listing project machines.
Things are getting done though as can be seen by the shop logs on here and folk listing project machines.
That sounds very much like it was Lee Buck @pinballslave except (when I met him) he had them in a building at the bottom of the garden rather than a flat. He's since escaped the country and taken them all with him.
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I know, you mentioned you like classics - Fathom is a classic pin to me and an example of how sometimes you have to wait for things and not expect all these hoarders of games to tip up just because you can't obtain one.I don't actually want a Fathom. I have a Centaur
I find it fascinating that people immediately read someone making an argument and assume it's there for entirely selfish reasons, and about sour grapes
Because that's how it reads to everyone.
I don't want one. Or, rather, I don't want one enough to make a massive effort to get hold of one. Or, even, enough of an effort to move around some stuff upstairs.
Yes, I like classics. I don't need to own every classic. Or even three classics in a seven-pin collection. I also live within an hours' cycle ride of Funland, and a short train journey of all of PBR, Medway Pinball Club and The Pinball Office - so, I don't see why I'd want to devote all that time, money and effort to repairing and storing an unnecessarily large number of vintage machines when I can pay for someone else to do it for me (I am, obviously, 100% interested in helping out wherever I can
) This was my first London lesson I got from a native Londoner. Same as public parks -vs- private gardens. Space is at a premium, so you collectively share what you cannot individually own.
Well, that's how it reads to you, obviously...
I guess I'm just desperately sad that there's some lonely b***r someplace tripping over a bunch of hoarded pinball heads (and filling a flat is hoarding) when, every time I go onto location, I see kids, teens and families playing pinball. And I just think "yes, massive unplayed collections were justified when arcades were trashing machines, and it was only the efforts of a small number of enthusiasts that saved them from the skip/fire, but we don't live in that world now, so what a shame that some of these games are still being used as room ornaments".
It's especially sad when companies like CPR make lovely mirrored and reproduction backglasses/playfields, and other companies sell display boxes. So, if you're a huge backglass fan, you can sell the unplayed pins (with their heads attached), fill your boots with arcade artwork, and leave the money you've earned to your kids.
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@David_Vi You keep your pins in what amounts to a semi-public venue where you run regular tournaments. You are part of the solution, not part of the problem
Honestly, you could build a huge extension and put 100+ pins in it, and you'd still be part of the solution I have to say Vee that the vast number of people I've met in this hobby do lots to allow people access to their games.
There's a lot of benevolence in this hobby and certainly far more than any other pastime I can think of.
People loan each other pins, donate to clubs, open clubs, donate games to pinfest etc. I'm a lucky recipient of this generosity because people loan me games to film and open up their collections and clubs for videos.
It's easy to focus on those who keep their collections to themselves (which is absolutely their right btw), but what about all of the people restoring games and selling them on so as they can be enjoyed?
I've just been lucky enough to buy a Theatre of Magic which has been lovingly restored. So many people do so much for pinball that the good far outweighs any negativity.
The only reason I'm not listing people who have generously donated to this hobby is fear of missing someone out but the list is long. I doubt the list of people hoarding tombstoned pins is anywhere near as many as those sharing.
There's a lot of benevolence in this hobby and certainly far more than any other pastime I can think of.
People loan each other pins, donate to clubs, open clubs, donate games to pinfest etc. I'm a lucky recipient of this generosity because people loan me games to film and open up their collections and clubs for videos.
It's easy to focus on those who keep their collections to themselves (which is absolutely their right btw), but what about all of the people restoring games and selling them on so as they can be enjoyed?
I've just been lucky enough to buy a Theatre of Magic which has been lovingly restored. So many people do so much for pinball that the good far outweighs any negativity.
The only reason I'm not listing people who have generously donated to this hobby is fear of missing someone out but the list is long. I doubt the list of people hoarding tombstoned pins is anywhere near as many as those sharing.
Even if they are, it's their choice. I have an irreplaceable potc, Big Fair and Joker Poker. Only potc set up but not played. According to this twisted logic I am the problem.
If you've noticed, I've never - at any point - criticised or questioned the many people who loan games, donate games to Pinfest, open up their houses for tournaments, found pinball clubs, donate their time to help run clubs, run events, repair machines and restore games for sale
My heartfelt thanks to those people. I wish I, personally, could do more 
Neither have I said no one has a right to keep collections to themselves.
What I have said is that, despite people having a right to do whatever they want with pins, up to and including setting them on fire, I have... well... feels about people who - for example - detach the backbox off 100+ games and stack them in their flat. They're legally entitled to do this and, as a political liberal, should I become prime minister, I wouldn't make a law stopping them. But, I do think it's not the most pro-social thing you can do when, for example, you could reconnect the backboxes and lend them to PBR, or a community centre, or just sell ninety pins, set up the remaining ten, and invite the neighbour's kids around for a game
The original question was where the pins have gone? Due to my experience looking on Pinball Owners, I had a sense that there might be a bunch of people who passively keep huge numbers of games to themselves - and who have been removing pins from circulation. Other people don't think these people exist. So, maybe it is just growth in the hobby and Williams Amusements selling a limited number of older pins to families with one or two games
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I would just like to point out no matter what someone says @VeeMonroe will stretch this out for no reason
Pretty much all of us are on the same page apart from @VeeMonroe end of conversation, lock the thread and lets burn a tombstoned machine in her name
Pretty much all of us are on the same page apart from @VeeMonroe end of conversation, lock the thread and lets burn a tombstoned machine in her name
You ever read a thread and conclude that you need a completely different hobby?
You think it's bad now, wait till my Euro Millions comes in and I hoover up all the pins in the country into my own private pin warehouse. I'll have them all tombstoned just to really take the p*ss 
Yeah, this thread needs putting to bed, it's utter dross. Edit: And Jonathan should be put on level one of the ban system for starting it.
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