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Is pinball in trouble in the UK?

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huggers

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Is it just me or is pinball's popularity over here flagging. The forum is so quiet compared to how it used to be. It used to be so much more lively on here. Then there's the for sale section. Games that would have been described as well priced or even cheap are moving so much slower than they would have.

The whole time I've been into pinball (not long, about 9 years) it's always been growing. Obviously it exploded during Covid and that was never going to continue but this seems like a huge rebound reaction. Good thing is some games are/will be cheaper. Bad news is there's less people for the fun and the long term health of the hobby.

Cost of living combined with short sighted greedy pricing? I guess the constant stream of NIB games of varying quality is contributing as well but it seems more than that. What do you think?
 
Like share prices there will always be peaks and troughs. The current price model for a box of lights is unsustainable at its current asking price and so it will fall steadily until the buyers come back where they see value again.

Couple that with build quality being inferior to what it used to be doesn't help things either.
 
I’m gonna contrast this mate and say, personally, I think it’s firing.
Yes the market is slow. A lot of people who paid a lot for Covid machines reluctantly clinging on so as not to lose their shirt.

But in my little world of East Anglia it’s buzzing. A great core of what have now become great friends, trading and borrowing machines all over the place. Comps and meets a go go.

I guess it depends on your local scene versus willingness to travel.

I reckon a lot discussion traffic from here has gone to WhatsApp groups as well.
 
I do think life takes over sometimes and you get a slap in the face regarding priorities.
I don’t think pinballs in trouble, just a lull maybe.
And prices definitely have to catch up with the rest of reality.
 
I've been doing this since 1997. It's on its **** because of the economy/ people's perception of it.

All collecting scenes are feeling it at the moment from what I can see.
 
Outside of values I do think that this is close to being a golden age - very few people my age have ever seen a pinball machine let alone played one and I do wonder if the "scene" will be anywhere near as lively in 10 years.
 
Alpha1 said:
I've been doing this since 1997. It's on its **** because of the economy/ people's perception of it.

All collecting scenes are feeling it at the moment from what I can see.
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Same and arcades since 80’s, was a hobby I liked due to minimal costs plus I’m handy with fixing them but I’ve taken a spanking lately and I’m not up for that. Dust the rods off and go fishing😂
 
Alpha1 said:
I've been doing this since 1997. It's on its **** because of the economy/ people's perception of it.

All collecting scenes are feeling it at the moment from what I can see.
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Yeah I've noticed the exact same thing in the watch collecting world. The pattern is identical
 
The amount of Pins available is greater than people/spaces to accommodate them, and each successive year there will be more.

It doesn't matter if 10 Pins come up for sale that I fancy, I just haven't got any space for them, I'm happy with the two I've got, so I'm less likely to comment on the forum. It doesn't mean I like Pinball any less.

Supply and demand is driving prices down.

The dealers will be able to tell you if it's in trouble or not.
 
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mplayfield said:
I was chatting with Martin the delivery guy and he said that he is so busy and he doesn’t see any kind of slow down in pinball trading, in fact he said he can barely keep up.
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He's not going to tell you he's quiet now is he, that would be bad for business.
 
Cost of living, high interest rates..
when they get back down to the 2.5-3% mark, people will have more ££ in their pocket… well.. depends on how this tax fiasco pans out.

Quite a few pins going on to EBay to maximise the return. @Colywobbles Scooby Doo sold for £9K on EBay, wouldn’t have got that much on here.

Supply & Demand- depends on what game/ manufacturer it is. Stern pins- LEs Prems etc.. you can still get.
Pins like Winchester house - sold out, Beetlejuice sold out.. probably due to them being genuine LIMTED NUMBERS. People don’t want to loose their **** on a new pin purchase, loose 2-4K on a game, then go buy another one.. not many can afford the 4- 5K in selling and then buying new
 
Pinball in general is more popular than it's been for many years, just a lull in buying and selling due to cost of living. That we're now seeing the usual ramp up before Xmas for machine sales.

More visitors to shows like pinfest, Dutch expo, etc. More tournaments in the UK than ever. More visitors to SWL than ever.
 
Moonraker said:
Pinball in general is more popular than it's been for many years, just a lull in buying and selling due to cost of living. That we're now seeing the usual ramp up before Xmas for machine sales.

More visitors to shows like pinfest, Dutch expo, etc. More tournaments in the UK than ever. More visitors to SWL than ever.
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Yes but they don’t want to buy them! Turn up and play, can’t blame them.
 
I don't think it's a lack of people or interest, but an increased supply. We have had so many amazing new machines and new manufacturer's come to party over the last 5 years. People are buying new machines and moving older ones on. The economy and people tightening their belts is definitely playing a part, but Pinball is in great shape and Pinball prices becoming more reasonable will hopefully help bring more people into the hobby.
 
Dave Bishop said:
Cost of living, high interest rates..
when they get back down to the 2.5-3% mark, people will have more ££ in their pocket… well.. depends on how this tax fiasco pans out.

Quite a few pins going on to EBay to maximise the return. @Colywobbles Scooby Doo sold for £9K on EBay, wouldn’t have got that much on here.

Supply & Demand- depends on what game/ manufacturer it is. Stern pins- LEs Prems etc.. you can still get.
Pins like Winchester house - sold out, Beetlejuice sold out.. probably due to them being genuine LIMTED NUMBERS. People don’t want to loose their **** on a new pin purchase, loose 2-4K on a game, then go buy another one.. not many can afford the 4- 5K in selling and then buying new
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Nobody wants loose sh!t.
 
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Reactions: JT.
I've not been here in months, been busy with other non pinball projects but as prices are still post Covid there's nothing I can warrant buying.
When there IS a real adjustment then it'll be different.
 
my wife says "pinball is a middle aged mans hobby",I get where she is coming from as most people don't have a good disposable income until later in life
 
I’ve got a real lack of enthusiasm at the moment. Ten years ago I’d probably buy and sell 6-8 games + a year. Now it’s maybe one a year.

I simply don’t see the value in new games. I don’t want a stripped down game for 7-8k and can’t justify over 10 grand for a premium.

There’s probably been some great games in the last couple of years but they’ve been passing me by due to the price tags. King Kong seems ok when I’ve played it but I don’t want to buy one at the prices seen.

There also seem to be far less classic 90s games coming up which is telling. Seems like people are just sticking with what they’ve got.

D&D seems like an easy example. I’d rate the premium as giving the same value as A list 90s games. So effectively 6k tops. No one is going to sell one at that price and take a 4 grand hit but as a buyer I wouldn’t go higher.

So in answer to the initial question I’d say the market is in real trouble..
 
10 years ago there was hardly anywhere to play pinball in the North East and Stern and JJP were the only real players in the scene.

Now we have SpaceBar, NQ64, Four Quarters to play games on location. And Spooky, Barrels of fun, CGC, Dutch and American Pinball all pumping out good games. The scenes as alive as it's ever been imo. There's so much new stuff coming out that the market for older games has slowed right down. People only have so much money to spend
 
I still consider myself new to the hobby as I only got my 1st pin about 18 months ago after wanting one for ooh….about 20 years. Quite simply, could never afford it and didn’t have anywhere in the house to put it that was going to get managerial approval.
I’m now in my early 50s and was playing pinball in the 90s such as Lethal Weapon and DE’s Star Wars. After leaving uni, I don’t recall really seeing many machines out in the wild and to my mind, it was around the turn of the millennium that pinball was in real trouble. Now it seems there are lots of different manufacturers, more so than in the so called heyday of pinball. This can only be a good thing as they compete for market share.
I think that after us 50+ guys there will be a drop off in the hobby again until the youth who are seeing today’s multitude of games, get to their stage of life that they too can afford to buy a few games to recreate their nostalgia.
Prices are crazy. I don’t want to buy a cut down version of a game. I want the full experience but over £10k is a non starter. I would rather buy 2nd hand from this community that I have grown to trust.
 
Ryker said:
I think that after us 50+ guys there will be a drop off in the hobby again until the youth who are seeing today’s multitude of games, get to their stage of life that they too can afford to buy a few games to recreate their nostalgia.
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What nostalgia? There are no young people playing pinball - I play on location a lot and the only people I ever see playing regularly are 50+, so I fully expect that in 10-20 years we’ll be back to the pinball dark ages again as there’s very few new pinball players.
 
Is this a variation of the annual theme, we need to tag these type threads so we can compare them year on year.

My opinion. Second hand prices got too high during Covid and prices needed to take an adjustment.
New prices and the subsequent loss, on top of lowering quality mean less people want to buy in new.
More people out there playing pins, more meets and more people at quality shows.
 
I’m still fairly new to pinball and genuinely loving the hobby, learning more every day. But this past year has left me a bit disappointed in two areas:

The second-hand market
Prices feel massively inflated. I understand some people bought at peak, but compared with what newer machines offer, it’s hard to justify — especially if you don’t have much space and need to be selective. (not counting the classics).

The lack of innovation
Spike 3 has been underwhelming, and Insider Connected still feels years behind where it should be. Stern really need stronger direction on the digital side, as it all feels a bit stuck.

I had funds ready for the next Star Wars or a Tron remake and was hoping Spike 3 would bring something fresh. But even if Star Wars launched now, it doesn’t excite me. Same with a Walking Dead remake — it just feels “fine” when the prices demand more. Even King Kong felt like a missed opportunity without Spike 3 in an Elwin game.

That said, I do like what’s happening with titles like Evil Dead, Beetlejuice, Dune and the mansion game — even if the themes aren’t personally for me.
And yet, most mornings I still think: “Should I just get Jaws?”
Because that machine really is something special.
 
Marvello said:
So judging off the comments it seems Pinball is both dead and alive at the same time, Schrodinger's Pinball if you will.
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Pinball for the private collectors market is the most alive it’s ever been (and probably ever will be) but location play is dead - and without location play getting new players there’ll be no one to be in the private collectors market in the future.
 
Is pinball dying? No

Is the forum quieter and less interesting? Yes

There's two different things you're noticing but a lot of replies are looking at it from the pinball sales and economy side. Pinball isn't dying (yet), but I think it doesn't have much time left at the level of interest we're currently used to. This is more of a UK angle because we don't have lots of locations small and big like the USA, compared to the USA we have an aging demographic and not many young people getting into pinball. That's another subject though.

Re the forum, unfortunately the internet is always changing. I grew up when forums were the lifeblood of the internet, as social media and smart phones have taken over forums and message boards died a death with only niche communities surviving. Pinballinfo being a thing still in 2025 is amazing, but I think we're starting to see a decline. Like Gaz says, WhatsApp groups haven't helped.

Speaking for myself, when I was new(er) to pinball this was my go to place to post about issues, I came into pinball knowing absolutely zero about how they work, but have an inquisitive mind and a willingness to learn, so I would post regularly about issues or games and get guidance.
Now 9/10 times I can diagnose and fix issues myself but on some issues I will ask a friend via phone or text about something and if it's still beyond me I'll post here or on pinside.

Shop logs are similar, when Pinballs were still new to me it was exciting to document the process and share progress in a shop log, but when you've done it so many times and have so many games you just get on with it, I don't feel a need to take lots of photos and documents each stage. I am not sure why, because I know those threads can be interesting and help others.
Don't get me wrong I'd love to share pictures of our games before and after but I just don't think to anymore.

Back to 'Pinball in the UK Dying', the actual playing, socials and tournaments are alive and kicking.
The UK tournament scene is flourishing, but this has a caveat.
I think actual attendance to comps has fallen, but not because people aren't playing, because there's now so much choice. We have more events than before, which is amazing. But it does mean people get to pick and choose what to go to.
Claire and I used to go to every comp we could, I'd give up Sundays at work to do league meets etc but now we have to prioritise what we can and can't do, we have two dogs and in a loft of cases I work those Sundays now which limits our availability drastically.

My 2 pence, looking at it a slightly different angle😄

Happy for someone to work out if I'm right about more events but attendance down 😄
 
Pinball is in a state of limbo, the big issue is price and the influx of new people into the hobby

6-10 years ago you brought a NIB you knew you was taking a loss on it, it was more bearable when the prices were lower... The cost of a NIB has rocketed because of greed of certain companies and the industry all followed suit. (Cost of an Stern LE has gone sub £10,000 to £15,500 in 5 years)

New people into the hobby just before covid paid higher prices on older machines and NIB held their value for 2 years due to demand...

Now its back to pre covid and no one wants to take a loss

As for the scene as a whole its pretty dead there are pockets of activity like East Anglia, PBR and SWL but all of those are down south and more then 2 hours from midlands and 4 hours from the north... So for them its alive and kicking but rest of us its dead as the dodo
 
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