Why pinball is a decent investment

[maxi]

Obviously this is a topic that has been discussed but thought I would share this as things are looking a little quiet around here. I just recently sited a White Water of mine my dad's pub in Sydney and so far it is taking $50 a week more or less on $1 per game. If you're looking at a White Water for maybe 5k(??) and it can be sited to return even close to this projected $2600 a year, that's still 50% return which is not something you see much of anywhere else. Granted, this is without factoring in a site commission from which I am exempt, but it does very much justify the price that we pay for pinballs these days with their potential to rake in some cash. Pinheads also buy a lot of beer, so it's quite good for the pub too :)

Does that not put the prices today in perspective?

[silverbak]

Plus most of them are still able to earn 20 years later

(at leat true for Bally/Williams, not sure if modern Sterns could take that amount of usage though)

[Replay]

Once you factor in GST, maintenance+parts & profit share (up to 50%). PlayerOne did a good breakdown of costs in another thread which was interesting. Games need to maintained to a high standard to keep serious players happy, not so much for the casual player.

[richyrich]

My Mrs says they are a good investment because they keep me out of the pub:lol

Obviously no pins in one of my three pubs.

[hotty]

Not really in perspective from an investment point of view. Firstly we buy as collectors and pay premium prices for home use. As operators the demand for pinball in public is not there anymore hence the high resale value of machines. In your scenario I don't think you purchased machines to site all over town and if you do you will soon have to start running a vehicle, a tech for repairs, a commission to the establishment and insurances for the operator and business equipment, Doubt that will encounter a 50% return

[Rob1966]

If you buy pinballs for investment your in the wrong hobby IMHO prices go up and down all the time then there is upkeep and maintenance costs, I personally think you should only buy for your personal enjoyment and just have a good time with them.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[GORGAR 1]

If you buy pinballs for investment your in the wrong hobby IMHO prices go up and down all the time then there is upkeep and maintenance costs, I personally think you should only buy for your personal enjoyment and just have a good time with them.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Great post well said[emoji106][emoji106]

[Pie Chucker]

I personally think you should only buy for your personal enjoyment and just have a good time with them.

 

 

 

I hope no one takes that advice. We'd be left with no games on location.

[illawarra_steelers]

keep saying it and slam me, i don't care but still think the dmd market will crash within 5 years..

 

interest rates are only going one way and once they do look out.

[skids]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]108617[/ATTACH]

 

I think DMDs will be around for awhile

 

There Isn't much money in running pinballs.

Let's say you go 50/50 with the site, take out another 10%? For maintenance, if you are lucky to get $100 a week, after site and maintenances cost you make $40 a week, hardly enough to make a great living. At $40 a week, $2000 a year would take 4 years to pay off a stern pro at current prices.

That would be a top earner, more than likely half that as the only players that play pinballs are all you good players who play them for ages off the one dollar.

 

I think most sited pinballs are only on site as it's cheaper than storing them.

[ocyen]

Good on you Max. Where abouts is the pub? I haven't seen a WH2O on site recently... would love to drop a few coins in if it is not too far away.

 

I would love to site a machine myself but with the hassle of dealing with location owners, insurance, splitting the income, and all of the associated palava, I'm not sure if it would break even. I'm not fussed about making money; I just want to site a machine so other people can enjoy it.

[markandsophie]

Is that $50 in your hand or do you still have to pay the percentage to the pub etc and repairs plus petrol etc and time to fix or maintain the pin?

 

Thanks

[Audioenslaved]

Is that $50 in your hand or do you still have to pay the percentage to the pub etc and repairs plus petrol etc and time to fix or maintain the pin?

 

Thanks

 

His dad owns the pub so no 50/50 cut for maxi. So if it were 50/50 he would've had $25

[maxi]

Good on you Max. Where abouts is the pub? I haven't seen a WH2O on site recently... would love to drop a few coins in if it is not too far away.

 

I would love to site a machine myself but with the hassle of dealing with location owners, insurance, splitting the income, and all of the associated palava, I'm not sure if it would break even. I'm not fussed about making money; I just want to site a machine so other people can enjoy it.

It's in Darlinghurst - The Beauchamp Hotel

[GEE]

It's in Darlinghurst - The Beauchamp Hotel

 

Is that the only pin sited there?

 

G

[1.21 Gigawatts]

Is that the only pin sited there?

 

G

 

There was a TAF and CFTBL too but I have not been there for a while.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Aussie Arcade

[GEE]

Thanks, Duncan.

 

I saw a little opportunity to help update the sited pins thread, which has those two machines last updated at the Beauchamp on 3/8/14.

 

Cheers,

 

G

[Autosteve]

It's in Darlinghurst - The Beauchamp Hotel

 

Cool. Good on you Maxi. Seeing as you only have $50 a week at the moment to loose, how about trying a few things I found quite successful at extracting more cash out of these machines, remember, you are only risking $50 ATM anyway.

 

Piss off the auto percentaging for one.( 10% factory worked well for greedy operators but sucked to the player)

 

Actually "set" 3 replay score levels at realistic levels.

 

To work out the realistic score levels, look at the average score being made on the machine at your location using it's data and add 1/4 more as your 1st replay score level.

 

Look at the high score to date and put in the 2 remaining score levels equally between your 1st level you created and the high score to date and set them. (Remember, you can always edit them next week anyway if they aren't suitable).

 

Turn off percentage of Extra Ball and Specials and set lucky number to 10%.

 

I imagine you have twin coin mechs like most Williams/ Bally had?.

 

Set the $1 mechanical mech to $1-1play and set the NRI coin mech to $1- 1play...$2- 3plays.

 

What I found is most games will be single player or twin players so $2- 3 plays will leave 1 credit and twin players will always go the $2 option rather than only one playing out that last game.

 

Replace the score card with one that actually has the 3 score levels written on it to announce the score levels are fixed and the pricing of the game on that multi coin coin mech entrance plate.

 

It also helps to drop the Grand high score and HSTD levels to ones your players can actually get. They will become your regular players trying to get those high scores again every visit and let them get them regularly. They will tell others and draw in more players.

 

I used to reset the 4 high score to date levels to your initial settings of these scores about every 2nd week and the Grand champion about once a month.

 

You will find some people are only playing to get these awards with there names up in lights so make them obtainable.

 

About the Grand Champion award...change this to 4 games. 3 games to the highest score, 2 games for 2nd highest and 1 game for 3rd and 4th high score.

 

Nothing alerts other potential players like that knocker going off multiple times like Grand or High Score being achieved.

 

Remember, your only making $50 a week ATM so don't be a tight arse and let people win. When people hear that knocker going off regularly and people always playing a pinball encourages others to play just like a well lite and clean machine does.

 

If your machine is working well, I would expect that WH20 to be earning a couple of hundred a week in no time.

 

Also, check the flippers regularly. You'll be changing flipper links with more plays as expected. When you need new flipper coils, swap them for 11629 coils if you aren't already using them so the flipper are strong.

 

As you can see, it is a multitude of changes that all encourage playing and return play. You will develop a return player base and over time it will build.

 

Good luck and have faith.;)

Edited April 25, 2017 by Autosteve

[Lou]

keep siting them @maxi , most operator don't tell in general on how much the pinballs earn on site

and none operators will speculate, i've seen pinballs do 50 bucks in a week and i've seen them do 500 in a week

 

look at it this way ... have you ever seen a poor operator ?

[maxi]

Thanks for the detail @Autosteve ! I will tend to that this coming week!

 

For those interested, the Addams Family is no longer there as our previous operator sold it so we replaced it with WH2O (our own machine). So there's currently a White Water and a Creature in there but hopefully with a collection of 20+ machines we will be able to get a nice line up in there somehow and rotate them regularly.

Space is the only issue at this point :D

Cheers for the advice and will keep you updated! Might create a thread when I get a good line up in there and maybe I can meet some pinheads in there :)

[Gemini2544]

I spoke with my Insurance broker about opening up my mancave for Friday & Saturday nights game sessions. He advised against it as the Public Liability alone would cost more than the machines could earn. Once you step over to commercial activities your profit goes out the window.

[maxi]

I spoke with my Insurance broker about opening up my mancave for Friday & Saturday nights game sessions. He advised against it as the Public Liability alone would cost more than the machines could earn. Once you step over to commercial activities your profit goes out the window.

I would think that insuring private spaces would be more of the issue but things like this are already insured in the pub for glasses getting smashed etc.

Of course there are issues such as all glass having to be toughened so that applies to pinballs as well but as far as public liability goes, I can think of a lot more things in a pub that could kill you before the pinnies do!

[JOKERPOKER]

I would think that insuring private spaces would be more of the issue but things like this are already insured in the pub for glasses getting smashed etc.

Of course there are issues such as all glass having to be toughened so that applies to pinballs as well but as far as public liability goes, I can think of a lot more things in a pub that could kill you before the pinnies do!

 

Yeah.....like @maxi on a drinking spree. Now that's something we don't need or want to see. The man is an animal :lol:lol

 

Kidding of course!!

[maxi]

Yeah.....like @maxi on a drinking spree. Now that's something we don't need or want to see. The man is an animal :lol:lol

 

Kidding of course!!

 

Thought that was a compliment until you said you were kidding :cool: don't forget I know where you live mate

Some say I could drink bigfoot under the table :D - others say I'm underage :confused:

[wiredoug]

better lock up the milo