{"id":1658,"date":"2017-02-17T18:09:22","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T18:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/?p=1658"},"modified":"2017-08-28T16:10:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T15:10:00","slug":"1658","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/2017\/02\/17\/1658\/","title":{"rendered":"PINBALL POPULARITY: CLASSIC vs. CURRENT POP CULTURE THEMES"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in the early 1970s to the early 1990s, you could find pinball machines everywhere. You would see them in your local bars, arcade, restaurants, bowling alleys, and even your corner stores.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pinball made game operators a lot of money but required a lot of maintenance. Pinball machines have several moving parts plus over a mile of wire in a single pinball. With more parts in a game, the higher the chance of something going wrong.<\/p>\n

In the mid to late ’80s, arcade video games like Pong<\/em> started taking over at these same commercial locations. They became the product to push since they required less maintenance and game play could be more easily controlled. Timed play made it easier for the venue to make more money.<\/p>\n

Pinball machines were slowly phased out at this point and became harder to find for those folks that lived for the game.<\/p>\n

The pinball market is having a huge resurgence largely because those who grew up playing it can now purchase machines for their homes. Rather than new games based on popular TVs and movies like Star Wars<\/em>, it\u2019s the classic, refurbished games that they are willing to pay for.<\/p>\n

It is amazing to see so many new companies building great pinball machines again.<\/p>\n

While new pinball machines look and play fantastic, there is even a larger demand for the\u00a0classic\u00a0games<\/a> people remember playing when they grew up.\u00a0They want to face that machine again that they almost mastered before.<\/p>\n

Titles like The Addams Family<\/em>, Attack From Mars<\/em>, and Twilight Zone<\/em> are bringing top dollar, with The Addams Family<\/em> being the top-selling modern pinball machine<\/a> to date.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Addams Family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pinball\u00a0collectors\u00a0want these classic pinball machines refurbished;\u00a0looking and playing like new games. The top 10 highest rated pinball machines are mostly pinball games from the 1990s.<\/p>\n


\nNew vs. Classic Pinball Machines <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

New pinball sales are\u00a0also\u00a0doing great. Most commercial locations buy new machines because of the reliability.\u00a0Most new pinball\u00a0machines\u00a0are license-themed games with current movies, or bands. These new games\u00a0come with\u00a0great new features\u00a0that\u00a0can capture our attention\u00a0immediately, whereas, the classic games bring back memories of youth and a desire to own the game they remember.<\/p>\n

There are several companies stocking pinball parts and artwork for the\u00a0classic\u00a0pinball machines. You can find companies all over the country refurbishing and selling pinball games now. One company,\u00a0Planetary Pinball,\u00a0saw the demand for Williams pinball titles and remade one of the best pinball machines ever called Medieval Madness<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Medieval Madness remake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even with a new version of this game available, folks are willing to pay more for an original Medieval Madness<\/em> pinball.\u00a0The new standard version of Medieval Madness<\/em> retails for around $8,500, while the original retails for almost $10,000.<\/p>\n

\"Medieval
Medieval Madness<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pinball Collectors<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

The growing retro market has led to a large market for collectors as well. The current pinball manufacturers caught on to that and started offering premium and limited edition versions of their games. These limited games have features that you cannot get in the standard models. Collectors will snatch up a lot of these games, but their game room is also filled with the greatest titles of the past.<\/p>\n

Our customers range from pinball collectors to folks just starting in the hobby. There is a sense of pride when showing off your pinball machine to friends and family. They found the game they have been on the hunt for. Folks love seeing older classic pinball machines that look and play like a brand new game. With the older games there is a bit of history that comes with it.<\/p>\n

Back in 2003 a brand new,\u00a0in the box,\u00a0Stern The Simpsons Pinball Party<\/em> retailed for $3,695.00. That same game, now,\u00a014 years later is bringing close to $6,000.00 refurbished. The price of well-known and trusted titles keep going up. One of the last titles to come out from Bally\/Williams was Cactus Canyon<\/em>.\u00a0Less than\u00a01,000\u00a0of these games\u00a0were\u00a0made and they now can sell for\u00a0$12,000-$15,000 for restored machines.<\/p>\n

New pinball games are keeping pinball current again. That, in\u00a0itself,\u00a0is great news for pinball lovers. With the demand for both new and classic pinball machines, these games will become easier to find again.<\/p>\n

It does not matter how many times you play the same pinball machine, you will never have the same game twice.<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gene Goodman is vice president of\u00a0M&P Amusement<\/a>, a distributor of new and quality refurbished used arcade games and pinball machines<\/a> since 1932, with headquarters in York, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in the early 1970s to the early 1990s, you could find pinball machines everywhere. You would see them in your local bars, arcade, restaurants, bowling alleys, and even your corner stores. Pinball made game operators a lot of money but required a lot of maintenance. Pinball machines have several moving parts plus over a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[345,347,244,346,243],"class_list":["post-1658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comment","tag-classic","tag-gene-goodman","tag-mp-amusement","tag-popularity","tag-retro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1658"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1665,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions\/1665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}