To bad to hear about that.  Think about it before doing anything rash.  If you do decide to clear out, let the group know and I am sure we can take a couple off your hands before greedbay.  

This thread should be deleted since the first post was pure nonsense .

Give up pinball?  You've already given yourself to the Dark Side.  There is no escape.

I find it funny want to leave the hobby yet wanna trade lol
Seriously breaks are the key.
If you have more then one hobby consentrate on the other hobby gives you a break.
Mine is hunting and fishing Get a nice break from it get back with nature and then back to the rat race

Same thing happened to me with Slots.  Kind of burned out on them, who needs 5 slot machines in their house.... but in the thick of things it was very exciting.  I'm trying to narrow my slots down to two (one North American, one Japanese) for guests.  Even though you can really only fix one machine at a time, it's hard not to resist what you think might be a good or a better playign experience.  But then too, I am a compulsive hobby addict, it's the hunt for new knowledge, love to fix mechanical and electronic things, and the spending spree that goes with it.  But eventually I burn out and move on to a new collection....  

What i think ..

17 is alot of pinballs... ''you must have some good space to store all this''


The thing is  if your always fixing it up you become very picky on every little details. (wich in long term becomes very frustrating & exausting)
if one game  breaks you need to fix it  , by the time your done  fixing  one maybe an other might have gone bad too... (it's just a never ending circle.)


what i would do is keep only the rarer ones or the ones you love the most & sale all the extras


If i had a choice to have 17 Vids in my house i would rather have  5 or 6 or less  & add a mame for all the extras or

I think sometimes you might just need an extended break to clear your head.

I think I am getting ready to do that, in order to concentrate on some of the more important things in life.

thanks members.i need a time out with some weed...ing.the funny thing is i tried to make a deal on the lotr that was posted but it was a two for one deal.i have well over 30 machines some mega touch,few vids,mostly pins and one jukebox(that needs work).some machines are on location making very little.over all its too much.i think a time out is in order.i need to spend some time on other projects  

Hardcor,

Well it sounds to me like you are becoming a little overwhelmed because you have too many things on the go (buying, selling, trading, searching for parts,operating, teching etc).  I have to admit I feel a little overwhelmed myself with this hobby from time to time.  I'd be lying if I didn't admit the fact that "All I ever seem to do is work on pins."  I definitely seem to spend more time working on them then playing them.  It's amazing how much time it takes to shop/restore a pin properly, only to get another one a little while later then find yourself repeating the process.  

Because of all the work involved in shopping out a pin properly, I find myself much more selective these days when it comes to purchasing pins.  If I get a pin I really want to keep it for a long time especially after all the work involved.

The good members of Maaca have given you a few pieces of sound advice that I myself have realized I must do to keep my marbles.  Take a break, and trim the fat sort of speak.  I sometimes feel the need to just take a break from pinball all together so that these projects don't seem so pressing.  As far as trimming the fat is concerned, well that's not entirely true in my case.  I still would like to have  17 or more top pinballs, but when things get a little too hectic, it's time to slow down.

As far as giving up the hobby, not a chance!  On the flipside though, after shopping out a pin thoroughly, in most cases there is very little maintenance required for home use.  

If you hope to have a large collection of desirable pins, and you don't have your own license to print money, then there's usually a lot of hard work involved.  

                                              flashman

    

do know how you feel.  did just sell almost a dozen of my pins.  do know that i will get more again.  wish i kept a better selection of titles.  

I have certianly felt the same way about just drop-kicking the hobby to the curb, especially after a long stint of working on stuff for other people. I'd like to get a few of my machines prepped and ready for Allentown, but it's hard to say if that will actually happen. I do know that I am slowly thinning out my vid collection. Of the 13 or 14 vids and 6 pins I have right now, I will probably only keep 4 vids and 2 or 3 of the pins. I want to spend more time working on my house this summer to get it ready to sell next fall after I get married and working on my Mustang. It's time for the turbocharged engine to take up residence between the fenders once the weather gets nice.

Ok... here's my take on it...

17 fully working pins? Not much of a problem if you schedule a regular maintenance routine.

17 projects??? Yup... that will discourage you.

Take it from someone who knows. I have been in this hobby long enough to see that people don't get addicted to the games... they get addicted to the hunt!!! They see one, they buy it, and they are happy... for a few days. Then the buzz wears off.

Now most of us are saved by the space we have. I for instance could not fit more than 9 pins in my basement, and even then if I had a meeting, it would be crammed. For me, the golden number would be 6... 5 working, one project. Because don't forget, some of the fun (well, 90% of it for me...) is bringing a game back to life.

Another important factor is that if oyu never, or rarely have people over to play them, you are misisng out on a key element of pinball and videogames... getting people together and having fun. If you are alone most of the time, or have few friends around you that enjoy the passion as much, it can get hard.

I, like others, recommend that you FIRST back off for a couple of weeks... breathe a bit. THEN, look at your collection and determine your top 5 or whatever amount you think you will be comfortable with, and keep one space for a project that you just want to tinker around with.

Just my 0.02$...


Sparky

Quoted from hardkor

does anyone else get this way??

As other have mentioned yes we do.  Some do leave but I find most come back.  You take the path that works best for you.  I would recommend to take a few weeks off before considering selling the collecting though.

Good luck and take it easy