Quoted from MrMikeman

I think I lost interest by spending so much time fixing other people's machines.

Mike

Actually, for me it is the opposite... working on other's machines is keeping me going. I have even been somewhat bitten by the EM bug a bit, having the 4MBC and the EMs of others.

I love the Hunt, Questing for Machines and then getting good at playing them. Nothing like finding a Machine you have never seen, but have heard good things about and discovering what they are like. There are Very few machines that I have run across that don't have a cool "Hook" to keep you coming back. Lots of times it is the main "Toy" but sometimes it is something subtle, a magnet here andd there, a Fan, a bit of programming, but there is always something, at least for me, which explains the amount of games I have and the difficulty I have deciding something has to go. I can't see simply deciding I am done and getting rid of everything, there are way to many good machines out there that are fun and challenging!

Dave

Quoted from MrMikeman

I think I lost interest by spending so much time fixing other people's machines.

Mike

I can see that.  People change.  Hobbies change.  Priorities in life change.

Whenever I lose the desire, I take a break and revisit it later.   And if I never revisit it, then it is time to move on.  Of course, I have always come back to pinballs/vids, in one aspect or another.  

Quoted from Monkeybug

  Of course, I have always come back to pinballs/vids, in one aspect or another.  

Same here, I've had a vid or pin of one form or another in my house since 1997, I've gone to other things, but always come back, it's how I relax the most. I've started my own business, restored cars, have rental property, but always enjoy my time tinkering with my machines, and my wife says, that's usually when I'm the happiest.
Brings me right back to the days of taking the bus downtown on a Thursday night with my buddies (@1982), playing games till we ran out of money, seeing what was new, and then used the quarter we put in our shoe, for the bus ride home.

(I am not so sure what the main subject of this thread is about anymore....)
But anyway, with HDTV, Blu-Ray, PS3 (got for xmas gift!) and iPod Touch, I could tell you that the Pin/Vid hobby is fading and fading fast....
Have fun with whatever hobby you move on to if that is the case....

Quoted from Monkeybug

I can see that.  People change.  Hobbies change.  Priorities in life change.
  

I use to play with my kids like hell, making shacks with them, exterior games, picking empty bottles, doing bicycle with them and anything they would love to do but the last 3 or 4 years I'm a lot more serious and less motivated to do these kind of activities with them, when I do though we really have fun together but I rather stay sit or do a more calm activity....boy do we get serious and dull with age....this is the part of getting old that I hate and mostly don't understand.

I have to confess something to.. i do not really have 8 balls... but only 2 ^^

I, too have a confession....I play my Atari 2600 each time a play my pins!!!!

Sorry!!!

tartagliag