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Finding time to play / feeling guilty about not playing enough…….

JAG555

JAG555

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5Years
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Jul 23, 2017
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Essex, UK
Hello,

Just wanted to start a discussion on finding time to play pinball and feeling of guilt by not playing enough.

I am fortunate enough to have a small external Games Room, which I converted from two thirds of my garage. I have a mixture of arcade machines and currently three pinball machines (when people see it that are usually amazed and say I must be out here all the time, wrong!). I usually have a regular meet up with mates once a week and we play the games and have a great time.

However, outside of this once a week meet up, I don’t really play much and I am starting to feel a bit guilty about that. I have a young family and run a business, so time is at a bit of a premium, but that is not enough of an excuse. I wonder if having an external Games Room makes it easier not to play, against having pinball machines in the house.

Just wondered how often everyone else plays or if anyone else has feelings of guilt about not using their machines often enough? Does anyone else with an external Games Room have the same issues?

I don’t think I have lost my pinball mojo, as I love playing and being on the forum etc., it’s just the guilt of not playing regularly and having a lot of money wrapped up in them.

If you got this far, thanks for reading my vent……😂
 
I haven’t got an external games room but would of thought if it’s out of sight so to say, it would naturally get less attention.

I’ve got my 3 pins in the ex dining room so I look at them every time I walk past the door.
I will literally pass the door, look at the time and mostly think…. I’ll have a quick game or two before I do this or that.
Or at night I’ll just turn them on as when passing the door I love looking in on them in a dark room flashing away and looking gorgeous!
(A bit sad I know 😂)
 
Bobbdobalina said:
I haven’t got an external games room but would of thought if it’s out of sight so to say, it would naturally get less attention.

I’ve got my 3 pins in the ex dining room so I look at them every time I walk past the door.
I will literally pass the door, look at the time and mostly think…. I’ll have a quick game or two before I do this or that.
Or at night I’ll just turn them on as when passing the door I love looking in on them in a dark room flashing away and looking gorgeous!
(A bit sad I know 😂)
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with that, I often go out too, switch them on and just look at ‘the pretty lights’……
 
I have 5 pins in the house, three in the main family room and they get used all the time mainly by me because they are close and easily accessible, the two pins elsewhere get a fraction of use, mainly when I think I haven’t played them for a while, for me out of sight is 100% out of mind,
 
I don't have an external games room but I do think if my games weren't in the house I would play them less, it's dumb really but the same logic as having our gym equipment inside now instead of in a garage, it just gets used more even though it's really not much effort to go out the front door and open the garage to use it. Pinball is my main hobby at the moment and I'm a housewife with no kids and no pets any more so I play a lot at the moment but I still have guilt about the amount of money in 5 new machines sometimes. It's a balance though between what I would spend that money on and actually having the enjoyment of them now, my compromise is to try and not go over 5 machines.

My weird habit at the moment is, I decide what machine will be next to leave, then instead of playing whatever game I actually want to play, I play the one I know will leave next because it'll be here the least amount of time. The result is I end up playing my least favourite machine the most instead of the ones I enjoy more. I never did that when I had 2 machines, I'd play whatever I wanted to play. It's made me wonder if I should actually have less machines to enjoy them more.
 
I go in mine most days for a few games, if you force yourself you are going to hate it. Good to have a break from them which is what I do now and again.
Think you got it right though with once a week with mates, keeps it interesting. If you don’t need the money then the pins can just sit there looking pretty.

I also like walking up and down the lineup looking at the lovely artwork and think to myself oh god I’m getting old!
I get bored quick so never play many games in a session anyway, maybe 30 mins unless I’m with other people playing or I am on a bender (not literally😂)

Ive had pins in the house upstairs before and now a custom built room with 13 pins and other stuff in my garage attached to the side of the house. I play much more now as I can make as much noise as I want and the shakers aren’t rattling the lights!

Im always losing the pinball mojo for various reasons, the main one people talking crap on forums😂 (not this).
Few beers and I’m back on track 🍻
 
Mate, I hear ya. My mojo normally goes awol most of the year. I have a few peeps over every 3 months or so and generally speaking they don’t get turned on between meets. Last time i fired them up was Xmas eve for friends who visited, before then probably November.
It was too hot in the summer to play so have probably turned them on about 5 times in the last 12 months.
 
I love playing pinball, but considering the amount I have I don't play often. I'm more often fiddling with them or helping Claire with her creature.

Those who have attended our events will know what our set up is like, I have a long room with 7 in, then a small utility room off the kitchen with 2 in and 3 in the kitchen.

Considering I have that many pins I don't play them that much, out of sight out of mind definitely plays into it.
I think I've played Fish Tales (in the utility room) more than anything as it's just there and is such a fantastic game.
Roadshow is next to Fishy and gets some play as it always cheers me up.

I've gone weeks without playing most of the games in the pinball room and kitchen. Often they get played if I've fiddled with them and I'm having a little test.

I do wonder what would happen if I swapped FT and RS into the Pinball room, putting AFM or TOM into the utility room I suspect I'd play them more then.

Out of sight out of mind definitely has an impact, plus the Pinball room is often a mess, especially right now with Claire's Creature in bits and strewn across other pins 😄 so if I'm in there I'd probably want to fiddle with that and not feel like playing anything else.

I can work on pins in my own, for days and be happy but I much prefer playing them with others. Except Fishy or when I am trying to learn a game or determined to better myself.
 
Don't think you should be feeling guilty at all, family stuff, business to run all takes priority and your making decent use of them once a week with mates.
Games indoors probably results in them getting played more, but I like the separation aspect of having them external, its more of an event when they all get powered on.

I find after a long day at work, household and family duties once the kids are in bed and I have some free time, most days I'm just too tired for pinball.
 
JWG9999 said:
An external games room is fine, especially for a noisy session with your mates without deafening your family, but have you got room for just one tucked away somewhere in the house? I suspect you'd find you're often having a quick game on it.
Click to expand...

Probably not without divorce papers attached it………😂😂

When we were having work done on the house, Big Buck Hunter moved in and I was doing just that, playing a fair few games.
 
Jib said:
I don't have an external games room but I do think if my games weren't in the house I would play them less, it's dumb really but the same logic as having our gym equipment inside now instead of in a garage, it just gets used more even though it's really not much effort to go out the front door and open the garage to use it. Pinball is my main hobby at the moment and I'm a housewife with no kids and no pets any more so I play a lot at the moment but I still have guilt about the amount of money in 5 new machines sometimes. It's a balance though between what I would spend that money on and actually having the enjoyment of them now, my compromise is to try and not go over 5 machines.

My weird habit at the moment is, I decide what machine will be next to leave, then instead of playing whatever game I actually want to play, I play the one I know will leave next because it'll be here the least amount of time. The result is I end up playing my least favourite machine the most instead of the ones I enjoy more. I never did that when I had 2 machines, I'd play whatever I wanted to play. It's made me wonder if I should actually have less machines to enjoy them more.
Click to expand...

I think that is what I am thinking a bit now, maybe less is more.
 
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JWG9999 said:
An external games room is fine, especially for a noisy session with your mates without deafening your family, but have you got room for just one tucked away somewhere in the house? I suspect you'd find you're often having a quick game on it.
Click to expand...

John and I discussed this last week when I was at his place. I havent played any of mine for about 3 weeks as they are in external building. Working on permission to have one in the house. Fingers crossed

But if moving just one into the house, how do you choose :)
 
M4carp said:
I go in mine most days for a few games, if you force yourself you are going to hate it. Good to have a break from them which is what I do now and again.
Think you got it right though with once a week with mates, keeps it interesting. If you don’t need the money then the pins can just sit there looking pretty.

I also like walking up and down the lineup looking at the lovely artwork and think to myself oh god I’m getting old!
I get bored quick so never play many games in a session anyway, maybe 30 mins unless I’m with other people playing or I am on a bender (not literally😂)

Ive had pins in the house upstairs before and now a custom built room with 13 pins and other stuff in my garage attached to the side of the house. I play much more now as I can make as much noise as I want and the shakers aren’t rattling the lights!

Im always losing the pinball mojo for various reasons, the main one people talking crap on forums😂 (not this).
Few beers and I’m back on track 🍻
Click to expand...

Probably very good advice and I do like having an external from a noise point of view! I like to put Star Wars up to a good volume!
 
ianw said:
John and I discussed this last week when I was at his place. I havent played any of mine for about 3 weeks as they are in external building. Working on permission to have one in the house. Fingers crossed

But if moving just one into the house, how do you choose :)
Click to expand...
Maybe always make it your latest pin in the house.
 
kev a said:
Don't think you should be feeling guilty at all, family stuff, business to run all takes priority and your making decent use of them once a week with mates.
Games indoors probably results in them getting played more, but I like the separation aspect of having them external, its more of an event when they all get powered on.

I find after a long day at work, household and family duties once the kids are in bed and I have some free time, most days I'm just too tired for pinball.
Click to expand...

What you have just said there is spot on for me mate!
 
ianw said:
John and I discussed this last week when I was at his place. I havent played any of mine for about 3 weeks as they are in external building. Working on permission to have one in the house. Fingers crossed

But if moving just one into the house, how do you choose :)
Click to expand...

Go with the best looking!
 
External room, converted garage. Also my home office when not travelling for work, so I spend a lot of time in here (like now) with 7 pins, and several fruits machines. I've not played some of them in about 18months! Think I'm in a lull, not just with Pinball but on several life fronts :(

When friends come over all they really play is Metallica, which is great fun. I tend to enjoy the older B/W games just because of their retro pedigree, although I accept newer games are wildly enjoyable if you have the spare cash.

I'd love 1 game the main house, kitchen/diner maybe, but I don't think that's happening when I have this dedicated space, nor is the house big enough really.

My ideal is to have sliding bookcases in the main house, with a long thin room behind it housing 5-10 games all lined up. That way they're in the main house, and kind of hidden away but accessible.

I also look at them and think that's a lot of money just sitting there, but then I've enjoyed cleaning up and playing each one over time, and these days it's not worth selling because newer games are just so damn expensive, so it's 2 out maybe 1 in, if I'm lucky. I really pushed the boat out with Metallica when I bought it, but now that feels dirt cheap compared with your average premium - same money wouldn't even buy a Pro now.

ianw said:
But if moving just one into the house, how do you choose :)
Click to expand...

rotate it, monthly, perhaps?
 
Great post. Really good to read what other peoples thoughts are, and for those who have an external Games Room.

Here is my thoughts on my external games room.

I have pretty much the same set up as you, converted two thirds of my garage about a year and a half ago.
I had also did the same at our old house with our smaller garage around 2011 but then we moved house, and it was never really finished tbh.

I had been saying for years in our current house that I was always going to do another games room conversion to our external garage, but never really went ahead and did it until we had lots of extra materials from building work being carried out on the house.

So how is our new external games room been over the past year and a half. Absolutely bloody brilliant ! We use this space all... the time, well I do as I am never out the place 😂 I am actually typing this up in the games room just now actually, cup oh coffee and bbc news in the background near everyday. For me the games room is also the place where I do work from also at times. We do not have a main computer in the house now. It's all laptops and tablets etc. Having a desk and computer set up really helps with spending more time in the place also, this site is like my browser home page and is constantly open when I am in the games room.

I have 2 Pins a Candy Cab and various consoles and old TV's in the place. Do I feel guilty not playing enough, absolutely I do. I just looked up at some video games and think I paid hundreds for certain games and hardly ever played them. The 2 Pins get played most nights if I am not busy with work, even if it's just for a quick game or two. But I think it's always better to play pinball with others though I find. We had a Ghostbusters pin on hire (now left) for 2 months and it was played near everyday in the games room. Since GB has gone there is a space for another, but actually 2 pins may be the right amount for the space, not sure yet.

Everyones situation is obviously different and a lot will depend on family time and work etc. I am fortunate enough where at times I can be home when the wife is at work and the kids are at school also :D

So for me yes, not putting anywhere near a lot of time playing things when I should be. However putting the Pinball lights on, have a couple TV screens on and watching video game intros is awesome in the evening.
 
JAG555 said:
Hello,

Just wanted to start a discussion on finding time to play pinball and feeling of guilt by not playing enough.

I am fortunate enough to have a small external Games Room, which I converted from two thirds of my garage. I have a mixture of arcade machines and currently three pinball machines (when people see it that are usually amazed and say I must be out here all the time, wrong!). I usually have a regular meet up with mates once a week and we play the games and have a great time.

However, outside of this once a week meet up, I don’t really play much and I am starting to feel a bit guilty about that. I have a young family and run a business, so time is at a bit of a premium, but that is not enough of an excuse. I wonder if having an external Games Room makes it easier not to play, against having pinball machines in the house.

Just wondered how often everyone else plays or if anyone else has feelings of guilt about not using their machines often enough? Does anyone else with an external Games Room have the same issues?

I don’t think I have lost my pinball mojo, as I love playing and being on the forum etc., it’s just the guilt of not playing regularly and having a lot of money wrapped up in them.

If you got this far, thanks for reading my vent……😂
Click to expand...
I'm sure you get out to the garage more often than I do to mine which is full of exercise equipment! 😁
 
RetroHeed said:
Great post. Really good to read what other peoples thoughts are, and for those who have an external Games Room.

Here is my thoughts on my external games room.

I have pretty much the same set up as you, converted two thirds of my garage about a year and a half ago.
I had also did the same at our old house with our smaller garage around 2011 but then we moved house, and it was never really finished tbh.

I had been saying for years in our current house that I was always going to do another games room conversion to our external garage, but never really went ahead and did it until we had lots of extra materials from building work being carried out on the house.

So how is our new external games room been over the past year and a half. Absolutely bloody brilliant ! We use this space all... the time, well I do as I am never out the place 😂 I am actually typing this up in the games room just now actually, cup oh coffee and bbc news in the background near everyday. For me the games room is also the place where I do work from also at times. We do not have a main computer in the house now. It's all laptops and tablets etc. Having a desk and computer set up really helps with spending more time in the place also, this site is like my browser home page and is constantly open when I am in the games room.

I have 2 Pins a Candy Cab and various consoles and old TV's in the place. Do I feel guilty not playing enough, absolutely I do. I just looked up at some video games and think I paid hundreds for certain games and hardly ever played them. The 2 Pins get played most nights if I am not busy with work, even if it's just for a quick game or two. But I think it's always better to play pinball with others though I find. We had a Ghostbusters pin on hire (now left) for 2 months and it was played near everyday in the games room. Since GB has gone there is a space for another, but actually 2 pins may be the right amount for the space, not sure yet.

Everyones situation is obviously different and a lot will depend on family time and work etc. I am fortunate enough where at times I can be home when the wife is at work and the kids are at school also :D

So for me yes, not putting anywhere near a lot of time playing things when I should be. However putting the Pinball lights on, have a couple TV screens on and watching video game intros is awesome in the evening.
Click to expand...

Great reply, thank you.
 
Thanks for everyone’s replies, it’s really interesting hearing how everyone is a little different.

Maybe I am just putting too much pressure on myself to play and should just take a bit easy.

Funnily enough, I find I play more in the summer, as the door is connected to the garden, so I just sneak in when the kids are playing in the garden!
 
When I go into my pinshed I get a rush iof nostalgia that not many things could replace plus I’m fortunate to have two young kids who enjoy the machines along with there little mates , it’s so cool to show a kid a pinball machine and teach them that you can Controle the ball ect they love it but then the parents come and they love them too ! It’s win win
 
ianw said:
John and I discussed this last week when I was at his place. I havent played any of mine for about 3 weeks as they are in external building. Working on permission to have one in the house. Fingers crossed
Click to expand...

How about digging down to put in a connecting staircase from the house? :) Great old thread on Pinside of a guy who dug out beneath his house to do this - and what a collection of machines (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/t...und-excavation-and-expansion-for-themodcouple - see p9 for the result)

When I first had machines in the 90s they were in a basement - easy/quick/warm access, great for not disturbing anyone and they got played a lot. First kid came along and we moved house with no basement so machines went into a summerhouse... hardly got played, a combination of having kids and machines out of sight and out of mind (and out in the wet/cold, apart from in the summer when they got used much more). Life/business/kids took over for 20 years and now finally back to having machines and fortunate enough to have them in the house and no young kids to disturb... they are right there and it does make a difference for a "quick game" but I'll still go a week or more without playing them sometimes... there is the odd pang of guilt at not using them but they're there for enjoyment and nothing sucks the fun out of enjoyment like feeling that you have to do something for the sake of it. If you have friends/family who like pinball it's great to have that sort of meet up planned and personally that would be enough in itself for me (* the travesty of a final ball drain on the cusp of a GC score means so much more when you share it) 👍
 
MarkS said:
How about digging down to put in a connecting staircase from the house? :) Great old thread on Pinside of a guy who dug out beneath his house to do this - and what a collection of machines (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/t...und-excavation-and-expansion-for-themodcouple - see p9 for the result)

When I first had machines in the 90s they were in a basement - easy/quick/warm access, great for not disturbing anyone and they got played a lot. First kid came along and we moved house with no basement so machines went into a summerhouse... hardly got played, a combination of having kids and machines out of sight and out of mind (and out in the wet/cold, apart from in the summer when they got used much more). Life/business/kids took over for 20 years and now finally back to having machines and fortunate enough to have them in the house and no young kids to disturb... they are right there and it does make a difference for a "quick game" but I'll still go a week or more without playing them sometimes... there is the odd pang of guilt at not using them but they're there for enjoyment and nothing sucks the fun out of enjoyment like feeling that you have to do something for the sake of it. If you have friends/family who like pinball it's great to have that sort of meet up planned and personally that would be enough in itself for me (* the travesty of a final ball drain on the cusp of a GC score means so much more when you share it) 👍
Click to expand...

Great reply and spot on!
 
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