This is my story and opinions on the hobby as of today.....
I got into pinball in the very late 90s. Since the early 2000's they have been part of my living - either repairing them or buying/selling them.
Personally I live in a terraced house. i am not rich. I am not middle class even. Working class.
Gone are the days when I was selling fully restored AFMs for £3K. Gone are the days I had ToM/MM/TSPP in a line in my front room. I have owned over the years probably 400-500 machines (a hell of a lot of
CV's and ToM's).
Have bought NIB three times. These in the early 2000s - except for Super Hoop that as it was a budget machine - I am not counting that.
£10k for a machine that stands in the corner of the room is a luxury to me now. I have paid much less for vehicles I work with. I do not think they are worth it for the new cost.
The hobby is now a rich man's play thing. Gone are the days that people expect to loose money on certain NIB games - because of price increases used prices go up.
With all the price increases there will be fewer people getting into pinball. I used to sell so many 90s games to people who wanted to have a bit of fun with £700 in their garages or man caves. You can buy a lot of other arcade games now with a price of a pinball.
There is a lull because of the high cost of even an old 80s game being a grand.
The hobby has lost people who are possibly a bit older who have a bit of spare income and space after the kids leave home.
Currently I think, we are loosing the players grade tables - as the amount of people who are restoring games now has multiplied - which also means the price of older games rocket.
Seems to be a lot of folk who kind of use pinballs as an investment.
Now I have zero pinball machines in my home.