Another version of stages of pinball collecting.
Scarily true
Stage 1
- Introduction to Pinball or reliving old memories of a classic from
their youth
- Usually this constitutes purchase of "ONE" machine for their
home.....
- Starts looking for resources to find the several broken parts on
his machine to make it "perfect" (or to make it work properly)
Stage 2
- Now, its "Hey, this is even better than I remember....."
- Buying spree begins, dependent on monetary funds
- The new collectors starts buying machines that do not work, missing
parts, etc. to save money, or to finance more machines
- Collector has to start justifying his actions to his family and
wife
- Machines start taking up places in the house they should not be
- Collector begins thinking about building a "game room" (seriously)
Stage 3
- The new collector realizes he might be over his head technically,
as he looks around and sees how many broken machines he owns, and
frantically is looking for parts, his technical skills continue to
improve as a result
- He starts to begin to enjoy the aspect of restoring machines more
than play and collecting
- Begins to sell several machines, to purchase other or games that
have more overall collector appeal.
- He/she begins to finalize his "Most Wanted List"
Stage 4
- The collector zones in on specific eras and games, trying to
collector the best from that period of time, based on what he can
afford
- The collector sells off the "crap" and fine tunes his collection
- The collector begins to invite other collectors to his home, to
share the fun and show off his finds
- His family is annoyed but they still support him as long "as you
keep it in the garage"
Stage 5
- Collector is hardcore, only has specific games on his list or loses
certain interest in pinball, will not accept games with "flaws", to
include NIB, or HUO machines
- Collector cannot stand if a switch is malfunctioning and must fix
it immediately
- Owns all or most of the machines he ever wanted
- Sells games, to reduce maintenance requirements depend on job
- Projects are still in the garage, but devotes time to other
pursuits
- Only plays games when company is around
- Looks as his collection as "a part of pinball history"
- Occasionally dabbles in locating "Just one more machine for his
collection....."