Balls to Quarters ratio??

[Ayelis]

Something I noticed recently in the realm of real life pinball tables is this;

You commonly see 3 balls for 50c (~17 cents per ball), and usually on newer tables...
You commonly see 5 balls for 25 cents (5 cents per ball), and usually on older tables...
You never see 5 balls for 50 cents. (10 cents per ball)
You never see 3 balls for 25 cents. (~8 cents per ball)

Why is that?

 

[StevOz]

In Australia from the 70's it went like this...

Early 70's.....10 cents for 5 balls (2 cents per ball)

Later 70's.....20 cents for 5 balls (4 cents per ball)

Early 80's.....20 cents for 3 balls (almost 7 cents per ball) or sometimes 40 cents for 5 balls (8 cents per ball)

Later 80's....40 cents for 3 balls (almost 14 cents per ball)

Early 90's....60 cents for 3 balls (20 cents per ball) or $1 for 2 games (almost 17 cents per ball)

Later 90's...$1 for 3 balls (33 1/3 cents per ball) or $2 for 3 games (about 22 cents per ball)

Today it's usually $2 for 3 balls (about 67 cents per ball).

At least that's how I remember it, here in Oz..

 

[Ayelis]

Wow. That's amazing, Stev0z. Here in the US, it's a dollar or two for tournament play, and during that mode, all the extra ball features are disabled. But for pinball tables in bars or arcades here, it's just a quarter or two.

Most video games are 50 cents nowadays but a few arcades (like a popular one here in Portland) set most of their games to just 25 cents. It's strange, I think. Maybe it's because those old electromechanical games are easier to fix, or cheaper to get new parts for? I can't imagine getting the parts to fix a video-"pinball 2000" machine would be easy. I guess this idea makes the most sense to me.

 

[faralos]

maybe your part of the U.S. is that cheap but around east PA, most games are at least 50 cents some of the newer pins are 75 cents to a buck! for 3 balls! nowhere near me can i find any pins at a quarter a game! But go to the New Jersey shore to the boardwalks, there you can still play many older pins (3 balls for a DIME) but we are talking the old em's here pre 60's most of them oh and most video games are a 75 cents and up! the older ones (pacman, yeah they're still out there) are still a quarter but one look at them and I don't even want skin contact with any part of the machine!

 

[Ayelis]

maybe your part of the U.S. is that cheap but around east PA, most games are at least 50 cents some of the newer pins are 75 cents to a buck! for 3 balls! nowhere near me can i find any pins at a quarter a game!

Out here in Portland Oregon, in venues like Voodoo Doughnuts, tables are 50 cents a play, and most of the tables in Ground Kontrol are 50 cents as well. The exceptions are the older EM tables "King Pin" and "Haunted House" which are both 25 cents, and both 5 balls a game.

A quick trip across the river to Vancouver Washington will find you nice little places like "Billiards Plus" which has a lot of older EM tables (and a few newer ones) at 25 cents a play. For more details, check out PortlandPinballMap.com, which I try to update with prices when I come across them.

Every city should have a pinball map.

 

[ANDROID]

wow, that is SWEET. Well organized and such an awesome array of tables and places to go. Wish pinball was that readily available in NE Wisconsin.
I have documented a couple of dozen tables in our area, but we dont see many newer Sterns or the great 90's classics. Elvis is about it, with sttng.

I like the use of mapquest and the listings there for playability and high score.