Here’s something in the arcade gaming world that nobody thought would ever happen: Pinball machines – which are still made new to this day as shown above – are actually more popular than arcade video game machines.

Quite a turnaround, eh?

Pinball has been around a very, very long time – as in since the 1700s. Yes, the technology is actually centuries old as the spring launcher was invented in the late 1700s.

In the 1800s, the “bagatelle” table was introduced, patented in 1871 (#115,357 for those interested).

The actual coin-operated pinball machine came around in the 1930s.

Fast-forward to the 1940s, and flippers were introduced.

Then in the 1970s came the pinball machines we still know today, all made possible by soild-state technology.

Why does the pinball machine continue to thrive even in 2012?

It’s for a reason simpler than you might think.

You can’t play pinball at home. Well, not unless you bought a full multi-thousand-dollar pinball machine that is.

A huge reason for the decline of video arcade machines was because of home video game consoles. Being that kids could play their games at home instead of feeding quarters into machines at the arcades, and the fact there’s a whole online social aspect to gaming now, kids have little interest in video arcade games.

The pinball machine however by its very nature can’t be played in the home. You can’t just rip a ROM and play real pinball on your PC because it’s a very internal-physical game. It’s not like you can digitize the ball bearing (as in the pinball itself) to a file. Side note: The actual pinball itself can cost up to as much as $20 per ball, being it’s a perfectly weighted ball needed to roll correctly inside the machine.

If you happen to be a local shop owner, have some room in the lobby area and were riding the fence on whether to rent a video arcade machine or a pinball machine, go for the pinball because it will get more traffic.

And where do you rent one of these things? It just so happens Florida is quite a spot to get them. See PrimeTime Amusements, Arcade Game Sales, Fun Planners, etc. There’s more but there are plenty of places to rent pinball machines in The Sunshine State and in other places across the US.

And yes, rent/lease and don’t buy, because then you can get a maintenance contract along with your pinball machine, because believe me, you’ll need one if it gets used with any sort of frequency.

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