51 replies to this topic

[ynneBBenny]

For those old enough to remember, the standard pinball game was 5 balls for 20 cents in Australia. ( I guess a quarter in the states?)

Then they desided to become scabby and make it either 5 balls for 40 cents or 3 balls for 20 cents.

The dillema was, on the 3 ball machines, it was harder to win a free game, but you got 6 balls for 40 cents over two games.
On the other hand with the 5 balls for 40 cents, you had a better chance at winning a game, but you got one less ball.

I remember really resenting the pinball parlours for inflating the prices.

I still think that the price hike was part to blame for the end of the pinball glory days, though videos games did thier own damage too.

[Joe]

In some games set to 5 ball play have harder settings.

Edited by Joe, 10 April 2009 - 03:07 AM.

[templarjh]

I voted 3 for 20 (and yes a quarter here in the states ), but really that's just because that's what I grew up with, and what most of my favorite tables have. It is convenient just to use one coin too. But it really depends on the table and ruleset. I couldn't imagine playing a 5-ball DMD table - that would take forever! But I probably couldn't get a 3-ball game to last 3 minutes on a lot of EMs.

Just my opinion but I do think this has a small part to do with the decline of the industry. It was so easy just to use one quarter and everyone was used to it. 10 years later people are still expecting that pricing and don't want to pay 50c, so they'll gravitate towards a video game that might cost the same but give a longer game.

[Peanut]

I remember 5 balls for a 10 cents (a US dime). 3 games for 25 cents.

[Pinball Monk]

5 balls for 25 cents when I was a kid.

[Rick2006]

I remember 5 balls for a 10 cents (a US dime). 3 games for 25 cents.

Me too. 5 Balls for 10 cents.

[Bendigo]

I remember 1 game for 5c and 3 games for 10c, all 5 ball games - must have been around 1960
Last time I played it was 1 game for $1 and that was for 3 balls about 8-10 years ago

[Rockin and Rollin']

I remember 5 balls for a 10 cents (a US dime). 3 games for 25 cents.

I remember that also. The late 60's into the early '70's. A few times, go so carried away, wound up WALKING home because my bus money wound up in the pinball machine. BUT...back then it was safe to walk home, even carrying a bowling ball(or was that a deterrent to the criminals????).

[faralos]

5 balls for a dime three games for a quarter, at first you could just win extra balls in my area (north NJ, Usa at the time) or maybe a beer/soda from the owner, depending on the exact type of game it was!
Then it went up to a quarter a game...but then you could 'pop' a free game. Being able to play 6-8 games on 1 quarter was usually our goal and a lot of us made it daily! Ah the good ol' days.....

[MajikBubble]

I still remember games that were 25 cents/game. When it moved to 50 cents/game, It made me change my strategies for playing pinball.

[Tomcat Leader]

Yep, 5 balls for 10 cents, Gottlieb's Lawman. That was in 1979, when Galaxian first came out.

[Malorion]

I seem to remember some machines had 20c 3 ball game in the left slot, 40c 5 ball game in the right (could just be my muddled memory, too). If given a choice, I'd prefer 3 ball cheaper game until I get reasonably good at it then I'd be willing to pay 40c to get 5 balls coz I'd have a better chance of getting the juicy high-scoring modes Except when the state resets between balls of course

[gir]

For those old enough to remember, the standard pinball game was 5 balls for 20 cents in Australia. ( I guess a quarter in the states?)

Then they desided to become scabby and make it either 5 balls for 40 cents or 3 balls for 20 cents.

The dillema was, on the 3 ball machines, it was harder to win a free game, but you got 6 balls for 40 cents over two games.
On the other hand with the 5 balls for 40 cents, you had a better chance at winning a game, but you got one less ball.

I remember really resenting the pinball parlours for inflating the prices.

I still think that the price hike was part to blame for the end of the pinball glory days, though videos games did thier own damage too.

Usually, games Were 3 balls for 25 cents, and 5 balls fifty cents in the U.S. Now I've seen some locations charging 75 cents per game (usually only three balls).

[Mattstryker25]

For those old enough to remember, the standard pinball game was 5 balls for 20 cents in Australia. ( I guess a quarter in the states?)

Then they desided to become scabby and make it either 5 balls for 40 cents or 3 balls for 20 cents.

The dillema was, on the 3 ball machines, it was harder to win a free game, but you got 6 balls for 40 cents over two games.
On the other hand with the 5 balls for 40 cents, you had a better chance at winning a game, but you got one less ball.

I remember really resenting the pinball parlours for inflating the prices.

I still think that the price hike was part to blame for the end of the pinball glory days, though videos games did thier own damage too.

Usually, games Were 3 balls for 25 cents, and 5 balls fifty cents in the U.S. Now I've seen some locations charging 75 cents per game (usually only three balls).

Hi,
The pinnie parlour I used to hang around in after primary school ( grade 6 ) was mostly 20 cents for 5 ball games,
and I even remember a few that were still 10 cents for 5 balls ( really old machines ) but for the Aussies that remember
the 2 cent piece, well we used to push them in the 10 cent machines as fast as we could and 9 times out of ten the old
machine would work, so no wonder they didn't last long after that as everynight when they emptied the games the old 10 centers would have been full of 2 cents pieces LOL
I first remember games going to 40 cents when they became more digital and if my memory serves me correct they were
5 balls too......but after a while as the technology became better they then became 40 cents for 3 balls.....then came Space Invaders and Galaxian etc...and we know what happened next


Matt


.

[Annorax]

I feel way too young to be here.

3 balls for 50 cents in my time. Sadly, I was around for the start of the 3 balls for 75 cents thing.

Someone tell me the operators haven't been adding bill acceptors to the machines that are still out there...

[Krellan]

San Francisco is interesting.

3 balls for $0.75

5 balls for $1.00

3 balls for $1.00, and no replays allowed! (In some locations) Interestingly, these locations are doing quite well, even at this rather harsh pricing.

In these locations, extra balls are slightly easier to get. Ball savers are set to the maximum of 15 seconds per ball, which helps keep people from feeling (as) ripped off.

Josh

[Blue Drache]

I remember feeling ripped off when it was 3 balls for $0.25 ... I grew up with 5 balls for $0.25. If I had my druthers, and I could open an arcade with ... oh ... a dozen or so machines, it would be priced like I grew up with. I was saddened when greed took over the market place.

[faralos]

the day that the majority of the arcades start to put bill units on pins, is the day I start hunting out old arcades or pins in stores/laundromats etc and staying away from any bill-hungry pin put into the newer (better?) parlors ["To help offset their being here when I could have a neat action machine drawing bills"!]
I also remember going to the Jersey shore (in the USA) and playing the real old em's at 3 balls for a dime. You could only get a high score on these. and some were flipperless. This was 12 years ago. I hope some of those parlors there still exist, they are a part of pin history.

[LuckyArmpit]

We used to play Aquarius at a local pool hall back in 1973. 5 balls for a quarter/game. There'd be 4 of us so we all ponied up a quarter each.
The machine wasn't that hard to win games on. And, if you put your hand over the points area on the backboard, and give it a whack, you'd get
a 1000 points plus it would give you a "pop" free game. We'd turn up the jukebox sound so the attendant couldn't hear us giving the backglass
a smack. You could play for hours on a dollar. If you got 5300 points, you got a free game. And of course specials. We'd always win a few games.
Max # of games on that machine was 25 and we'd have it up to 20 or so within a half hour.

Lucky...

[Joe]

San Francisco is interesting.

3 balls for $0.75

5 balls for $1.00

3 balls for $1.00, and no replays allowed! (In some locations) Interestingly, these locations are doing quite well, even at this rather harsh pricing.

In these locations, extra balls are slightly easier to get. Ball savers are set to the maximum of 15 seconds per ball, which helps keep people from feeling (as) ripped off.

Josh

is the no replay games set to Extra ball for a replay?