Home > Master Selection Guide > Game FAQ's > Pinball Machines - By The Numbers

Pinball Machines | By The Numbers                                                      
 

---

This ongoing project to obtain, document and present interesting facts and figures about the
coin-operated gaming industry, along historic milestone dates for industry firsts, for both the press and general public was officially launched on 04/21/05, and is continually updated.

If you have or know of some interesting facts about pinball machines or arcade games that you would like to contribute to this page, we would love to hear about them, as there is very little public information available about basic industry metrics within the coin-operated gaming community.

Email your contribution, along with the source of the fact to: info@bmigaming.com -  We will be awarding BMI Gaming T-Shirts & other BMI branded gifts for facts that are especially interesting!

Pinball Machines - By The Numbers  ( Within the USA unless otherwise noted - " Modern " denotes pinball machines made after 1985 )          Last Updated On : Wednesday February 08, 2012
$80 Million	Estimated total worldwide sales of all (new and used) pinball machines (2004)
$45 Million	Estimated total worldwide sales of new pinball machines (2004)
$20 Million	Estimated total worldwide consumer sales of new pinball machines (2007)
$12 Million	Estimated total worldwide consumer sales of new pinball machines (2004)
$500,000	Estimated total worldwide consumer sales of new pinball machines (1994)
< 5 %	Approximate percentage of new pinball machines sold to consumers in 1990
45 %	Approximate percentage of new pinball machines sold to consumers in 2007
2300%	Approximate increase in consumer sales of pinball machines since 1994
$112 Million	Approximate spending ( usage ) on coin-operated pinball played on public locations (2004)
45,000	Estimated number of units of pinball machines in public locations (2004)
$20,100	Highest price ever paid for a single pinball machine (2006 - Big Bang Bar, c1997)
$4,400	Average price of a brand new coin-operated pinball machine (2004)
$3,300	Average price of a modern used coin-operated pinball machine in fully restored condition
$1,500	Average price of a modern used coin-operated pinball machine in good but unrestored condition
75,000	Highest number made for a single pinball machine  ("Ballyhoo", c1934)
20,270	Highest number made for a modern pinball machine  ("Addams Family", c1992)
10,000	Approximate number of pinball machines produced worldwide (2004)
4,500	Approximate number of different pinball models made since 1930
2,500	Average total unit production for a individual pinball title
3,500	Average number of component parts in a modern pinball machine
1,200	Average number of screws, nuts and washers in a modern pinball machine
120	Average number of lights, buLbs and flashers in a modern pinball machine
1 Year	Average amount of time needed to design a modern pinball machine
1/2 Mile	Average amount of wire needed to produce a modern pinball machine
30 Years	Estimated life span of a modern pinball machine
30 - 120 Days	Average production lifespan (before being discontinued) for a new pinball machine in 1978
6 - 36 Months	Average production lifespan (before being discontinued) for a new pinball machine in 2008
23	Number of major pinball machine manufacturers worldwide (1980)
1	Number of major pinball machine manufacturers worldwide (2007)
1800's	First pinball-like games ("Bagatelle" machines) are introduced in Europe
1931	First coin-operated pinball machine introduced  ("Waffle Board")
1966	First pinball machine with digital scoring  is introduced  ("Rally Girl")
1975	First "all electronic" solid-state pinball machine introduced  ("Spirit of 76")
1976	Year the last holdout state in the nation, New York, makes pinball machines "legal" to play
1979	First "talking" or electronic speech pinball machine introduced  ("Gorgar")
1999	First pinball machine to incorporate video display technology  ("Revenge From Mars")
2006	First "all-digital" pinball machine made with a full digital video display playfield  ("UltraPin")
Sources: BMIGaming.com  |  PinballNews.com  |  Internet Pinball Database ||  Playmeter Magazine  |  Stern Pinball

For a article (with pictures) on the history of pinball machines, please click here

For more information about Pinball Machines, please contact
BMI Gaming at  1-800-746-2255 | 1-561-910-0061 or Contact Us Via Form