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 :
Thursday November 12, 2009 |
| $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
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