One of the greatest things I miss about growing up the 1980s and 90s is the plethora of video game arcades that were nestled in almost every single shopping mall in America. My favorite video game arcade growing up was located in the King of Prussia Mall (located in King of Prussia, Pa.) and was called Space Port. Space Port was a national chain of video game arcades, and the inside was designed to represent the inside of a space station, hence the name. During the 1980s and 90s arcades dominated the video game scene, with home video game consoles getting home translations of the most popular arcade games. Ask any vintage video game enthusiast who grew up in the 1990s what the date Mortal Monday was and they will gleeffully answer Sept. 13, 1993. It was on this date that one of the most popular arcade games of all time, Mortal Kombat, was released for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo home video game systems. At that point in time, most home video game consoles like the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo, or the TurboGrafx-16 were not on par with the graphical capabilities of actual standalone arcade video game machines. As such, popular games were first released into the arcades, then translated (or ported) to home video game consoles. In most cases, the home game was inferior to the arcade counterpart, and this was one of the many reasons video game arcades dominated the 1980s and 1990s. Then around the late 1990s something fascinating happened: home video game consoles became much more powerful and popular and, sadly, the decline of video game arcades started. Make no mistake, there are some companies out there (looking at you, Sega) that still produce arcade video games. Most notably, however, video game arcades either closed or transitioned to offering skill games like Skee-Ball and other similar games that offer tickets that players can redeem for physical prizes. But there was one popular video arcade mainstay that really never died out. In fact, it was the decline of video game arcades that gave rise to its collectibility on the secondary market. Pinball machines were a mainstay in video game arcades thanks to their established popularity long before Computer Space, Pac-Man, and Mortal Kombat became household names. The modern era pinball machine dates back to the late 1930s with the creation of Bally Hoo, which was the very first coin-operated pinball machine. After video games became a mainstay in the 1970s, pinball manufacturers started to add flashy lights and electronic backboards that incorporated some of these same mechanics into their machines. These solid state machines were the future, and today if you ask any pinball enthusiast what their favorite pinball machine is, chances are likely you will get a response regarding a machine that was made in the 1980s or 1990s. For me, it was Pinbot (released in 1986) with FunHouse (released in 1990) being a close second. Both pinball machines were created by Williams, a well known manufacturer of pinball machines at the time. Pinbot was especially memorable for me because as a kid I was really impressed with the digitalized voice that would say upon starting the game, Pinbot circuits activated. Sadly, Williams exited the pinball machine business in 1999, which coincided with the slow demise of video game aracdes. Today, pinball machines are highly collectible and can command tidy sums on the secondary market. Actual arcade video games can now be translated to home video game consoles almost flawlessly due to extremely powerful home consoles like the Nintendo Switch, the Sony Playstation 5, and the Microsoft Xbox. However, in order to enjoy an actual game of pinball and play it the way it was meant to be played, you would have to buy the original pinball machine in question. This is giving rise to increasing demand for these relics, and Gen-Xers like myself are willing to pay large sums on the secondary market to not only experience the games we grew up with, but also get a nostalgic rush of excitement that cannot be gained through any other means. Sadly, pinball machine collecting is a niche market for most enthusiasts, but also impractical. The cost of maintenance and repairs can be staggering, and finding a true classic machine in working or refurbished condition can easily set you back $5,000 to $10,000 for one classic game. Storage and display also becomes an issue because collecting pinball machines is not like collecting something small like graded coins or trading cards that can easily be stashed away in a safe deposit box. Still, owning one or two machines is doable if the enthusiast is motivated enough. There are now a lot of companies that cater to this growing market and refurbish and repair these coveted relics of the past and resell them online. Just be aware that shipping and transportation charges can be quite substantial to get these behemoths delivered to your door! The same is true when selling. You really have to find a motivated buyer. As one of my friends wives already lamented, I dont want that thing in my house! In conclusion, the future of pinball machine collecting looks very bright when compared to collecting actual arcade video game machines from the same era. Video games were killed by the fact that they can be translated and played on home video game consoles. With pinball games, however, that is just not possible. In a future article we will look at some of the most popular pinball machines of all time and their secondary market values. Until that time, may I recommend a game of Pinbot to hold you over? Seriously, if you ever see a Pinbot machine available for play, it is well worth the coins youd be giving up. I just wish I could go back in time and play it at the Space Port arcade in the King of Prussia Mall. Shawn Surmick has been an avid collector since the age of 12. He currently resides in his hometown of Boyertown, Pa., and is a passionate collector of antiques and collectibles. His articles focus on various topics affecting the marketplace.