Hey Nino - interested to know what you think was the lifespan of such a machine onsite and how long it took to make the USD$800 investment back for the operator - it kmust have been hugely profitable or these guys back then.?. How long these machines stayed onsite etc..
Paragon was operated until 1995. IIRC - Star Trek, 2 X KISS, Paragon were four machines still on route when Dad pulled the pin. There was already over 200 machines in two seperate storage buildings that were retired and eventually sold into the private market, given away and thrown away. Kinda makes me laugh when Dealers make comments like "We started the idea of putting pinballs machines into every home" - When my old man was doing it in the late eighties.
Earning capacity of Paragon or Space Invaders - impossible to tell. Those figures were never recorded over the entire lifespan of a game. I'd say it would have taken less than 6 months to pay off a game. At a complete guess - they would have made an easy $1000 a year for the first 3 years until the videos came along. That would be their earning capacity, not the figure taken home by the operator.
A machine was left onsite for at least 6 months (60's - 80's).
