The now defunct Pinball Museum in Banning, CA had an interesting model. They opened for business on a convention model (bi-annually, or quarterly) with an all-you-can-play ticket. This gave them time to get all the machines in working order. There was also a repair crew onhand to try to get failures fixed. They did not survive the pandemic and had to liquidate their collection, which was tragic.
So while maybe not the best way to make money, the experience for fans at their shows was outstanding. The largest collection of pins and arcades I've ever seen, almost all in working order.
I deeply lament it's loss, it was something I looked forward to. I was at many of the events and even participated in the Guinness Record.
http://www.museumofpinball.org/pinball-news/hello-world/
It was a private collection and magnificent and met some amazing and interesting people there. Walter Day was promoting a set of trading cards. Billy Mitchell once handed off a ms. pacman game to me in progress which I quickly lost despite my best efforts. You could tell he was a big self promoter and liked playing the heel to create a dramatic story for media. It was worth the long drive from LA to Banning (near Morongo), and even the Bob's big boy in the middle of nowhere was a good lunch. I think the facility was an old connector factory https://www.recordgazette.net/news/local/decisions-to-be-mad... before John Weeks bought it, it was really close to where the record blanks were made that burned down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Masters_Corporation_fir...
At least in LA we have AYCE Gogi running a couple good rooms, and a few hourly pay arcades, but the pandemic closed the Northridge Reseda one. And Two-Bit Circus in downtown is fantastic but limited on pinball. I own a Rocky&Bullwinkle but i'm still repairing it. Trying to decode/disassemble the software written for MC6808 is a part time amusement for me.
I'm glad someone used their wealth to provide a lot of joy to people, but nothing lasts forever.
My son and I went to nearly every one of the events. His first was in his baby carriage. It really is a loss I mourn every so often. Lots of amazing memories tied to that place. And you are right, everyone there was pretty cool.
I was hoping to maybe grab one of the pins during the auction but the prices the machines were getting were way out of my range. I'm glad they made some money back, I suppose. Still trawling Craigslist hoping to find a deal.
pinside.com is a quality community for pinball people, including sales. I found the operator I bought my pinball machine from and got a reasonable price. Most mainstream sites are highly overpriced, but prices soared since I got mine and haven't stopped.
So while maybe not the best way to make money, the experience for fans at their shows was outstanding. The largest collection of pins and arcades I've ever seen, almost all in working order.