A video game costs a quarter for a few minutes play. Even an inept player can keep occupied for an hour for a reasonable price. A pinball game costs 50 cents for three balls. If you're lucky, each ball will play for 20 seconds. If you're a beginner, you can't afford to learn to play.
Pinball machines are almost as expensive as telephone sex, and considerably less compulsive.
A pinball game that isn't played costs money. Babies learn to play Sony and Sega and Nintendo and other video games at home. They know what a video game is and go to the arcade for the latest and greatest. No one can afford a new pinball machine for their kids. And that same old video machine is inexpensive enough to be a grand Christmas present.