Woah, I've never seen a game set at above $.50 a play. Is it common to have them higher?
The newest pinball is always priced higher for the first few months to keep it from killing the earnings of the other games, and to help pay for itself a little quicker.
The game difficulty(outlane settings) was modified to compensate for the $1/play pricing.
As of late, yes. Starting in '07, new pinballs defaulted at $.75/play. Since people seem to hate that odd price, I use $1 pricing, as well as a lot of other operators that still buy new pinballs. Nearly all the new Sterns I've played in the wild were $1 to play.
$1/play also works on newer driving/racing games, air hockey, pool, large plush cranes, etc
All of my fighting games and other quick games are $.25. Classics are also $.25.
$.50 on the older pinball machines and just about everything else.