Any pinball machine owners on here?

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bmsdaddy

CAGiversary!
I have been thinking about buying a pinball machine. Anybody have any experiance owning one? Seems like most of the ones I come across at arcades and such are poorly maintained and I was wondering if they are difficult/expensive to maintain or if many places are just lazy with them.
 
I don't own one but I know that most complaints are that they are difficult to maintain and there are so many moving pieces that you will have to service it often. There is also usually a large up front cost to buy one. Ask around over at www.arcadecontrols.com and someone there will be able to give you the detailed answer you are looking for.
 
I've owned a few different machines over the years. Maintenance really depends on what kind of game you're looking at. The older games (electromechanical or EM) had no circuit boards and are somewhat difficult to maintain. It's gotten so that they are hard to even finf someone to work on one. The later machines are quite a bit easier and anyone with even a tiny bit of electrical and mechanical aptitude can do the work themselves. The most common thing to go wrong are burnt bulbs which are not a problem to replace. The best thing you can do is buy a machine that is already in good condition and maintain it yourself. There's a lot to know, I'd suggest looking through rec.games.pinball and talking to a local distributor before buying.
 
Ive had one in the house since I was born. Its called Spring Fever, and I used to love playing it. Its in the basement know and all the rubber is rotting off it and the bulbs need replacing and it needs cleaning and the score part fixed. I would pay to have it repaired like new since its such a pain to repair.
 
got two myself Monster Bash which is pretty sweet and the old Data East Simpsons game from the eighties. Broken plastics and occaisional mechanical hiccups are all that I've really had to deal with. Plus burned bulbs and old rubber that needs to be replaced. Plenty of info on how to maintain online of course. pinside.com is a cool website with a best of list. Get a hold of Twilight Zone (or Medieval Madness) if you can its the best there is.
 
The biggest issue with Pinball Tables in my experience is that the cost (usually a couple grand for a decent older machine 3-4 grand for a newer machine) is isn't worth it, they're just not fun in the longterm and get old fairly quickly. Unless you find someone that just wants to get rid of it, I just couldn't ever see myself dropping 1500 on an old Williams or Gottlieb machine from the 80's or 90's, and especially no 3500 for a 2 or 3 year old Stern machine.
 
Thanks for the comments and links. The initial investment doesn't really bother me, I was just a bit concerned that the thing might break all the time and just end up sitting in a corner. Heffaji, that link helped alot, after reading some of that stuff and talking with some pinball owners, I think most of the more common problems I would be able to handle myself.
 
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