There is zero (0) reason I don't currently own a pinball machine. There are several listed on my local Craigslist right now for between $500 and $2500 USD. I could simply play pinball whenever my heart desired. The fellas who bankrupt early and rode with someone else when we play cards could have something do. I could maintain it obsessively, finding original manuals and schematics. They don't depreciate significantly if maintained. Am I a moron for not owning one? Why don't you people own one?
I picked up my first two last year - they require a decent amount of maintenance -- more the older they are.
Home use only machines will be in better shape - my 2018 Stern pin (3rd owner, home use only) has only really needed replacements of the coil stops and sleeves for the the upper flippers.
On the other hand, my 2002 Stern machine (3rd owner, but first was on location in a Century theater where it saw thousands of plays) required in just two months of ownership:
- diagnosis and replacement of a bad bridge rectifier for the controlled lights,
- new plumb bob (machine info showed it had never reported a tilt before - looks like it had been removed before ever been played),
- clear mylar patch on the playfield near the plunger lane exit,
- replacement of the main power cable -- someone had ripped out the third/ground prong (which is apparently very common),
- redoing the connections inside the power box -- someone had decided all the connectors should just live in giant solder balls.....,
- replacement of the coin door lock mechanism,
- replacement of a flipper return spring
and it has a few cracked pieces of protective plastic that just aren't worth trying to find replacements for.
In total all together that's still less than $50 in parts, but figuring out the lights issue took weeks, and some of these required soldering. (And desoldering! I strongly recommend the Hakko FR301 desoldering tool instead of mucking about with copper braid.)
For the prices you listed, I would guess you're looking at older machines, which will probably have more issues sooner than new (but not brand-new!) pins. I suggest pinside.com for the classifieds and also the "_X_ Machine Owner" forum threads which might have game-specific info for you. Stern has very detailed manuals, and pinballlife/marcospecialties have just about every part you might need when you do have a problem.
This is the best, most helpful message I've ever received in response to something I've typed on the Internet. I'll take it to heart, thanks boss.
Edit: to further take advantage of your kindness, let me ask you a question: it looks like an old bowling alley near me has several machines reported to be non functional, including an Elvira and the Party Monsters. In your humble restoration opinion, would it make sense for me to stop by and give them the old "eh it's busted? Maybe I can do something with it. Sell it to me for $400?" type spheel and see if I can dump ~$700 into it to get a functional machine for a good price? I wouldn't be looking to resell.
https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/elvira-and-the-party-mon...https://www.afpinball.com/restorations/system-11b-mpu-batter...
Aww I'm glad it helped! I wanted to illustrate the amount of upkeep it takes to even keep a machine that was already about 99% working from disrepair.
I think you could give the offer a shot, but it looks like the market is a good bit higher - the bigger the discount the more you're probably going to have to work to get it operational. It looks like you've already got a headstart on that, so if none of this is scaring you off, I say do it! My two machines are Whitestar and Spike2 systems, and are from Stern, which is still operating. My concern going for Party Monsters would be that System 11(B?!) boards and replacement parts may be in short supply, and I can't comment on the quality of documentation for it all.
Watch out though - I see posts about mods in the game thread. My newer machine came with 6-7 already installed by the first owner, which got me hooked. At this point I've added another 25 or so... I think I spend as much time working on these machines as I do playing them (but my goal is to make my own machine, so every piece of work comes with learnings and better understanding of what's in store for me.)
Post back here later and let me know what you end up doing!
You're making good sense about the pitfalls, and I think these might be great for me to bring up when negotiating price. It looks to me like the machine is in pretty good shape for its age and being a bowling alley machine. It also has a topper (that I didn't get in the photo) and seems stock. https://ibb.co/pZV1Vx5
When I arrived the lights in that area weren't even turned on in that section of the building because, as they said, most of the machines are broken. It can't be making him money if it's not even worth it to the run the lights. The out of order paper in the machine looks like it has been there for 5+ years (it could be used on different machines when they go out but I don't think so).
If I can swoop in and buy it for $500 or less I think I'm going to. I have to keep it low on the off chance I end up with a paperweight. My wife won't be thrilled about the booby lady pinball but at that price she can't get too mad. I'll home it at a buddy's house for now if it comes to it.
I'll keep you posted about any developments, thank you again for your help.
To get that game for $500 I think the owners would need to be at a point where they're sick of it and just want it gone.
A couple of thoughts:
1. Games on location are often not owned by the location, but instead owned by a third-party operator that is responsible for maintenance and splits coin drop with the location.
2. Since the game is on location it was probably playable at some point recently. It may be off because of something simple like a rubber ring breaking and the ball keeps getting stuck or an important switch not registering, but the operator hasn't had a chance to fix it. If it was recently and only needs minor work, its value is more likely to be $5,000 than $500.
3. Even if it has been broken and not working for years, its value would heavily depend on the cosmetic condition. A non-working machine with a great cabinet (artwork without fade, no dings) and no wear or damage to the playfield would still probably be worth closer to $2-3,000.
You're making good points.
1. I neglected to mention that I confirmed the owner owned the machines. The employee I spoke to said she was going to approach the owner about purchasing the pacman machine herself.
2. The location seems like it's being kept alive by bowling leagues. I wouldn't be shocked if it wasn't there in five years. They quite literally do not turn the lights on in this section of the building.
3. You're right that I'm off on the price, but I'm starting with 400. If he wants to try to sell it online and ship it or deal with the arcade two cities away he can, but it's a question of how much it's worth it to him. I bought a grandfather clock six months ago for $100. It never hurts to ask. I won't weep or be rude if it doesn't work out. I've found I can get great prices on low volume stuff.
I don't particularly think it will work out, I just need to try so I can throw my hands up in the air and answer my original question in this thread with "I don't own one... because they're too darn expensive".
But dag on I want it. Elvira is calling to me.
You've also given me great information in this thread, thank you.
Idk, once fixed my machine the first time after buying it, I haven't had to fix a thing in 7yrs.
Star Race, 1980
Hired a tech to resolder some switches and then replace the main board with a maddog and I literally have done nothing to it since 2017ish and even then that was just putting new flipper rubbers on...
I got a virtual pinball machine which gives me all of the fun of owning a pinball machine with almost none of the maintenance. My machine is the size of a normal wide body pinball cabinet and works like a normal machine does as far as tilt/bumping, flippers, coin door, etc go. If you have the time and passion for keeping up a regular pinball I would go that route. If you want something a bit more easy to maintain but just as fun to play I would look for a virtual pinball setup.
They're big and heavy and have a lot of wear parts that are expensive to maintain. Standing in one spot not blinking isn't great. I can play pinball in VR and have about an equally good experience these days.
My father had several of these mechanical machines during my early adulthood. It was one of the few things we "did" at family reunions, and was always worth a few hours playtime...
but damn if they didn't require a "first name basis" with the repairman, and they were absolutely not able to be transported without a team of helpers. When we sold the house most of them were "given" to the new owner [sort of white elephant?].
--
I could never get in to the virtual pinball machines [it's been about a decade], but I guess they "play" identical to a "theoretically perfectly-operating" mechanical type?
I've had a 1986 Bally Motordome for decades. It's fun. There are many techniques and tricks to get better, detailed in books and online, and when you have a machine at home, as you say, you can play whenever your heart desires and practice. Playing for a long time has a meditative quality, too, and is a good metaphor for life - a mix of skill and random factors.
As others have noted, maintenance is a bit of an issue, though not overwhelming. The machines are beautifully crafted - maintenance can be fun.
As an apprentice electrician decades ago, I remember the first time I viewed the innards/underside of a pinball table/machine: absolute insanity.
Running my own shop a decade later, my favorite way to describe horrific residential electrical panels was "it looks like a drunk pinball machine in there."
That's how mine started getting out of control. I had one non-working machine that I rescued from a family friend's barn. My wife decided we should get a newer, working one so we would have something to play while I kept working on the first. A year later and I'm at over a dozen…
I've bought non-working pinball machines from Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist for great prices and brought them back to life. They cover a range of the pinball spectrum from electromechanical games from the 1970s through 1990s games with dot matrix displays. I fix these up, play them until I get bored of them, then sell them to make room for future projects or trade them for something new-to-me.
Separately from that, I've bought, sold, and traded to end up with a set of games that I enjoy playing. There are a couple of modern Stern games in the mix along with some mid-90s Bally/Williams games.
If I may ask, are you making a worthwhile profit on the machines you sell, or are you doing it for the love of pinball? I used to know a guy who claimed to have done this with claw machines and made a lot of money. (Yes he had a ponytail)
I'm not really making any money doing it. I learn a lot and enjoy the process.
As an example, I picked up a 1978 Bally Strikes and Spares machine from Marketplace. It'd sat in the owners garage unplayed for 10 years and no longer worked. I bought it for $400, put somewhere between 20-30 hours of work into it and around $600 in new parts. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to sell it for around $1800.
Some months ago Visual Pinball was on HN's front page. I took the impetus to actually build a full size virtual pinball cabinet.
It turns out the wife actually enjoys it more than I do. Instead I enjoyed building it, and now I've been deep diving into fixing the scripting on some of the older EM (electro-mechanical) tables (virtual ones) that are out there.
Learning Visual Basic (or a variant of it) was never on my Bingo card....
I grew up having pinball machines in our house (my dad bought and fixed them as a hobby, sold or gifted them to friends). I have my childhood Black Knight pinball with me now. Love playing it, the kids and their friends love it. Honestly it’s great.
Repairs and maintenance is very DIY able at least for this age of machine. Luckily I can still call dad when I’m stuck troubleshooting.
No idea if they hold their value. Never thought of selling.
My parents had a Black Knight 2000. when I was growing up. As an adult, walking through an arcade and hearing that theme song is like running into an old friend you haven't seen for years.
The organizer of a pinball tournament league I used to participate in expressed regret about buying his own machine. The up-front price of buying one isn't terrible, no. What he disliked was that he felt committed to that one single machine, and ended up playing it so much that he was thoroughly bored of it within a year.
You're not committed, though. It's not that hard to resell and buy another one, or even find a partner to trade machines with. I've done that quite a few times. I have 5 machines at home, but have rotated through close to a dozen this way in the last couple years.
My quota for stupid nerd space things is already taken up by my DDR pads that were taken from a 7th-gen cabinet. Not to mention the PC gaming space I have upstairs with 4 comps and enough space between for VR...and the retro gaming area next to it with a CRT.
