I find myself at the unique intersection of loving vintage pinball machines and needing a new project. I’m considering trying to find a vintage pinball machine to restore. I grew up playing my dad’s Gottlieb Dimension (https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=680) from when he was a kid, but I’m willing to venture into more modern territory.
I don’t know much about this arena at all, but I’m interested in learning. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
There are quite a few resources for information and several of us who specialize in pinball repair. I often have project games that I have picked up for a fair price that I pass along to people entering the hobby. Recently the prices for games has gone through the roof since 2020 so finding a dirt cheap starter game is much more difficult. EM games are about double the starting price and solid state games are 2-4x the price of pre-2020. With Covid many people decided having some in-home entertainment was something they wanted and the surge in the retro bar/retro gameroom businesses have gobbled up many games in the local market.
What features or theme games are you attracted to? Knowing that can help you find a game that fits your interest. I have a bunch of projects in my collection that I am not attached to and am willing to sell for a fair price.
www.PinWiki.com is a good place to learn more about the games and has a whole bunch of technical resources for game repair.
Even though they look quite complicated they are not that difficult to repair once you get your head around how they work and know a few basic things. Anyone who can learn to use a basic multimeter to check voltage, continuity, resistance and learn how to solder can fix games.
I recommend starting with a single player or a two player EM. Single player games have far less score reels to service and do not have a player unit making them much easier to get going with far less work. Four player games can have between 12 and 16 score reels depending on the game making them much more daunting for a newbie. EM projects can sometimes be found starting around $300 but often now start around $500 and can go to well over $2500 for some titles that are highly sought after.
If you are looking to get started with solid state I would recommend an early 1977-1984 Bally or Stern game since they are fairly simple on the electronics with known issues and fixes. Solid state games have gone way up in value since 2020 as well at a higher rate than the EM games. Anything newer than 1984 generally has higher prices and anything that is DMD starts usually around $3000 and goes up from there. Pre-1984 games can be found for $1000-2500 for average entry level games. This is about double what it was 3 years ago.
My first pin was Silverball Mania from Bally. Within a month I had a solidstate Bally Supersonic and Mata Hari and a EM Bally Little Joe. Now about 14 years and 400+ games later I have around 100 pins and about 30 other mostly EM games in my collection. I know my collection if all restored and working in the current market valuation would probably be worth somewhere around $250-400k depending on how it was sold. Glad I got in while the prices were much lower and there was less competion. But back then there were far fewer options for reproduction parts and some games were parted out simply because a single part needed for the game to function was not available anywhere. Now there are a bunch of companies reproducing many parts including playfields, backglasses, plastics, ramps and wireforms, and rebuild parts for many of the mechanical assemblies.
I used to teach game repair often but lately my job has taken more of my attention away from my games. Jayson and Chuck both know quite a bit about pinball troubleshooting and repair. I don’t make it to the space as often as I would like due to my work schedule and hours.
The Houston Arcade Expo is coming up in November 10-12th and has a good mix of old pinball machines, arcade games and retro computing/gaming consoles. www.HoustonArcadeExpo.com for more info. They also have a swap meet on Saturday mornings but lately it has been hit or miss on pinball projects. Probably 20% of the games at the show are also for sale so you can find a working game at the show if you are looking for one.
The Texas Pinball Festival is coming up March 15-17th in Frisco, TX and is a very pinball heavy show with 450-550 games each year on free play. There are some arcades but not as many as Houston and there is little to no retro computing/gaming setup at this show. www.TexasPinball.com for more info. I am one of the organizers of the swap meet held on Saturday morning. Great way to find a project. Probably 40% of the games at TPF are for sale as people are looking to change up their gameroom lineups. Great way to try lots of games and bring one home that you like.
I was definitely thinking single player EM.
I don’t know enough to know what I like in a game - generally complex enough to be fun but not so complicated that I really have to think too hard while playing. Bright and colorful are generally good. Sorry I can’t be more specific, I just don’t know enough to say more.
I’d love to chat about some of your projects to see if one might fit the bill! Thank you so much for the kind offer to perhaps part with one for a fair price.
I have a few that might be of interest that I might sell. Send me a PM and I can share photos of a few of the possible games. A single player EM is generally the easiest to repair and troubleshoot for a beginner.