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.
Good luck, and have fun!
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...
They’re also a lot of fun! I really enjoy both playing and working on mine.
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?
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."
They require enough maintenance that you'll need a back up ;)
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....
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.
Portland was the original base location and then IIRC they expanded to other cities. Portland's reputation as the pinball capital of the world is well founded.
I prefer the pinball scene in Milwaukee. Seemingly every neighborhood has at least a few relaxed, cozy bars with a decent number of machines in the back room, and there are also a few decent venues that are open to minors.
I don't know Portland as well, but based on what little time I've spent there it seemed like the situation was more similar to what it's like in Milwaukee. I've stumbled across some great old classic machines when I was there.
OPDB came about because an older site IPDB doesn’t have an API (and doesn’t want to have an API) in order for various pinball software to communicate with each other. I'm in some pinball leagues with the developer, Andreas Haugstrup, who also makes matchplay.events, pintips.net, and other sites that serve the pinball community.
Once you create an account you can make a note if the machines aren't working well and the owners will usually get someone in quick to fix too.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pindigo-social-pinball-scores/...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ascrewaske...
Our locations are sourced from Pinball Map; scores can be tagged with locations which allows us to maintain leaderboards for specific machines (in addition to global/social/event leaderboards).
Also interestingly, one of the founders also founded Equinix, Rev3, Digg, Opsmatic, and a handful of other companies...
Logan Arcade in Chicago has it. One of the best arcades period.
Perhaps the database started too long ago and there's a licensing issue.
With mapbox, this is probably not too hard to create, though I have never worked with mapbox.
For arcade games (and pinball machines) the leisure tag would be appropriate: 'leisure=amusement_arcade'.
About licensing issues, these are facts and not covered by copyright, correct?
All I have is this Colorado map https://www.coloradobrewerylist.com/brewery/
You pay an admission fee and get to play unlimited pinball from machines across the ages, even the old wooden units.
Regarding pinballs I recently built a self-hosted app to track scores between friends.
I also miss reading the manual and fixing little things every so often.
It looks like this machine has either moved on from MuMaLab, or was never listed in the first place.
It would be nice to be able to filter machines here by what kind of lights they use. I imagine most places tend to use LEDs to save on electricity. At least that's been my experience checking the barcades I've found from this site.
I wonder if the places I've been to just don't know, or just haven't upgraded yet (waiting until the originals die?), or are trying to save pennies on the dollar on repairs?
a lot of places switch because it produces less heat damage as they stay on for long periods of time and make a lot of heat. this can negatively impact longevity of the backglass and plastics
I played on the ones in Maui just before they were lost in the fires. Not a great tragedy in the grand scheme of things, but still a pity. Star Wars was a delight.
On the other hand, if you’ve figured out which Medieval Madness in your city you play best at, you can leverage that information to your advantage :)
There is a bowling alley nearby that bills itself as a Pinball Museum (with 20 or so machines) but they're all quarter driven. I went once, dropped $15, got annoyed and never returned. My kids and I go to the other place every other month or so.
[0] Except for one machine -- they have this giant thing that uses a pool cue as a ball -- it's a Sega game ... Mammoth or something, and apparently very rare
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/comments/1dkoox/this...
Anyways, to anyone who finds themselves in Southwest Virginia and wants to relive old pinball and arcade games, the Pinball Museum of Roanoke, Virginia has a floor dedicated to pinball, and another to retro arcade games (in the cabinets). Everything is free too after the entrance fee!
Most cities have at least one pinball bar with a weekly tournament. The same sorts of people go every week, and there are always beginners joining. If you're in a new place and need some social exposure, look for a pinball bar.
I've met people at pinball tournaments who have found the confidence to move because they knew they'd meet new friends at the pinball tournament in wherever they're moving to.
Likewise, there's the "internet movie firearms database", and the "internet movie cars database", and several others, which are not just object classes in some larger internet movie attribute database.
Why?
I presume the same is true for the IMDB. They have their own list of things they are interested in, and firearms or cars may not be on that list.
It's almost like different people/organizations have different interests and priorities.
This is going to be a very unhealthy weekend for me.
Akin to other physicall media that you do things together.
https://invidious.protokolla.fi/watch?v=SNalvo1ydJU
never knew what the hell a "pinball map" could be despite playing many versions of pinball, now i know
