Hey osuguy,

I'm pretty new myself but may be able to offer some insight. Servicing a machine would largely depend on it's condition. If you buy a game that is rough around the edges, a basic service would include things like getting everything working 100% (depends on age of game, is it early solid state or a new one with a dmd), cleaning and waxing the playfield, and replacing the pinball(s). A more involved service to make a bulletproof pinball machine would involve a several hundred dollar playfield restoration, this price fluctuates depending on the condition and how much you want done. Then there are cosmetic things that can be done to a game such as new legs, led lights, modifications.

In response to whether you can do it yourself, that depends on how much time and confidence in your abilities that you have. If you buy an average game that plays but has some issues and just want to get it playable, I definately think almost anyone can handle that themselves by reading the forums and using a little elbow grease. If you know you can't use a soldering iron and don't have the patience to clean, there are plently of people in our area who can help you restore a game. BarakandI is in columbus and can work wonders with boards. I'm sure there are other people but I am new to this area and sport as well. You can see my location in my signature, I am available for any questions you may have if you are closeby.

Hi OSU,

Yes, there is a guy right in your backyard that I have used. His name is Tom Edwards and as I said he resides in Columbus. He is not cheap but is good. His telephone is 614-577-0111 Web address is tntgame.com I have had Tom come up to my place in the Cleveland area. He will travel unlike many others who wont go out of their city. Again, not cheap but he knows his stuff.

As for doing the work yourself, sort of depends on if you are speaking of the older electro mechanical games or the newer solid state games. The ss games logic makes more sense to me than the em but I like the older em better.

I am very new at this avocation as well and if you have any questions that you may wish to ask, PM me or just continue the thread. Happy to help if I can.

Hope that this helps.

George...

If you feel you are handy, I would buy a cheap pin and learn on it. If you mess up, not big deal. It does not have to be your dream pinball game, just one to play with and learn on. You can always sell it later.

Pick a very common manufacture. Any of the early Bally SS pins would be ideal. Lots of them were made and lots of info on fixing them, parts are cheap and easy to find. Just don't get one that is super abused, likely too many problems and you will get frustrated with it. I learned on two Ballys I got as a group buy, both dead but not abused. They had worked, but were left for a few years unused and now did not work. These were ideal machines to learn on. Have two I could swap parts back and forth on was also very handy for diagnostic work.

Read pinwiki and/or Clay's manuals and you should be able to get almost all of your questions and problems answered. Anything really weird or if you don't understand something in on of those two resources, post here.

I think you will find it very challenging to be in this hobby if you don't have at least a basic level of "fix-it" ability or deep pockets and great local repair person. Even if you do have a great local repair person, do you really want to wait for them to work you into their schedule to fix a game only to realize it was just a wire that fell off of a flipper coil? A repair that will take you 5 minutes to do on your own.