"Hey, these machines are basically garbage to me"

"OK, I'll sell the one for you and take the other, deal?"

"Deal"

Super interesting, I know.

I got my SS for free, the woman said her husband tried fixing it and now it just sits broken. She was getting her basement re-done (pipe broke) A friend of mine was doing the work and called, he said come get this out of my way.
It had a few hacks but it has the nicest playfield I have ever seen on a Sure Shot 76' gottlieb.
Everyone needs atleast one EM in the collection.

It all began on a warm summer day, the birds were chirping in the pine trees in the front yard.....I got nothing. Maybe someday.

I foresee lots of "Got an LE, sold it for double what I paid, got a premium for 'free'" stories in the next year.

Back in the early 2000's I just went to all of my local route companies and bugged them week after week to sell me any pinballs they were taking off of routes. Got to be very friendly with a lot of them.
Finally one week one of them said they were clearing out a back shed that had some old EM pinballs and I could just haul them off for free.
Got a Captain Fantastic, Twin Win, Hollywood, Sky Kings, Night Rider and a Taxi all for free.
Every one of them except the the Hollywood were in pretty good shape and I was able to get them all fixed up and running. Sold them all at auction and used the funds to purchase a 90's pinball machine with DMD.
I also have tons of next to free pinball machine stories as well.

just picked a Captain Fantastic home model up off of the side of the road 48 minutes ago

Story 1- Christmas day 1980. My dad worked for a guy who's brother was an operator and had adjoined office space. They roll up to our house that Christmas Morning in a white panel truck and unload a Bally Bon Voyage as a Christmas present. As an 8 year old growing up in arcades that was like more than a dream come true. It has been HUO only ever since (in either my parents or siblings home) and is currently up and running in my game room. Best part is it is the most reliable machine ever. The only maintence ever is rubber rings, bulbs and a fuse here or there (Mostly from age). It has NEVER broken down and the eight years in my home has had no issues.

Story 2-Last summer I responded to an ad for a free Pit Fighter Arcade Machine that an older couple just wanted hauled away from their basement. Turns out it worked (after fixing some minor issues) but I did not really want to keep it so I posted it for sale or trade and a guy responded and offered me a Williams Grand Lizard pinball machine (Beat up but working) as a straight up trade. Had to drive an hour and half but it was my first Solid State game and it was, minus gas, FREE (after trade).

Several months ago I was working with a local realtor to clear out an estate she had come into possession of, the deceased was well off and rather eccentric and before going into a nursing home he had offered the house to my realtor friend and told them that if they'd buy the property they could just keep all of the old furniture in it.

I got a phone call and the realtor asked me to come get a few old pinball machines out of the basement, they had no interest in them and knew I was into the hobby. Needless to say I got directly in my truck and headed over.

When I got into the basement I saw a variety of machines, mostly under bed sheets (I presume to keep the dust off). As I uncovered them I found:

Attack from Mars
Monster Bash
Medieval Madness
... others

Well, you didn't say it had to be a TRUE story, did you?

There's our infamous Dumpster Shadow. There's an operator down the street who has a ton of pins, but refuses to ever sell them to us, even though he's not running them. He threw a Shadow in the dumpster. Luckily, someone saw it and took a picture, and it ended up on facebook. One of our clients saw it, and let us know.

I sent my guys down to pick it up, and it was still there. We called the operator, and said "hey, you know, we would have been happy to buy that". He laughed and said we'd never get it running. I fixed the problem in two and a half hours. Bad EMI filter, and the sanctum needed sanding and redoing.

Sadly, by the time we got there, the glass was broken, and copper scavengers had gotten to it. They cut out all the wiring, and tried to rip off the ramps. So it took a good 40+ hours of rewiring, picking out the broken glass and fritos, and cleaning it up. But it's running happily today in that client's location. I hate to think what else he's thrown out over the years.

Actually i've never gotten one for free. but I did get a meteor for $60 once.

When my grandma passes I get a pitch n bat and a shooting gallery.

Not exactly free, and not looking forward to when they become mine.

Special Force.

It was broken and "unfixable". I had to take it as a condition of sale on another machine (for free). He just wanted it out after not being able to fix it. It was otherwise dumpster bound.

I spent some time repairing the circuit boards, and some electro mechanicals. I figured, this would be a great time to try flame polishing. No real risk, and I was surprised how easy it was to make the ramps look awesome!

DSC00001.JPG

I sold the machine, and brought the cash right back to him and bought another machine.

I've received two free pins. The first was a Flintstones. A friend works at a local church and called to tell me they didn't have room for it and they wanted it gone. I just needed to haul it out. I get there, head to the youth room and its in a GIANT auditorium. I didn't even see the game at first because it was waaaay in the back corner. Not sure how many kids are in here, but the room was like an empty gymnasium. Whatever, I loaded it up. It had a major board reset issue. I didn't want to deal with it at the time, so I sold it right away to a friend. In hindsight, I wish I had kept it around to enjoy it for a while.

Another game I landed for free is a Bally Beat the Clock. It was 'broken' and the owner was only interested in A list DMD games now. He just let me have it. One flipper was just loose (they have setscrews). Tightened it and it's still in my collection. Great game!

I had a good friend working with someone that wanted to get rid of a video game and a Williams Blackout. So he was going to drop them off.

Never got the video game. Did get the Blackout.

Displays were shot, got a working set off of Ebay. Lasted a week. This was before all the new ones you can get.

Turned into a money pit. Don't remember if I gave it away or sold it cheap to get it out of here.

LTG : )

Back in 99

My dad just passed away so I was in bad shape

My buddy knew I was into pinball

His dad played cards with a guy who had a pinball in the garage

One day before school my buddy tells me to stop by

Opens the door ...

He gave me a KISS pinball machine

The guy used it as a table and it didnt work , but that didnt last long

Addiction started then ...

When I was 18 I found my second pin Tri Zone on the curb in Brentwood, Long Island. I knocked on the door and asked if they were throwing it out and they were! I left a note on it stating that it was spoken for and rushed home in Friday afternoon traffic to get a bigger car. 45 mins later it was still there! Years later I tried giving it to my friend and he wouldn't accept it for free so he gave me $50 for it.

I got a Brunswick Alive from Joe Pond for free. It's still in my storage closet in the basement wrapped in plastic. Not an exciting story, but the truth usually isn't.

We were delivering a popcorn machine to a rec room in the basement of a church.

There was a Gorgar with it's head strapped down.

I asked "What's up with poor Gorgar there...." thinking I'd get a service call out of it.

The church director said "Oh that. You can just take that. Father McDurmit does not approve of those things"

Apparently, the new priest at the church did not want anyone doing battle against a demon.

We put it on the dolly and dragged it up the stairs and into the van. Still had money in it.

Gorgar-backglass.jpg

I guess I've told mine before in a hauling-pins-up-stairs story, but...

I got my Dr. Dude for free, my first pin. I wanted to buy a pin, but couldn't turn any up so I was kind of putting feelers out there. My mom thought she knew someone that had one in her basement. She went to high school with the woman and hadn't talked to her for years, but contacted her, and sure enough, she still had the machine and said I could have if I'd come get it. Her children were all grown up, and she has MS so didn't want to deal with it.

The machine was in the basement at the bottom of a very steep, wooden flight of stairs with no banister, nothing. I didn't even know what kind it was until I got over there. There were four of us and we got it to the bottom of the stairs, but it was so steep we couldn't do it safely, so I had to call my uncle and a couple of cousins over. It took six guys to get it out of there, but no harm done to any walls, etc.

The plastics were/are pretty rough and there are some board hacks that I don't feel like I have the skillz to tackle yet, but after rebuilding the flippers it plays great. Oh, and though it was technically free, I sent the woman $100 in gift certificates to a resturant in town about a week later. She thought that was more than fair!

The only free one that I ever got was about 2 months ago. About a year ago a friend of mine told me he was offered a free xenon about 7 years prior and turned it down because he's not into pinball. I told him it was more than likely long gone and he said he thought it would still be there.I reminded him about it 3 months ago and he said he would be in contact with his friend soon. he called me about a month after and said that if i wanted it that we should get going because the guy was going to post it on craigslist for free very soon. we went to get it and the owner said it hadn't been turned on in about 10 years or so.anyways i took it apart and brought it home set it up and of course the original battery was corroded pretty badly. i cut the old battery off the board and cleaned up all the acid damage. i installed a remote battery board and replaced the 5101 chip and it has been playing good since. playfield has some wear but backglass was literally perfect and cabinet is very nice and unfaded.

I have a good friend, not into pinball at all, who got a Skateball for free, before I even got into pinball.
I asked him about it a year ago, and it comes from his mother in law, who had a bar in the 80s. I ask if she maybe have one more for me ? Turns out she have: Playboy, Mata Hari, Silverballmania, one more I can't remember and the one I got for my dad: 8BD. Playfield is veeeeery worn... but with a little tweaking on the boards it now works. The others are still rotting in her place under a leaky roof...
Actually I may also get my friend's Skateball some day, as he doesn't care about it (but it sits on the 3th floor of his house...)

I also got a free rusty Bronco (EM), but that's not interesting, and almost got a Xs and Os for free with the Centaur I picked up last week (not enough room in the car for two pins).

It's my avatar pic. Left under a bridge (sort of turned into a storage unit) for at least 10 years.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/kick-off-rehab

I might be willing to give it away, also for free, to new home. Mouse pee smell is way down. I need to get more photos of final product. Needs a total cabinet repaint that's for sure.

Well, this isn't really free, but a guy gave me a black knight, if I got his two other pins working.
He paid for all the parts. I had a few hours of labor into the deal. Took it home and got the BK running again.

Told this on another thread. Had a friend with an old "PlayBall" EM Wedgehead. It was a disaster with serious moisture damage to the plywood head and major corrosion issues throughout. He had offered it to me before but I didn't want to deal with it. It was in pieces spread over his basement. A couple of years later he was downsizing and it had to go. He told me if I didn't want it then it was going to the dump the following day. I couldn't bring myself to let that happen so I reluctantly took it. I had just retired at the time so I made it a winter project. I offered it back to him when it was finished but he didn't have the room and I really didn't either. My son had just moved into his new place and had plenty. It fit right in with his sports themed bar room. It gets used all the time and works perfectly.

image.jpg image.jpg

My father owns a disaster restoration company. About 25 years ago he pulled a Flash out of a fire. For whatever reason, the thing was written off by the insurance co and dad got it for free. He gave it to my uncle, where it sat in basement/garage until this past fall. It was having a lot of problems that he couldnt fix. When I was visiting for thanksgiving, I offered to look at it, and he basically just asked me to take it off his hands. Got it working about a month later, cleaned it up, and I'm loving it. Just got done playing like 20 games actually!

I actually got 5 for free once. There was a bar in town that was being torn down. The brother of a friend of mine was paid to tear the building down and called me on the phone. He says, "do you want me to put these 5 pins on my work trailer so you can have them??? If not, they're probably going into the dumpster." I picked them up that week (took two trips) and ended up with:

Flip Flop (sold as I got it for $100)
OXO (parted)
Dolly Parton (parted)
Bow and Arrow (Still have, worn/bare wood PF and no BG but plays good)
Harlem Globetrotters (Still have it, restoration took about 30 hours)

They were all in VERY rough condition. The only regret I have is not taking pictures of the HG before I started restoring it. The shocker was that all the displays worked in both solid state machines.

Free Jurassic Park I got a year ago.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/2nd-pin-howd-i-do-1

I got into the hobby because I was given a broken '73 Gottlieb Big Shot. I only had a handful of vids at the time and thought it would be interesting. It ended up being much more interesting than I anticipated!

A few months back my boss went to a yard sale, and found a SoF that was being sold because, "It didn't work." He told me he got it for around $50, and I got all excited because it sounded like we had a new project to work on at the arcade.

Came in the following monday to pull tokens and found the game sitting by the counter. He and the employees 'wrapped' it up and put a card on it addressed to me. Inside were the keys.

It took a good few months learning how to fix it up, but it's one of the few things I've ever finished that I've continued to be proud of.

550330_2513834622918_545250972_n.jpg

Early 70's. Maybe 1974 or so. I was into drugs during my 8th/9th grades at school. Although we were far from a wealthy family, my parents asked if a pinball machine was enough to keep me distracted away from drugs. "Of course" I said.

A new condition Gottlieb Target Pool appeared at the house a couple weeks later. It did not detour my drug use, which continued through my 11th grade before going through effective treatment. The pin sat mostly unused by that time and my parents resold it with my permission around 1978.

This is a photo of me (Right) with my friend Doug as I am fiddling with something inside. We were both probably stoned out of our minds at the time:

Pinball%20Machine.jpg

Kind of a long story but about 2 years ago I bought two flood machines a Nitro Groundshaker & a Cleopatra. I got them home and parted them out and about two days later I saw a Craig's List ad for a Cleopatra about 200 miles away with no price. I contacted the guy and told him I would love to own it but couldn't pay a lot for it because of the time & fuel cost to come get it. He got back to me about an hour later and told me I didn't understand he just wanted to give it away.

Anyway, the next day I drove over 400 miles total to pick up a Cleopatra and between parts I salvaged off the flood machine and the one I bought I ended up with a super nice Cleopatra.

The only thing that still kind of bugs me is when I got to the guys house it didn't seem like he was very well off financially so I tried everything I could to give him $100 for the machine but he wouldn't even take enough cash to take his wife out for dinner.

Cleopatra is long gone from our collection but the memories still live on. And what a cool old hippy the guy was and his wife was a perfect match for him. I felt like I was back in the 1970's hanging out with them for an hour or two after we got Cleopatra loaded.

Three years ago Christmas. Got a call from my wife.

My wife - "Hey, my parent's found an old pinball machine sitting next to a dumpster. Do you want them to grab it for you and bring it over?"

Me - "Of course, can you tell me the title?

My wife - "Don't know but they said it has a lot of wood on it".

Me - "Cool"

Turned out to be one of the nicest original woodrails I have ever seen. Williams Shoot the Moon from 1951. Cleaned it up and have it in the basement.

Pictures included. photo2.jpg IMG_8873.JPG

I've never gotten a pinball machine for free, but I did give one away for free once.

My (now-ex-)wife was going to garage sales and found two pinball machines that had been stuck away in a storage shed for more than a decade and offered the guy $100 for both. They turned out to be a Bally BMX and a Williams Skylab. They were both in horrible shape; the BMX had a lot of playfield wear all the way down to the wood and the CPU board was destroyed from battery leakage. The Skylab only had 3 legs, a power cord that someone had cut the plug off of, and balls sitting in the machine with rust on them.

Since both were beyond my ability to restore, I ended up selling off the BMX as-is for $100. After moving the Skylab once, and having had movers rip the backbox off the body after I explicitly told them DO NOT PICK THIS UP BY THE BACKBOX, I put out an offer to give it away for free to anyone who was willing to give it a good home.

I have a group of friends that I camp with every summer. I pretty much only see these people once a year during the camping trip. For that reason it was strange that I received and email from one of them in the middle of winter. They had a friend who was looking to get rid of a Pinball machine taking up space in the garage. She attached some very blurry photos that I could just make out a woodrail. Of course I was willing to help "get rid" of thbe machine for them. It turned out to be a 1950 gottlieb bank a ball with a decent playfield, backglass and horribly misshapen plastics. I've been very slowly cleaning it up and working on it. The oldest machine I have owned up to this point is a 1978 Bally supersonic so the EM hardware is a little intimidating but one of these days i get this old girl up and working...someday ill bring it to EXPO in Chicago.

Where to start.

Traded a free Donkey Kong for a Sing Along
Traded a free Time Pilot for my Andromeda
Local collector gave me a Domino
Went with an OP to look at his warehouse. When we opened the door there was a Taxi with a rotten cabinet. He gave it to me for parts, but my friend gave me a nice cabinet he found in a different warehouse.
The same OP also gave me a Seawitch that the bottom had fallen out of.
The OP also gave me an F14 that was in a bar that caught on fire. Game was in rough shape.
A local collector gave me a Doozie.
Picked up a working Space Mission posted free on RGP
Picked up a very nice Nip It for $100 and won best original pin at The Texas Pinball Festival. Prize was $100.

Nice pin. I was at the show and played it for a bit.
I owned a Nip-It for about 20 years and finally sold it at the Dallas auction a few years ago.
I still love the pin but I needed the space back and it had become to easy to beat.

SUUUUUPER jealous!! SoF is on my dream list, excellent pin. Congrats on the excellent score!

Seriously! I've never been fortunate enough to score one for a "deal", let alone for free! But these are awesome stories, a lot of them involve good-will and charitable intentions, which makes me happy to see!

I was given two roy clark the entertainer parts machines from a fellow pinsider.

Thank you again Jawa.

I was unable to get them repaired as I think it was above my expertise. I sold them for gas money and time. Hope the other guy who got them loves them. It is like take 5 and for coctail pins I love take five very challenging and simple rules.

Wow, I've never sniffed a free pin or video game. Glad some of you at least have had the good fortune of it happening to you. Maybe someday...

Best wishes my friend. I hope it happens for you, and turns out good.

LTG : )

Here's my one and only free pinball story from 2011:

I saw a "Free, take away pinball machine" CL post. The ad mentioned the name of the game (Pinbot), and described the machine as no longer working, and "we just want it out of the basement and gone." I sent an email saying "I'm interested" and included my phone
number. I didn't really expect to hear back because the ad was up for 45 minutes by the time I replied. But, she called me around an hour later, and I arranged to check it out and pick it up around an hour after that. Amazingly for a state that can be pretty spread out, the machine was around 5 minutes from me.

I met them at the agreed-up time, and she couldn't have been nicer. They really seemed to be happy about the idea that she'd finally be rid of it.

Hauled it up from her basement and out the front door with a friend of mine, and no dolly or cart of any kind.

The game cleaned up pretty well. I got it mostly working, put it in a friend's house, and eventually sold it.

My best friend just recently met a new woman. Her parents have a Black Knight they want out of their basement for free. Of course I tell him to get that shit quick so I can have it. But, they went on another date recently and things didn't go well So he may not see her again or talk to her. Damnit!!! I need to get her number myself...will report back if I snag it!

Too bad the trend is that most people sold their free pins