What have I gotten myself into?

I've been collecting a few pinball machines at a time over the years, and started out with a pretty beat-up Whirlwind. I managed to fix all the problems, including issues with the HV section for the displays and various issues on the driver board. That was probably back in about 1999.

After that, I got my hands on an Addams Family which was also in semi-tough shape (someone had put non-tempered glass in it, and when it got shipped to me of course the glass broke). Lots of cleanup needed on that one, but it actually cleaned up pretty nicely and works perfectly. A couple years ago I put in one of the early ColorDMDs on it, which I love.

I always wanted a Twilight Zone, and being that I didn't think I'd really need more than a couple machines in the house - I sold the Whirlwind to a co-worker at the time. Twilight Zone arrived a few weeks later, and after the usual cleaning and fixing, it was working great too. It had some issues with the driver board as well, that I fixed myself - but recently it started acting up again (opto issues), and I decided to just get a new Rottendog driver board, which I'll be putting in shortly.

A few years ago I saw a Revenge From Mars with a NIB Star Wars: Episode 1 convesion kit on the local Craigslist. It wasn't in the greatest of shape, but those are the ones that I like the best. Some TLC, and it played great. The cabinet decals were peeling something fierce around the legs when I got it, and recently I decided to strip down the cabinet and totally restore it. That's where I'm at with it now.

I've been out of the scene for a while, just enjoying my games. I recently visited my friend Adam at Flipperspiel Wunderland in Las Vegas and saw all the LED lighting on his games, which I liked the "freshness" of - as well as the reduction in heat and draw on the driver board. I converted my TAF and TZ to LEDs, and am just making a few last minor changes to the LED choices and I think I'll be set for a while again.

Now, I'm on the hunt for a new Star Trek Premium once our taxes are filed. There's plenty of space left in the gameroom, so who knows what'll happen over the next few years...