You should be ok. Congrats on the buy!

Cool story and such a wonderful gift for such a deserving family! Your kids are going to go absolutely nuts!

The game will be fine. What I would do once you get it in the house and set up is remove the glass pull the playfield out and set it on the service rails and open up the backbox. Just let everything breath as is acclimates to the indoor temperature. Depending on the temperature difference and humidity levels, you'll probably end up with some condensation. Just don't turn it on, wipe anything down or install the balls until that condensation is gone (4-5 hours at least). Only adjustment you'll need to make right away is set it on Free Play as it comes set to coin play (don't want anyone disappointed they need to find a bunch of quarters).

Enjoy!

After you bring it inside, let it sit for several hours before turning it on, so it has a chance to gradually warm to room temperature.

As posted above, the pin should technically be stored above freezing, but it should be fine for a few days in a garage. If worried, could always put a small spacer heater by it. If you think about it, these pins are shipping all over the world in unheated trucks right now and do just fine. I would imagine the storage temperature guidelines in the manual is for long term storage. Key item is to let the pin warm up before turning on and playing so you don't break any cold plastics or other items.

Once you get it in side, it should warm up in a few hours. I just turned on a jjpotc after a few hours of coming straight off the truck and it was totally fine.

I have noticed that my garage, also in Northern VA, never gets to freezing even in the near zero degree days of winter. I keep a water bottle in the garage to see if it freezes just to be sure I will not have any frozen pipes in the insulated ceiling. One thing you could do is put a small electric heater in the garage until time to move it into the house. Just make sure it is not near anything combustible and I would not run it on full blast. Also, keep the garage doors closed as much as possible.

Any friends have space in their house or heated garage? Anybody have a job where ya could leave it like a office or back area?

Store it inside a Tauntaun to keep it warm.

I’d just hide it in garage then and maybe get a small radiator style electric heater. Tell kids you’re good friends with Santa, and Santa stores stuff around the country to make his trip go faster rather than going back to North Pole and restock, and that’s a box of stuff for other people and you have been given the honor of keeping it safe for Santa. Otherwise find a climate controlled storage unit or worst case scenario ($$$) would be get a cheap hotel room.