Boy, there are a lot of armchair quarterbacks here...
Most of whom probably haven’t built anything more complicated than a sandwich...
You guys act like it is impossible to build a pinball machine- it’s not. You guys act like he is going to try to go to the moon... He is not new to big projects. He KNOWS it is not the easy road.
He has picked a pin that was huge in production numbers- nothing is impossible to find with the internet, just takes time and money.
There is just something about being a man and wanting to see if you can build something with your own hands, even if you know it is cheaper and easier to write a check to have someone else do the work.
I have spent twice the money and twice the time on many, many, many projects (ask my wife) and even given up on a few that just beat me. But the ones that worked out felt great. I couldn’t imagine how sad a man who has never felt this.