I have had my first pinball machine for about two weeks now but it is failing more often than it is working so it is almost as if I was a Pinside member with no pinball. Waiting for a guy to come and have a look at it. (Either no power at all on the flippers or randomly blowing the fuses when they are activated on a FT. Fuses are ok)

Hmmm i think i know where this might be going.I think.

I don't have any. I live in an apartment so the noise would be too much for the neighbors.

Also, I live about ten minutes from two pinball museums and there's 125 games between the two.

I don't currently own a machine, been looking hard for a few months now though. I'll be joining the ranks soon enough.

I'm on the wrong coast...

I bought my first machine and haven't been able to get it working. Looking for another one, but its hard to find a good machine under 2k in socal.

I don't currently own a pin. I am what you call "house poor" and plus my basement has had some recent leaking/flooding problems, so I need to get that squared away before I can start saving to get my first pin.

Pinside is honestly the most helpful forum, I've ever been a part of. They guys and girls here seriously help each-other out. You also don't bash newbies like me. Seems like lots of other forums see newbies as competition. It doesn't feel like that here.

Very kind of pinmike for helping someone get started. Be warned though, pinball is like Pringles, "once you pop you can't stop".

On a related note it would be cool to see a Pinside traveling machine. You keep it for a few months and then pass it to the next Pinsider who requests it, hopefully locally. Keep a log book with it to note any stories, repairs, high scores, etc. Probably wouldn't work, anything of value would be a target for theft.

That might be an idea to start at next falls outing! lol I guess you get if first since it's your idea. Perhaps we could all chip in for a new Tron or WOZ??

I think we'd need to come up with a way of preventing someone from just keeping it.

PS: I see your not to far away and you mentioned golf in your outing. If you ever want to golf at Eagle Ridge in Galena, IL send me a PM. I can't really open it up to everyone, but I can bring along a few friends.

PSS: I'd also like to see some more of the public games listed in our area. I listed the few I know about, but I'm sure there are a lot more hiding in the midwest.

Super generous offer. Black Pyramid is a pretty fun game, especially to cut your teeth on. Left shot, right shot, left shot, right shot, left shot....

If I didn't think the shipping to Montreal would cost more than the price of the table I'd almost be up for paying for shipping... but I imagine it's pretty expensive to securely ship these things across North America...

Wow! If there were a "Pinside Hero" award I would nominate pinmike for it. That's a very generous offer. Nice way to introduce somebody to the wonderful world of pinball.

I'm doing well thanks... Just dreaming of what pin to buy next like usual. Oh, and attempting to figure out what is wrong with my garbage disposal. How about yourself?

Good grief. Does he think you were born yesterday?

What did it end up going for? I've seen a number of them for sale online. Just wondering if you could get a better price elsewhere...

Nothing like the wacky world of Ebay. I think I know which auction you're talking about. Noticed it a couple times while looking for new machines this past week. I've yet to bid for a machine on Ebay. Based on experiences like yours, I'm kinda dreading the day I do.

Just like buying a car. You gotta be able to walk away. I actually lucked out with LOTR. It was on Ebay, nobody bid on it, and so I contacted the seller. By the time I contacted him he already had an accepted offer from somebody else. A couple days later he contacts me to see if I'm still interested because the other buyer fell through. Ended up getting it for $400 less than what it was originally listed for. Just goes to show that patience IS a virtue.

Ugh! That damn flasher. There has to be a fix for that... Still bugs me and it's not even my machine. I can only imagine how you feel about it.

Sounds like a plan. Do you have a digital multimeter? If so, might be worth hooking that bad boy up and seeing what sorts of voltages you're drawing.

Well played sir!

That's really cool!

I'm sure someone would love to have that pin!

Great job pinmike!
Super generous offer!
If I had a pin donated- or on the cheap, I would definitely fix it up and give to a younger pinhead.
Spread the pinball passion!

Anyone who has anything to say bad about Pinmike well, they better not live within a 500 mile radius of me. I got the free parts that he shipped on his dime, if that's not a stand up guy, I don't know what to say. Thank you Mike, my son is super excited and says thanks as well, To the shop I go this weekend.

If you're looking at giving it away, have you thought about donating it to a local boys & girls club? BrokeDad does some of that as I recall. Great way to get some kids interested in pinball, take a tax write off for yourself and help out a great organization. Maintaining it for then could be pretty fun as well - you could show the kids that you don't have to be a rocket scientist to fix these things. Just a thought. Either way that's a hell of a nice thing you're offering.

besides how would you decide which pinsider to give it to? there are quite a few of us (myself included) who don't own a pin. how would you pick one over the other?

Why a 1200 word essay of course!

awwman.jpeg

"Aww... FIGNUTS!!!"

i think instead of an essay it should be a short story about pinmike going on a pinball adventure.

When you decide if they are on the westcoast, i could likely get it from Evans, GA to socal if needed. Company runs trucks back there a couple times a week and if there is room it wouldn't take much to throw it on a pallet and on the truck.

pinmike, I've been looking for the right machine for a couple months now. Initially i was looking for a refurb'ed unit, but half the fun I'm looking for is in putting a nice machine back into nice condition.

If this offer is still available, I'm just east of you on I20 in Brandon, MS and could easily come out to pick it up.

Give it 6 months or a year once everyone starts migrating over from the RGP you might recant your statement, sorry to say but most are all pretty ruthless over there and could care less about helping a fellow pinball enthusiast out.

Is the Black Pyramid fund to play? I have always loved the artwork on that one.

Very nice offer of you pinmike !! I've donated some highly collectable (extremely old) machines to museums as I could not see keeping them from the public. They may not be on display all the time but will see display time during "themed" exhibits. They will also be preserved much better than I could do. I hope the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry puts the one out many times.

It'd be so cool to see a Pinside member get a machine like that for just pickup or shipping as their first machine.