If you do it pinhead52 will hunt you down and kill you...

I've only added a switch on one game. All the others I have either had them from the factory or someone added it before I got it.

Hot Line, however, doesn't have one and Ken has persuaded me not to add one. It will be placed in a position where I can put a power strip down and get to it-all the other games a power strip is used but I can't access it-too far in the back.

I've never liked the idea of pounding on the bottom of the game, and I like the idea of no power to the game at all when I'm not playing it. Can you locate the game so a power strip is easily accessible?

I slam the bottom of them to turn them off. But I also have them all hooked to power strips so I can flip them off that way too.

Get an extension cord, then hook up the power strip near the front.

That's why I have them all on power strips. Remember some have coin door relays that are on all the time. I don't like the idea of leaving any power to the games whlle I'm gone. My Flipper kick off switch needs an adjustment because it is always on when I flip on the power switch that also serves other games and sometimes I'd like to kick it off.

Hey Alex
I've attached remote switch/outlets to the powers strips. Works sweet. One remote can turn on/off up to five different 'areas' in your game room. No more crawling around for me!

I also know a guy like the one you've described. Good advice I'd say!

Power strips....but if not, a switch is hardly a radical move.

What happens with thirty games as you go from one to another is they all end up on. So it is nice to be able to easilly turn the ones off that have already been played. So some times it is a matter of using the kick off switch or a quick flip on the power bars.

On Gottlieb game pre 1967 that I repair for people I show them how to use the kick off switch. It's a neat feature when setup right. For my games I install a traditional power switch.

the switch has to have the right blade tension/gap and the flipper bushing clean so a moderately light hit turns the game off.

On my GTB games, I just open coin door and open the slam switch by hand/finger. Can be problematic if you are in bare feet.

Yes I have all the keys in the games and no, no young children to play hide and seek with the keys

And EMinKC is right. (EMPinMan is in hiding)

I will say this. The kickoff switch on a drop down cabinet game like Teacher's Pet is a pain in the wrist.

He's on vacation. He mentioned it a couple days ago.

I like a traditional power switch, mounted in the same right corner as all my other games. To me it even gets annoying to turn off RFM with its unconventional power switch location. I do leave the kick off switch in place if a new owner wants to revert it back.

I use a remote control on my woodrails - 5 sockets. So press button and 5 games are on, ready for coins to be dropped in to start a game.

Kick-off switches still in use on my World Fair and North Star. A loose board on the North Star allows me to gently push up on it to activate the switch. My four-year-old knows the "sweet spot" on World Fair to cut power with one swift smack. It's a feature guests get a "kick" out of.

Sam Harvey installs on/off switches to every one of his games, his argument being that this is something that all the manufacturers did later on. That may be true but for myself, I don't like the idea of drilling the cabinets, so use power strips for my games. I was using the kick switch underneath to turn them off... but somebody told me that even though the lights go out and everything, there is still power going to the transformer and it stays on. I don't know if this is true? But I 'do' know that with a power strip... I don't have to worry about it now.

Not only did I install power switches that turn of the mains before the transformer, I also pull the line voltage off the coin door on Gottlieb games and add a safety 3 wire ground plug on the game, wired to the coin door and other metal parts of the game. Before I did that I closed the coin door and a poorly insulated live wire sparked violently and killed the house circuit breaker. Keep in mind that these games were all made in the days before 3 wire safety grounding came into existence.

I don't replace the cord until I have to.

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He only says he's on vacation...

You can adjust the slam switch on the coin door where just a little knock with your knuckle will turn the game off.

I installed a neato spring loaded off switch on my Skill Ball, when you flick it off it goes back to on, but of course the game doesn't light back up until you coin up (by pushing the modified coin reject).

THEN I learned about the kick off switch. Oh well, now I have a redundant system, like astronauts do!

Definitely understandable with that switch. Next to that, I don't even feel safe turning them off by their normal power switches either. Everything is on a power strip and the power strip gets shut off, and if I'm going to be gone for a long time, the power switch gets completely unplugged from the outlet too. Not even one of those people that unplugs everything when they leave, I just have a big paranoia factor with these machines. No shame in it either.

Everything always gets no power at all when I am not in the vicinity.

has no one heard of the clapper?

Actually, i am too lazy and un-skilled to install a proper on/off switch.
So when i want to play my GTB Cover Girl or WMS Jungle or Teachers Pet or Gusher
I just bend down or get on hands and knees to plug in/out.
Thats good exersize to keep me limber.
One also could get one of those X-10 (appliance grade) remote switch outlets.

Back in my lazier days, yeah. Guests would always get a kick out of seeing me turn a game off like the Fonz.

These days if it's a game I'm keeping or refurbishing I'll put in a switch.

I'll always unplug a kickoff switch game before doing serious work on it though, regardless. Pretty sure I've gotten shocked a few times otherwise.

or going into a gobble hole that awards two (free game) specials (common on older EMs)

SweetHearts!

I only have one game that has an after market on/off switch, Williams Shangri-La. I remember asking the guy too when I bought it, if there was a hole in the bottom of the cabinet and he said... "No, there isn't".

I was actually talking about the holes you see every once in awhile on a game, where it looks like someone had apparently done it to get at the coin box. And they typically look like someone made them with a claw hammer.

Anyway, later after I had bought the game and we took the back legs off and flipped it up... I saw that he had installed an on/off switch. And I thought to myself... Oh, so there IS a hole in the bottom of the cabinet... YOU put it there. But the game was in too good of shape and the price was very low (one of the few I would actually be able to brag about) to pull out of the deal now. And it was a title that I really wanted, sentimental value and all.

But it worked out okay, as it now sits right next to my Jet Spin and stays up on its legs and plugged in to the wall. I wanted to have a Gottlieb and a Williams multi-player EM... and those are the two I chose.

My first attempt with a remote did NOT go well. I had it attached to a hard-to-get-to beer sign. I would come home and find it ON!!! Sorry to scare you with this, Alex. So I got rid of it (some cheapo model). Then I saw a thread on here about some others with good reviews. I was nervous to go back...but I did and have never had another issue.

*I don't have them near me to tell you the brand, but it was the one from the thread (which I now cannot find). An online order.

So many good ideas. So, my 3 cents worth.
original is cool, but my Williams 8-Ball, and A-GO-GO, will come on if you lean on the left flipper button. so, a little tough to hit the kick off due to the machines being right next to each other. these were early purchases.
I now "chk this out", buy 15 foot green Christmas cords in the off season, cut it in two, and install with a switch in the regular place.
Then, I install a short, about 1 foot cord with a plug on the end, on the bottom board, and guess what???
We now have a cord on the bottom board, so i can power it up out of the machine.
Plugs in easy, comes out easy, no more removin the head to get the cord out!
Sooo much easier than fightin that old cord.
All my machines are players...not beauty queens, so a switch mod is a good idea.

I just did this one tonight on my Slick Chick.

Note the use of lacing, salvage wiring in the correct color, salvage on/off switch, salvage switch cover, and a salvage, pre-yellowed cable retainer. I think it fits in OK.

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Oh please, it's the underside of the cabinet. I feel the same way about that as painting the inside of a cabinet (which I have done once) It matters very little to me, and I don't have guests saying "Hey open up your game I want to see how nicely painted the inside of your cabinet is, and I want to get under there with a crawler and look at the bottom too." It just plain doesn't matter much visually, just as long as you do a good job with the installation and wiring.

i do the same thing as Todd except instead of the yellowed cable holder, i just drill a hole through that piece of wood and run the wire through the hole.

That would be a pain to remove the bottom board...

I have mine hooked up to these (which, in turn, are hooked up to surge protectors). At the click of a button, each machine is on or off at my command. No reaching, twisting, or crawling required.

Now that I have more than five machines, I guess I have to get another set...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DQELHBS/

and how often do you do that? me, like once, maybe, when i first get the game. never after that. but then again i can fix this stuff pretty readily.

I have routinely installed on/off switches in my set up EMs if they didn't already have one. Kick switches are a PITA.

I've also sold a number of rarer games (including a Majorettes) from my collection and I have yet to have a prospective buyer mention any concerns whatsoever regarding any power switches that had been added to them. I think most buyers have appreciated it as a convenience that they themselves didn't have to bother installing now.

Oh, c'mon! Leave 'em original. You can make the contact ultra sensitive. Just a little rap under the cabinet, or a knuckle tap on the coin door to turn off the game. I've never had a problem with the game turning off during normal gameplay. Once it's off, it's off. Who says something is still turned on even when they're off? Once the hold relay drops out, no power to the game. If so, reverse the line cord plug.