I'd like to jump in here. I almost had a heart attack when I found out they were making these from the Volleys and Jungle Queens. I practically live for those Gottleibs, and I'm also reeeeeally old-school and particular about NOT modding...I like things to stay as close to original as possible. No LEDs, no add-on toys...I don't get into any of that stuff. I don't get all huffy when people do "bling", I just personally don't.

So when TiltWarning first clued me into this, I was hopping mad...with all this work, why re-theme? Why can't you just build a generic cabinet? Why "ruin" a beautiful JQ when it can be restored? My god I was mad. Then, however, I got a tour and a solid explanation.

I don't think these guys are snaking machines from the pinball pool; they're scouring in such a way that the hobby is ending up with MORE decent pinball games. The ones they part to original are just beautiful, and the ones they make out of the blown out reject parts are also obviously really snappy. If they were just buying en masse and stripping down machines to re theme I'd go nuts, but they're taking great care to actually increase the number of originals out there too.

These guys are really dedicated, and talented, and what they're doing seems good for the hobby. If you don't care to open the wallet, then I'd say at least open the mind about it, and let loose your fears that good games are dying in the process. They take games that are essentially junk, not worth a couple hundred bucks, and produce both beautiful originals and rad new art pieces.