as someone who is more into "home theater" than pinball...

whole house is the ONLY way to go, and it's cheap... it will keep "normal" spikes from getting in in the first place... against a direct lightning hit, nothing will work... keep your homeowner's insurance up to date...

point of use surge protectors border on worthless... also, do you plan on putting "protectors" on all your appliances in your house (dishwasher, washer/dryer, oven, etc.)...

frankly, the scare tactics of many years ago have made people spend money on surge protectors that they do not need...

what is a "b/w"?

as far as extension cords go, as long as they are appropriately sized for the application, it's not relevant to the device... a device has no way of knowing that it's plugged into an extension cord vs. being plugged into a socket connected to romex... basic electicity there... note that is NOT an endorsement for permanent use of extension cords... extension cords are temporary devices, and outlets are easy enough to install...

what pinball would require a dedicated circuit? curious about that... that implies a huge draw...

thanks for explaining the acronym...

i can tell you that if the cord is appropriately sized (and not an excessive run), the machine has no way of knowing there is an extension cord there (even the resets don't tell you that the machine "knows" the cord is there, it's just "seeing" a power drop that is causing an issue)... an inappropriately sized cord will cause issues, no doubt... many household extension cords are 18 gauge, and that would be a big ask for any type of run... 15 amp circuits in a residential unit are wired with 14 gauge wire... and if they are done according to code, "drops" aren't an issue... if they aren't according to code, and the run is excessive, then you will see a drop (and get resets/issues) regardless of whether there is an extension cord there or not...

similarly, other things on the same circuit can cause issues if they also are high draw units... for example, try firing up a compressor on a circuit that is running something like a vacuum cleaner as well...

but again, none of this is unique to a pinball machine... it's all electricity 101... the device has zero way of telling what wire it's hooked up to... wire is a passive device...

christmas tree lights aren't extension cords, and electricity 101 (again) tells us why you can only hook up so many on one circuit/connected together before you have issues...

^^^

completely unplugged... lighting won't care whether the strip is on or off... there's about a gajillion joules of energy in a lightning strike... it won't even bother to giggle at the point of use strip, it'll pass right through that...

as noted, nothing will really work against lightning, short of unplugging the device... at least in a residential environment... it would be extremely cost prohibitive to truly "lightning proof" a residence...

don't be too scared though... i have enough money tied up in my theater to buy several a-list titles and still have some left over... i have full house protection at the box... and i sleep well at night...

you are probably more likely to get run over crossing the street than you are to lose your pins to a lightning strike...

and as far as whole house goes... many electrical companies will install one for you at point of entry, all you have to do is call and ask... if not, it's less than an hour labor for an electrician to install if you aren't comfortable working at the breaker box...

try that with a lightning strike and then come back and tell us how it works out...

????? nope, it has nothing to do with the "output" (whatever that might be?) of a device...

yup yup and yup... lightning won't care one bit about that switch, and it will follow multiple paths to ground... it would be nice if it followed some type of rules and took out a 100 dollar microwave instead of a $10k projector or pin...

there's really on two options when it comes to lightning... unplug or don't worry... that's about it...

for anything electronice, it can vary, and there's a lot of variables involved... but generally speaking, it's not usually a cheap repair...

as noted earlier... there are many "not inexpensive" devices in your house that are subject to the same risk as your pins... which is why i have a whole house for anything "reasonable" and i don't worry about anything more than that... at least where i live, we have t-storms on a very regular basis in late summer... i never unplug anything... that is what homeowners insurance is for...

important note on homeowners insurance... don't just keeps receipts/pictures of your items... talk to your agent and ensure that you don't need a special rider for items of high value (and no, i'm not an insurance agent )...

i have a diverse set of interests...