I have nobody outside my immediate family that "gets" pinball, so I'm going to share my latest gamerooms pics here. We got Stargate this past weekend, giving me 7 pins at the house since June 2012. Wow. When we moved into the house last April, I was excited about having room for 1-2 pinball machines. Two max, because I had just the perfect place for them by the stairs. Well, my parents caught the pinball bug shortly after I got my one, and we quickly went to 5 pins before the end of 2012, and now we're at 10 between the two households.

I've got room to squeeze in Predator if all goes to plan with that, and I'd still like a SWE1 kit to be able to swap out the P2K, but otherwise we're "at capacity" since we'd have to sell something to get the money and room for something else. And since we "adopt" pins more than we buy them and have yet to sell anything because we get too attached, I don't see that happening. I've already taken over most of the basement (the entire den and the extra bedroom) at this point. I do think we've got a nice little family collection, with a good spread of manufacturers and playing types. In 10 pins, we've got Bally (EM and DMD,) P2K, Williams, Stern, Sega, Data East, Capcom, and now a Gottlieb. And a Skit-B on order.

The pics are from last night after we got Stargate in the house. We remodeled the den from beige and navy 70s paneling to bright white with electric lime accents to give it more of a gameroom/arcade vibe. I've still got to paint the bedroom (now called the Pinball Parlor) something instead of the awful dark green, but I'm not sure how to do that around 3 pins and a twin bed. Scattered among the pins are tons of sci-fi/nerd things like my Space Invaders wall, LOST prop collection, playfields for decoration, etc. We officially call the downstairs "Area 42" since we're like a nerdy version of Area 51 with aliens, dinos, a stargate, Portal collection, and hopefully soon the doors inside the home theater will be converted into a full-size Tardis. If I can ever find the time and stop being so dang anti-social, I need to have a pinball party.

Pics:

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It looks out of place because the house is a 70s brick rancher with full basement, and red brick everywhere. I don't know why they felt compelled to do the entire wall instead of just the fireplace, but it would be a royal pain to drywall so we just went with it as is and repainted. It took me hours to paint that brick, and I love it.

We were trying to "modern it up" by taking down the paneling, rebuilding the walls, and making everything bright white. But then it was too much white and we wanted an accent wall, so the fireplace became the focal point. At the time we just had JP and Revenge directly across from it, so it went well with those. Now the fireplace just fades into the background with all the other stuff to look at and flashing lights when the pins are on. We're not afraid of painting and/or bright color, so I'm sure it will be converted to something else eventually.

Here's some "before" and reno pics.

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Oh believe me, we've worked out "worst case scenarios" in case we go pin crazy.

There's no outlets in the wall behind Revenge so we have to run an extension cord to it, and on the other side of that wall (on the same breaker) is my husband's super fancy theater equipment. An 82" TV, 7.2 powered surround speaker system, every console known to man, etc, so we can't overdo that outlet. Plus with the air return shortening that wall I don't know if anything else would even fit.

If Predator comes then Stargate goes in with the other 3 in the bedroom, that Portal collection stand comes out to the main room beside the bookcase of junk, and Predator goes beside Spiderman. If we had to, the twin bed goes away (who needs visitors anyway) and we could get at least one more pin in the bedroom. Three could technically fit 3 across that wall if we didn't actually need to stand in front of them to play or were somehow 8 inches wide.

Pfft, I'm not moving. And if I do, that's what paint is for. Might as well love it while I'm there. Also, who wouldn't want a Space Invaders wall in their house?!? lol

The doorway visible behind the clear bookcase of junk/concession stand is where the Tardis will be soon. To match the posters on that wall. The other wall in the theater is full of Sucker Punch movie stuff and a bookcase of video game statues. We have no kids, but toys everywhere.

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Space Invaders came from ThinkGeek.com, but isn't there anymore.

Sci Fi deco posters are by AndrewHeath on Etsy.com. He has tons of styles.

You can't see the Sucker Punch stuff in the pics because it is all in the theater, not the game rooms. Right beside Revenge is the doorway to the theater, and attached are a few pics of it. The closet door beside the entrance door is what is becoming a Tardis. We've got bi-hinged doors to replace this door, then will paint, decal, and add a LED light at the top somehow. He's got tons of video game collectibles, mostly Bioshock Infinite. The Sucker Punch artwork was a special done for ComiCon that we had to hunt down, and he has a replica gun that goes in the empty space near the Steelbook DVD cases once we figure out how to properly get it on the wall.

This is all the basement. It's a rancher with a full finished basement, built into a ridge so the bedrooms downstairs have no windows and are basically soundproof. It was a 5 bedroom 3 bath, then the last owners took 2 bedrooms and converted them into a giant master, so then technically it's a 4 bedroom, but we use it as a 1 bedroom, 1 critter room, 1 theater room, and 1 pinball room house. We lived 9 years in a teeny tiny house and saved up for this one, and have no intentions of leaving. Technically we could live completely fine just upstairs since it's 1600 sq ft on both levels. So since we had the room after living so long cramped up with no extra space, we kept the upstairs "normal" then went all out downstairs. Once you come down the stairs you're in the main "game room" with the fireplace and 4 pins, then the door by Revenge is the theater, then if you turn to your left the first door on the right down the hall is the guest room/pinball lounge, the next door goes to the garage, and on the left is a full bath/laundry room. We've got 2 acres between 2 huge ridges and a 6 foot privacy fence in the back for the 7 dogs, so we figure if there's ever a zombie apocalypse, we've got the right house for entertainment and protection. lol

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Half the stuff in my house came from ThinkGeek. I don't think there is a pic above that doesn't have something in it. Tardis throw, Nintendo cartridge pillows, lightsaber lamp, Tetris lamp, Portal stuff, Space Invaders, arcade switch, video game figures. I made really good use of the "free shipping club" when they had it as a trial, and am very sad that it ran out a few weeks ago.

Now I save up for Predator. lol What you can't see is my mom's TAF, Pinball Magic, and Flintstones sitting in her master bedroom. She's the main reason I've got these pins, as she is certifiable pinball crazy and because of her the only machines I've actually paid for are JP and Stargate. My sister just had a baby and moved back to town, so they've been spending a ton of time and money helping her and her husband get settled into a house and transition. My parents are retired, recently paid off their house, and like to keep things "even and fair" among the kids. She likes pinball machines but has no room, so when I find a deal she buys it and it goes to my house. So my sister got a baby and I got pinball machines. I think it's a very good deal on my part.

Ooh, I love Blik. I have their Color Block Slant decals in the red tones going down my stairs.

Oh, when I said the upstairs of the house was 'normal,' I forgot to mention the huge rhino that guards the stairs. He he. Also, our entire kitchen/dining is bright turquoise. The ugly banister is about to be replaced with corrugated metal, which will be framed out in maple to match everything else upstairs. The handrail will be galvanized pipes. I'm out of pin room so it's back to remodeling the house I guess. Gotta stay busy.

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