Interesting question. I would say that damp / humidity biggest problem. A dehumidifier (suitable capacity for your garage area, and a good size water tank) would be a good investment. I'm in UK so can't specify one that you can obtain easily, but mine cost around 200 UK pounds (about the same in dollars). It automatically keeps the RH to (say) 55 or 60, which means that bare metal won't rust. Not too expensive to run. Occasional opening of the garage isn't too much of a problem - the dehumidifier quickly gets the RH back to normal when door/s closed. In my garage/pinball room (which is joined to the house by a door) I have a small amount of air circulation with an external fan - not too much, or the dehumidifier works overtime. The DH I have can be manually emptied (every two days or so) and is portable. It's also possible to fit a flexible plastic pipe, and it then drains directly down a drain (if you have one in the floor). With regard to temperature, the main problem is likely to be that extremes of temperature will cause backglass flaking as the glass expands/contracts. In my location the garage never gets very hot, so no real extremes. In cold weather, i have just enough heating on to be comfortable in the room. I should say that my experience with the above arrangement is limited to only a year or so.

Hopefully you wont be parking a car in the other half, opening and closing the door daily... I do have a number of projects stored in the garage but I pull the bg and store them inside.

I also have a double garage detached game room.
However, I am in South Texas with reverse weather than you. Gets hot in summer 4 mos and in the winter we may get a month total of sub zero (high 20's nights). however With a large 220 volt, 20 amp wall unit I can keep say high 70's in summer and low 70's in on the coldest night. I have insulation in all walls and doors. Humidity mostly under control in the summer, even If I open the doors to do some unplanned stuff it's Ok next day.

Cool collection of games Mr. op.

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What are the extreme temps in Cali weather? I think it's more of a problem here in IN where the weather can change so rapidly and there's hot, humid days in summer and below freezing days in winter.

If you can keep the temp fairly constant, it should be alright.

Summertime it's shorts, tank top, and sandals.

Wintertime it's shorts, tank top, sandals, and socks.

That's the key. Rapid temp changes and you will be able to see the paint lift on glass. These games generate a lot of heat and that's not good in a cold environment. If you play a game and heat it up the cold air on glass will create condensation. Wood plus moisture equals planking. I have never had a problem storing games in garage but I did insulate. The insulation keeps the temp fluctuation down to a minimum. I would never play the games in the cold.

We got one of these from Lowe's a few years back for our garage & love it.

Fahrenheat 13,652-BTU Utility Cabinet Electric Space Heater with Thermostat
$273.00

It does require running a 220v wire from your breaker box and a 220v plug but once you install it you are set. We are in central PA and even when it is super cold outside we have no problem getting garage warm enough to work in a tee shirt.

As far as energy use - we only run ours when working in the garage or on super cold nights but we have never really seen a change in the electric bill when running it. Not only will it warm your garage it will also take care of the humidity because hot air heat is dry heat.

My recommendation is one of these mounted on your ceiling or wall about 8' off the ground blowing down towards the front of your machines where you would be standing to play them. Set it to run when needed to keep garage about 55 degrees and you should be good to go. But one thing to remember beyond keeping an eye on your backglasses is plastic parts in machines get brittle when they are cold so over the winter you might end up breaking a plastic here & there when playing machines unless you keep the garage closer to 60 or 65 degrees.

I'd agree with that, too-many-pins, except maybe for the 'hot air heat is dry heat'. As the air heats up, it can absorb moisture. Had that problem in several museum exhibitions that I set up. Easy to check - get a cheap digital RH indicator.

Every time I go to CA, usually the coast, I'm freezing. It seems to be 50 no matter when I go and the delusional homeowners have some lame space heater. Seriously, I think the whole CA is really warm thing is a marketing ploy.

I did it for about a year. I was paranoid about floods in the basement but they all ended up down there anyways. One day I walked into the garage and saw the playfield glasses weren't see through that morning and decided enough was enough. (My garage door seal wasn't sealing out the humidity anymore, and it was clouding the glass that morning like you'd see on car windows on a dew-ey morning)

My arcade games are stored out there year-round and don't seem to mind much, as well as any rough pinball projects that I'm not ready to work on yet or are in the very early stages of being worked on. (New power cord, cleaning out junk/grossness that I don't want in my basement gameroom, early mechanical testing, etc.)

I keep most of my modern machines in the house along with a few of my collector quality EMs, but the garage is where we spend most of our time, so I keep a variety of great playing EMs out there. We play there year round with the garage door open usually late into the night.

In the summer when It's still very warm, I set a couple of jugs of frozen water in front of a fan, and that helps cool things off. On the few nights in the winter that the temp really drops, I have a small space heater so we can warm our tootsies. On the rare occasion it rains, I prop a ladder under that old wood door, so it doesn't come crashing down.

These are some older pics, but I'm always changing it up, trying to bring in the latest and greatest games.

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This would be my biggest concern before you do anything else based on your indication there is insulation all elsewhere. If it gets below freezing outside the garage will approach that also if there is no insulation in the ceiling/roof. Freeze/thaw is the most damaging to backglasses. Moisture contact comes in a close second.

humidity is the biggest issue I would worry about, I would buy the largest dehumidifier around

There isn't much humidity in Ca. Unless you live by the coast, and humidity still isn't a problem, but the salt air is.

Bob knows how to dress for the occasion. A cold winter night in So Cal with the garage door open.

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There's those socks with sandals you mentioned previously.

I'll admit, I throw on a sweatshirt once in a while too. We're supposed to play tonite . Although it's sunny and warm now, temp may drop later so I will try to give an update.

You can also see both climate control devices under Serenade.

I've never owned a Berk, but IMO if it's not a Rainbow, it's not a sandal.

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You paint your toe nails o-din? Cali

You can send the "Spot Bowler" to me. I'll take care of it!

I think you mean sub-FREEZING, no? Or, do you do Celsius in Texas?

You just love to twist the knife, don't you!

Stock photo. lol.

Meh its 16 today. Kinda nice out

--Jeff

LMGTFY...
Looks like you don't really need heat or insulation, but sealing it up and using a dehumidifier is the best plan for you...

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Nah. We do suffer with Santa Ana winds this time of year. They blow crap everywhere and really make a big mess.

Yes some years it does freeze down in Houston area and sub 30 degree F periods catch you out.

I'm a Oil and Gas transplant down here and like a bunch of others of my type we totally miss the fact that although we are in the sub tropical belt we still get some winters with freezing weather that lasts over a whole week. You end up loosing a lot of cash on planted scrubs, bushes etc a couple of years after planting. Plant stockists make good money of us repeatably.

OK, it does get cold around here. We're all freezing and Bob says he had a stroke. Didn't keep him from whoopping some ass. And Mike dropped off the game that fits the season.

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I picture O-din as the old guy with plaid shorts, stained wife beater tee, & Jesus sandals with black socks yelling at kids to get off of his lawn.

Games in a garage? LOL. Fat chance.

Around here, unless you want to spend time scraping your windshields a lot, the garage is for the cars. And in summer, it's just too hot/humid to do it.

I've had that Quasar TV since the 90s. It was a "gift".

I'm in Menifee, Ca. 100 miles east of L.A........thank God. Summertime its 95 to 109 degrees most days, usually July thru September

Lots of guys here in Sac with games in the garage with no issues. You really don't even Ed a dehumidifier. All I have in my garage is a thermostatically controlled vent for the summer. Door is almost totally insulated, walls are Sheetrock only (and I really wanna change that)

My roof is the same, built in the late 70s.

Lots of guys here, including EM folks!

Someone had actually repro'd those wooden backbox panels for Gottliebs. Can't recall, but it might have been PBR. I don't know if they are still available. You find them cut in half from time to time because of lack of clearance at some locations back in the day. The general idea is what you assumed in your post. There is a hole for a lock, but it's probably not necessary for home use.