First off, sorry if this question has been asked a million times - I AM reading, but there's a lot to digest!

I’ve recently gotten my dad's old pinball machine (Gottleib EM - #snow-derby) to my house, and want to get it back into playable condition. It worked when I was growing up, but hasn't been turned on in 10+ years and may be closer to 20 since it's been working.

I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, and can typically follow many basic repair guides, but don't have a ton of experience with electronics and not great with a soldering gun. Can't really read a schematic (though I do have them for my machine).

I don't mind giving it a go, but since this machine does have a bit of sentimental value, I wouldn't want to risk permanently damaging it. It looks like it’s in worse shape than I remember, so not sure exactly where to begin. The playfield has a lot of ‘grit’ on it - not sure what it’s even from. What’s a good gentle cleaner I can use that won’t further damage it? Pictures attached and I know I’ll have lots more questions as I dig in. I have ordered a ring kit (rubber is all dried out and at some point someone tried just using rubber bands to replace one). Would a flipper rebuild kit be needed, too?

The playfield glass also has a good size chip in it - what are the thoughts on replacing that glass with plexiglass? Would it get scratched too easily?

Finally, my wife has asked if there were any lead paints used on these machines that we should be worried about?

Is the "Routine Maintenance" portion of this guide a good place to start? https://homepinballrepair.com/pinball-repair-introduction/#routinemaintenance … or is there a guide that’s more focused on a complete restoration?

Really just looking for some advice on how to get started and hopefully avoid some common mistakes.

Thanks!

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Thanks, all - great advice! Going to take it slowly, and will be starting with checking fuses then starting on inspecting, cleaning the stepper units (with guidance from pinrepair, pinwiki and homepinballrepair).

Can anyone tell me what this is? Photo attached - I didn't see anything like this in the wiki, pinrepair.com, etc. (although certainly possible I just missed it)

Just inside the coin door, to the right, on the 'floor' of the cabinet is a little disk with 2 posts. I've got 2 wires (black and red) connected to one post, and 2 loose wires that aren't connected to anything.

Is it a ground terminal? Are the 2 loose wires supposed to be attached to anything -- do I need to trace them?

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Not sure if I have a plumb or rolling ball tile, or both -- still very new to this! I have the schematics, but it's all greek to me.

I checked the fuses and went ahead and powered it on, and it actually ran through it's startup sequence, reset the score reels and appeared to be ready to play -- other than needing all new rubbers attached and new pinballs at a BARE minimum. I will still go through the stepper units and score reels manually, too, to get the experience and check everything out. I want to make sure I can maintain it as well!

Flippers are looking pretty rough as well.

I think I'm going to make a small playfield rotisserie to help with the playfield restoration, so until I get that made I think I'll start on some of the cosmetics.

Any tips on how to fix the broken plastic shields? I have a few that are broken at the attachment holes. Super glue? Acetone? Some other glue? A couple pieces are a little warped, too. Can I use a heat gun or low temp oven to get them to be flexible enough to lay flat again?