Hi folks... I was reading about some stolen pinballs (BBB #153) and the idea popped into my head to stick a GPS unit in them.

My initial thought was to just wire and stick an old phone inside of it. That's probably the most functional way and I have old phones lying around. But its needs wiring for power and a phone "line". Still very do-able.

After some research I bumped into this device: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MI58DG8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

The little unit has replaceable batteries you can buy anywhere and they last 3 years, it wakes up twice a day and takes a reading, connects via cell and sends its position data. I thought it was also supposed to wake up on movement but its not doing that (the shaker would wake it if that was the case) as I am seeing only two updates per day. This company selling them provides the service of the website and support and its $10 a month to keep it active. Its is NOT supposed to work indoors, but it does. All I had to do when I got it was change the batteries and stick it inside the pin and off it went - I used strong Velcro and stuck it inside of the backbox.

Again... This is NOT supposed to work indoors, or even with an obstructed view of the sky, but in my case it works from the first floor of a 2-story house just fine and from inside the actual pin. YMMV.