Don’t give up, take a break then focus on one machine at a time. Ask for help on game specific issues, but don’t shy away from trying to find the answers first yourself (pinside search is your friend, so are articles like http://www.pinrepair.com/6803/). Learning is hard, but nothing feels sweeter than figuring an issue out and fixing it. Well worth it!
Quoted from NPO:I am going to give you a couple nuggets of "straight-forward truth", which nowsdays causes college students to run to their safe-spots.
1. Either put blankets/towels over your games and get through this rocky time until your schedule opens up and you can address your games
2. Find someone that can help you. Looking at the Pinside map or the Chicago area, you have 450 pinsiders around you, and that's just who is on the map.
Prolly hundred of other pinball owners. Go to a barcade, ask them who services/owns the games at those locations. Chicago has a BUNCH of them. You have a huge untapped resource there.
or........
3. Sell them and get this stress out of your life.
I remember being in your shoes. I struggled with my games for a very long time. Took some hard learning lessons, some mentors to help guide me through the basics of pinball repairs and diagnosing issues with a multimeter and a soldering iron, but as time went on my confidence grew, and now I have six games that my family loves playing. You'll get there, but you have to dig yourself out of this mood. That being said...
I am going to give you some advice that was first bestowed to me regarding your rebuttals to your critics here:
Your skin needs to thicken. You're taking things very personally, and it isn't boding well for you.
No one likes a victim, and I get that "I'm a victim" vibe here.
I get it; you're frustrated and feel defeated. I really do get it. Dig deep, tell yourself you are in control of this situation - not life, not these pinball machines, and not your schedule - YOU are in control.
One last thing: be careful with such emotion-driven responses. bryan_kelly is very well known for some gorgeous restorations here, and with those restoration he has a very strong tech background on helping with getting games back on their feet.
While this is a global forum, it is a very strong community. It's not who you are, but who you know (unless you're the aforementioned Kelly, kruzman or high_end_pins, amongst a small number of names - those guys are just incredibly gifted and are at the verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry far right of the Gaussian bell-curve).
Good luck with whatever choice you make. If you stick with it, one year form now, you'll look back and be proud of yourself and the knowledge you will have gained by then.
Agreed 1000%
You have too much on your plate right now. Take a break from the pins.
When you have more time, make friends with some local collectors who may be able to help. Who may be able to give you some hands on help. Or split a cold one with you while you try to stort out a good plan.
Best wishes my friend.
LTG : )
Quoted from Gryszzz:Hey what happened to that brevity thing?
Hey, I used paragraphs and grammar/punctuation. Cut me some slack, Mr. Man ; ).
Quoted from Diospinball:Okay Orwell... Except, I've always taken to Robert E Howard, or Ray Bradbury over good ol Georgie boy. While I love me some animal farm. I think his style was drab and I find I write how I am.
I'm bombastic and verbose.
Sorry, if you have problems reading... But, we're on a forum for reading... Maybe next time I'll draw you all some pictures.
Maybe also show you all how to chew some gum while I'm at it.
Brevity is the soul of wit to oppose the very definition of verbose; To use more words than necessary. Having read your musings, frankly, I'm astonished you've managed to find pinside, dick. After you finish the installation, by all means, hang out after class begins. It can't hurt.
Dang... if I could start a thread and get Bryan Kelly, Chris from HEP, ForceFlow and Lloyd to respond to me all in the first day, I’d consider it a major win!! Listen to people’s advice, take a deep breath, and you’ll get through this...
Quoted from Gryszzz:Well shit looks like Clark just one-upped ya on that brevity thing NPO.
Seriously. Ugh.
Quoted from Gryszzz:Hey what happened to that brevity thing?
Yup. I'm not reading all that either.
Quoted from Bryan_Kelly:I was honestly trying to help with the brevity comment. When I see a post like yours, I and I'm sure many others, don't feel like taking the time to read it. Carry on though, and best of luck with your games.
Yeah, I blow right past a TL:DR post that looks like a block of computer code. This one caught my attention, though, for all the wrong reasons. First, you bring up literary greats and call yourself verbose and become a real dick about people not comprehending your stream of consciousness style. Second, you don’t seem to really care for any help. At least you haven’t liked anything offered. Third, Dickens was the guy that got paid by the word and was the more appropriate reference here. Forth, you have carpet bombed the culture here continuously, but I note that you announced your intent to go silent several posts and hundreds of words back. Curious phenomenon that occurs fairly frequently, I find.
Carry on.
Quoted from DaveH:Oh, I was going to go on this adventure. But you lost me at this one. Seriously not the right response.
What I'm impressed about is that I have now seen a 'Bryan is a jerk' AND a ' F everybody' in a different thread to include Lloyd.
In the same day!
Quoted from Pinzap:Dang... if I could start a thread and get Bryan Kelly, Chris from HEP, ForceFlow and Lloyd to respond to me all in the first day, I’d consider it a major win!! Listen to people’s advice, take a deep breath, and you’ll get through this...
He has some big names paying attention to him. Hardest part about reaching out and talking to people is finding someone who has both the experience of the games you're having trouble with and them having time to catch you up and help. Sometimes, the learning curve can seem insurmountable as new owners refer to slingshot switches as "the thingies that make the triangle shaped things fire" and ANYTHING behind the backboard as "that shit back there" - but - given enough time and patience, the odds can be overcome.
The hard part for the new owners: doing the homework and putting the pieces together on their own to show their mentors that they are trying, putting the time in, maybe struggling with the terminology - but damnit - they are TRYING.
When you show someone with vastly superior knowledge that you are putting the effort in, even if it is off-base, they respect that and will stay with you and continue to take you under their wing - if they have the patience. I was very lucky and had 2-3 in the Dayton area that did that for me. Heck, I had random people here on Pinside PM me with help, and I didn't even ask for it, and most of the time, BAM, their advice worked with me right there on the phone.
Quoted from pacmanretro:F everybody' in a thread to include Lloyd.
Let us not forget Gryszzz' F me too, in that thread.
I get up early for tech support and nose dived right smack into that one.
Days like this will always be special for me. Thank you for all who made it a great day ! I'm still laughing about it.
LTG : )
Quoted from Diospinball:This takes care of all those issues. Bullet proofs the machine
I don't have a dog in this fight but I think you'll find this isn't going to be the case. Even if this insane plan works, there's still a hundred things that can and will break. "Bulletproofing" a pinball isn't a real thing. You can fix it really good and do preventative things, but you're still slamming a ball into things at the end of the day. It's gonna break man. Take a breath and post the first problem then move to the next one or sell the games before you give yourself a stroke.
First... I never claimed to be a victim guys. I just said I had a spate of bad luck.
And most forums and it looks like this one as well, you can't indent by hitting tab. Which is why I stop typing and start a new line. So I did have more than 2 paragraphs.
But, grammar doesn't and shouldn't matter too much on a forum like this. I wasn't going to put too much thought, into something that was a stream of thought. I needed to get something off my chest or I was going to scream. Better that, then to hit a door, or breaks something. Or even scream. I think my neighbors wouldn't like it very much if I just yelled chicken shit for like 5 minutes straight. Which has been known to happen.
Was I quick to take umbrage... Perhaps... I have been known to do that. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and I am extra raw right now.
Still, I always try to be polite and I felt that a lot of people were more interested in slinging barbs then offering a helping hand.
Do I like pinball... I love it... Do I like working on things... It depends. A little here and there. Sure. But, I spend most of my day fixing silly and stupid computer issues. So when I am home, I like to focus on my side job. A job that employs about 10 people. I'm doing my best to learn how to fix pinball machines. Just like when I was poor, I had to learn how to fix my car issues. And I've done almost all there can be done on a car except exhaust, when I was poor. I'm not poor any more and I LOATH working on cars. I HATE IT. The only thing I do is wiper blades and air filters... As I just can't justify paying someone to do those for me.
So yes my defense mechanism might have kicked in. But, I never claimed to be a victim.
I know I have it good. Just really sucks that after I have a bs computer issue that takes me 10 hours to fix, my pinball machine breaks right then and there to just rub my nose in it. I was playing it to relax.
Well your thread title is very click bait bub. I'm sure I'm not the only one who came in here thinkin this was some talk this mf off the ledge type shit.
With suicide being a huge problem in our culture right now I'm thinkin you could edit that title slightly but that's just me.
Quoted from LTG:Let us not forget Gryszzz' F me too, in that thread.
I get up early for tech support and nose dived right smack into that one.
Days like this will always be special for me. Thank you for all who made it a great day ! I'm still laughing about it.
LTG : )
You're welcome buddy! Love the Lloyd!
Run over to Hey Hot Dog and take it easy and down a root beer. If you work for 204 I sure hope things have improved. In any case it's just Pinball 
Quoted from Diospinball:First... I never claimed to be a victim guys. I just said I had a spate of bad luck.
And most forums and it looks like this one as well, you can't indent by hitting tab. Which is why I stop typing and start a new line. So I did have more than 2 paragraphs.
But, grammar doesn't and shouldn't matter too much on a forum like this. I wasn't going to put too much thought, into something that was a stream of thought. I needed to get something off my chest or I was going to scream. Better that, then to hit a door, or breaks something. Or even scream. I think my neighbors wouldn't like it very much if I just yelled chicken shit for like 5 minutes straight. Which has been known to happen.
Was I quick to take umbrage... Perhaps... I have been known to do that. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and I am extra raw right now.
Still, I always try to be polite and I felt that a lot of people were more interested in slinging barbs then offering a helping hand.
Do I like pinball... I love it... Do I like working on things... It depends. A little here and there. Sure. But, I spend most of my day fixing silly and stupid computer issues. So when I am home, I like to focus on my side job. A job that employs about 10 people. I'm doing my best to learn how to fix pinball machines. Just like when I was poor, I had to learn how to fix my car issues. And I've done almost all there can be done on a car except exhaust, when I was poor. I'm not poor any more and I LOATH working on cars. I HATE IT. The only thing I do is wiper blades and air filters... As I just can't justify paying someone to do those for me.
So yes my defense mechanism might have kicked in. But, I never claimed to be a victim.
I know I have it good. Just really sucks that after I have a bs computer issue that takes me 10 hours to fix, my pinball machine breaks right then and there to just rub my nose in it. I was playing it to relax.
Dude, I'm sorry, but this is painful to try to read (on my phone especially).
I can only think of one other ( a youngster) on here that this reminds me of....But I won't mention who. People will know who I mean.
Quoted from gambit3113:Yeah, I blow right past a TL:DR post that looks like a block of computer code. This one caught my attention, though, for all the wrong reasons. First, you bring up literary greats and call yourself verbose and become a real dick about people not comprehending your stream of consciousness style. Second, you don’t seem to really care for any help. At least you haven’t liked anything offered. Third, Dickens was the guy that got paid by the word and was the more appropriate reference here. Forth, you have carpet bombed the culture here continuously, but I note that you announced your intent to go silent several posts and hundreds of words back. Curious phenomenon that occurs fairly frequently, I find.
Carry on.
Okay...
Robert E Howard was a famous pulp writer. He got paid per word. Ray Bradbury also started his career off writing for pulps and yes got paid per word. Short stories are considered an American Art form. Popularized by Poe and Nathanial Hawthorne. I love literature and I've read over a thousand books in my short life.
And I'm not going to defend or explain my actions. I am who I am.
And I'm not dumping on anyone who offered advice.
Most people were not offering advice, they were lambasting my grammar or my post.
Very few posts contained advice on the pins, life, the universe or anything... And yes... I know its everything and 42, but I paraphrased.
If someone offered advice. I have read it... But, I also am my own person and I must do what I feel is right. If I am wrong... And it's been known to happen.
I live with the consequences. Learn and hopefully do better next time.
OP - take a deep breath and repeat the following mantra: if it isn't broke, it ain't pinball!
Good luck getting your pins up and running.
Quoted from pacmanretro:Dude, I'm sorry, but this is painful to read (on my phone especially).
I can only thing of one other ( a youngster) on here that this reminds me of....But I won't mention who. People will know who I mean.
Oh God, please no.
Quoted from tadowhere:Run over to Hey Hot Dog and take it easy and down a root beer. If you work for 204 I sure hope things have improved. In any case it's just Pinball
They've been closed the last few times I've actually went over to get hot dogs man. I had to settle for Joes... But, is that really settling as Joe's has some really good hot dogs as well.
Bombastic: : speech or writing that is given exaggerated importance by artificial or empty means : The use of long and difficult words, usually to make people think you know more than you do: Showing arrogance or conceit. Also see, Pompous. Overblown.
I recently learned of Dunning-Kruger effect, and now see it everywhere. Certainly such is displayed here, poor chap.
Quoted from Diospinball:They've been closed the last few times I've actually went over to get hot dogs man. I had to settle for Joes... But, is that really settling as Joe's has some really good hot dogs as well.
Kraut Dog was my go to @ Joe's!
Quoted from Mikedenton49:Bombastic: : speech or writing that is given exaggerated importance by artificial or empty means : The use of long and difficult words, usually to make people think you know more than you do: Showing arrogance or conceit. Also see, Pompous. Overblown.
I recently learned of Dunning-Kruger effect, and now see it everywhere. Certainly such is displayed here, poor chap.
Except when I think of bombastic I think David Lee Roth. And nothing beats his Yankee Rose music video.
And everyone who knows me... Knows that I am or have been on occasion a bit pompous... Never arrogant and never bloviating... My jive is always in good fun, and most people are enthralled and amused by it. And enjoy the conversation.
Great....now all I took away from this thread is drooling and wanting a couple chicago dogs and a polish with kraut!
And again I want to point out. I called one person a jerk. And I've had many people one poster just question my intelligence. And I've been called the victim and other things...
But, I do want to thank those taking the time to write nice things and nice suggestions. I have read them, and believe it or not that Triumph post made my day. It made me smile.
I listened to that song twice, then magic power twice and then lay it on the line.
Was I wrong to call Byran a jerk... Yes... I shouldn't have. But, I was raw. Still seething. Very much livid and boiling over at the day I had. And I should have taken my own advice of just not saying anything.
As you all know its hard to gauge intent with just written words. I clearly misinterpreted what he meant to imply. But, am I the only person who has ever made such a faux pas... I guess so.
And here are the pictures I promised you all.
1450799_10201687192594268_1352981891_n (resized).jpg188999_10200758519738027_845682978_n (resized).jpgQuoted from dnapac:Never thought suicide....that’s dark...just a dude frustrated with the hobby. We have become so dark with our society...this is pinball. Have fun. No problem, mon.
Thats cause yer here for the pinball. I'm just here for the camaraderie. 
Didn't mean to stretch like that, but there's been quite a few episodes around here lately. It's an issue I take to heart.
Reads like HELP! regardless.
This is a strange thread I’ve had to scan because it has way too many words in it! Brian Kelly did my TZ with a third spiral and I must say, he’s incredible. The machine plays like new. Chris Hutchins does fantastic restorations and Lloyd is a saint. I’m amazed diospinball (god of pinball?) had some actual gods of pinball post on this thread! The fun of pinball isn’t just playing, it is making them better. If that’s no fun for you, sell them.
Quoted from pacmanretro:Great....now all I took away from this thread is drooling and wanting a couple chicago dogs and a polish with kraut!
My take away.....prolly time to invest in more weed....
Quoted from tadowhere:Kraut Dog was my go to @ Joe's!
I ate at Doggie Diner the other day, and their hot dogs are really, really freaking good. I was surprised. I love their texas burger though. Never had coney sauce until I tried that burger.
Quoted from dts:This is a strange thread I’ve had to scan because it has way too many words in it! Brian Kelly did my TZ with a third spiral and I must say, he’s incredible. The machine plays like new. Chris Hutchins is a treasure in this community. And Lloyd walks on water. I’m amazed diospinball (god of pinball?) had some actual gods of pinball post on this thread! The fun of pinball isn’t just playing, it is making them better. If that’s no fun for you, sell them.
I'm trying to make em better. I really am. Just felt that the pinball gods had it out for me. Because, before I feel like I can even dig into a machine something breaks. I was about to order the paint for my hardbody to fix the wear on the playfield. And the Raven is getting a full refurb and restore. And a minor retheme... Which i know everyone here will hate... But, I'll love it.
When I get super busy at work I take a break from any work on my games and feel safe that they will be there when things die down.
I second the vote on maybe getting your board repaired it sounds like time is precious and your route of redoing your game would take even more time.
I would just chill on the games that take a lot of work for now, fix the easy stuff when time permits, and hit up Chicago Street Pinball on the weekends in downtown Joliet when you have time off.
Quoted from DaveD:When I get super busy at work I take a break from any work on my games and feel safe that they will be there when things die down.
I second the vote on maybe getting your board repaired it sounds like time is precious and your route of redoing your game would take even more time.
I would just chill on the games that take a lot of work for now, fix the easy stuff when time permits, and hit up Chicago Street Pinball on the weekends in downtown Joliet when you have time off.
I go there every month... I think the last 4 or 5 weeks I've been there each weekend. I support that place as I know the owner is having a hard time and thinking about relocating and also if he does... Less pins more video games. Which is a shame as that is one of the best places to play pinball in this area. For the last 6 months I've taken my father to play pinball there once a month. We generally lunch at Hamburgerseria and then go play pinball for about 3 hours. I think it really has helped him recover after his stroke and brain surgery.
And I've started collecting pinball machines. Because my goal is to buy him a Rocky and Bullwinkle machine. But, I wanted to cut my teeth on other machines and get a feel for the hobby and repair, before I burdened him with a 200 pound paperweight. Also, I might buy him a Who Dunnit as he really seems to love that one too.
Ohhhh and I mentioned Hamburgerseria cos I feel that is one of the best burger joints in the Joliet area. Check it out if you never have.
Quoted from Diospinball:Okay...
Robert E Howard was a famous pulp writer. He got paid per word. Ray Bradbury also started his career off writing for pulps and yes got paid per word. Short stories are considered an American Art form. Popularized by Poe and Nathanial Hawthorne. I love literature and I've read over a thousand books in my short life.
And I'm not going to defend or explain my actions. I am who I am.
And I'm not dumping on anyone who offered advice.
Most people were not offering advice, they were lambasting my grammar or my post.
Very few posts contained advice on the pins, life, the universe or anything... And yes... I know its everything and 42, but I paraphrased.
If someone offered advice. I have read it... But, I also am my own person and I must do what I feel is right. If I am wrong... And it's been known to happen.
I live with the consequences. Learn and hopefully do better next time.
Love Howard's "Pigeons from Hell" which was adapted for "Boris Karloff's THRILLER." It was unquestionably the most terrifying episode in the 1960-61 series.
AFTER you have taken a step back and have time to look at things again this might be a good resource for the Hardbody --> http://www.pinrepair.com/6803/
With regards to 3 knocks... that is strange... the only reference I could find to that was beating the high score... which might have made sense before you turned the game off... but not after. Good luck.
Quoted from FarFromHeaven26:Love Howard's "Pigeons from Hell" which was adapted for "Boris Karloff's THRILLER." It was unquestionably the most terrifying episode in the 1960-61 series.
I'll have to look into watching that series. Never seen any episodes, but huge Twilight Zone series fan. As I think Rod Serling might have been one of the greatest TV writers ever. Also fun fact... Most of TZ was written by 3 writers. Serling, Richard Mathesson(another writer who started writing pulps), and one gentleman whose name escapes me... Charles Beaumont... I had to google his name. But, he was actually too ill to write and he had a collection of friends who would ghostwrite for him so he got paid. And the great Ray Bradbury wrote just one episode for the show, I sing the body electric... Think its title is based on a Walk Whitman poem.
I'll check to see if Thriller is on prime... Probably not, but I'll put it down on my to buy DVD show list. As I love me anthology shows like that.
And yes... Now I am rambling and not in the Allman Brothers tradition. So I think I will retire for the evening. Just want to thank the people who offered kind words and sage advice.
As other people have stated. Just take a break from th pins until you get time to work on them. Keep in mind all pins will break down and need work. I’m on a 3 month break myself right now. I still play once a week at our local league but haven’t touched any of my games at home that need minor repairs.
To the person that posted the comment about people shouldn’t buy games if they don’t know how to work on them. I say, you are wrong. Heck, I bought my first game not working and no clue how to fix. And this was back when there was very little info about repair on the net. It’s been almost 20 years now and I’ve done hundreds of repairs since. All from learning on the fly.
Okay -- Some of you know me here
So --- WITH THAT SAID.....
I say just Powder Coat the coin doors of what you have -- All will be fine and the world will fall into place once you do that to your games.
Thanks - Richie Wrench
Quoted from Diospinball:Okay...
Robert E Howard was a famous pulp writer. He got paid per word. Ray Bradbury also started his career off writing for pulps and yes got paid per word. Short stories are considered an American Art form. Popularized by Poe and Nathanial Hawthorne. I love literature and I've read over a thousand books in my short life.
And I'm not going to defend or explain my actions. I am who I am.
And I'm not dumping on anyone who offered advice.
Most people were not offering advice, they were lambasting my grammar or my post
Dio, While it seems like a bad time to remind you. When you first got your games you sent me a very nice PM to which I welcomed you to the forum and as you are not that far from me offered to help you anyway I could all you had to do is ask. Can't help with your projectors, computer issues, over work, and all that other stuff but I would be willing to lend a hand or advice. Or, as I offered (and it seems like you could use it now) to let me know and just come over and play a few games just to unwind in my arcade and remember why you wanted to get into pinball in the first place! We all have bad days at work and home. I assure you burning every bridge on Pinside will quickly loose you a valuable support network. Many of the people on your post simply want to try and help. (Even Gryszzz, thats scary! lol) A local friends advice....
1 Take one issue at a time
2 With as much issue Specific and game Specific detail explain what is wrong and what you see. Add pictures for bonus points and help.
3 Don't rush and bite the people trying to help. They really mean well or they wouldn't be ready your cry for help!
4 If your having a bad day, DONT work on pinball machines or solicit advice as trust me it will Never go well. Just kick back, have a drink or find a place or local to play a few games to bring you back to earth.
Best of luck.
I got a shadow sitting in my basement for almost 3 yrs now, a nascar that's been sitting a year, a pinball magic that's been sitting a year. Im not stressed, they keep going up in price regardless! ill get to them eventually!
The time you spent here typing that novel you could have fixed 32% of all Pinside Pins including yours. Point is, Re-Group, Focus, and follow through.
So sign off Pinside, shut off your computer, and fix your fn Pinball machine
Nothing is worse than when you just want to play a game or five and something won't work right, especially when you JUST fixed it.
But THAT my friend, is what it is to own pinball.
So turn it off, and look up the issue, and get ready for the fun of the fixit. Cause when it works, well hell, that's almost better than putting up a GC during league nite.
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Staten Island, NY
