Peeling up the old decals won't be too bad, I think. Would you use something like a flat xacto blade to gently scrape off the old ink underneath? Or is there a better method?

once you pull the mylar, you can just sand them they come right off.
By the way, your playfield even though your pictures are not clear-- the plastic and glass are blocking some of the view--- unfortunately it looks like your playfield has a lot of insert wear.

Neo-- Banzai Run is the best system 11

Greg- you would be bored and done with SOF in less than a week, not a bad game but it doesnt have a lot of shots, etc.

Here is mine that I actually sold to Chris Hutch HEP so he could utilize the cabinet for a high end restore. I pulled the mylar and a couple of inserts have the top side decals, you can see in the pictures from the light but indoors you cant tell.

sold to HEP for about $1500, listed on RGP a few years ago

Pin Princess was not included
Scott
Detroit Pinball

IMG_0812.JPG
IMG_0850.JPG

Your game was routed, the mylar was removed already. They purchased from a retail store that sold it to them off route, the previous owners are not collectors and knew no difference.
I run into this all the time, with people selling their games that are not collectors.
My game was routed, take a look at the cabinet and playfield.

good luck with the restore.
scott
detroit pinball

I am not sure if you are being serious or your kidding around with this..... I will play along with it just for sake of educational value.
A good amount of routed games dont have hack jobs, etc. The original owner would most likely never pull up the mylar.
I am a high end collector, and every time I go to an owners house (non collector) ,that has a pin that I am interested in, majority of the time they tell me they bought it new. It happend to me just over xmas this year-- HUO Corvette, son and owner swear up and down, pictures are always bad and in this case I was 90% sure it wasnt but the owner insisted so much that I drove the 60 miles and picked up Tom (Gear Head Droppings) to give it a look. Super nice house, we had to climb two sets of stairs and as soon as I get to the top I could see it across the room and still I could tell it wasnt HUO..... I walked right up to it, and showed the guy it wasnt HUO. In fact, it was operated in a bar, more specifically a PUB. This was a unbelievably routed beat up machine that was routed in the UK. Owner still swears up and down, and now says its never ever needed maintenance..... we open it up, lift the playfield, and there are parts laying all over the bottom of the cabinet; Do you also want to here the story about a Professor here at a local prestigious university swearing to me that her blown out Guns and Roses was purchased new, even though it had an operators card inside it.....

Here are more pics of my routed Swords of Fury... http://www.flickr.com/photos/detroitpinball/sets/72157624632828568/with/4850923779/
This was definitely routed and look at the cabinet....
routed doesnt mean blown out, and hacked to shit.

Scott
Detroit Pinball
owner called HUO Corvette-- UK alarm system, stickers all over the game for route.
G N R interior that Univ Prof claimed to buy New.

IMG_2490.JPG IMG_2491.JPG IMG_0954.JPG

Home Use Only, means Home Use Only.... I still believe in it, I also believe most of the blown out shit isnt HUO but people like to think it is and still try to pass it off as it. Some people dont want to challenge it, but I actually like that part.... brings out the CSI in me.

Scott
Detroit Pinball