Once they are in place, I just keep them there. They are all keepers now.

no doubt honch. pick a game you want and plan on keeping it. the moving part is the worst. if you have friends to help you, big plus for sure. i dont think i am going to keep my wiliams indy, and that will suck moving it out but hell, i have too many pins, and once i decide what i am going to get rid of, i wont get anymore unless i plan on keeping it till i croak

http://www.sano-stair-climber.com/products/liftkar-sal

With one of these you can buy and sell as many as you'd like.

Work smarter, not harder. I would invest in a lift and stair climbing dolly or build some kind of sled on a winch contraption to get the pins up the stairs easier.

Edit: yeah, one of those things.

After kidney transplant, gunshot wounds and arthritis from old
Football injuries, I'm 43 and let the college guys that work for me do
The heavy stuff these days.

It's kind of funny when I hauled my BK2000 out of the house I was so sure it was lighter 10 years ago when I brought it in - yet I was ten years younger

Yes, it is.

You are too old for pinball.

No worries though, I live in STL & can be at your house tomorrow to buy your lineup.

the reward of being able to go to your game room and enjoy your stuff is well worth it though. hard work pays off sometimes totally loved playing my funhouse and no fear tonight even with the bs of moving them in. dual edged sword for sure

I weigh only 145 and have been doing this for over *20 years* without any problems.

I lift with my knees, not my back. I also pay the extra money for heavy lifting tools.

I exercise regularly and eat lots of raw vegetables, with no red meats.

People think I'm still in my 20's.

It's just a matter of staying in shape. Most of the guys in this hobby are not.

Well I have to say that about the only time I think about downsizing my collection is when I need to move machines around. I think it is part of getting old. Like Mike I try to keep in shape, and eat right, but I do love red meat and won't give up my steak and potatos, and I eat a lot of vegetables. I will give it to you Mike moving pins around at 145 pounds, I am 6'1" and weigh 270 (yea I played football) and moving stuff around anymore starts to wear me out quick.

I weigh 185 and have been doing this for over *16 years* without any problems.

I lift with my back, not my knees. I also use a crappy dolly.

I never exercise and eat lots of junk food, and I still have a box of Twinkies left .

People think I'm still in my 30's (early 30's baby...it's the new late 20's).

It's just a matter of taking it easy, being lazy and not sweating the small stuff. Being single with no kids also helps.

What were we talking about again?

At 50 years old, I feel like an old-timer compared to most people in the hobby.

your ancient Ill buy all your pins at bulk discount prices. =-)

Dolly and or a single helper and I think it is for all ages.

That said people with bad knees or serious arthritis of the hands might not be able to play for too long at a time.

Met a collector that had pretty much all you could ever want in his gameroom. But he could barely walk with a cane even. (very hard to see; it was my first A list title IJ)

Fester said it best "you can't take it with you"

I'm almost 43. I use the work smarter approach along with the leverage advantage. It's a bear bringing in game with an appliance dolly up stairs. I use a long strip of carpet, or the cardboard it was wrapped in, and lay the dolly w/game on the steps and just push the whole thing up, once in the house I use towels under the game to slide on the wood floors. I started doing large heavy things like this after I replaced my washer and dryer, I pulled the washer up the threshold on the dolly and the dolly didn't go over evenly, it tilted sideways, and smashed my glass storm door. Man that safety glass crackled for hours....

AddamsFamily_(28).JPG AddamsFamily_(30).JPG

I think you're probably right in the mainstream age for this hobby... Old enough to remember 80's arcades, but more importantly, old enough to spend a few grand on a pinball machine instead of a lowered Honda Civic with a fart can exhaust and 4000 watt stereo.

The stairs is probably your main complication. I moved all my videogames myself and picked up my pins myself. The vids are no problem but prefer getting help putting the pins in the gameroom.
If I had to do it myself with stairs, I'd get an Escalara or something. It'd suck, because its the price of a nice System 11 pin, but cheaper than a back operation!

This ↑

Two back surgeries BEFORE I started this hobby. Can't emphasize enough work slow, be aware of how you're doing any lifting and use the proper tools. I have a heavy duty pin lift table and dolly that does most of the work for me. I don't do stairs. I've got a 4 step landing from my garage to my house that the pin lift table is able to lift the pin high enough with legs on to simply slide right through the door onto furniture slides that I made. Then it's just a matter of pushing the pin into position.

Im 38 and have carpletunnel in both wrists had 2 broken vertebrates in 05 that healed without surgeries, I have no problem using a plain dolly to move pins all over and sometimes even just carry the cabinet around lol.
But im 6'5" and 300lbs as well I suppose, but over the years ive always worked 2 full time jobs for the most part a week such as foundry and construction at once.
granted Ive slowed down slightly since going off into construction primarily with my own business in least decade. but i think its a matter of staying in shape i myself run circles around this next generation and for the most part am a 1 man crew mostly becouse im a greedy bastard and like to make all the money myself vs paying employees and dont trust anyone else to do the job to my standards just need to work harder is all lol.
i have a guy when i do tree removal 1 saws and 1 loads the wood/brush but in 3 hours me and my guy can have a pretty good sized tree gone in the same time it takes a 4 man crew here.
If you dont use it you will lose it lol

When collecting you should buy all the DMDs while your younger and get the line up you like. Then as you age you add ems and take the head off , take the glass out, take the bottom panel out move all pieces and reassemble. Thats not what I did but as you age it sure sounds good. Gone are the days of taking a game like Rollergames down stairs with no landing on my own, thinking half way down the stairs that this is a bad idea. Also get a good wife who will let you put them on the main floor as she sympathizes with your addiction\age. I have been doing a physical job most of my working life, so am in better shape than most but at 45 I have to plan moving stuff whereas before would just do it.

I'm 56 but act like i'm 35. I have had a total of 28 pins in 4 years and most of them have made it up stairs. When i sell or trade it is not so bad sliding them down . I can do it with 1 other person usually the buyer. I have good friends on pinside to help me like BR,Triad Watch, Jeff, Luke, and more to move them up.. I keep 7 pins upstairs and 1 or 2 in my garage. I now have 3 in the garage. I play them for at least a month to see if i like them enough to go up stairs. I have pretty much all keepers for now up so i will rotate 2-3 in the garage to try as many games as i can.

It's not a age thing for me. I'm 35 and have had 8 abdominal surgeries so far. I'm not supposed to lift more than 40 pounds or so, but generally ignore that. Pinballs are too heavy for me though. I have to enlist my father-in-law and friends to move them. Free games and offers of dinner and some beers afterwards are usually enough motivation for people to come over and help! You can usually even fool an unsuspecting neighbor or two into helping with some slick bribery. heh

But yeah, stairs are awful. And pins seem to love dwelling in basements...

One of the reasons I lean towards collecting GTB wedgeheads and GTB woodrails. Easy to move solo, and take up much less room setup or in storage! DMD and most fold down head SS games are a backache to move unless you have help. Hard on a 45 year old, even a healthy strong 45 year old. Don't want to regret the hobby when I'm 70 and my back is toast!

I'm 46. I was fortunate to buy a house with a near-perfect gameroom - ground floor, and 4 feet away from where you can park a car. Was completely by chance: wasn't collecting pins at that time. Did not know what to do with that room before. Now I find it too small...

I love to bring one machine to each Pin festival I can attend and will rotate game often (well, I often choose the not-so-heavy ones).

I have debated hiring movers in the past. I got a quote of $100 to move a machine upstairs or down. It is an option if you aren't going to do it very often. I ended up getting a few friends and we each took a corner so it wasn't that bad. If I was to move them often and money was not an object I would buy the stair climbing dolley.

and YES we also *need* new game designers and engineers!! Yikes!

http://pinballinventor.org/jobs.html

Moving pins sucks! I have 14 in my basement right now, and every time I have to move a new one in or out, I absolutely dread it. I screwed up my back for a month getting TOTAN out of a guy's house.

I'm 42 and my games are upstairs. Get a stair climbing dolly. It's expensive but cheaper than surgery.

Take pins apart removing glass, playfield, backbox anything that will lighten it.
May not be as fast moving but it saves your body from injury.

keep working out and staying strong as the years pass. I am 36 but have recently gotten into better shape than I had been in. I am no buff dude but, I try to stay strong and go to the gym every single morning for 45 minutes. Cardio will do a lot for strength too. With pins leg strength is important.

Get an appliance dolly and try to find others in your area that share the passion. I'm about your age. I stopped carrying games by hand without a dolly after 36. I found I was just too exhausted afterwards and was worried about hurting my back. I never move a game up or down stairs by myself as well. It's just too dangerous. With two people and a dolly, it's no problem moving a game up or down stairs. Just take your time and take a break if you need it. The dolly will hold the game nicely while you support it.

I realize you said you don't have any that share the passion. You might be surprised. Post an ad to find others that share a passion for pinball.

Seems I move games every week or two for friends and with a dolly, no problem.

Cheers,
Duane

Gunshot wounds?

Following Stern's pinball set-up instructions will definitely give you back problems!!!!

You should *never* lay the box on it's belly and then struggle to pull a 300 lb. game out with just the strap. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Instead...

1. Keep the box upright and carefully cut the bottom away.

2. Assembly the two front legs and then carefully lower the game to the ground.

3. Lift up the rear of the game and rest it on a stool and assemble the two rear legs.

4. Remove the stool.

Virtually no effort and a lot smarter!

I'm 45 and stronger now than when I was 20. And I lifted a lot back then. Bought a squat rack just over a year ago. When I bought it I could only squat 115lbs (workout weight) now I'm up to 220lbs (workout weight.) My bench has gone from 155lbs to 225 (workout weight) over that same time frame.

I still could stand to loose some weight (I'm about 186 but should be more like 165-170) but overall I feel pretty good.

I think the hobby helps to keep me motivated.......although moving JD down to my basement felt like it was going to kill me......damn widebody's!

Following Stern's pinball set-up instructions will definitely give you back problems!!!!

You should *never* lay the box on it's belly and then struggle to pull a 300 lb. game out with just the strap. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Instead...

1. Keep the box upright and carefully cut the bottom away.

2. Assembly the two front legs and then carefully lower the game to the ground.

3. Lift up the rear of the game and rest it on a stool and assemble the two rear legs.

4. Remove the stool.

Virtually no effort and a lot more smarter!

Yep. That's exactly how I do it, except I use a "Pinball Helper" instead of a stool for the rear legs. It's a great product that I highly recommend:

http://www.pinballlifter.com/index.php/pinball-helper

Here's the unboxing of my AC/DC ...

ACDC_1.JPG ACDC_2.JPG ACDC_3.JPG

That's pretty sweet! I'll have to order one of those!

I'm 61, 6'2" and 265. My game room is right off my front door. If I need help I can always get a couple of guys in their 20s from my church to help out. A few beers, some pizza and a night of pinball proves to be great bait!

My point is that I'm still strong enough to wrestle a pin alone, but why risk it when I don't have to?

At 54 I can move them down myself into the game room, but up, not anymore. Either direction, I have taken to removing the backbox, to make the tight squeeze at the top of my steps more managable. This helps a lot. But having replaced the carpet with hardwood surely hasn't. More to be careful of.

I use leverage much more than muscle anymore.

Dan

This happens to everyone.

You will age. You will get weaker. You will more easily injure yourself or aggravate old injuries.

What you need to do is replace one fading part of you with a better one.

As you get older, you need to get smarter.

LTG : )

I'm about the same age; when I was looking to buy a house 3-4 years ago, part of what I was looking for was a house that had room for my pins plus a way to get them in and out that didn't involve stairs. I found a house that had room for 5 pins (I had 4) and easy basement entry. Of course, just months after moving in I found a Haunted House for sale only 10 miles away, so that room for an extra machine didn't last long. If it hadn't been for the basement entry I never would have gotten that HH into my house. Having an appliance dolly also helps lots.

having a friend help is also a good thing to do. i have a hill to contend with to get to basement door, so add an apliance dolly the pin is 70 pounds heavier. i moved one in by myself once.... wont do that again. always get help now

How about paying someone to do the heavy work? Pinballs are expensive, so take 50 or 100 $ extra into account to get that thing up or down the staircase. Take a look in the yellow pages for relocation services in your area. They have workers used to lifting heavy things and moving a pinball doesn't take a lot of time. They also have useful equipment to get that stuff moved.

During my last move the workers said "It's heavy but still manageable. Our worst nightmare is people who own a grand piano."

"I used to be a flipper like you. Then I took a lockdown bar in the knee..."

I'm 60 this month and have moved most of my collection over the past three years. No problems carrying them with 1 other person. Yes, I complained anytime I had to pull them up out of basements. Some were worse than others.

I brought 7 machines from one basement that had a nasty 90 degree turn at the top and not enough room for my furniture dolly to be attached. Hired a third guy to help and we muscled them all up and out. Two on the bottom and me at the top. No scratches or damage.

My pins are all on the main floor of my business building with easy access. I bought a couple of pinball carts which makes moving them about easy for one. And my van is easy to move pins in and out. I can do it solo.

So Like LLoyd says, you get smarter when you get older. (Then why am I still buying pins?)

If I had a house with a basement and those stairways that took a turn, I would spend the money to install an outside entrance to my basement with straight stairs.

Stair climbing hand trucks still require a great deal of exertion to use, but without question, they protect your back. I have an escalera, and it was an incredibly strenuous upper body workout to use. You are basically using your arms and chest to brace 400 lbs from falling down the stairs (the escalera by itself weighs a ton). It's still a two man job even though the website shows people using it by themselves with ease. Having each person hold a handle makes it a lot less strenuous.

Like I said though, after using it, my back is not sore what so ever. The rest of my body is another story!

-BB

This is how I do too, especially when going up steps...

I have actually made some minor mods adding plugs in some cases, making disassembling heads+wiring much easier and faster. Empty pin cabinets only weigh about 70 pounds unless they are wet!

On a down trip... slow and steady wins the race.

On a side note, I eat a lot of raw vegetables as well and avoid red meat at all costs. Most of my fat and carb intake is whole grains and nuts which contain very little saturated fat. I have so much more energy than when all I ate was Rally's and greasy bacon flovored hot wings with mayo+ketchup. Quitting smoking has made my stress level go down as well.

It seems like 80% of Americans don't care what they eat. I'm telling you guys if you think it's not possible to die from heart disease when you are 35, you are wrong! I know from personal experience+family members that are no longer here.

After you injure yourself a few times you'll learn to take things slow.
And more important, think about what you are doing before you do it.
One of the best things I did was buy a truck with a hydraulic lift gate.
When moving a machine up stairs, I'll take it apart. The head comes
off (even newer pins), the PF is removed from the cabinet too. Takes
longer but medical bills will put a serious dent in your pinball budget.
Steve

Well, at 52, I helped move 2 pins yesterday. I didnt lift as much, having had triple bypass heart surgery 3 months ago, I keep tearing chest muscles as they are healing, which is a nasty hot poker in the chest pain. So for now, I rely on Sliders when they are home to move, a pin dolly to take it so far, and the humble help of others to do the lifting.

The dietary statements are all true, but as I do research, HDL, Testosterone, Estrogen, and other
hormones need to be in order...best solution for this...daily exercise, daily sex.

I keep telling that to my wife, but I can't get her on board with this concept ...

and twice on sundays.