Doh!

After 20+ hrs of work, it will be a nice addition to someones collection someday.

I see it all the time here. Machines are barely working... called the vendor and same thing. Won't sell, everything is fine with the game.

The Tron at the MSP airport didn't even have any freaking pinballs in it! Or didnt knoe it did. Looked fine otherwise. I called the place on the machine and they said head look into it.

A local Iron Man sits in direct sunlight every day! It's sad, you can see the direct sunlight all over the cabinet and playfield. Also, there's no tilt, magnets are out, and the left flipper stays up until you hit the right one. Most public machines in Orange County are pretty bad though, with just two exceptions.

Tell the operator to play the pin, and hopefully you will prove him wrong.

Thank you fellow pinsider, joemamma, for keeping 3 local, routed pins in nearly perfect condition all of the time.

Is this the LOTR at a certain bowling alley (BW) in Akron? (not stonehedge, that place rocks!).

That is always too bad. I am a collector 100% first and foremost. I actually got into arcades first. Stumbled upon a cheap high speed. Fixed it up, put it on route and ended up putting about 5 pins on route all in stellllar condition.

I have since unfortunately removed them as they were not in ideal locations, but people still enjoyed them.

Someone once suggested to mark the issues right on the glass with sharpie to warn others. It keeps operators honest instead of using a pin as a glorified donation box

Yeah, we definitely have quanity at the MSP airport here, but the quality is lacking...

I see the same thing around me. If your lucky enough to find a machine on location its ussually beat to hell and barely playable. I've called every local vendor and none of them will sell a machine. I think these guys are just out for maximum profit and fixing a machine so its entirely working is just not in their formula.

I pass through MSP all the time and play....BKDK last time I was there. I saw the Tron but it was powered off.

Just as sad is going to look at 3 pins for sale that've been sitting unused, in someones non-climate-controlled garage, with the door wide open to the elements for the last 15 years.

The flipper sticking up is pretty common on Sterns, a quick fix on route is to tap the top of the coil stop with a hammer and it quits doing it.
I have done this once to the NASCAR up here at the bowling alley but I am done with the bandaid fixes on this game and the owner doesn't want me to pull it and shop it so it now sits broken, the ball trough won't eject the balls anymore.
He won't pay to have it fixed because nobody plays a broken game but he won't sell it either.
I told him call someone else, I am done doing free work on his game.

Rather than vandalize the glass, the better idea is to call the operator. Pins usually don't make much money on route so they are usually not emptied all that often by ops. Also, by you calling the op, it shows them there are people out there who want to play well maintained machines.

Guys who own and operate a dozen machines often just don't know when something breaks. Call them and let them know.

But there are others. There's an AFM here in town in brutal condition. Aliens literally laying on the playfield, flippers pure bunk. He refuses to sell it or fix it up, it just sits there taking money and making people hate the game.

What has happened is the operator got in a poor location. He probably had a crappy cheap game in the first place and could'nt make money with it in a good location. I plan to route a NGG and Teed in our country club--and yeah, I will take good care of the machines and make a little money.