I have 15-20 games at locations at any time (out of 24). The biggest is a bowling alley, where we also hold tournaments. The annual three day competition has 20+ games (some from the community as well). Regular tournaments have my 10-15 games that are located there at the time, available for the event.

They are all fully functional, level, and playable. If at any point they are not, they are fixed or turned off (or even removed) until they are fixed. Simple as that, it is a matter of pride, and important for Pinball; to ensure new players enjoy their pinball experience, so that they might play again.

Our Tournaments always begin with Only fully working machines included.

Some operators certainly run with more sense of pride than others... I go to the city and am horrified at some of the neglected sited machines I find.

Admittedly, something that probably helps me pull this off is the fact that pinball is not my primary income source... more of a passion (or charity Lol).

Two sentences, the second contradicting the first Lol

No machine will be 100% functional 100% of the time. Or show me this machine that has Never Broken? .... what's that? ... you only look at it and never turn it on? .... ahhh yep, fair enough!

Anyway, I think it is fair for tournament players to hope that machine owners would strive to provide Fully Functioning games for them to play, and not expect them to play faulty semi-functional games! . 100%

Yep that is bad. The "all players have to deal with the same" doesn't hold water in most circumstances (the failure happened or got worse at some point therefore different), and where it does hold water, the game really shouldn't have been in the tournament with the fault to start with. Especially something as critical and basic as Flippers! . If they're bad they can degrade quickly!.

Especially with something like a high score comp over time, it is extremely unfair to the players whom had to play earlier with a half dead flipper, prior to it being "made good" (after it failed completely). That is unfair advantage. The game should be pulled if it is a high score comp, count pre failure scores only, or everyone starts again....

I guess fully working machines is a big part of the reason people drive for 2 hours from the city just to play pinball here.

I check for dots before each event. The credit dots from players not making shots within X number of games are fine! Lol ... but I still check they are not a fault, and clear them. I play in the tourneys too, and playing faulty machines just really s#its me.