Move into the woods far away from anyone else.

I am fortunate that in my duplex my US neighbours have 3 large dogs. Therefore P+N=DN where
P is pinball machines, N is noise & D is dogs so no problem although I tend not to play much beyond 8pm after the dogs go to bed for the night!!

When I first got my games I lived in a small apartment, was incredibly conscious of how loud they were, knew nothing about pinball, and worked until midnight. I tried some really, really dumb things so I could play my games at night. At least some of the ideas I can blame on old forum posts.

1. Putting felt in the flipper coil stops. I seriously did this. (No you can't actually do this). I think I also tried those little rubber things you put on cabinet doors.
2. Dynamat the inside of a cabinet. Holy crap. What the hell was I thinking.
3. Rock wool insulation inside a cabinet. To be fair... this actually worked somewhat not that I would do it again.
4. Acoustic foam inside a cabinet. Worked about as well as the insulation, potentially less flammable. Equally unadvisible!
5. Installed Phoog's 0.25" thick pinball glass. I like the minor sound dampening and still use this glass, but it doesn't do much in the long term. Phoog gets a bonus for being the first sound deadening thing I tried where I wasn't actively trying to destroy a machine.
6. Fancy acoustic blankets zip tied to PVC pipe. Oh yeah, it was classy:

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This actually worked wonders. It also made me look like a crazy person, but I didn't care. This was the ticket to apartment-living 3am pinball disturbing no one. You can see pile of acoustic foam on the floor in the first pic, yes I really tried insulating the interior of my cabinets at one point.

7. I bought a house with far away neighbors because I wanted more pinball machines and didn't want to build a blanket dungeon for each of them. This seems to be a 100% fix.

buy two barking dogs and put a big foutain with a bad pump motor in in the front yard. and maybe turns the pins down a little.

get a kegerator fridge and start inviting the guys from the "hood" over to play. you will find out fast who the fun guys are and maybe breathe some fun back into that area.
i wouldn't be conscious about it, if your noise bylaw is 11 or 10 pm i would start a precedence and play a few times until then.
during the weekend though, i would play until the cops showed up if i felt like it.

Are your garage walls insulated at all or is it like most garages and only one piece of plywood thick? Insulating and finishing the walls can go a long way toward sound reduction. Add some egg crate foam or garage door insulation to the inside of the garage door.

Where did you get those, and how expensive are they? I'd like to add some behind my curtains to help cut down the noise, both outgoing and incoming.

We just play them until the neighbors call the cops.

I would not worry about it, Just because others go to bed early is not your problem, and your game room is none of their business. In every neighborhood there is always a asshole bully. I would never live in fear that my machines make some noise sometimes, the second you let the neighbors interlope on this they will also complain about other minor things and make your life a living Hell.

Off topic - but where you live is one of my favourite Rancid songs.

These are the specific ones I had: http://www.vocalboothtogo.com/acoustic-and-soundproofing-products-vocal-booths/acoustic-(sound)-blankets-for-sound-absorption---producers-choice/sound-blanket-producers-choice-with-grommets.-solid-black/8-25

Wow, some people are so inconsiderate...

"the second you let the neighbors interlope on this they will also complain about other minor things and make your life a living Hell."
Did you ever think that your playing pinball till 12am might be making your neighbour's life a living hell?

I'm not inconsiderate at all, If I want to play pinball in my own home I'm not going to be scared and ask for permission first. Most people are not playing games at full volume on work nights with windows/doors wide open anyhow.....Seriously.

Typically your neighbors aren't in the street but inside their own homes, which provide another layer of sound dampening.

Assuming you're not talking about sound effect volume, which is easily controlled, then we are talking about typical impact noises which shouldn't be so loud that they penetrate the walls of two homes.

I say, play, and ask your neighbors if it's a problem or they can hear it. When you do so, bring them a gift (baked goods or something). If it's a problem they'll tell you and the fact that you care and are trying to solve it with them will go a long way.

Yep time to insulate. It looks silly but I've got friends who have carpeted the walls for a band practice room and it works pretty well. In a garage your gonna want an insulated door or at least fill in the back frame with styrofoam panels.

I'm surprised to read pinball noise is a problem in a private residence even if it is in a detached garage. When I have my DW turned downed to the lowest setting, which is 8 for some reason, I don't hear it from the basement to the first floor. I have a 60 year old house and there is no sound proofing.

garage door, 1/4" or 3/8" soft foam sheeting then 1" construction type foam-board to reflect sounds back, if not enough another layer soft over the foam-board oughtta do. linoleum adhesive and a toothed spreader works. it wont add a ton of weight but might need to re-tension some counterweight springs. this is all guessing you have a tin roll-up garage door, sound blows right through them so it'd be the first thing to tackle.

if door treatment not enough, those brick walls are reflecting a lot of sound right into that door. ask permission to dumpster dive at a big carpet warehouse store, they're usually ok with the day or two extra before having to replace a full dumpster. you might get really lucky with what'll look nice enough with a little cleaning.

does the garage have interior ceiling? if no, sheeting it with 2" foam-board likely a lot more sound deadening than much heavier 1/2" sheetrock. if yes same stuff wont add a lot of weight up there.
garage will be easy-cheap to keep warm too. too ugly? cover with 2'x4' hanging ceiling panels glued up would deaden sound even more.. hadn't got to carpeting the garage floor yet, I wouldnt want to.

That's hardcore....

Headphone jacks from Pinovators?

Wait a minute, before you spend money on anything, think about the issue a bit deeper. Has a neighbor complained yet?

Unless your neighbors are sleeping outdoors or with windows opened all night, just turning the sound down a little should be fine.

Sound proofing a pinball game in an apartment is completely different than having it in a detached house. Unless you're really close to another house.

theres a little madness to the method with the soft foam first to the door, it should help stop rattling and act as buffer to the hard foam-board to lessen transmission to-thru the tin. soft foam over the foam-board pretty obvious, deadening sound and keeping that door light weight too is a challenge.

at least it isnt like doing our old band's practice room, holy hell what a project! 1x2 as lath over the sheetrock for a 2nd layer of sheetrock with the dead air space between, the dumpster dived carpet for the big 14x20 room's walls took a while, 60+ square yards "free" is a lot of work and hauling! we got tons of suspended false ceiling panel from a leaky roof remodel site, just glued 2 layers to the ceiling was about 1-1/2" thick, so we didnt have to spend a fortune on materials to turn LOUD into quiet outside.. relatively quiet inside too outside the practice room. "oh hey lets practice at concert levels!" typical metalheads of course.

As mentioned here, I wouldn't care too much before the neighbours actually complain...

In my case, I live in an apartment, with extremely annoying neighbours living below, that will complain about anything possible. When I first got my pinball machine, I realised it might be too loud for them. I can hear their TV, so insulation is quite bad. I was just waiting for them to come over to complain as they usually do (they complain when they hear me walking, use the vacuum, when the kids play, when we watch TV, when we move a chair, when I put the alarm clock too early...).
Well, to my surprise, they still haven't complained about the pinball machine!
I have placed it strategically in a corner, probably above an area of the apartment that they don't use too often.

So just relax, play pinball and if they complain start thinking about insulation and other methods to minimize the noise.

I live in an apartment too for now, and I have been through the mill. You can actually do a lot to your machine depending on price range and effort.

I'd recommend fixing the garage, but if you want to look at the machines, here's something you should take a look at:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/projectmod-soundproofing-my-stern-st-pro
http://tuukan.fliput.net/shutup_en.html

I was about to go through the links above in order to reduce noise, but before doing anything major I realized that I may just be too self-conscious.
So what I did was power on the machines, setting the volume a bit louder than what I normally would, and then have my fiancee banging on the flippers etc trying to produce as much noise, while I went to talk to the neighbors and asked if I could come inside and listen from their point of view.

Turned out that no action was required at all even though their living room is RIGHT next to the machine, because it's a newly built apartment and it's very well isolated.

TL:DR Multiple options, but try placing yourself in your neighbors shooes while the machines are being banged at, and figure out if it's really such a big problem as you think it is.

Fyi, There is a menu setting to override that minimum volume and go lower.

that will eliminate the game sounds, but do nothing about game electronics making noise (shaker motor, coils, etc...) which can surprisingly be quite loud.

If you want piece of mind you will have to either insulate the walls and ceiling of our garage including the garage door.

If you want to go all out, you will have to insulate the walls with soundproofing insulation, install a resiliant channel on the walls and ceiling, install konex or sound proofing sheetboard, insulate the joint with acoustiseal and then reinstall drywall.

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But your biggest problem of all is your garage door. Even adding foam on the panels will help and make sure there is a seal all around.

True. Even with the volume turned down, my one pin fills my 2 story house with noise. I guess it wouldn't be as much fun without all the mechanical sounds. It just sucks that I can't play it once my kids go to bed.

jawjaw, do you think some machine isolator pads would help? your comment just inspired a design idea, might work especially well if your machines are already on carpet and padding.

After the door Id look to close up any air gap leaks with spray foam or better seals on the doors. You'd be amazed what just normal roll in insulation with drywall will soak up. And if you don't have a ceiling even a drop ceiling with insulation on top makes a big diff. plenty of people I know have gone that route for a basement theater with very good results sound draining mats is prolly just overkill and at the least you'll benefit from r- value in a place you wanna keep somewhat warm

Nope. My house is an open design with all hard floors. With 3 kids, it's impossible to find a quiet spot in the house. The machine does not vibrate so I don't think any foot pads would help. I guess you could come up with a padded wrap for the machine but that might trap in too much heat.

aww ok. friends place when in his basement and someone playing pinball above, the popcaps drive right into the (hardwood) floor like hammers, bit over half as loud for slingshots, simple vertical vs horizontal origins of the thumps.. idk, good foot isolators might help a bunch for that.

what I'm thinking: foam backed indoor-outdoor carpeted bottom 1/2 thick 6" plywood disc, 6" OD 4-1/2" ID 1/2" thick plywood ring glued to disk, 4-1/2" dia. 1/2" thick closed cell foam rubber (pulati exercise mat stuff) with a 3-3/4" dia. 5/8" thick disc having a 2" dia. 1/4" deep depression cut in for the levellers to nest into.
theyed raise a machine up maybe 1.5" (or less if levellers can be lowered), with the carpeted bottom and the closed cell foam combined buffering to a larger surface area (less PSI), I'd think it'd reduce the floor thump a lot. theyed be whipped up with a good set of hole saws pretty quickly, that and some wood glue, clamps, rubber cement stuff.. idk if iso-pads like THAT are available for pinball machines, they might even look good with routed corners, painted black, blue foam rubber "rings".
-if someone starts producing them dont ya dare forget me allright! (yeah sure I'd want 5%)

Is it me, or are modern Sterns quieter than BW games?

A friend of mine has a Goldeneye, and i think it is very quiet compared to my STTNG, TS and BSD.
I also feel that my T3 is in the same noise range as Goldeneye.

I have thought about things that could make the pinball less noisy, but I don`t think it is possible.

Maybe you could have some padding on the coilstop, but i think it would last one game only...

If somebody has a solution, i would be happy to try it out.

Axl

lamination of soft foam, foam board, soft foam, wasnt enough for the tin door? next thing I'd try is false ceiling panel, should be just enough room for 2 layers thick, but it's going to add a good bit more weight than the foam board stuff. another possible, in the recording studio back when, we had a couple portable walls (on wheels) for absorbing and reflecting sound, they were about 5' tall. theyed stop or bounce most of the sound but still short enough to see over their tops when standing.

This maybe?

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I've always been conscious and a little concerned about outside pinball noise.I just don't want the neighbours or people walking by to know I got games.It might attract unwanted attention when no one's home.They know of the games,but lets see what other stuff might be there for the under the arm taking.

Hanging rugs on walls and laying them on floors helps deaden the sound/noise.I envy the basements some of the US pinsiders have.

Hope you can find a solution you're happy with.

The basement is a luxury I know I take for granted. The pins can be cranked up with subs on each one and the neighbors hear nothing. Earth is a bread sound killer.

Thanks for rubbing my nose in it. ha ha!

I would love a basement.It would be under a rug in the living space with a hinged trap door entrance leading down a flight of stairs to the spacious gameroom floor. It's nice to dream.

Wasn't rubbing your nose............but while I'm at it. When we had the house built, we had the land sloped to one back corner and that gave us a French door walk out basement in the one corner. I've never had to use the stairs to get a pin into the gameroom!!

Are there no basements around you? I have buddies who live in other states and they can't have basements.

How about covering the door and window with acoustic foam?
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I live in a condo with people on either side, above and below me. My pins are in a fully enclosed and carpeted patio area. It used to be an outdoor patio that was walled off with large windows frames long before I bought it (I have nice shades though that keep the pins out of direct sunlight). It's a very quiet part of the condo complex too, so I have been pretty concerned about the noise. There is a "quiet time" rule imposed by the HOA after 9pm so I've never really played them past that time. So far I haven't had any complaints from neighbors, or any comments at all in passing either. I've thought about asking but didn't want to call any attention to it on purpose.

I don't want to be that rude neighbor, but I'm almost tempted to just play later at night just to see if someone says something. I live alone so I haven't been to see what it might sound like while playing from outside. I have remember to try that the next time I have people over.

I'm thinking of wrapping my neighbor across the street's wind chimes in acoustic foam. Talk about annoying!

Well you could always move the the Opal fields there. The whole "house" is underground and if you want to expand you would probably find enough Opal to pay for the dig AND the games to put in it.