Yes, sure was a big problem in the 80s and 90s. Strangely nowadays it is much less.
We had locations that had the cashbox lying behind the windows at night as proof the machines were empty

people will break into anything if there is a chance of easy cash

I had a machine in the staff area at work set to freeplay, building got broken into, coindoors were jimmied open

yes thieves never give up and they will pry open that coin door with a screw driver.if i was an operator i would be more afraid of someone stealing the game.thieves sometimes dress up like repair men and tell the employee they are there to pick up a machine to take back to the shop and drive off with it.i think there was a thread on pinside once about a brand new pin being stolen from a location the operator had put it in.

You have to watch out for the Pharaohs..

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It's part of an operator credo.

Money removed daily, machine serviced yearly.

The company I worked for had a few broken in to. We had a Wizard of wor stolen. The time frame was early 80's. The most common problem was trouble calls on the routes. This machine won't take quarters. The coinbox was full. Seems it was always a Mom and Pop gas station with the break in trouble. They would drill the locks on the back of the arcade machines and dip into the coins.

You know damn well if it has a sticker like that on it , the money is inside. But telling the truth picked up bi monthly would just be asking for trouble.

So in my mind stupid all around.

It's still done, here in Belgium you often see bingo machines that have the empty cashbox set on top of the playfield glass when the location is closed.

A pinball operator I know also used cheap locks because then the damage was less. He once had a whole lockdown bar bent almost 180 degrees from the middle as someone tried to get in, also had coin doors completely bent damaging the whole frame and wood around the door, .. so as breakins would happen it was cheaper for him to use cheap locks, and have less damage.

I worked at an amusement park that had two Spy Hunter Sit down machines that were sitting in kind of remote sections of the park. Some kids broke into them by sitting in the seat, putting their backs hard against the back, and putting their feet on the control panel. Once in that position.... push with all your might. The machine flexes right where the seat meets the floor, snaps the game in half, and exposes the coin door.

After that all the machines in those locations got stickers that said money removed daily (even though it in reality it was only once a month )

If it works, why not? I know people that have “house protected by Brinks Security” signs in front of their home - with no security system.

I frickin hate thieves!

Should be able to kick anyone's ass vandalizing a game. If they are too little, kick their dad's ass, if they know who it was.

Dude my '77 Fire Queen had what I can only describe as a metal coin box diaper, it was a 1/8" thick galvanized steel plate bolted on the front underneath the cabinet. This wasn't the first time I've seen this either we just found similar holes on a Six Million Dollar Man and I've chatted with someone else who had one on there early ss Gottlieb.

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make it 2.... i'll take a liar any day over a thief

yes sir and kick their ass even if they shake or tilt a pin lol!!

An operator friend of mine has a Tee'd Off machine with a giant hole smashed into the right side of the cabinet. Looks like somebody used a sledge hammer on it. Once they made the hole they could reach inside and get the coins.

No kidding, about 1/4 of the older games (pre 1986) we own have had some sort of hole made in the bottom by thieves. Our Bride of Pinbot had a 6" hole made my a hole saw in the side of it. A few of our games have even come with a full metal belly pan with the metal folded over the sides and attached with carriage bolts.

So, yeah, I've gotten really good at replacing cabinet bottoms.

My Pinbot came with a lock-down bar on the coin door and the bottom has a piece of metal around where the coin box would be.

I know it was on location in 1992 somewhere in NC.

Wonder if it had been broken into at some point?

Back in my 'route rat' days, (late '70s to early 80's) at the shop we always had a a box of carriage bolts and stack of sheet metal plates that got mounted on the bottoms of any machines that were going on route. Covered the front quarter of the bottom of the game where the coin box would set. Apparently there had been a run where machines were getting a hole kicked in the bottoms of the cabinets by goobs wearing steel toed boots (or just with no feeling in their feet) so they could pillage the coin boxes. Heck, I think a machine or two that I have today still has the plates on them!

'Course, this particular strategy may have lead to just forcing the coin doors when kicking the bottoms in was no longer a viable approach.

This is why we can't have nice things!

Those crappy fiberboard bottoms were always busted out by thieves.

We would install "Ghetto Plates" on the bottoms, before they would even leave the shop.

This is an issue for arcade cabinet collectors. A lot of machines had lock bars added across the coin door by operators back in the day. Tons of machines you find have holes drilled on either side of coin door where these were installed.

This isn't an issue for collectors, it's an issue for anal retentive people. If you collect to play, lockdown bar holes don't matter.

Had a bat man pin with security bar bolted from leg to leg, tore front of game off. To get tokens. Clean break though easily repaired. Still on route.

no they serviced the coin box daily