There is no easy setup for this with a pinball machine. For a car, it’s pretty easy to turn around off lease. The dealer will have a full repair shop, and if there is anything besides normal wear and tear, the person that leased it gets smacked with the bill (it was in your agreement).

But on a pinball machine, it’s WAY more subjective. Say I drop a screwdriver on the playfield and it causes a small chip. Is that a tiny chip? Or is that a chip that will begin to peel up paint because it’s where the ball travels? What if I stop playing it and return it with that, and the next person gets blamed? Are they paying for a playfield? Say I don’t clean it once in those 1200 plays... am I returning it like that? Am I charged for a shop job if I don’t know how to do one? If a board pops, am I fixing it? If I think I know how to, and I make it worse, is that my fault? If I don’t know how to repair it, is the lease company sending a guy? Who pays for the board that’s out of warranty, but had a defect?

I put a lot of time and effort into my games. Leasing them would make make no sense to me. When I buy a game, if I miss something wrong, that’s my fault, and I’ll fix it. But if I leased it, that’s going to lead to finger pointing. And I’m nice. I know a lot of assholes that would drive the leasing company right out of business. It’s unfortunate that machines are expensive, but the solution to that is to not buy them. You can have just as much fun on a $1000 game.