It's going to dry out the wood and cause cracking.

No different than wood furniture. If you wouldn't put that expensive furniture you inherited from your grandparents there, then you wouldn't want to put an expensive game made from wood there, either.

It's the temperature swings that really mess stuff up, but dry air mitigates a lot of issues. Here in Utah, we have dry air and lots of people have garage games that do just fine. Humidity and temperature swings cause big issues.

Ideally you wouldn't want your games in a room hotter than 80 degrees, especially while being played, but I think you are probably ok if 90 is as hot as it gets and that's only for a short peak period in the day. Still, you might get some decal peeling, plastic warping, or cracking if it gets real hot for longer periods of time.

Garage games do get pretty dirty though. Lots of dust is going to make its way into your machines.

Well, it CAN be bad damage. You can get wood cracking on the playfield and cabinet. I'm not sure how much a fan will help if the temperature is real high. I don't think garages here are quite that hot.

Backglasses will delaminate, and cabinets & playfields will start planking.

They need to be stored at a fairly stable temperature and humidity or they will get ruined.

Truth here. Do not do it.

No, since I do not keep them in a hot garage

Fluctuations in heat and humidity are generally not kind to wood or paint that are not specifically designed to handle it.

As I said above : if you wouldn't put wood furniture you paid thousands of dollars for there, then you don't want to put your games there.

Can you install a window AC unit in the garage or a portable unit?

It could catch on fire and burn your house down.

Do NOT put pinball machines in an un-airconditioned garage.

Cut a hole in the wall, and permanently install a window air conditioner

Not going to work. You would just be blowing the hot air around like a convection oven.

Williams games are famous for catching fire.

It's that 'ol Williams quality that people get excited about.......

No amount of fans will help. Heat is heat. Moving a room full of hot air does not cause the room to be cooler.

I wouldn't even consider storing a machine in a hot garage. During the summer, I keep my house at a cool 76 degrees. Raises my electric bill but keeps the humidity down.

Mine is at 72, how do you survive?!

So was Bob Marley.

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If you have the coin I would follow Vid's suggestion and put a window unit in. Your pin will love it and you will too.

The temperature swings can cause board issues as well. Nothing major really, but it will cause some expanding and contracting on the boards which messes with the connectors and chips, and possibly wiring.

What we did is we installed some insulation sheets on our garage door which made a huge difference. We bought a few sheets of the insulation from Home Depot and measured, cut, and inserted them into the garage door slats. And soon after, we found someone selling a mini split and now our garage stays around 80 degrees in the summer without using very much energy. And if we want to go out and play for an extended period we just crank the AC down a few degrees. It also helps that the other 3 walls of the garage were already insulated when they built the house.

The insulation sheets I'm referring to are similar to this: http://goo.gl/Z93MUU

You can go to any home improvement store and get their advise on the best product for insulating garage doors. They will point you in the right direction.

If he has the money to buy another game without having room for it I would hope he has money for a window unit. My games are in my attached, finished garage. Because of code there is no AC vents into there. For now I have a 12k btw window unit. Will replace it with a split in a few years when I get tired of pissing with the window unit.

For the price of a single plastic ramp, you can keep your games from destruction.

If you live in a humid environment, won't you also need some level of humidity control? I've seen rusty games...

A 76 degree room with 50 percent humidity feels much nicer than a 72 degree room with 60 percent humidity. It's not all about temp.

An AC unit removes humidity as well.

An air conditioner acts as a dehumidifier if you think about it.

The coils remove heat from the air and at the same time collect condensation. The water that runs from the coils down the drain tube is all moisture from the air.

We want stable air temps and humidity. The up/down swings are what kills the wood.

KornFreak28 - the fire thing is a troll. don't worry about that.

You need to add air conditioning to the garage, or bring the game inside.

Anything else is risking damage to the game.

Korn -

If the garage is the only place (For now) at least bring in the backglass and keep it in the house. Temp swings really play havoc with the ink. You can always remove the backglass lights and play the machine in the garage, or the preferred description - future mancave complete with AC.

You certainly seem like you are going to do it regardless of what people say. Many have told you not to do it, some with insane amounts of experience (vid) and yet you still are looking for personal anecdotes.

Yes, best to make room inside your house for this newest machine. Just move some of your wife's stuff that she is not really using that much out to the garage or up in the attic. Just be polite and reasonable, yet firm when discussing before moving her stuff. Report back tomorrow if space problem resolved, and if any new issues arise.

Be afraid.

Games catch fire all the time.

Williams games before Fire! (ironic, I know) are super famous for igniting because the bridge rectifiers were never fused.

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The playfield wood splits and planks along the grain.

The plywood cab delaminates.

The zinc plated parts rust.

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