Hope you got it even though it's roached!

Order the wrong part that you need right away, then order the same wrong part a second time.

Pop out a hemorrhoid while trying to pick up a heavy machine by yourself.

Travel way too many miles for a pin, telling yourself you'll only buy it if it's in good condition. Pin turn out to be in much worse condition. Buy it anyway just because you drove so far.

Blow through a half dozen or more fuses because "I must have fixed it THIS time".

Spend good money on, and then be extremely disappointed by, a shit quality product from XXXXX aftermarket manufacturer.

Have your wife/girlfriend/S.O. help you with, and be livid about, picking up a game and bringing it home. Promise her "this is the last one, no more games, I promise!" Repeat 8 more times.

Rescue a mildew-filled machine from a literal dumpster.
Said game then sits in your warehouse for two years because you already had too many other projects to work on and not enough time even for them.

Design and build the entire hardware control platform for a game.

No way. It would not of loaded that if it was free.

I have 3.

1. Drive 90mins to pick up a game, only to get there and get a puzzled look when you ask where the keys are to take it apart.
1a. Not asking if they have the key before leaving the house.

2. Driving 5hrs one way for a game you've never played, only to get home, fix it, play it and realize you hate it.

3. Over paying for a game because you have to have it, only to have one in better condition pop up a week later much closer.

Lose your shit because you try to install cabinet decals on a game outside in the wind because you don't have enough room in the garage...

Buy a part, install that part, then find that you had that part in your parts bin that you bought years ago

Boooooooo. That game's rare as shit, I wouldn't care. How much did they want for it?

Auction. I left before it went up for sale. It would of needed a widebody cabinet, and pretty much everything else. Mouse nests all over the PF, every switch and component thick with rust. it looked like it sat out in the rain for years. I wouldn't bring that into my home much less my storage unit. I've done my share of shitty projects, but this was beyond repair unless you wanted to lose a pile of money trying to bring shit to life.

And there is a reason it's rare just like many low production games in the 80's, it didn't sell. No one would pay to play them. Rare never means good.

Hit a deer on your way home from a pinball tournament. I checked that one off the list tonight.

Surprised no one has mentioned throwing an escalara down the stairs yet.

Or lost a rolled up tonneau cover, watching it take flight like a parachute, thankfully clearing the pin in the truck bed when it tried to exit earth..

The above post reminds me I once brought a game home, shopped it, and brought it to its next destination without even taking it off the back of the truck. Left the legs off and just put the head up. Almost certain this was Family Guy. I can’t recall if one of the movements was a purchase or sale.

Omg holy shit that's nuts

I've fortunately never done this. Pretty damn funny though

Having parts left over after a playfield swap.

After filling the house/garage/sheds with machines get the brilliant idea
of actually trying to make money with your machines by putting them
on location. So you can buy more!

Once wifee gets fed up, offer to get her a kitten for every 'new' machine
you drag home (she figured out I like cats after getting 13).

Paying way to much for pins that are marginally restorable.

Didn’t see these:

Leave tools inside a game

Drop a game on top of yourself

Put together a big order and forget to add a 99c (important) part - pay another $10 shipping.

Playing pinball at Pinball Life while waiting for them to get your parts order put together.

- find something not pinball related in the cabinet of a game you just bought. Bonus points if it’s illicit, weird or gross.

- accidentally leaving the leg bolts, back box door or other hardware at the place you bought the game, bonus points for it being over 3 hours away.

-maneuver a game with a hand truck up a steep staircase with turns in it without putting a hole in the wall.

- put a hole or scratch in the wall/ floor while moving a pin, bonus points if it’s in the seller’s house while removing the pin you just bought.

- convinced friends with no previous interest in pinball to buy a pinball machine

Order a list of parts from PBR, realize a day and a half later that you forgot something and call Steve to ask to if it can be added to the shipment to save on shipping.

I'm terrified from even attempting an order from all the stories. lol I'm sure I'd f up something

Dammit, I get so scared every time this happens, should been immune to this by now but nooooooo....

The European version:

Put together a big USA order and forget to add a 99c (important) part - pay another $100 shipping, $30 import tax and $15 fixed packet handling fee; also it takes about 5 weeks to arrive.

I hate all that so much.

Go to fix something simple and make it worse requiring you to stitch wires from socket to socket

Snap a leg bolt by tightening too much

Drop a ball on your bare foot

Pull a fuse and forget to put it back in

Put an eprom in backwards

Replace flashers by mistake with 555 bulbs

Level machine by crawling underneath and lifting up with your back to adjust leg levelers

Snap a post stud by overtightening

Part out a game

Break a plastic while installing a protector for it

Forget to strap a game down and it slides forward in your SUV/truck bed

Buy a bunch of new parts for a game and never use them

Put a screw thread the playfield from underneath when doing a playfield swap, bonus if it's in an area right by the flippers

Adjust a flipper and instead of testing it by hand just flip and cause flipper drag butterfly on the playfield

Not know how many games you own or where they all are

Own multiples singly over the years because you have better memories of it than you do and realize you hate it when you rebuy it

Buy project games to make 2 or 3 into one really nice one

Buy a game just get to a better backglass for your keeper

Deal with tire kickers/low ballers when selling a game

Forget what parts you have and where they are until you order replacements

Let a playfield swap languish for years

This one really hits home. I thought I was the only one that did it this way.

I thought of a couple more.

Going to replace line cord, inside the cabinet cut the wires to splice on new one. And discover somebody else plugged the machine back in after you unplugged it. A few seconds of excitement. Arc welding, small explosion, blow circuit breaker on wall, melt a hole in wire cutters.

Forgetting to remove main fuse on game you are working on. ( unplugging isn't enough ) and you can count on some FOOL turning it on and blowing up more stuff for you.

LTG : )

Right here with you guys. It is the way.

There's another way D: ????

If there is I don’t know it. Lmao

Sure. Use a hydraulic lift.

Well, you just have to crawl underneath the machines on either side to do this. I have a pinball cart but it's just faster to go under manually.

I did find a better way to do it: Send my girlfriend's son underneath instead. That one is MUCH easier on my back.

Purchase a CPR playfield, mini playfield, and plastics set for game (in my case, Pinbot) because the "bundle discount" saved a few bucks, when all that was really needed was a single slingshot plastic. Bonus points for never using any of it except that one plastic.

Burn a hole in your rug/carpet when you accidentally drop your hot soldering iron.

Use your Hakko desoldering gun to do boardwork for the first time and realize how amazing it is. (gotta throw in one good thing)

I do this constantly, and even use this method to drag a folded machine away from the wall (working alone) prior to removal of legs.

Scrape the cabinet against the threshold of the front door jam.

You leave the paint be even 5 year later, instead of it being a lambsblood painted door(jam) it is TMNT green... will the creeping death pass over this?

Give yourself a head wound when working on a game

Holy cow. My HF cart had been in the garage so long, I forgot about it . That is amazing.

I mean it doesn’t really make the job easier, but you can use it to at least take the games weight off your back. Haha

Bring an EM back from non-working

Bring another EM to non-working by adjusting/cleaning every switch and taking a mostly working machine and making it non-working

Have a great game going on a WPC game and get a game reset as you were about to beat the high score

Pick up a game in an open bed truck and not thinking you need a tarp as it's nice out and having a freak rainstorm happen on the way home. Drive fast to avoid the raindrops

Move a game or large item (backglass/playfield) on public transit/plane

Get a game offered for free you don't want/take and kicking yourself later when demand rises for it

Thinking you're a good player and determining from your first tournament as you come in at the bottom that you aren't

Thinking your tilts are tight until you play in that tournament/or hosting a tournament and watching great players walk your "tight tilt" games all over the floor as they beat all your grand champions on their first balls

Dealing with tournament cheats or just whiny behavior

Have a playfield drop into the cabinet.

Work on machines with your wrist in a cast that knocks the above mentioned playfield into the cabinet.

Work on machines with either shoulder in a restraining sling designed so that your shoulder and elbow stays immobilised. Hey, why not: you are off of work because of those pesky rotator cuff repairs so you might as well try to restore a few pinballs

Bring a new in box/carton machine into your house by yourself. Sure, its sitting on a pallet in your driveway and you have a dolly and besides, no one is available to help you. You have just got to get this machine up and going. So yes, of course, put it on the dolly by yourself, haul it up a flight of stairs and then proceed to assemble the machine.

Use car jacks to assemble the above. Who needs help?

Lift an EM backbox over your shoulders by yourself that is a 4 player with animation.

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After I messed up my back a few times, and my girlfriend also messed up her back, I always use a rolling jack and a board to hold a game up while I level it now.

I love the smell of a NIB right when it comes out of the box, and never cared for a new car smell.

Love this thread. Got a few to add:

Buy your first pin without measuring your doorways first only to discover on arrival that the only way to get it in is to take off the backbox and bring it in in pieces and reassemble inside. Bonus points if it’s a NiB. Double bonus points if it’s an LE.

Buy two of the same machine cause 1 cab is mint and the other has a mint playfield. Swap playfields and sell the weaker condition one.

Buy $500 or more in mods for a game you don’t currently (and may never) own. “Just in case”.

Buy spare parts and plastics for a game you do have that hasn’t broken yet. “just in case”.

Make multiple orders on Titan, pinballlife, or Marco in an attempt to finish a project only to somehow manage to buy the wrong nut/bolt/washer. Every. Single. Time. Bonus points if you eventually just say “efff it” and buy a BBoE or Little Box of Calm and call it good.

Order a complete rubber kit only to learn during install that your game is actually jacked up and has playfield elements added/missing/or cob jobbed by some previous owner.

Have a pile of spare glass because you replaced all of your stock glass with PDI/Voodoo/Invisaglass/HD. Bonus points if you got at least 1 of each because you had to see for yourself which is the best.

Wrecked your shooter lane with low plays because you forgot to lower the Trough Eject Power on your Stern.

Posted on Pinside for help and gotten trolled.

Posted on Pinside for help and gotten help.

Given help on Pinside.

Debated the status of The Munsters on the Pinside top 100.

Pinbot gets me every time for whatever reason

Yeah, I’ve done that too. While the jack sits 10 ft away unused. Then for a week I complain my back hurts.