Damn that is scary news for newbies like me. Can I ask which two you have not had problems with so I buy those as my first pins

Some machine need constant attention. Others can go years with only an occasional clean

Such is pinball

Games break all the time, it's the nature of the beast (and one of the many reasons you don't see them on route in most areas.)

Wow. I'm down to just newer pins,but I've been there. Sounds like a"trough" problem to me,but what do I know.

LOL. I was thinking the exact same thing when one of my drop targets smashed yesterday!!!

I noticed you have TZ that game always demanded more of my time to keep running properly.

When owning more then one machine or some of them being as is machines when bought that you fixed up. This will happen. Yes sometimes it seems to rain problems and then there are times you smile because all you stuff looks and works good.

One of the things i see some of these machines are 30 yrs old are older and were played hard for the 1st part of their life and then someone fixed the broken stuff and then ran it some more. Now there just failing because of age the the use. Had a 30+ year old drop target break today. Yes it sucks but that target has had a metal ball smacking the hell out it and it's only made of plastic. So the machines we all have now need major over hauls including boards. Problem this all has a cost usually more then you would like to spend so they get dumped and some else has to fix them. Guess who that is Us fellow pinheads luckily we have Pinside to help each other out.

Remember Williams/Bally made there last pinball in 1999, Gottlieb 1996, Sega 1999, Dataeast 1994. Would you expect something to go 15+ years on very little to no maintenance that really was considered a throw away product after 3 to 5 years if even that.

No, they don't require as much work as you state.
When we fix games up, they are solid and play perfect for a very long time.
The trick is identifying the weaknesses in the game, and strengthen them (loose coil lug joints/ flaky switches/ dirty mechs).
Tighten those loose screws down near the moving parts.

It seems that after my initial clean and dare I say "shop" job. Then the secondary tweaks to make the game play right, I very rarely have problems with my machines.

Every once in a while ill have a cracked solder joint or some funk that needs to have the game reset but thats about it.

The only timw ive gone through more would be after the two moves they have taken from the different houses ive lived in. I lost a power supply board because of funk at the new house and other small issues.

All of my games so far are williams or bally though so I cant comment on other manufacturers. Except the practically nib lotr, she had no problems the three years I owned her.

What im thinking, just plain old bad luck. Also, take into account that when I have problems they do seem to come in multiples. Mostly on games I got in and didnt have to shop out.

There's two ways to work on these things -
1. fix them as they break or
2. bulletproof them before they break.

Option 1 gets you playing immediately and tweaking and fixing forever
Option 2 takes longer at first, probably has you break more stuff accidentally by fixing what isn't broken yet, but lasts forever(ish) if done well.

I think it is luck of the draw, even NIB pin doesn't guarantee no fix up jobs, I learned that on Metallica. For the first year my BSD felt like a big money pit, at least touch wood now I know I have got a fairly solid machine (for a while hopefully)

on the subject of maintenance, how long does that big ol battery last ?. mine looks cruddy, old wrinkly, but i guess still works.. guess thats the main thing.