Sounds healthy to me

Not a sickness. Probably more common than you would think. Imagine doing the same thing with an $8k GoT. Feel better now?

Cyclone is worth every cent or minute you put into it.

I have a $2000 Silverball Mania. It just happens.

But it's sooooooo much fun.

Sickness must be contagious, I have $5K in a BOP, $3K in a Fast Draw and $4K in a Xenon. If you like restoring to better than factory then its just part of the cost of the hobby. If you enjoy what you are doing then its money well spent. Don't be one of those guys who has to make a buck on their hobby.

That is why I have machines out on route until I have all of the parts collected to restore them fully.

If what you have is a sickness, I should have been committed long ago. I usually put 3k into a restoration.

I do the same thing with EM games. I will buy a game for 600 bucks and call PBR and order this that and the other thing now I have 800 dollars and hrs of my time next thing you know I'm upside down on the game and I probably didn't need a complete flipper rebuild or all new white posts but I do it because I enjoy it and I never plan on selling my games. Once I buy a game and do my thing it has a home . I'm not going to sell to make 100 bucks

What I'm looking at buying this weekend is pretty ill.

And that's why you probably have beautiful games, and you can't put a price on that kind of pride.

If you think that's bad, try doing it to a Comet. I'm in the middle of restoring my "Holy Grail". I've purchased most of the parts for it, but I still need a couple of parts for it. They aren't cheap and/or easy to find. I am sending my playfield out to be restored and clear coated. I still need a corkscrew ramp and the cycle jump housing. I bought two machines to piece together the best from each one. When I'm done, I will probably just sell the other machine for parts unless I think I can put together a decent players machine.

Not sure where you got a silk screened backglass, but this one came with an NOS playfield. Fully loaded.

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Thank you beelzeboob, I do my best but some of the work I see people do on this site amazes me

Stage 3

- The collector starts to begin the enjoy the aspect of restoring machines more than play or collecting

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Been there. For a few years, I had a sick obsession of hunting down cheap projects, tossing a few hundred bucks and 40+ hours at em and making em gorgeous again. I've calmed down a bit, and lately have been just enjoying my collection and playing instead of being anal about restoring and modding.

Sounds like im sick also but i love bringing these pins back to their former glory.

It's pride of ownership. Pinball machines are awesome, especially sys11 pins. If there are repro parts to replace broken/beat old parts, why wouldn't you buy them? Pretty much any pin is a joy to look at and play when in nice shape.

My $4000 STTNG is now a $9000 STTNG, I will be keeping it for ever, it's almost NIB now.....

5K High Speed

If you don't just blindly replace anything there's a repro part available of, it's not so bad. Put more sweat equity in and the actual dollar count can be kept fairly low.

I never understood sinking thousands into a restoration. I've owned over 100 machines and never felt like I went overboard on any of them. The only game that I am confident that I spent more than it's worth is Mr/Ms pacman. But that has nothing to do with putting too much $ into it. It has a lot more to do with the game not being worth much at all, given the cost of parts these days.

My games play great and nearly all of them are in original condition. That's the only way I like to play them and I would never choose to have it any other way. People should be able to spend their $ on whatever they want. However, I don't replace stuff on a machine unless there is a damn good reason. Buying everything available for a game just makes no sense to me. But, if that's what you want to spend your money on, who am I to say you shouldn't?

I do not think this is a "sickness", I do think this is a bookkeeping problem.
You are putting the cost of parts and repair under your hobby column.
These costs should be transferred to your medical/ health care column. The sub section would be mental health. The time and money spent on this hobby is cheaper than visiting a doctor and getting treatment and or medicine for a variety of illnesses.
Remember this is therapy next time someone complains about the time and money you spend on your treatment.

C'mon, for a Cyclone?

Heck, I just ordered one too!

You won't know you past the restoration sickness threshold until you own more playfields and cabinets than you have complete working machines in your collection.

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Wow I feel better now

Just like cars.

You spend a zillion hours and a zillion dollars restoring them, only to take a bath when you sell them.

Rinse/Lather/Repeat

Where are these screened backglasses you speak of?

You sick bastard.

Nevermind, found it.

I ran out of space a few years ago.

I have my babysitting collection up at 5 now. This means I've *HAD* to reach "the next phase".

Focus inward on quality. Refocus all pinball energy from hunting/collecting and restoring beaters to --> Restore current collection to near-CQ.

I have over 100 open tasks and YEARS of work left on my current collection to make each one play as great as possible (and be as bullet-proof as possible).

It's actually a more relaxing place to be.

In retrospect, if I had kept my collection to "maximum space minus four" then I would have been able to always have a rotation, beater, trade-bait, and babysitting pin here at home. That way I could have straddled several phases at once... a bit more fun. High-insight is always 20/20.

-mof

Almost NIB? Might as well finish the job. Buy a box and slide it in

oh good lord.....is this what lies ahead for me?

No joking, this hobby is a "sickness"!

Whew (wipes sweat from forehead) -- own way more pins than PFs. haha... There's hope for me.
mof