I'll buy

Ben heck is exploring the idea of making a small pinballl kit and taking it to market if it's feasible. There's a thread on here about it. Just search for teensy pin.

I would love to build a pinball machine from a kit! Especially if it meant saving some money.

I'll take mine in a big rectangular brown box on my doorstep. Not for me, Sorry.

It is a neat idea, but the customer support aspect of this would be a complete and never ending nightmare for Stern. I would imagine many many buyers would over estimate their skill and motivation when purchasing a kit. If they bought the parts they may expect the supplier to talk them through problems and replace parts broken in assembly. Also, your average pinball collector probably makes 3X the hourly rate of a assembly worker at Stern. Stern people probably assemble it a 5x the speed you or I would too. It doesn't make a whole lot of economic sense to do it yourself when your time costs 3x as much. I have a cleaning lady because her time costs me 1/3~ of what I earn.

It could be a liability issue for stern. If someone assembles something wrong and causes a fire or electrocution etc Sterns name will be brought into any litigation. Also UL listing wouldn't cover a device like this because specs on all kits would be different bases on how their assembled by purchaser.

I would love this option. If they can make kits for airplanes then I am sure someone could figure this out.

You make a very valid point, I do a ton of stuff in this hobby that makes no economic sense! I do it because I have fun doing it. I stand by my points but also see the truth in yours

This would really make you understand what a pinball machine actually does! And,easy to repair,if you built it yourself!A maybe for me!!

This kit would not be a product for stern. It would be a great product for mission pinball or fast pinball; their already a maker community.

E.g.
Provide a kit that gives all common mechs, switches, and lights ect for a game "in the spirit of" a stern title. Then the customer could find a Playfield to install it all on, or make their own Playfield. .....imagine a kit with all the bits to make a tron machine, just without any of the IP infringing items. Those would be bought from Marco or stern.

I wired my whitewater from scratch. lots of assembly required sounds like fun to me.

If this is ever done they will be made in china.

I would go crazy building it for weeks and not getting to play right out of the box

LOL! Everyone wants to save a dime and then complain about what they get for saving said dime. Complete nightmare, if someone made this happen they would soon regret it.