Back in the 80's, no Google, no Pinside, BUT! Greater Southern was a 10 mile drive for me.
I would load a machine or 2 on my trailer and take them in for repair. They were very reasonable.
The biggest problem was the scoring digital stuff, and I had extra of them, and would just swap them and take those to get repaired.
These days no place like that around here, that I can make a short drive to get a pin repaired. BUT! Luckily so far I have not needed any place like that.
Confess these days I am guilty of not searching, I am lazy and just ask a question on here.
Confess back in the 80's I sucked at soldering, and when I needed to solder something a few years ago, I asked a friend to help me out.
Confess after being away from pinball for a few decades, when I first started picking up NIB Sterns, it was hit or miss when I called them.
Some Stern techs expected me to be some expert and just know what they were talking about, while other techs were a lot more patient and understanding.
Confess what ticked me off was the game was under warranty, and while it was under warranty I thought it was bullcrap that I was the one having to do the repairs.
BUT! Then I found Stern is awesome for sending out parts for free, even after the warranty expired, so it evens out I guess.
Confess we suck at playing pinball, but we enjoy it, and we prefer to just keep batting the ball around and not try learning to cradle or to pass to the other flipper.
BUT! the Big Buck Hunter arcade, you may beat us on that, but no way it will be by much, only a limited amount of animals to hit, and we get most of them.
Confess that is the exact reason pinball machines are better than arcade games anyway. Arcade games are limited, but as far as I know you could technically play a game of pinball forever if the balls never drained.
Confess a few years ago and I forgot what pinball machine it was, but I took the glass off and cheated because I wanted to see what the machine did if certain shots were made that I can never make, and holy SHIT!, a pinball machine is so loud and so mechanical sounding with the glass off I was really feeling like I was sinning.
Confess I did not play any games this weekend, BUT! I was still thinking about that last fishing trip, and those 3 stingrays I caught.
I Googled "can you eat a stingray?" and it came back they taste kind of like lobster.
HELL YEAH! I LOVE LOBSTER!
So I watched a video on how to clean a stingray, and I was surprised how much meat is there.
And part of me is like I really do not want to eat them, because I think they are kind of cool, but like I do not deer hunt because they are so pretty, I really do not want to limit myself anymore about what I will and will not clean and cook.
I love eating shrimp, and now that I have fished using live shrimp for bait, I would love to eat all of those pain in the ass things I can in my lifetime.
Confess life is pretty good, when pinball machines, lobster, and shrimp are all mentioned in the same post.
We are all different, and I am sure some of you would prefer a post with boobs, muscle cars, and motorcycles all in the same post.
Confess I like legs, care less about how cool a car is, and no way would I ride a motorcycle on the road around here the way people drive, but I do miss a dirt bike, I just no longer have any land to ride one on.
And sorry this was not funny, I was just relaxed and typed what I was thinking.
Confess whatever my next post is, I will try to be funny.