I've been giving the pin a general clean and maintenance over the last couple of weeks, which is the first time I've really done any "discretionary" maintenance since buying the pin. The only things I'd done previously was fixing things that actually broke, like a stand-up target or a sound board that had a component fail.

I'd had a go previously at cleaning the playfield with some general purpose furniture cleaner, with unremarkable results. Then, on a whim, I decided to get some Mill Wax when ordering a rubber replacement kit, since I'd noticed that a few of the rubbers were definitely looking old and well past their use by date.

Anyway, the Mill Wax has been a revelation -- under all that dirt, there was still a very clean and bright playfield. I doubt the playfield had ever been properly cleaned since new.

Then I started doing some more systematic cleaning. One thing I noticed was that on many of the bulbs was a very fine layer of dust on the glass -- it left a sort of almost sooty smudge when the bulbs were wiped with the tip of my finger. I went and removed all the bulbs one at a time and gave them a wipe before testing and replacing them. Many of the bulbs were twice as bright after cleaning away the dust -- no kidding. Think about cleaning a really dirty window and suddenly all the light comes into a room. Like a poor man's LED upgrade...

Anyway, my wife was playing the game tonight and she complained it was now too bright and hard on the eyes. Uh-oh... I haven't even got the LEDs in there yet.

I might have to get her to acclimatise a bit before doing the LED thing. Either that or get her a special pair of pinball sunglasses.

Anyway, a bit of "discretionary" maintenance has made all the difference to my enjoyment of the machine. The new rubbers and clean playfield make a huge difference in responsiveness, and the brighter playfield just makes the whole playing experience so much more enjoyable (well, in my humble opinion, anyway...) I feel like I'm only now getting to know the machine as it was intended to be played... who woulda thunk it. And so now I'm buying LEDs, custom-made target decal sets, hole protectors...

So those are my thoughts on cleaning incandescent bulbs. My conclusion is that it leads directly to poverty by excessively stimulating enthusiasm for all manner of discretionary pinball upgrades.