Escalara and second set of concrete stairs that goes into garage. It is absolute magic.

If the grass is wet or has dew, it will be very slippery.

Personally, I avoid stairs whenever possible.

Walk out if at all possible.
Yes, yard can be a challenge depending on grade, but you can figure a system that works for you.
Mine is not possible if the ground is wet. Just too slipppery.

I knew my old cleats would come in handy for something.

I made the mistake and regret it every day that I did not put stairs in the garage with double doors into the basement. A removable divider is a must. Bulkhead by itself works ok. Getting machines in and out can be a chore. If you decide on a daylight basement again make sure the door opening is wide. Would of, should of......hindsight is 2020.

Walk out basement is superior to bilco doors. I have bilco doors and it was a concession I had to endure since a walkout was not an option when building my house. Everytime I bring a pin down the basement I have to deal with the steps/bilco doors. I can never do it alone.

walk out basement is amazing, love mine!

I have bilco doors. Had to buy a stair climber to get games up and down by myself.

Walk out is only a dream for me.

Walk out for sure.

I know a guy that had a "pinball pathway" made around the side of the house. It was just a 3 ft cement sidewalk that went down the hill and to the basement. The contractor thought it was strange when he didn't put stairs in it. That pathway made it very easy to move stuff in & out in most weather.

walk out basement is obviously the logical solution. Stairs and pinball is terrible combination.

We did exactly this when we built our walkout, however it wasn't pinball motivated - we have a friend who is confined to a wheelchair. He really appreciates being able to visit without having to deal with being carried down/up any stairs. It was very convenient when the pinball machine went in. Same for the piano.

Great idea.

Twenty something years ago when we were looking for a bigger house my number one priority was that it HAD to be a walkout. If it wasn't I wasn't interested in the rest of the house. When we found this house it had two walkouts, one on each end of the basement (incoming and outgoing...LOL) and the weird thing is that there realtor didn't list it as a walk out so when I would scan the Home Buyers book each week I was only looking for that key word, "walkout". We'll during those four months it was on the market they had dropped the price by $20K trying to unload it because they had a bridge loan and needed to get out of having two payments. So it was a sweet deal when we found out about the house from the lady who still lives next door that worked with my wife at the time and she told us that it was for sale and it was BIG and had TWO walkouts. Sure enough, we bought it and it worked out great for my hobby.

IMG_0086 (resized).JPG

IMG_0098 (2) (resized).JPG

Weird topic.....if the concern is moving pinball machines, I don't see why you would choose bilco doors if you don't have to. I have them (not by choice, just by happenstance), and while they still get the job done it's far from ideal. Most bilcos have to be built pretty steep or with high stairs, and that's a real pain in the ass for moving pins.

If you are building from scratch, this is a no-brainer. That said, I'm no builder, so I can't say anything about your costs one way or another. If it's too cost prohibitive, just invest in an escalara.

And I don't recommend your doors open straight to the grass or on to a hill. You are just asking for trouble or at the very least, an annoyance every time you move a pin.