Every New Years Eve I host a mini pinball tournament for my friends. I hot glue old balls onto a stained wood base and make trophies out of them.

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https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-do-you-do-with-your-old-balls
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-to-do-with-used-balls

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Put them in a full size gumball machine (not a Roadrunner) for gifts and creative gameroom decoration.
One globe holds around 100 balls or so, but do not expect to move it after it is full.
You can actually get mechs that are larger for the 1 1/16" balls, and use it as a regular coin operated device for a quarter.
It is very hard hard to turn the mech handle due to weight, and is easier to just open the top.
Just hand the guest a quarter, and watch their face.

Since the round globes are PETG for modern Beaver dispensers, you do not need to worry about them breaking (very important!!!).
I have done this technique since around 1997 or thereabouts.

If a person needs more used balls, go to a bottling factory shop.
They regularly maintenance the machines, and end up throwing away hundreds every year.

This is not a single place, but the industry.
Soft drink manufacturing.
Coke, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, RC Cola, etc.
They use a lot ball of bearings in the roller assemblies for the bottles.
Sometimes you can make friends and get a bunch of old bearings.
They may not be 1 1/16" though.

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Repackage and sell them on the Internet as Ben Wa balls!

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Holy shit I was going to take a picture of mine but it looks exactly like that.

Personally, after I've used my balls, I wash them gently with soap and water, dry them and then stuff them back into my underwear!

Seriously, how do you make a drawer knob? You drill a screw hole in 'em?

Mike in Kentucky

I would like to toss them over my shoulder from the motorcycle when people tailgate me....but they would probably hit unintended targets too.

You must really have a lot of balls to come in here and start a thread like this!

I usually keep them until I am sick of looking at them and then I put them under my deck for a future generation to find.

I was waiting for it, but didn't see it yet. I will do the common reply:

"Keep them in my wife's purse."

I bring them on vacation and scatter them around the beach. Then watch the metal detector people ride the emotional roller coaster.

I actually haven't done this but I think I might start.

If they are not in bad shape I throw them in my tumbler. 24 hours later some of them are looking like almost new. The ones that are still scratched up go to my towns metal recycling operation.

I use them in my wrist rocket to knock squirrels out of my trees. Just kidding I put them in a gumball machine as well.

Being into EMs and the machines that I have picked up had been sitting for years/decades so
most of the balls I just tossed. But these 3 I used to make holders for the pool beads (numbers)
for when shooting straight pool. The first took only one bit (3/16), but the other two took 2 bits
each. Those balls are tough to drill through.. (T)

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i tumble them. most of them come up good to go.. any that dont go in the scrap metal bin

I send them back to Stern so they can be recycled.

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Excellent idea! Thanks for explaining and the photo.

Mike