A Bally Flicker EM machine.

What I learned:
1. Don't buy pins off e-bay. (Wasn't bad as I only paid $400)
2. Pins stop working after you load them in your truck and get them home.
3. How much wire and solenoids it took to make such a wonderful device just to entertain me.
4. EM's are much slower than when I was a kid. Love the DMDs now
5. That there was a company that still made pinball machines. Thanks for hangin' in Stern.
6. There are guys with warehouses full of pins.
7. There is an interesting community of collectors out there (some really close by)
8. Not learning but I made some great new friends.
9. There is a nice little place called AllenTown, PA.
10. How great the breakfasts are at Badda Bings in the market.
11. Some guys set up pinball machines in their hotel rooms. (Bah, kids and their portable iPhones).
12. How much fun this hobby can be.
13. Novus is not a dwarf-planet in the Keiper belt. (Unless I can discover one and get to name it).
14. How much I missed the 80's arcades (even with the dingy smokey smells).
15. Pins R Fun

What I eventually learned:
1. The more times you bring a pin up-and-down your basement the heavier it gets.
2. How to work a DMM.
3. How switch-matrixes, light matrixes, GI circuits, etc. work. Cool!
4. I can use my smarts to figure this stuff out.
5. How much I missed using my hands to fix things. Long time since my backyard mechanic days.
6. Making pinballs is HARD!
7. Never give thousands of dollars to strangers with an idea. Fortunately I learned this from others.

I am sure there are more but my lunch break is over ... so back to work.

BTW: Great thread. Something to stimulate thought.

Keep-on-Flippin!