Just got my boards back yesterday and put it back together. Works great except for some drop target issues I need to sort.

I went with some unbranded 2SMD frosted “cool” LEDs in mine. No issues, worked perfectly. $50 for 100.

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I feel like maybe the cool white frosted above the PF are a bit harsh. Might swap those out at some point. I dunno.

For now my biggest issue is figuring out how to mount these dumb drop target boards with a bunch of the plastic mounting posts blown out. Ugh.

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Done. Mine pretty much all disintegrated getting the boards off to clean. Bleh. Should have everything back in order tonight.

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I had these ones printed:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2926470

I didn’t get them particularly cheap but I’m told it’s like $1.50 in material costs... :/

Just new stickers. Ordered them from Ministry of Pinball. Something like $15 shipped.

All about who you know lol

My horseshoe connectors aren’t working well. Ordered a new set before i get too involved trying to properly adjust these. Otherwise all went fine. 3D printed parts worked great.

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Ended up bending the horseshoe connectors well forward (new ones are on order) and putting it back together — all working well now.

Thank god for 3D printers!

No idea on Laser Cue—never played it.

Your glass looks like mine with cool white LEDs..just too much. I swapped a few colored LEDs in, but I need a few more yet. It’s just too aggressive. Then again, I need to adjust PF LEDs too..it’s blinding, at least in pictures. It’s less egregious in person, but still. Feels like it could look better.

Set a new high score today! Took forever to crack a million lmao.

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Wish my PF were a bit nicer. Seems kind of a moot point to install one on mine with some of the wear it has. My inserts are definitely fairly cupped, too..I’m waiting for a hardtop. I’ll be a day 1 buyer.

I’m still holding out for a hardtop. Easy day one purchase.

Yeah my glass is ugly too. No way I’m dumping $900+ on a new playfield. $300 for a hardtop would be an easy yes though.

600 EUROS. Not dollars.

775 shipped, so yeah not 900. But still considerably more than a hardtop would be. Just not worth it for something like an alien poker..just my opinion. An entirely new PF requires a LOT more work in order to install, too.

And a hardtop isn’t just a “decal finish”, it’s essentially a hard plastic overlay with new art entirely. I’ve seen a few in person and they’re outstanding. But we all have our own preferences.

AP

Imo the pinside estimates are heavily weighted on AP with older sales. It's worth more than pinside indicates for sure. I've got $1000 in mine and I'm okay with it.

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Brasso to the rescue!

My glass is original as far as I know. It's not in great shape.

Here's another shot of AP.

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Might be bringing my old one back home soon.

Two questions:

Best backglass replacement option? Are any of them spot-on? Mine has a fair amount of flaking.

Are any of the PF protectors worth a damn? The playfield on mine has some planking and the inserts are cupped. Ultimately I'm hoping for a hardtop at some point, but who knows if that ever happens.

Back home!

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I'm a bit torn on what to do with my AP. I love the game and I plan on keeping it...for a bit... but I only have room for 8 pins and 2 of my 10 are currently on loan.

Questions:

-is there any real chance of making my original glass look any better than "eh, good enough?"
-my playfield isn't BAD but it's definitely showing its age..should I get a playfield protector, or just leave it as is? I hit it with novus 2 and wax today. I have cupping on almost all of the round inserts but its not TOO bad while playing. Ironically the left and right arrows are actually raised.

I hate to dump too much money into it because I know it just isn't a pin that sells for a ton (I sold it to my friend for $1200 earlier this year and hadn't seen much interest with any price over that) but I fully expect to be moving it out, again, sometime in 2021. Limited space sucks--i always have to let loose of games I like.

I did just rebuild the right flipper because it basically wasn't working... at all... but now I'm going to have to do the other two because they're noticeably worse than the right flipper. Other than that, I rebuilt the drops with new 3D parts, had the boards completely rebuilt/bulletproofed and I fireproofed the bridge rectifier. The only additional things I'm considering at this point are related to the backglass and the playfield protector. But new glass would run me $300 and the protector $150. Kind of feels like sunk cost.

Thoughts?

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Good suggestions, I appreciate it! Wish I had room for a giant row like some people have because I really do love AP. 8 definitely puts me at the footprint where if I expand any more, I'm in my wife's portion of the basement. Wish I could just build an outbuilding!

Nope, she's got a tiny corner area with clothes and stuff in tubs. I'm occupying a lottttttt more space than her lol.

I had to take my hardtopped High Speed to my friend's (he's hardtopping my Eight Ball Deluxe) for a bit when I brought home Alien Poker and Pinbot last week. That (HS) will probably have to get moved on down the road next year too. I'm kind of going through and evaluating maybe three I can pare off next year so I can go after something modern which has been well out of my reach financially thus far.

I like the way you think, but I actually already played THAT card. "Her" pin is the World Cup Soccer I bought something like 10 pins ago.... Back when I insisted I wouldn't go over 5 pins in the main row (I'm holding at 6). Lol. I suppose I could fold games up and store them elsewhere, but that seems pretty wasteful. First World problems here, truly.

Lmao. The day I suggest that is probably the day I cease existing!

I would think most legitimate places know how to properly pack and ship backglasses. The key is THICK cardboard around all sides and edges and nesting inside multiple boxes. The one I got from Shay seemed *so* excessive but that's what it takes for it to not be damaged in transit. I understand, sometimes the carrier is too rough with even those so there is some element of gambling (although one would hope it would be insured) but IMO there's no real reason to be afraid of shipping from actual retailers. Just my $0.02.

That's a fair point. Even shipping within the US is pretty high. Crossing borders is probably dreadful on these.

You win this time!