Pinball machines are a substantial investment, and many retailers (particularly of older, classic machines) will talk about how pinball machines are restored or refurbished, so just what is the cost of pinball restoration?
With many of the more popular pinball machines being released primarily in the 90s and into arcades or other commercial locations and environments, quite a few pinball machines did not escape their commercial lives without seeing at least some levels of abuse throughout their period of use.
Whilst many of these commercial locations were primarily only concerned about whether the machine was still taking earnings or not, home users and collectors will most of the time want a good example of any given game – One that is cosmetically in very good condition, and functionally operates exactly as it should. The most common way to bring a machine to this standard is through processes of pinball restoration. Pinball restoration can be done to various levels of thoroughness, and can cost different amounts depending. Below lists the kinds of restoration that can be undertaken.
Playfields
In most cases, a game will have survived the test of time with primarily only a layer of surface grime and dirt, and the game will end up looking almost as good as new by cleaning with the correct chemicals. Specialist playfield waxes and cleaning solutions are available that can clean through the deposits left on a playfield with a cloth and a little elbow grease, leaving a smooth, shiny and vibrant playfield.
For the harder to reach areas, some may choose to strip the playfield of components to be able to clean every area of the game, and not just the areas immediately visible to the player.
In some cases, the playfield may be extensively worn, even going down to the bare wood in some places. This kind of wear is especially more prevalent on older games (from the early 90s and prior), and no amount of cleaning will fix. In cases like these, some may choose to place an overlay onto the playfield to cover up the wear. This is a very good and quick fix, but does require the installer to be mindful of perfectly aligning the decal with the relevant artwork on the playfield. A step further from this is to swap the playfield entirely.
A playfield replacement is a very long and labour intensive job, requiring everything to be removed from the playfield entirely, from mechanisms, ramps, lamps, wire looms and everything in between. Replacement playfields can be bought at a premium, depending on the game (in some cases reaching up to $800), and the process to swap all the components over can be long and difficult.
A skilled practitioner can perform a playfield swap, but the nature of the work makes in an expensive procedure to undergo, and most will only choose to replace a playfield either as a last resort, or if they are determined to have a completely perfect game.
Playfield clean
Cost: Cheap
Difficulty: Easy - Moderate (dependent on thoroughness)
Playfield Overlays
Cost: Cheap – Moderate (dependent on overlay)
Difficulty: Easy – Difficult (dependent on size of overlay)
Playfield Swap
Cost: Very Expensive
Difficulty: Very Difficult
Plastics and Rubbers
Plastics and rubbers on a pinball machine make up a huge percentage of a lot of the visible parts on a pinball playfield, and over a machine’s life these can be broken or miscoloured.
Plastics have many uses on a playfield, from decorative elements to protecting important mechanisms. A rubber part of a pinball playfield helps to keep a ball moving, and allows the ball to bounce more effectively around the playfield.
Kits for both rubbers and plastics can be found online for many games, and can help a machine look much more fresh for not a massive investment.
In most cases, replacing plastics and rubbers is a fairly easy task, either requiring just the removal of some screws or possibly some larger mechanisms to access the more hard to reach areas.
Cost: Relatively Cheap
Difficulty: Easy – Moderate
Cabinets
A pinball cabinet is the large external case for the playfield and the machine’s circuitry. Cabinets are normally not considered as key in many people’s opinions, as the cabinet on the whole has no actual bearing on how the game itself plays, and only serves for the pinball machine’s cosmetic external look.
In some cases however, age may have extensively faded a pinball cabinet, or depending on the kind of life the machine has had, will also have some dents and possible splinters in the wood.
It is possible to replace the cabinet, but like a playfield swap this is a very long and difficult process, and will have repercussions if not done to a high enough standard. To restore a pinball cabinet, large decals are frequently used to give a pinball machine back its look, often applied to a new or blank cabinet.
Again, this kind of work requires every component to be removed in order to make the change effectively, and is a labour intensive job ensuring the decals are fitted correctly. If not, the new decals could bubble, or worse yet begin to peel or rip.
The decals themselves are fairly expensive, and again the cost of finding a skilled practitioner makes undertaking a cabinet re-decal a costly process.
Cost: Expensive
Difficulty: Very Difficult
How much should you restore a pinball machine?
As you can probably understand from what’s detailed above, reconditioning and restoring pinball machines can be a very, very expensive business.
The ultimate question one needs to ask is – ‘What kind of game do I want?’ You can have a game that is functionally perfect, and plays excellently despite some cosmetic imperfections, or a perfect, collector’s example but at a cost.
In addition, some may even argue that it’s possible to make a game ‘too nice’, to the extent that the condition deters them from playing it in fear of spoiling the game’s condition. Ultimately, it is up to you.
If you would like to know more about our pinball restorations, feel free to call our team on 0800 622 6464 or 01454 413 636