Pinball: Things to Think About Before Buying Your First Pinball Machine

[@LexCinnabon]

I’m not even all the way through your video yet, but this is some of the best pinball advice I’ve heard for those new to or looking to get into the hobby. I got my first game (for me, my family has long been into pinball) a few months ago and I’ve already assembled my dedicated pinball toolkit and boxes of spare parts. Have already had to do many repairs and adjustments and of course mods. It’s a JJP Guns N’ Roses LE. Can’t wait to add a few more to the collection. Take care!

[@thunderfan77]

I just came across this vid and your channel. I'm an aspiring pinball machine collector and this was a very good video for someone like myself. Granted I already knew most of these things to think about, but for someone totally new to the pinball collecting hobby, this video is highly recommended. You just earned my sub and look forward to more pinball videos. Thanks.

[@JustMeDashV]

Glad you found it helpful. Many more on the way including: How to Unbox a New Pin. What to check when buying used. What to do when selling. And other general tips and tricks!

[@smackroscoe]

I’ve learned more about this hobby from your vid than weeks of browsing the forums. Thank you for all that you do for us & sharing the wisdom with the noobs. Subscribed!

[@JustMeDashV]

Happy to help! Thank you for the inspiration to keep going! :-)

[@magsblack8344]

This is a great video. Very sound, down to earth advice, free of personal agendas. You deserve many more subs!

[@JustMeDashV]

My only agenda is to help folks getting into the hobby know what they are getting into! :) There is a lot to learn and some folks expect everyone to either be a day 1 expert or stay away. I think there is plenty of room for new folks and hope to guide those folks free of drama, judgement, and bs. :)

[@danieltracz1979]

Good video and I think I enjoy working on them more than playing granted blowing up a machine and to hit wizard mode is awesome but fixing something that broke that is a awesome feeling I got 3 older machines 91 gilligan's Island pin 2000 revenge from mars and 03 t3 they are all fun to work on and pinside,is a wealth of knowledge but awesome video spot on..

[@JustMeDashV]

Thanks! I Have Gilligan on my vpin. Fun table! I also have 2 RFM. ;) You'll learn why in an upcoming video!

[@molarmedic]

awesome vid just stumbled across your channel!

[@JustMeDashV]

Thanks for stopping by!

[@jef4130]

Kind of sums it up..... they break so be ready to work on then. Didnt touch on how badly they can multiply.

[@JustMeDashV]

HaHaHa. The mutiplication problem is real. The first pin is just a gateway. ;)

[@rickrago227]

A paper towel is perfectly fine to clean the glass. If you are scratching glass due to debris on the glass, it doesn’t matter what you use to wipe. Microfiber is soft but not magical.

[@lander77477]

Would you suggest buying new pinball machine balls from a particular brand? I know that some balls are made to a much more perfectly mirror smooth finish than others

[@JustMeDashV]

This is a great question and I'm actually working on a video on this subject! There are all kinds of choices and the answer is it depends! If your table uses magnets you want Balls of Carbon Steel. They will resist magnetization and are very tough. If your table does not use magnets, I recommend Ninja Chrome Pinballs. They have a much better shine but they are a bit softer so they will wear and magnetize quicker. There are also other balls that are other colors and some that even glow in the dark. They are a fun novelty but I do not recommend them as they break down very quickly and can damage your playfield and artwork. Hope this helps until I can show you first hand in an upcoming video.

[@tjwright]

Been there, done that.. wasn't for me. Mine broke during transport / install. Backbox had to come off to get into the basement and when it got put back on it got wired incorrectly and it fried the machine (seller was "helping" and did it). Seller got it fixed after a few weeks and then it worked for about 30 minutes before all the opto sensors failed. NO ONE could figure it out (even a professional pinball repairman after six hours). It sat in my basement for almost 3 months and it worked for about 30 minutes. It was a very bad experience. Never again. I'm going to the dark side and I'm going all virtual. I have one virtual pin already and another one on the way, and I may add a 3rd. Virtual is good enough for me and they are much more reliable and it's not the same game over and over.

[@dashvproductions]

Sorry to hear about that. I hope I am wrong in your case but virtual pinball is no guarantee either. Dodgy hardware drivers, inconsistent performance, and lots of different software duct taped together can make for it's own uncertainty. I have a vpin of my own with shaker, lights, 4k HDR playfield the works. I have all the Zen, Arcooda Pinball Arcade, and Zacharia Tables. As well as several one off tables. I have an xbox kinect installed and the arcooda tables play in glassless 3d using head tracking. Once it's all working it's glorious. That said I've put much more time into keeping the VPIN going than even my touchiest real pinball. Make sure to always have a full backup of the hard drive on standby. Even just adding a single table or updating windows can lead to a week or more of fiddling and trail and error to get everything back up and running.

[@JustMeDashV]

@@dashvproductions So. Funny story. Fired up my VPin yesterday and suddenly none of my controls work. Spent an hour sorting it instead of playing pinball. :(

[@kkzooi]

id love to own a pinball machine, however i have 2 slight problems. space and my wallet.

[@JustMeDashV]

Sounds like you need a new house. ;)

[@Loupgarou21]

I’ll kind of disagree with the “no harbor freight tools” thing. If you’re absolutely new to something like this, you don’t know what tools are worthwhile to spend real money on. My general rule is, go ahead and buy cheaper tools, then if you break a tool, buy a better quality replacement because you’re using it enough to make it worth buying a good quality tool.

[@JustMeDashV]

This is solid advice and I agree whole heartedly. Well said. If someone is just dabbling, or on the fence about how far they want to go then it's not the cost of the tools that matters so much as what you want to get out of them. My hydraulic lift I use for my pinball machines I bought at Harbor Freight and it works great. My Chicago Electric dremel from Harbor Freight also does it's job quite well for now. My thinking is more along the lines of once you know for sure you need something and you want to be able to rely on it, don't fall into a trap of buying the same cheap tool 5 times when for half that combined price you could have purchase 1 heavy duty tool that would have held up 10x longer. Again, thanks for the comments!

[@mickjaegerguano4809]

As someone who's owned EMs, SSs, and a virtual, I can say the top Worst AND Best things about virtual pinball are that It's not a real machine.

[@stav2002]

Surely the balls can be polished?

[@JustMeDashV]

Possibly if you have a tumbler. Depending on how many times you've done that they could start to reduce significantly in weight.

[@stav2002]

@@JustMeDashV Nah mate, could just use a buffing mop. Weight won't change your just removing a layer of molecules. You can also use liquids to remove oxidation white vinegar works well.

[@JustMeDashV]

@@stav2002 really depends on the condition. Different games will tear up the pinballs differently. If you have cliffy's installed that can play a factor too. If there is not a lot of pitting, deep scratches, and rust you could throw them in a bucket of evapo-rust for a week then pull them wash and polish. Most folks aren't setup to do that. Especially if they just have one machine.

[@DrTotz]

Nice video...but I don't think I've ever "Added to cart" when buying pins. Maybe that's something people with a lot of money do when they buy their new sterns...I dunno..Us poor people hunt them down. lol. Good advice though...especially about putting cabs in garages. I got my Getaway from someone who had it in a garage and it was very dirty inside. ~_~ And it was a nice garage.

[@JustMeDashV]

Thanks for the kinds words and the comments. I know a high roller or two that has literally had a couple "in their cart" ;-) This video was made partially for them.

[@DrTotz]

@@JustMeDashV Oh....ok. ^_^ That makes sense.

[@joeys5429]

cant be worse than a pool table

[@JustMeDashV]

Hahaha. Space wise… maybe. Complexity wise… whole new ball game… See what I did there? :-)