I BUY BROKEN PINBALL MACHINES

in the Central Florida / Orlando,Tampa, Daytona Florida areas - Contact me here -
Looking to play pinball in Orlando? Pinball Locations
I buy older, broken arcade machines, restore them, and occasionally sell some. This is a hobby - believe me - I could never recover the hours invested ( typically 30 or more per machine ). All machines accept coins and can operate on location unless noted.

Contact Me If You Wish To Buy or Sell A Pinball Machine or older arcade game.
I'm no longer selling an machines - I sold 6 last year and regretted it. Too much work goes into restoring them and I'd prefer to keep them these days. I am, as always, documenting the restorations and repairs.

Pinball Projects - Some For Sale

New Projects:
Williams De-Icer
Gottlied Domino
Gottlieb Spirt of 76
Gottlieb Jumping Jack
Bally Power Play
Older Projects:
Atari Atarians
Bally BallyHoo Sold
Bally Mr. and Mrs. Pacman Sold
Bally Nip It Sold
Bally Circus Sold
Gottlieb Airport - Sold
Gottlieb Bronco Sold
Gottlieb Thoro Bred - in progress
Gottlieb Incredible Hulk - Sold
Gottlieb Top Card - SCRAPPED Sold
Stern Rawhide
Williams Trizone Sold
Williams Jive Time Sold
Williams Suspense - in progress
Williams 8 Ball - Sold

Non - Pinball Projects

Chicago Coin Commando Machine Gun Sold
Midway Sea Raider Sold
Atari Asteroids Cocktail? Sold
Jenning's model 400 Slot Machine Sold From Sands Casino - Atlantic City New Jersey

Non - Game Articles

General Pinball Repair Tips
Pinball Stepper Repair.
Dead Dell Optiplex GX1 HP145SNF Power Supply
Making New Playfield Plastics.

news:

Nov. 2009
No news is good news - I'm just getting back into updating this page and restoring machines. I was inspired with the acquisition of a 1949 Williams DeIcer pinball - I really like the old stuff. Parts will be impossible to find most likely so I'll be making a few. I heard a rumour that there will be no pinball auction here this December. For information try their website: Superauctions
Aug, 2008
Pinball Auction - Superauctions will be here this Saturday, November 1st 2008 at the fairgrounds. I may attend if only to browse.
ALSO - IAAPA will be at the Orange County Convention Center Nov. 17–21, 2008 - I attended IAAPA last year - it cost $200 for the entire event. However, they did offer a special $30 single day entry on the final day. I called them and they said they're doing the $30 day this year also. This is a MUST ATTEND EVENT for anyone interested in what's new in the amusement industry. Keep in mind, however, STERN is the only Pinball manufacturer attending. Last year they had a few machines so if you're looking for pins this ain't the place.
March 2008
Pinball Auction - Superauctions will be here this Saturday, March 1, 2008 at the fairgrounds.
Some have noticed I don't have many machines for sale anymore. They outgrew my home and, while it was nice for a year, too many pinball machines can get to be overwhelming. I sold most of them off over Christmas and don't plan on buying new ones. However, I do forward requests to purchase machines to many others I know who actively buy and sell so don't hesitate to contact me if you're looking to sell a machine or two.
There's been a whole lot of new things going on around here including the opening of Aquatica, Seaworld's new waterpark. They had special passholder's sneak preview days on Feb. 24 and 25. I spent the day getting wet and getting sunburn. The park officially open March 1, 2008 with a grand opening spectacular scheduled some time in April.

Next Orlando Pinball Auction: December 8, 2007
Note: I did not attend the December 8 Superauction. You can find some references to it using this Google search.
IAAPA - Orange County Convention Center November 12-16, 2007
Being an engineer I had the opportunity to attend the IAAPA show this year. While there was little for pinball fans ( 4 machines from Stern on display ) there was much in redemption to be seen. Many new cranes and some great new interactive games and shooters. I also went up in 'Dinner in the Sky' - they hoist you up in a 200 ft. crane strapped to a table where you can 'enjoy' a meal ( if you can unclenched your locked hands from the table ).

June 30, 2007
The June 30th Superauction sucked for pinball machines. They had the typical line of over priced contemporary machines. We all gasped when a buyer bid a Pirates of the Caribbean up to near $3300. Add 20% tax + buyer's premium and that's around $3960 - just about the cost of a BRAND NEW IN THE BOX MACHINE! This was typical of the pinball sales.
A dead Black Knight with nice glass was the focus of the collectors - no boards. It believe went for $775 - Ouch! Auction prices are listed online here:
There was one beautiful Gottlieb Top Card ( nice job to the guy who restored it ) which went for around $450 - the highest price I've seen in years for an EM machine. Usually Gottlieb EM's go for around $200+/-. There was also a Williams Gridiron I had an interest in but it went for over $100 - more than it was worth in it's condition.
They did have a Chicago Coin Twin Rifle. Unfortunately it had the appearance of being drowned in a swimming pool. A lone bidder got this for $25. 100 hours of restore later this may be worth a few hundred dollars. As a parts machine it was a great deal.
The rest of the items were the typical run of last resort video games, redemption, and sit downs. I did see some decent deals on older model touch screens ( non working ) $5-$75.
The upside is that this time the auction was in a different building with decent air. Oh, well.
I left after the auction around 1pm as I had 3pm tickets for the Antiques Road Show at the Orange County Convention Center. This was an interesting afternoon although not pinball related. Needless to say we didn't bring any million dollar treasures.

Used parts I'm looking for:
Chicago Coin / Stern score reel wipers (rawhide)
Gottlieb lockdown bar end caps - Gottlieb Thoro-Bred

I've been around pinball my entire life. I was born in the 60's and my experience with pinball is it's a fun game. Pinball originated as a gambling machine ( bingo ) but evolved to skirt laws. It's no wonder many people in the 60's and even the 70's thought all pinballs were gambling machines. In any case pinball evolved to pure entertainment with the help of companies like Gottlieb, Williams, and Chicago Coin. I mainly played Gottlieb machines through the 60's and 70's in my father's arcades. They were awesome machines - you had to learn flipper skills and coordinate your actions to hit targets in certain sequences to score more and get extra balls or free games. Games like Lawman, Royal Flush, Subway, Diamond Jack, Aloha!, and others. In fact there was a 'Score Board' and 'Register' in my basement when I was only 6!. Yes - I was born to pinball!.

Then came the 80's... Video games, Pacman, et al. Pinball was on the run. The simple fact that a video game required less maintenance than a pinball and made more money sealed pinball's fate. Pinball tried to comeback, and succeeded slightly, with Williams domination with games like 'Firepower' and 'Pinbot'. Multi layering soon followed. The games became more and more complicated and confusing. Too much flash, not enough player appeal. Most games were so poorly maintained that you couldn't play them if you wanted to. It's rare to find a 'Terminator' pinball in playable condition on the route. But who cared - video was king and pinball was a liability. Today, only 'Stern' remains as the sole pinball manufacturer.

I've owned many pinballs over my life and sold most. I've worked in the industry but have to admit working in an industry you enjoy is not smart. Now that I've been away from it for 15 years I can now enjoy pinball without thinking about 'the take' and worrying more about my high score!

On the upside since I've been collecting machines again it was funny hearing my wife, who never used to play pinball, commenting on all the weak flippers and broken features on the 'Terminator' and 'Simpsons' machines at local arcades. Perhaps I've saved at least one soul!!!

Great Pinball Links!

Pinball Life - Great prices and service on a limited number of common pinball parts ( displays, balls, rubbers, etc. ).
Marco Specialties - parts
Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum - Marvin has machines I've played years ago.
Ni-Wumpf - Replacement Gottlieb(r) CPU
IPDB - The Internet Pinball Database.

These guys do local repair. Let me know if you get a machine fixed by them.

Will Repair: At home or on location repair of pinballs, jukeboxes and arcade games in central Florida.
Pinball Crazy - in home / in ship pinball repair.