EvanR wrote: When in Vegas, make sure to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame.
The guy who owns that place is on American Restoration all the time. He's an electrical engineer (?) and he sure as hell knows his stuff about vintage arcade and pinball machines and knows how to repair them too.
PAPA (The Professional and Amateur Pinball Association, duh!) is headquartered a few miles from my house. They have over 200 machines of all ages in their facility, dating back to all-wooden ones! Really cool. They renovated this old factory and stocked it with great games, and then Hurrican Ivan flooded the whole place a few weeks later. Doh!
But they got it back in shape and have tournaments there all the time. They also host fundraisers for charities like the local animal shelter, which is how I was able to visit. You forget how fun pinball is!
I loves me some pinball. I like to make the pilgrimage up to Funspot in NH when I can to play one of their 40+ tables. I haven't been there in a couple years, but the place is HUGE. They have all the classic machines. 
It's pretty much a giant warehouse-sized arcade, but the 3rd floor is where the cool stuff is. They have an active classic video game museum up there along with the pinball stuff, and they hold tournaments all the time. If you have seen the documentary The King of Kong, some of it takes place there.
fasted58 wrote:Javelin wrote: In reply to fasted58: My grandfather has owned an amusement company since 1955 and still has a large selection of pinballs for sale. He refurbishes them in-house and can find what you need if you're after a specific machine. PM for details.Thanks much Javelin. I'll keep that in mind, need to research and look around locally. Kinda like car shoppin'... but kickin' the flippers and bumpers.
No problem! Gramps is in Florida FYI and does parts and servicing, too. He specializes in worldwide delivery of pinballs, too.
I used to really like playing "Funhouse".
T.J. wrote: My wife has been wanting one for years. Someday I'll get her one.
Out-of-context quoting FTW.
Javelin wrote: In reply to fasted58: My grandfather has owned an amusement company since 1955 and still has a large selection of pinballs for sale. He refurbishes them in-house and can find what you need if you're after a specific machine. PM for details.
Does he have arcade machines? What about a Race Drivin' machine? Doesn't have to be the full-cockpit one.
This was the first pinball machine I ever played on. Lots of fun.
Gasoline wrote: In College we would gamble (sometimes big money to us) on a Playboy pinball machine.
There was one of those machines in the dorm when I was in college, along side a Captain Fantastic machine. One of my buddies found out he could kick the Captain Fantasic machine in the just the right spot on the coin box and it would give out free games. 
Eventually, the company who serviced it figured out there was something going on because there were hundreds of games racked up on the counter with no money in the coin box.
After I graduated there was an Eight Ball Deluxe machine at the bar down the street from my apartment that got played a lot.
One of my favorite machines up at Funspot is this 80's-Tastic one: Laser War.
Some of the other machines on the 3rd floor:
Found a few machines on local CL... $750-1200 for pre-digital machines in various conditions, basic models, nothin' fancy. 
In reply to Duke:
Yes and sometimes. He can get specific machines, too.
Being a child of the 80's, I was a total arcade junky. Everyone 40 and over is old enough to remember those... I would ask my parents for nothing but quarters for my birthday so I could spend hours playing. I loved all those games, including pinball. I was raised in a Jewish household, so I had a bar-mitzvah when I turned 13. The street I grew up on all had kids my age, so the parents were all very close. They got together and gave me a "gift certificate" to go buy an arcade game. Here's what I wound up with. It was the first talking arcade game. I had it for years, and played it all the time.
In reply to Klayfish:
Gorgar speaks! Man, that was a fun game.
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