Pinball Machine Restoration
At Great American Pinball, servicing pinball machines and arcade games isn’t just our business—it’s our passion. Serving the Chicagoland area, we treat every machine as if it were our own, ensuring it operates at peak performance. We also make upgrading easy with trade-ins, helping our customers bring the latest pinball excitement into their homes.
Our refurbishing process is more than just repairs—it’s a commitment to excellence. Every step is handled with precision, care, and attention to detail, delivering a service experience that is professional, reliable, and truly exceptional. With Great American Pinball, you’re not just getting a refurbished machine—you’re getting the best pinball experience in the Midwest, backed by our signature white-glove service.
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We spend 20 to 40 hours reconditioning each machine to ensure it plays the way it was designed to right from the factory. Please keep in mind that when purchasing a used game, there may be cosmetic imperfections from being played and transported. We address most of these imperfections with careful touch-ups and clearly note any remaining issues in the game’s description.
We encourage you to take a moment to review our refurbishing process. If you have any questions about our service or how we restore our machines, don’t hesitate to reach out using one of the inquiry buttons below—we’re always happy to help.
Service Rates:
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General Pinball Service - (Mechanical) - $145.00 per hour which includes drive time
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In Shop Pinball Service - (Mechanical) - $95.00 per hour excluding parts.
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In Home Cleaning Service- (Non Mechanical) - $125.00 per hour excluding parts. Service includes - cleaning and polishing of playfield, replacement of bulbs, new rubber kit, and cleaning and flaming of plastics.
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In Shop Refurbishing Service (See process below) - $1500-2500 depending on machine. Rates can be higher depending on the condition of the machine.
Refurbishing a pinball machine is a long and tedious process and if done right will produce a machine, which will look great, is reliable and provide years of pleasure. Thanks for taking the time to read through the refurbishing process and we hope you feel confident in purchasing one of our quality refurbished pinball machines.
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Step 1. Turn on pinball machine & check for errors at startup. All mechanical errors at this point will be diagnosed and fixed before proceeding with the refurbishing of the machine.
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Step 2. Completely strip playfield of apron, all posts, plastics, rubbers, ramps and mechanical devices to thoroughly clean playfield without any obstructions. (This is no wipe down process!)
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Step 3 . Playfield is then polished with Great American Pinball compounds. 3 step polishing process using cut 3, then cut 2 then cut 1 polishing compounds. Playfield is then buffed to a glossy shine.
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Arcade Game Restoration
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Step 4. Clean all ramps, plastics and posts with Novus 1,2 & 3 and then flame polish plastics and ramps to take out scratches.
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Step 5. Rebuild Jet poppers with new popper skirts, springs, bodys and caps, as well as rebuild flippers with new flipper rebuild kits.
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Step 6. Repopulate playfield with new bulbs, star posts, rubbers, hex nuts, screws, foam backing on targets and reassemble topside of game.
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Step 7. Clean backglass, replace burnt out bulbs and touch up any cabinet nick and scratches with acrylic, or enamel paints.
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Step 8. Re-stain inside of cabinet and head jet black as well as respray coin door jet black if necessary.
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Step 9. Game will be outfitted with new legs, leg levelers, balls, leg bolts and playfield glass. If your game has dented side rails, your game can be fitted with new side rails at the cost of the rails + labor.
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Step 10. Game is again tested for a final inspection to ensure the game is functioning properly and then packaged for shipment. (See shipping for details).