How do I transnport my pinball ?

Table of Contents

Unless you have a pinball dolly you will need two strong backs to carry the pinball to your pickup.  Put the back of the pinball near the tailgate of your pickup truck.  Take 1 back side leg off  and set that cabinet corner on your tailgate.  Take the other back leg off and slide the game onto your truck 3/4 of the way on.  Take the front legs off and slide it the rest of the way on.  Secure with rope or straps.

On hot sunny days, either cover the game or put paper towels (white paper) under the playfield glass to keep the heat buildup on your playfield plastics to a minimum.  Down here in Texas you can ruin your plastics in an hour.  Plastics can "yellow" or curl  or otherwise just get bent .   You might also cause bubbles in your playfield overlay (if installed), a real messy problem. 

If your game has a hinged head (the part with the back-glass in it), you should fold the head down.  Place cardboard on top of the playfield body (towards the front where the head touches the metal) before folding the head on to it.  You may need to unlock the back-glass, carefully remove the back-glass and remove the 2 to 4 safety bolts inside the bottom of the head.  Put the back-glass back into the head and be sure to lock it.  Unlock your rear hasp or allen wrench lock on the back of the head if you have one.  Hinge it down onto your playfield cabinet.  It's a good idea to rope or strap the head to the cabinet so it does not bounce and put dents on the edge of the head or the metal sides of the body..  Remember the cardboard to protect that edge against the metal sides of the playfield body.

If your game is upstairs you should first hinge the head down as described above.  Next secure the head down with rope or a strap.  Go under and over the cabinet/head with the rope to keep it down tight.  Now with 2 people holding the cabinet remove the back legs and set the back-end down to the floor.  Stand the game on it's rear and remove the front legs.  Now put a strap-on appliance dolly to the bottom.  We also wrap a strap or rope through the bottom of the dolly near the wheels.  This makes a good hand-hold for the 2 helpers on the lower end of the staircase.  With 2 helpers on the top end and 2 on the bottom, walk the game down the stairs one step at a time.  When bringing the game back up you will really appreciate the hand-hold strap for the 2 lower helpers.

On older games the head does not hinge down. On these you should remove the head from the cabinet.  First remove the glass.  Remove all the connections inside the head that go down into the cabinet.   These connectors are keyed (idiot proof) and marked.  There are 4 long bolts connecting the head to the main cabinet.  Have a helper hold the head box while removing the bolts.  It takes 2 people to set the head on the floor.  Put the back-glass back into the head and lock it. Take care moving and securing the head.  The glass is very fragile and many times, irreplaceable.  As before... remove the legs, strap a dolly and a hand-hold strap near the wheels.  2 on top and 2 on the bottom (as before). 

It is possible to move pinball games in vans and suburbans.  We do not recommend it but if you must, please remember to strap it down securely!  If you have an accident the games could fly around in your vehicle and cause serious injury.