Gifts for gamers: ideas that come off the screen (pinball special)
Gifts for gamers: ideas that come off the screen (pinball special)
Giving a video game to someone who already owns four hundred video games is a drop in the ocean. The idea behind this guide is the opposite: to suggest gifts that physically exist, that make a noise, that shake, and that get the player up out of their chair. Pinball is the best vehicle for that — and there are pinball gifts at 20 € just as there are at 400 €. Here are the ideas, sorted by budget, with prices verified in July 2026.
Transparency: Pinballs Store manufactures and sells only replacement circuit boards for vintage pinball machines. We sell neither toppers, nor T-shirts, nor posters, nor machines. Everything else on this list is disinterested advice — go and see the shops listed at the end of the article.
Small budgets: from 15 € to 80 €
A book about pinball
The shelf is richer than you might think: illustrated histories of the golden age, designer monographs, repair manuals. Expect to pay 20 to 50 € for a fine hardback. It is a gift that gets read again and again, and it speaks to the player as much as to the merely curious. Flippers.be runs a book review section that helps you avoid nasty surprises.
A poster or a flyer reproduction
15 to 40 €. The original advertising flyers of the 1970s and 1980s are magnificent graphic objects, and high-quality reproductions exist for almost every machine. Tip: find the model the person owns or covets (the IPDB lists every flyer), and the gift becomes personal rather than generic.
A T-shirt
20 to 35 €. Effective, but only if the design refers to a machine the person genuinely loves. A generic “pinball wizard” T-shirt will end up at the bottom of a drawer; a Black Knight T-shirt given to someone who owns a Black Knight will not.
A rubber ring kit
From 16 € at French retailers (Flipper Antics quotes that entry price depending on the model). It is the number one consumable in pinball: the rubbers harden, turn yellow, and completely change the way the ball behaves. A complete kit, matched to their machine, with the layout diagram: that is a gift only someone who knows the hobby would think of giving. Guaranteed effect.
An LED kit
From a few euros per bulb to around 160 € for a complete kit listed machine by machine (example noted at FlipperLED in July 2026). Converting an 1980s playfield to LED transforms the machine visually — and removes the heat of the incandescent bulbs, which ends up cooking the inserts. One warning, though: on some older systems, badly chosen LEDs disturb the lamp multiplexing. Take a kit designed for the model.
A cleaning kit
25 to 50 € for a set of products (three-grade plastic cleaner, wax, microfibre cloths). This is the quietly brilliant gift: every pinball owner should clean their playfield twice a year, and almost nobody has the right kit to hand. Our pinball maintenance guide explains exactly what to use and in what order.
A tournament entry
From free to about ten euros for a weekly or monthly tournament, 10 to 30 € for a major event, more for the big opens. It may well be the best gift on the list: it costs almost nothing, and it opens the door to a community. The IFPA calendar and the French sites list the dates.
Mid-range budgets: from 100 € to 500 €
A custom shooter rod
At Stern, the official shooter rods are listed between 169,99 $ and 199 $ (noted on the Stern shop, July 2026). It is the first part the player touches in every game: customising it makes sense. Independent workshops offer some very fine ones, often cheaper.
Side blades or cabinet sides (side armor)
The “art blades”, which decorate the inside of the cabinet on each side of the playfield, cost around 99,99 $. The official Stern metal side armor is dearer: 269,99 $ to 399,99 $ depending on the title. It is purely cosmetic, highly visible and quite divisive — make sure the person actually wants it before spending 300 €.
A topper
The big illuminated object that sits on the backbox. The official Stern interactive toppers are expensive: 999,99 $ for the Star Wars and The Walking Dead Remastered ones, 1 499,99 $ for the Pokémon one (noted in July 2026). Let us be blunt: at that price it is a group gift, or a gift you simply do not give.
A serious maintenance set
100 to 250 €: a good multimeter, a temperature-controlled soldering iron, desoldering braid, a set of spanners, a head torch. For someone who has just bought a vintage machine, that is an infinitely more useful gift than a decorative object. It is what will allow them to keep their machine alive for twenty years.
The big gift: from 300 € to several thousand euros
Option A: a whole pinball machine
The ultimate dream. But let us be factual about the amounts (noted in July 2026):
| Machine | Manufacturer price (USA) | Real delivered price in France |
|---|---|---|
| Stern Pro (Godzilla, JAWS, Pokémon…) | 6 999 $ | ≈ 9 000 – 9 600 € incl. VAT |
| Stern Premium | ≈ 9 699 $ | ≈ 11 650 – 12 700 € incl. VAT |
| Stern LE | ≈ 12 999 $ | ≈ 16 000 – 16 500 € incl. VAT |
| Jersey Jack (Arcade Edition) | 9 999 $ | ≈ 12 190 € incl. VAT |
| American Pinball (Classic Edition) | 5 995 – 6 995 $ | Varies with the importer |
| Vintage 1977-1989 pinball machine, faulty | — | 400 – 1 200 € |
In other words, a brand-new pinball machine is a five-figure gift in France. A vintage machine, on the other hand, is within reach — provided you accept that it does not work yet. Which brings us to the second option, and by far the most interesting one.
Option B: bring back to life the faulty pinball machine they already own
Here is the most common situation in the pinball world, and the one least often considered as a gift: someone owns a machine that no longer works, it has been gathering dust in a garage for years, and they have never dared to tackle it. On 1980s machines, the cause is almost always the same: the Ni-Cd battery soldered onto the CPU board has leaked, the electrolyte has eaten away the copper tracks, and the board is dead.
Giving the replacement board means giving the spark. It is a gift that is at once useful, spectacular (the machine lights up again) and long-lasting. And it is a gift the person will probably never buy for themselves, because they have been putting off the repair for ten years.
The gift that brings a dead machine back to life
Our FPGA boards are Plug & Play (no soldering), battery-free (the problem will never come back), with the original ROMs interpreted inside an FPGA — this is not software emulation. True Freeplay, and the original coin mechanism keeps working.
- GottFA80_Plus — all-in-one board for Gottlieb System 80/80A/80B — from 349 € (Full version with built-in sound board: 399 €)
- WillFA7 — Williams System 3 to 7 — 349 €
- BallyFA — Bally / Stern 1977-1985 — 299 €
- Godri80 — Gottlieb driver board — from 99 €
- Gosof — sound board with speech — 129 €
- GoPOP80 — pop bumper driver — 29 €
6-month warranty (parts and labour) against any fault not caused by misuse, 30-day money-back guarantee, and free technical support.
To be said honestly to the person: a replacement board repairs the electronics. It repairs neither the mechanics nor the playfield. If the machine has a worn playfield or burnt-out coils, there will be other purchases to budget for.
How do you know which board to give?
That is the only real difficulty with this gift, and it is settled in five minutes. You need to identify the system of the machine, not just its name:
- Gottlieb System 80, 80A or 80B (1980-1989): Black Hole, Haunted House, Volcano, The Amazing Spider-Man, Mars God of War, Genesis, Arena… → see our guide to System 80 boards and the one devoted to the System 80B.
- Williams System 3 to 7 (1977-1984): Flash, Firepower, Black Knight, Gorgar, Alien Poker… → our Williams System 3-7 guide.
- Bally / Stern 1977-1985: Eight Ball, Mata Hari, Xenon, Space Invaders… → our Bally/Stern MPU guide.
If in doubt: the identification plate at the back of the cabinet, or a photo of the open backbox, is enough to identify the system. Our technical support is free — even before you buy.
Three gifts to avoid
- The 80 € “tabletop pinball”. It is not a small pinball machine, it is a plastic toy. It will deliver none of the sensations that make the real thing so charming, and it always disappoints.
- A very conspicuous cosmetic accessory chosen without asking the person. A topper, coloured side armor, a lighting mod: these are strong aesthetic choices. Many collectors care deeply about the original look.
- A machine bought in a hurry, without having seen it. A pinball machine weighs between 90 and 180 kg, stands nearly two metres tall, and a bad deal is expensive. Our article on how to buy a pinball machine without breaking the bank details the pitfalls, and the restore versus buy new comparison puts figures on both routes.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best pinball gift under 50 €?
A rubber ring kit matched to the person’s machine (from 16 €), or a playfield cleaning kit (25 to 50 €). These are gifts the recipient will genuinely use, in the weeks that follow, and they show that you have understood their hobby.
Can you give a brand-new pinball machine for under 5 000 €?
No, not in France. Manufacturer prices start at around 5 995 $ (American Pinball Classic Edition) and 6 999 $ (Stern Pro), but once shipping, import, customs duties and VAT are added, a brand-new pinball machine really starts at around 9 000 € incl. VAT at a French distributor. A faulty vintage machine, on the other hand, can be found for between 400 and 1 200 €.
Giving a replacement board is a strange gift, isn’t it?
To the uninitiated, yes. To someone who has had a dead pinball machine in their garage for ten years, it is the gift of the year. It is the precise object that unblocks a blocked situation, and it produces an immediate and spectacular effect: the machine lights up again. Few 300 € gifts do that.
How do you identify the system of an old pinball machine before buying a board?
The name and the year of the game are almost always enough: the IPDB (Internet Pinball Database) gives the system of every machine. A 1982 Gottlieb will be System 80 or 80A, a 1980 Williams System 6 or 7, a 1979 Bally MPU-35. If in doubt, a photo of the inside of the backbox sent to our free support clears up the ambiguity in a few minutes.
Is a replacement board enough to get a machine working again?
It repairs the electronics — that is, the brain, the drivers, the sound. That is the most frequent and most crippling fault on 1980s machines. But it does not repair a burnt-out coil, a broken switch, a worn playfield or a cracked ramp. On a machine stored for a long time, budget an extra 250 to 500 € for mechanical parts and consumables.
Is a 1 000 $ Stern topper really worth it?
It is a collector’s item, not a gameplay improvement. At that price, it represents about a tenth of the price of the machine itself. Many players prefer to invest the same sum in maintenance, in a second vintage machine, or in travelling to tournaments. It is a personal trade-off, but ask yourself the question before reaching for your wallet.
Sources & further reading
- Stern Pinball — official accessories (toppers, shooter rods, side armor) (accessed on 13 July 2026)
- Stern Pinball — machine catalogue and prices (accessed on 13 July 2026)
- Good Vibes Pinball — “How much does a pinball machine cost? New or second-hand in 2026” (January 2026)
- FlipperLED — LED kits and spare parts for pinball machines (France)
- Flipper Antics — rubber ring kits by model
- IFPA — pinball tournament calendar and rankings
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — identify the system and the year of a machine
- Flippers.be — pinball book reviews
Prices noted in July 2026, in euros and in dollars depending on the source. Accessory and machine prices change fast: always check on the seller’s site before buying.
