Restore an old pinball machine or buy a new one? The real comparison

The short answer: a new pinball machine from Stern or Jersey Jack sells for between 6 000 $ and 15 000 $ ex-factory, and between 9 000 € and 18 000 € incl. VAT once delivered in France; a vintage machine that no longer works can often be found for between 400 € and 1 200 €, and the replacement electronics that bring it back to life cost a few hundred euros. That is a ratio of 1 to 5, sometimes 1 to 10. But money is not the only criterion, and we are not going to sell you the obvious: restoring takes time, skills and patience; buying new mainly buys peace of mind. Here are the two columns, honestly, with sourced figures.

What a new pinball machine really costs in 2026

Let us start with the only figure that counts: the listed price, at the manufacturer and at the European distributor. The two are very different, and this is where a lot of comparisons go wrong.

Factory prices (United States)

On the official Stern Pinball store (checked on 13 July 2026), almost the entire catalogue in Pro trim — Transformers, Pokémon, King Kong, Dungeons & Dragons, Godzilla, John Wick, JAWS, Jurassic Park, Deadpool — is listed at 6 999 $. The « Remastered » reissues (Metallica, The Walking Dead) climb to 9 699 $. Only the Star Wars Home Edition Plus, a simplified machine designed for the living room, comes down to 5 999 $.

At Jersey Jack Pinball, the Sonic the Hedgehog unveiled in June 2026 comes in three versions: Arcade Edition at 9 999 $, Special Edition at 12 000 $, Collector's Edition at 15 000 $. American Pinball aims to be more affordable: the Classic Edition of Legends of Valhalla is announced at 5 995 $ (excluding shipping) and that of Barry O's BBQ Challenge at 6 995 $, with the Valhalla Limited Edition climbing to 12 999 $.

Real prices in France and Europe

Between the Chicago factory and your basement, you have to add transatlantic shipping, the importer, the distributor, customs duties and VAT. The result is a brutal gap. In its January 2026 price report, the French outlet Good Vibes Pinball compared Stern's King Kong at launch: Pro at 9 600 € incl. VAT in France versus 6 999 $ excl. tax in the United States; Premium at 11 650 € versus 9 699 $; LE at 16 500 € versus 12 999 $. Same mechanics at Jersey Jack: Harry Potter launched at 12 190 € (Arcade), 14 190 € (Wizard) and 17 990 € (Collector) in France.

The recommended European price announced by Stern for Pokémon (February 2026) was 6 699 € / 8 749 € / 11 999 € for the Pro / Premium / LE versions — but these « manufacturer » prices do not survive the last link in the chain: Good Vibes Pinball reports Stern Pro machines at around 9 000 € incl. VAT at French distributors, Premium models between 12 000 and 12 700 €, and LE models above 16 000 €.

So remember this: in France, a new pinball machine realistically starts at around 9 000 € incl. VAT, and it is not unusual to see them at 16 000 €.

What a restoration really costs

1. The machine

The second-hand market reads in segments. According to the same Good Vibes Pinball report (January 2026):

• Playable electromechanicals from the 1960s-70s: 1 000 to 2 000 €.
• Solid-state machines 1977-1989 (Gottlieb System 80, Williams System 3-7, Bally/Stern): this is the most affordable segment of the market. Listings for machines that are broken and need restoring commonly run between 400 € and 1 200 € on Leboncoin and in enthusiast groups.
• Bally/Williams from the 1990s (the « stars »: Medieval Madness, Attack From Mars, The Addams Family…): 6 000 to 10 000 €. That is clearly outside the « affordable restoration » budget.

This is not a theory: we regularly document real purchases on this blog, such as this Bad Girls bought for 800 € or this Mars God of War brought back to life for less than 1 400 € all in.

2. The electronics

This is the item that scares people, and yet it is the most predictable one. On a 1980s machine, the fault is almost always the same: a nickel-cadmium battery soldered onto the CPU board that has leaked and eaten away the traces, blown driver transistors, a dead sound amplifier. Here are our FPGA replacement boards and their real prices (checked on 13 July 2026):

Board	Function	Systems	Price
GottFA80_Plus Light	All-in-one CPU	Gottlieb System 80/80A/80B	349 €
GottFA80_Plus Full	CPU + built-in sound board	Gottlieb System 80/80A/80B	399 €
Godri80	Driver board	Gottlieb System 80/80A/80B	99 €
Gosof	Sound board with speech	Gottlieb System 80/80A/80B	129 €
GoPOP80	Pop bumper driver	Gottlieb (MA-922 / A-19741)	29 €
WillFA7	CPU	Williams System 3 to 7	349 €
BallyFA	CPU (MPU)	Bally / Stern 1977-1985	299 €
BallyDri	Power supply + driver	Bally / Stern	199 €
BallyLa_60	Lamp driver	Bally / Stern	149 €

In other words: for 350 to 550 €, you replace the whole electronic chain of a Gottlieb System 80 or a Williams System 7 — CPU, driver, sound — with brand-new hardware. Our boards are Plug & Play, battery-free, with the original ROM interpreted inside an FPGA (and not emulated in software). The original coin mechanism keeps working, and true Freeplay is available. To help you choose, our guides cover each system in detail: Gottlieb System 80, Williams System 3 to 7 and Bally / Stern 1977-1985.

3. The rest: mechanics, playfield, consumables

This is where we have to be honest. A board does not repair a worn playfield. As an order of magnitude, expect the following at European spare-parts retailers:

• Complete rubber kit: 20 to 40 €.
• New balls, bulbs or LED kit: 30 to 80 €.
• Coils, switches, springs, target caps: 50 to 150 € depending on condition.
• New glass, legs, levelling feet: 100 to 200 €.
• Complete flipper rebuild: 40 to 80 € a pair.
• Cleaning products and wax: 30 to 50 €.

That is a realistic mechanical budget of 250 to 500 € for a machine in decent condition — and a great deal more if the playfield is worn down to the wood, if the artwork is faded or if model-specific parts are missing. Our complete restoration guide details every step, and our maintenance guide explains how not to ruin what you have just brought back to life.

The comparison table

Item	Buying new (France, 2026)	Restoring a 1977-1989 vintage machine
Machine	9 000 € (Stern Pro) to 16 500 € (LE) incl. VAT; 12 190 € to 17 990 € at Jersey Jack	400 € to 1 200 € for a broken machine; 1 000 to 2 000 € for a playable EM
Electronics	Included, under manufacturer warranty	99 € to 550 € depending on the boards replaced (CPU + driver + sound)
Mechanics & consumables	0 € in the first year	250 € to 500 € (rubbers, coils, LEDs, glass, flippers)
Playfield / artwork	New	0 € if the condition is good; 300 € to 1 500 € and more if a new playfield or a full clearcoat is needed
Delivery	Often 150 € to 400 € (a machine weighing 100 to 180 kg)	A rented van and a tank of fuel, or 0 € if you collect it yourself
Tooling	None	50 € to 200 € to get started (multimeter, soldering iron, desoldering braid)
Time to spend on it	One afternoon of levelling and setting up	20 to 100 hours depending on condition and your skills
Warranty on the machine	Yes, manufacturer / distributor	None (private sale, « as is »)
Realistic total	9 000 € to 17 000 €	800 € to 2 500 € (3 000 to 4 000 € for a very ambitious restoration)

The ratio speaks for itself: for the price of a single new Stern Pro delivered in France, you can bring five vintage machines back to life. But a table does not play pinball for you.

The real drawbacks of restoration

• Time. This is hidden cost number one. An honest overhaul means several weekends. A full restoration means a whole winter.
• Skills. A Plug & Play board removes the most intimidating part — but you still have to diagnose a temperamental switch, adjust a target, rebuild a flipper. It can be learnt, and it is even a large part of the pleasure, but you have to want it.
• Sourcing mechanical parts. A rubber, a spring or a coil can be found anywhere. A moulded plastic ramp specific to a 1983 model, no. Some parts simply do not exist any more: you then have to improvise, 3D-print, or wait for a listing to come up.
• No warranty on the machine. You are buying a 40-year-old object « as is », most often from a private seller. No one will refund you if the playfield is more tired than in the photos of the listing.
• A board only repairs the electronics. We say it plainly: a GottFA80_Plus, a WillFA7 or a BallyFA bring the brain and the electrical muscles of the machine back into working order. They do not straighten a warped playfield, do not re-glue a torn mylar and do not replace a burnt-out coil.

The real drawbacks of buying new

• The price. At 9 000 € minimum in France, we are talking about several months of net salary for many households.
• Depreciation. It is gentler than people think on the Pro models — the constant rise of new prices pulls the second-hand market up. But Good Vibes Pinball notes that LE models now depreciate faster than Pro and Premium ones, precisely because their prices have soared. An object costing 16 500 € that loses 20 % in two years stings.
• Repair complexity. The myth of « new = indestructible » does not hold. A modern machine relies on a proprietary platform (SPIKE-2 at Stern), LCD screens, dozens of ribbon cables and software nodes. When it breaks down in ten years, out of warranty, you will be far more dependent on the manufacturer than on a 1982 Gottlieb whose entire schematic is public.
• Character. This is subjective, let us own it: a silkscreened 1981 playfield, its plasma displays and its synthesised sounds do not have the same flavour as a 27-inch screen and a licensed soundtrack. Some people love the modern machines, with their deep rules and multiple modes. Others do not. Neither camp is wrong.

So, what do we do?

There is no universal winner — there are profiles.

• You want to play tonight, without learning anything, and budget is not the issue. Buy new. Delivered, set up, under warranty, with very deep modern game rules and regular code updates. It is a perfectly rational choice.
• You like understanding how things work, you have a garage and a little patience. Restoration is, figures in hand, the best fun-per-euro ratio in the pinball hobby. And the day you hear the first « pop » from a bumper you have resurrected, the question of price no longer arises.
• Still hesitating? Start with a broken 1977-1989 solid-state machine for under 1 000 €. It is the ideal learning ground: plentiful documentation, simple mechanics, and electronics that can be entirely replaced with new hardware for the price of a smartphone. Our guide to buying your first pinball machine and our article « How much does a pinball machine cost? » will spare you the classic pitfalls.

Frequently asked questions

Does a restored pinball machine resell worse than a new one?

In absolute terms, yes: a well-restored Gottlieb System 80 usually resells for between 1 500 and 3 000 €, whereas a recent second-hand Stern Pro sells for between 4 000 and 7 000 €. But relative to the capital invested, a restored vintage machine is often the better investment: you have put in 1 200 € and you get back a comparable or higher value, whereas a new LE at 16 500 € can lose several thousand euros in two years. To value a specific machine, see our article « How much is my pinball machine worth? ».

How long does it take to restore a pinball machine?

For a 1980s solid-state machine in decent condition, expect 20 to 40 hours: cleaning, replacing the boards, refurbishing the rubbers and the flippers, adjustments. If the playfield has to be completely stripped, sanded and re-clearcoated, we are looking at 80 to 150 hours rather. Replacing the electronics, on the other hand, generally takes one to two hours with a Plug & Play board.

Do you need to know how to solder to restore a pinball machine?

Not necessarily. That is precisely the point of modern replacement boards: they plug into the original connectors, without any soldering. On the other hand, knowing how to use a multimeter is essential, and a soldering iron will always end up being useful for a ground wire or a switch. Our article on the electronics of a pinball machine is a good starting point.

Are modern pinball machines more reliable than old ones?

They leave the factory without the defects of a forty-year-old object, obviously. But « reliable » and « repairable » are not synonyms. A 1982 Gottlieb has publicly documented electronics, replaceable board by board, and a community that still produces new boards today. A modern machine depends on a proprietary platform and on parts supplied only by the manufacturer. Over thirty years, new is not necessarily the winner.

What is the minimum budget to get started in restoration?

Around 800 to 1 000 €: a broken solid-state machine at 400-600 €, a replacement CPU board from 299-349 €, a rubber kit and a few bulbs. We have documented several real cases under 1 400 € all in on this blog, including a working Diamond Lady for 921 €.

Is the CPU board battery really a problem?

Yes, and it is even the number one killer of 1980s pinball machines. The soldered Ni-Cd battery leaks, the electrolyte migrates by capillary action and eats away the copper traces until the board is beyond repair. Our boards work without a battery, which permanently eliminates the problem — see our dedicated article on the leaking battery.

Sources & further reading

• Stern Pinball — official store, catalogue and prices (checked on 13 July 2026)
• Jersey Jack Pinball — machines for sale (checked on 13 July 2026)
• Good Vibes Pinball — « What is the price of a pinball machine? New or second-hand in 2026 » (January 2026)
• Kineticist — European prices announced for Pokémon by Stern Pinball (February 2026)
• Pinside Marketplace — international classified ads
• Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — machine data sheets

All the prices quoted are orders of magnitude recorded in mid-July 2026. The pinball market moves fast: always check with the seller before committing.