The most common modification that people do to pinball machines is an LED upgrade.  This is where all standard incandescent bulbs that run very hot, are swapped out to more efficient LED bulbs. Here are some powerful reasons to swap your lights out today, and makes this mod #1 on our list:

• Reduced heat on plastics, inserts, and back glasses, help preserve the original artwork of your game. Incandescent bulbs can burn holes in backglass art,  and warp unique plastic playfield parts. 

• LED bulbs last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. When you consider the time spent switching out bulbs, this alone is enough to make LEDs a wise decision.

• Reduce the current load. Ever had to replace a burnt connector & and header pins on your old circuit boards? Switching to LEDs will extend the life of your connectors and other components in the backbox. Trust us, burning connectors are not a good thing and lead to additional repairs!

• Reduced energy consumption. There is a reason most of us have replaced the incandescent bulbs in our households: LED bulbs use significantly less electricity.  Some people have seen as much as a 50% reduction in power consumption in a machine after switching to LEDs.

• LEDs just look better and brighter. You will be amazed at the difference from your old dim bulbs.  The breathe new life into your machine!

Pinball machines were originally manufactured with battery packs attached to the MPU boards to retain memory settings and high scores. Thousands of destroyed pinball MPU boards attest to the fact that AA and NiCad batteries leak acid. They will ruin your MPU board if left in there for too long. If you are lucky enough to have a vintage machine with no acid damage from batteries, don’t take any further chances. Install a remote battery pack, or NVRAM solution which will eliminate the problem. Avoid costly future pinball repairs and have us relocate your batteries from the MPU right away! If you only do one thing on this list, this is the precaution to take right now!

Now we get into the fun stuff. You can upgrade your single-color LED screen to full color thanks to Color DMD!  In doing so you reduce the high-powered heat-hogging displays from the 90’s to energy efficient full color screens of today! If you haven’t seen this amazing upgrade with your own eyes, head over to Color DMD to check out what your favorite pin will look like in full color!  New titles are added all the time

Lighting upgrades aren't limited to the game's playfield, but anywhere else on the machine you wish. Another common mod is to add under-cabinet lighting to a pinball machine, which can add accent light to the external walls and floor of the game room itself. There are even sophisticated lighting packs that will run off sound, or even your smart phone!

New side artwork brings an added layer of dimension to your playfield while freshening up your game. Choose your favorite design to customize your playfied, or just go with straight mirrors. The results are well worth it!  When Restoration Pinball installs these on your machine, we remove the playfield entirely to get the artwork aligned and installed just right.  Below are some of our favorite links so you can start shopping now!  Pingraffix & Pinballlife 

Another feature quickly gaining a reputation are overhauls to pinball sound systems. With a Pinsound board, you can now replace your old audio board with a new high tech one with the highest level of clarity. You also have the option to download custom audio designs for your game! There is a whole community of people out there improving and creating new sounds for your machine, and you can easily swap different sound designs by simply swapping out different USB thumb drives! Here is a link to hear what your favorite pinball machine could sound like!  

If you bought into mod #6 above, you now a have brand new state of the art sound board. The next logic step is to replace those 30-year-old speakers with high quality speakers from this decade!  Consider installing 2-way coaxial high sensitivity speakers with tweeter, as well as an 8” subwoofer with extended bass frequency response. What a way to boost the great sounds from your pinball. Your pinball machine never sounded so good!

What would your pinball machine have played like if it was designed with a motion shaker? Let’s find out!  You can now upgrade your favorite pinball game with a new shaker and enter another dimension of gameplay!  The Motion Control board from Pinsound will allow you to enjoy an immersive shaker experience thanks to the synchronized gameplay technology.  There are hundreds of trigger possibilities, 3 levels of power, 12 vibration patterns, as well as a relay output to control extra devices! You must have the correct PinSound board (version 1 or PLUS), in order install this amazing add-on.

With age, people have learned where known weak points are on pinball machines. A protection modification is an additional part that can be installed to help protect those more susceptible areas of the playfield from excessive wear.  Our favorites are made by  Clilffy's.  We highly recommend them for high traffic areas like out- hole lanes, scoop targets, and many others. Put these in quick, before you see your precious playfield art be worn down to exposed wood.

When it comes to pinball mods, some of the most creative ones are those of additional playfield figures and playfield features. Mods like these can be anything from additional figurines on the playfield, new interactive toys, as well as game re-programming.  Do some searches for your pinball machine name and “mod” after it, and wait till you see what’s out there!

We briefly wanted to mention a few of our favorite playfield mods that we have installed over the years.

1. Creature of the Black Lagoon video screen (pictured left)

2. Indiana Jones biplane propellor

3. Judge Dredd Dead World Mod

4. Uncle Fester Mod in Adams Family