Practically every pinball review I've written has mentioned     the potential for damage that can be caused by a flying metal ball in    an enclosed area. The kinetic energy of a moving ball is both what defines     and curses pinball machines. Without it, you don't have pinball, but    because of it you've got to do everything you can to "bulletproof" a    pinball machine from damage, especially one that is no longer being made.

Enter Cliffy's Pinball Protectors. A fellow pinball and    video enthusiast, Cliffy has designed some great metal protectors, designed    to shield different high-risk areas of a game, such as ramps or the edges    of drop holes in the playfield. The protectors also hide any existing damage.

When it comes to creating a really immersive gaming experience,    nothing beats a good subwoofer. I discovered this initially with my MAMEframe    arcade cabinet when I replaced the inital subwoofer-less speaker system    with one that included a subwoofer. Suddenly games came alive, and you    could feel the impact (literally) of your shots with the aliens or asteroids.    It was such a simple change, and yet make a dramatic difference in the    overall gaming experience.

Seems the urge to improve the "stock" appearance of many    pinball games is a common one: PinBotz, a small company based in Brunswick,    Georgia, offers several sets of "enhancement" decals for pinball machines,    both backboard decals for games that never had backboard artwork (or had    it removed as a cost-cutting move), as well as some specific decals to    enhance the appearance of games such as the Addams Family pinball. In addition,    they offer several sets of pinball instruction/information cards, designed    to replace the rather generic cards normally seen on pinball machines.

Treasure Cove have certainly been branching out recently.    Already known for their meticulous pinball machine restorations, they've    now added a polishing kit (see review) and decal sets to their offerings.

Treasure Cove's decal sets basically fall into two categories:    restoration decals, and "add-on" decals. The restoration decals    are designed to replace damaged or missing artwork that was originally    included with the machine. The "add-on" decals are new, custom    artwork designed to enhance the appearance of a machine.

Keeping a pinball machine in pristine condition is an    ongoing battle. Between parts breaking and normal wear and tear (trust    me, there's a lot of both!), maintenance is as much a part of the hobby    as playing the games. One area that can take a lot of your time is cleaning    and polishing the playfields. There is always an ongoing debate in rec.games.pinball    about what is the best cleaner or technique for obtaining a nice, glossy    shine on a playfield.

Attack from Mars, produced by Bally/Williams    in 1996, is a particularly flashy pinball machine, and I mean that literally — featuring    a strobe light and a large number of #906 flashers, Attack from Mars is    a bright, blinking spectacle of light. Everything on the playfield is awash    in animated lights.