Mr. Pinball Tip:

Protecting area around pop bumpers is absolutely necessary. This is usually the most worn area on any game. Many machines were protected around the pop bumpers, starting at the factory, with a circle of self-adhesive mylar. If your machine doesn't have this mylar you need to apply some.

Obtain some self-adhesive mylar at a plastics store and cut a circle using a tuna can as a guide. Apply the circle to the playfield when you have the bumper completely removed and use an exacto knife or razor to trim the holes in the playfield for the bumper components.

I recommend not using the non-adhesive mylar. Gottlieb machines come with non-adhesive mylar. If you could keep the mylar always perfectly clean this would not be a problem. But there is always some dirt floating around in games. Every game I've seen with self-adhesive mylar around the bumpers has had the area protected. Every one I've seen with the non-stick mylar had the paint underneath worn to chalk.

It's not hard to pull off the self-adhesive mylar and replace it, and chances are you'll have to pull the bumper off completely anyway more often to replace a broken skirt or bumper body.


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