Dr. Dave’s Pinball Passion: from Arcade Wizard to Gameroom Repair Master
How Dave O’Neil’s passion for pinball machines turned into a dream job of repair and restoration of these wonderful American-made machines.
Dr. Dave’s Pinball Restorations started with a mission in 1994: to restore people’s favorite pinball games back to their former glory, preserving their art and enjoyment as legacy objects for generations to come. I’ve been restoring all eras of pinball ever since for clients as diverse as corporate collectors to folks with that one beloved game in need of repair. From my shop in the Greater Boston area, I serve most areas of Massachusetts such as Boston, Needham, Wellesley, Dover, Sherborn. I also serve surrounding New England states, and I have shipped my restored games all over the greater USA and parts of Europe.
At an early age, I experienced pinball perfection at Fun and Games Arcade in Framingham MA. At that time in the late 70’s to early 80’s, I’d hang with good friends and play pinball from the Golden Era. It was basically a 100+ pinball and video game nightclub experience for teens. The arcade showcased clean, mint-condition, extremely fun titles like Star Gazer, Eight Ball Deluxe, Quicksilver, Xenon, and Mata Hari to name a select few. They had all the latest titles that Bally, Williams, Data East, Gottlieb and Stern could create– and back then they were all coming out at a blistering several-titles-per-month pace!
Attention to detail was this arcade’s hallmark, and I’d get mesmerized watching their devoted staff do the daily waxing of playfields, cleaning glass and changing out worn rubber. When the arcade faded in the mid 80’s, I refused to let my pinball memories fade into the shadows. Determined to get my arcade back, I made it my personal mission to find all the titles I once played and bring them back to that mint play-like-new Fun and Games condition that I remembered. I started bringing pinball repair manuals on vacation for “lite” reading. And I networked with various technical pinball veterans from around the country to collaborate on best restoration practices until I learned to bring these games back to their former glory.
Maureen, my wife of 30 years, is the artistic design force behind our Pinball Restorations. An artist by trade, she enjoys restoring both the playfield and cabinet artwork, as well as helping me with technical service and repair troubleshooting our clients’ games. A Marlborough native and interior and floral designer by trade, Maureen loves working with color– be it in the pinball machines she lovingly touches up or in our garden with the vibrant birds she feeds in our backyard. She loves working with the variety of hues each pinball machine provides. Her specialty is mixing colors to get the fine detail correct with each playfield and cabinet she brings back to like-new condition.
When not working together in the shop refurbishing the pinball machines we’re currently restoring or ones coming up for sale, we can be found all over Massachusetts performing our signature Pinball Day Spa house calls. We also love to host pinball tournaments several times a year for family and friends, as well as the special customers we have become close to.