Replacing the pinball rubber

I spent a little time replacing the easy-to-reach pinball rubber bits this afternoon. There are others to swap out, but they require more disassembly of plastic layers to get to, so I'll wait a bit. Most urgent were the slings, which were cracked and shedding, and the post sleeves between the various ramps. They were in really bad shape. I decided it was time because I could see them disintegrating, which I'm sure contributes to the quickly reoccurring dirt. We've already had 2,644 games played, so well on pace for 5k before the end of the year. I bought silicone replacements, which last longer, though purists apparently don't like those. Meh, they seem about the same to me.

Once again, I point out that pinball maintenance is very therapeutic, if fixing stuff relaxes you. It's such a great combination of electronic and mechanical stuff. I imagine that they're a ton of work in a commercial environment, but regular cleaning and attention keep them running tip-top. I'm sure the first big replacement will be the flipper linkages, but for now they're still pretty firm.

Also, today I exceeded 1 billion points for the first time.