How to Find the Right Rubber Rings for Your Pinball Machine
Replacing the rubber on a pinball machine is one of the highest-impact jobs you can do in an afternoon. The hard part isn't the work. It's knowing exactly which rings your machine takes. Every game is different, and guessing means a playfield that plays wrong.
The good news: your game's manual already tells you. Here's how to find it, read it, and turn it into an order.
Step 1: Find your game's manual
Nearly every production pinball machine ever built has a manual online, free. Where you look depends on who made it.
- Williams and Bally: Planetary Pinball's parts manual library. They hold the official Williams/Bally licence, so these are the real documents, not scans of scans.
- Stern: Stern's own manual archive, covering Sega and Data East era games through to current production.
- Jersey Jack: published directly on the Jersey Jack Pinball site under each game.
- Gottlieb, Chicago Coin, and anything older or obscure: the Internet Pinball Database. IPDB is the deepest archive there is and reaches back to the 1930s.
If you don't know the manufacturer, IPDB is the place to start. Search the game name and it will tell you who built it, when, and usually link the manual directly.
A worked example: Williams Millionaire (1987)
Say you've picked up a Millionaire. Search IPDB and you land on its machine page, which confirms Williams, 1987, and links the full factory manual as a PDF.
Go to page 56. Bottom left, under the playfield diagram, is the Rubber Parts table shown at the top of this article. It is the entire shopping list for the machine:
| Item | Part No. | Description | Qty |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 23-6300 | 5/16" Ring | 2 |
| B | 23-6302 | 1" Ring | 1 |
| C | 23-6304 | 1-1/2" Ring | 1 |
| D | 23-6305 | 2" Ring | 1 |
| E | 23-6306 | 2-1/2" Ring | 2 |
| F | 23-6313-1 | Grommet | 1 |
| G | 23-6327 | Ball Shooter Tip | 1 |
| H | 23-6519-4 | Red Ring | 3 |
| I | 23-6535 | Bumper | 14 |
| J | 23-6552 | Sleeving | 6 |
Thirty-two pieces in total. Three things in that table are worth decoding, because the names Williams used in 1987 are not the names these parts go by now:
- "Bumper" × 14 is not a jet bumper. It's the small post ring, what you'd buy today as a 7/16" OD post ring. It's also the single biggest line in the kit, which is true of most games.
- "Red Ring" × 3 is flipper rubber, and there are three because Millionaire has three flippers: two lower and an upper right. The factory colour was red; the size is what matters.
- "Sleeving" × 6 means post sleeves, a different part from post rings and not interchangeable with them.
Note the part numbers too. 23-6300 for the 5/16" ring is the Williams number for a ring that Gottlieb and Stern both call something else entirely. That is exactly the problem the cross-reference chart in step 3 solves.
If you'd rather skip the transcription, we already did it. The Millionaire rubber ring kit is built straight from this table.
Step 2: Find the rubber chart inside the manual
Almost every manual has a parts section with a playfield diagram and a rubber ring table. It is usually titled something like Rubber Rings, Playfield Rubber, or listed under the parts breakdown near the back.
What you're looking for is a list of sizes and quantities. For example: "3/16" ring × 5, 2" ring × 2, flipper rubber × 2". Older Gottlieb and Williams manuals often show a numbered playfield diagram with a matching key, so you can see where each ring goes as well as how many you need.
Two things to watch for:
- Post sleeves and post rubbers are not the same part. Manuals list them separately and they are not interchangeable.
- Some rings in the parts list are not on the playfield. Stern manuals in particular list 7/16" rings used to cushion metal sockets underneath the playfield. If you buy to the manual's total you'll end up with a pile of spares you never fit.
Step 3: Match the manual's sizes to what you can actually buy
This is where most people get stuck. Manufacturers named the same physical ring differently, and part numbers don't carry across brands. A Williams 23-6300 and its Gottlieb and Stern equivalents are the same ring with three different names.
We built a pinball rubber ring cross-reference chart for exactly this. Look up the part number or size from your manual and it shows you the equivalent across Williams/Bally, Stern/Sega/Data East, Gottlieb, older Bally, older Stern and Capcom, plus what we stock against it.
Step 4: Strip the playfield, and keep the old rings
As you pull the old rubber, lay each ring out beside its replacement, as above. Two reasons this is worth the extra minute:
- It confirms the manual. Machines get modified over decades. If a previous owner fitted a different size, the old ring tells you and the manual doesn't.
- It catches shortfalls before you start rebuilding rather than halfway through, with the playfield up and posts everywhere.
Old silicone and gum rubber both harden with age, so a perished ring can measure smaller than it left the factory. When the old ring and the manual disagree, trust the manual.
Step 5: Order the kit, or build it yourself
If your game is one of the 1,900+ we cover, the work is already done. Our game-specific rubber ring kits are assembled straight from the official manual for that title, with every ring and piece in the right quantity, in any of 16 colours. We cover Williams/Bally, Stern, Gottlieb, Data East, Sega, Chicago Gaming and more, from 1941 machines through current production.
If your game is rare enough that we don't list it, you can still build the set yourself from individual rings and flipper rubbers using the sizes from your manual and the cross-reference chart. If you send us the rubber chart from a manual we haven't covered, we'll usually add the game.
A note on colour
Colour is the one place you can safely ignore the manual. Original machines shipped white or black, but the size is what matters mechanically. Colour is entirely your call. Translucent and glow rings have become popular for the same reason: they look excellent under playfield lighting and play identically.
Common questions
What size rubber does my pinball machine take?
There is no universal answer, which is the whole problem. Sizes vary by game, and even two titles from the same manufacturer in the same year can take completely different sets. Your game's manual is the only reliable source, and the steps above show how to find it.
How many rubber rings does a pinball machine need?
Most solid-state games land somewhere between 25 and 50 pieces once you count post rings, sleeves, flipper rubbers and the shooter tip. Millionaire above takes 32. Bigger modern games can run past 60.
Can I use silicone instead of the original gum rubber?
Yes, and most people now do. Silicone lasts far longer, does not go hard or leave grey marks on the playfield, and is available in colours the factory never offered. It plays slightly livelier than fresh gum rubber, which some competitive players prefer and some do not.
How often should pinball rubber be replaced?
On a machine in regular home use, every year or two. On a route machine, more often. If the rings have gone hard, shiny, or are leaving marks on the playfield, they are past due.
What if my game is not in the manual archives?
Very early electro-mechanical and short-run games sometimes have no surviving manual. In that case, measure the old rings against a ruler, use the cross-reference chart to identify the nearest standard size, and count the posts on the playfield.
How long it takes
A full rubber replacement on a typical solid-state game is a two to three hour job with the playfield up. An electro-mechanical game with fewer posts can be under an hour. The manual and the right kit turn it from a guessing exercise into a checklist.