I bought a Brunswick A2 pinsetter without a plan. Here’s what $75,000 in mistakes taught me.

I’m a procurement lead for a mid-sized entertainment chain. I’ve been handling equipment orders for bowling centers for about six years. In that time, I’ve personally made (and documented) four major procurement blunders, totaling roughly $75,000 in wasted budget and rushed replacement parts. I now maintain our team’s pre-purchase checklist to keep others from repeating my errors.

This isn’t a guide on how to buy a Brunswick A2 pinsetter. It’s about what I wish someone had told me before I signed the first PO.

The $35,000 mistake that started it all

My first serious error happened in early 2022. We were retrofitting an old 12-lane center, and I ordered six refurbished A2 machines. On paper, it looked perfect. The seller had great reviews, the price was competitive, and the delivery date aligned with our construction schedule.

The machines arrived. They looked fine on the pallets. But after installation, three of them had intermittent solenoid failures. One had a misaligned gearbox that we didn’t catch until lane four was already assembled.

The result? $23,000 in unplanned service calls, $12,000 in parts we shouldn’t have needed, and a two-week delay in opening. That delay alone cost us an estimated $18,000 in lost revenue. My boss was not happy. I was not happy. The vendor? They pointed to the “as-is, no warranty” clause I’d signed.

That’s when I realized I’d approached the purchase completely wrong.

Deep cause #1: I didn’t understand the difference between “refurbished” and “rebuilt”

Here’s something I wish I’d known: in the bowling equipment world, “refurbished” and “rebuilt” are not the same thing. Refurbished usually means cleaned, tested, and possibly swapped with used parts of similar condition. Rebuilt means disassembled, worn components replaced with new OEM or quality aftermarket parts, and re-toleranced to factory specs.

I bought refurbished thinking I was getting rebuilt. The seller didn’t mislead me — I just didn’t ask the right questions. I assumed a “full inspection” covered it. It didn’t.

To be fair, cheap refurbished units have their place. If you’ve got an in-house mechanic and a parts stash, they can be a reasonable gamble. But for a new build on a tight timeline? That’s a recipe for disaster.

Granted, this seems obvious in hindsight. But when you’re juggling budgets, stakeholders, and a contractor who needs answers yesterday, the nuance gets lost.

Deep cause #2: I overvalued the brand and undervalued the lifecycle

Look, Brunswick A2 pinsetters are legendary. They’ve been the workhorse of bowling centers for decades. I’ll probably never buy anything else for new installations. But the “legend” status made me lazy.

I assumed the A2’s reputation would carry the installation. I didn’t dig into the specific condition of each unit. I didn’t verify the serial numbers against known problem batches. I didn’t ask for maintenance logs (most sellers don’t keep them, but I didn’t even ask).

In my experience, the biggest risk with a legacy product like the A2 isn’t the product itself — it’s the assumption that any A2 will perform the same as any other A2. They won’t. A machine that’s been run 40 hours a week for 20 years is a different beast than one from a low-volume center. And a machine that’s been sitting in storage for three years has its own issues — seals dry out, lubricants settle, electronic components degrade.

I didn’t think about any of that. I saw “Brunswick A2” and I stopped thinking.

Deep cause #3: I had no system for vendor qualification

My third mistake — and honestly, the most embarrassing one — was that I had no repeatable process for evaluating refurb equipment vendors.

I’d ask different questions on every purchase. I’d rely on gut feel. I’d look at a few photos and call it due diligence. And because each purchase was different, I never built a knowledge base. Every new order started from scratch.

I once ordered six A2 machines from a vendor based on a phone call and a PDF. When they arrived, two had been assembled with mismatched kickback assemblies. The vendor blamed the previous owner. I had no way to verify. I had no inspection checklist. I had no written acceptance criteria.

That order cost me $15,000 in extra labor and parts to correct.

The vendor who said “this isn’t our strength — here’s who does it better” earned my trust for everything else. I’ve never met a truly great vendor who claims to be perfect at everything.

The real cost of buying wrong

People fixate on the purchase price of a pinsetter. They should be fixating on the total cost to ready — the price of the machine plus installation, plus any unexpected repairs, plus downtime.

Here’s a rough breakdown from my four mistakes:

• Mistake 1 (refurb vs rebuilt confusion): $35,000 in extra costs + 2-week delay
• Mistake 2 (poor vendor vetting, mismatched parts): $15,000 in corrective labor and parts
• Mistake 3 (no inspection checklist, incomplete shipment): $9,000 in rushed shipping for missing components
• Mistake 4 (ignoring maintenance history, bought a high-mileage unit): $16,000 in early rebuild costs within 18 months

That’s $75,000 — money I could have saved with better upfront processes.

The wrong machine at the wrong price isn’t a bargain. It’s a liability that keeps costing.

Honestly, I’m still not sure why some vendors deliver exactly what they promise while others consistently fall short. My best guess is it comes down to internal quality control processes that have nothing to do with the brand of equipment they’re selling.

My experience is based on about 200 lane-level procurement events across four centers. If you’re working with high-end boutique installations or budget-centric family entertainment centers, your mileage may vary.

What I do now (and it’s not complicated)

After the third disaster, I created a simple pre-purchase checklist. It’s not fancy, but it works. Here’s the condensed version:

1. Demand specifics. I ask for unit-specific photos of the gearbox, solenoid cluster, and electrical box. If they can’t provide them, I move on.
2. Ask about origin. Where did the machine come from? How many lanes? What was the maintenance schedule? You’d be surprised how many sellers have this info but don’t volunteer it.
3. Get a warranty in writing. Even a 30-day parts warranty is better than “as-is.” If they won’t stand behind the machine for 30 days, what’s hiding?
4. Talk to the technician. Not the salesperson. The tech who actually inspected the unit. Their opinion matters more than any brochure.
5. Budget for surprises. I now set aside 15-20% of the purchase price for unexpected corrections. If nothing breaks, that money goes into the next project.

That’s it. I don’t have a secret vendor list. I don’t have a magic price threshold. I just have a process that catches the most common errors before they become expensive problems.

We’ve caught 47 potential issues using this checklist in the past 18 months. Most were small — wrong voltage specs, missing mounting hardware, unclear return policies. But a few were real doozies, like a unit that had been dropped during transport and had a cracked frame.

The bottom line? A Brunswick A2 pinsetter is a fantastic machine. But it’s only as good as the condition it arrives in and the plan you have for it. I learned that the hard way.

If you’re about to buy one, don’t repeat my mistakes. Ask the awkward questions. Get the details in writing. And never, ever assume “refurbished” means “rebuilt.”