Have the game shipped

While in Chicago, you're more than welcome to leave the trailer by me.
I'm about 30 minutes straight west into the suburbs. Tucked between I294 and I355.
Message me if you don't come up with any other options.

I would have no issues leaving the trailer with an established pinsider. I would also have no issues with renting a van for the trip. You do what ya gotta do to get the game home. Or you could get traile hitch locks and leave it at the hotel parking lot. That could be a real hassle though.

Rent the minivan for the trip. Plenty of companies out there that have good weekly rates.

It could cost you less than renting a trailer and installing a hitch on your car.

I don’t understand this. I drive a Tucson and a game fits (not the box). Your Santa Fe is bigger. Wtf.

If saving money is important then you really need to consider having it shipped.

Also, any reason you can’t modify your plans and start with Chicago then pick up the game on the way back?

So it's an extra ~ $100 for the no-hassle option.

What's your gas mileage when towing? Count on about 1/2 your average.

My vacation time and piece of mind is worth way more than $100. YMMV.

So "saving" $70 is worth the ridiculous inconvinience of dealing with this trailer?

No, it is not.

Rent the minivan. And get rid of the Santa Fe and buy a minivan.

Rent the minivan. Saves you wear and tear on your car too. Don’t be gentle, it’s a rental!

If you rent an enclosed trailer bring a padlock and you should be fine done plenty of trips with a uhaul not really and issue but Chiraq may be an issue can’t speak for big cities.

Spent many an overnight at a hotel with a game in the back of our SUV. I spent a day at Hersyheypark with a JJP WoZ in the back of my wife's Outlook. Just cover up your game with a nice moving blanket, and most modern SUVs/vans have pretty good tint on the rear windows anyway. No one will mess with it.

+1 to just rent the minivan.

Later,
EV

Trade the Santa fe in and get a Chrysler Pacifica.

We've had ours for 2 yrs now. My wife and I were anti-minivan until we took it for a test drive. I now wish we would have bought it sooner. Plus it's a great pin hauler. I could probably fit 2 pinball machines in with the seats all folded down.

Why the resistance to ship?

What are these costs to you?
- The price of the auto rental
- The cost of extra gas from either hauling the weight or hauling a trailer (will significantly decrease milage by 30% or greater)
- The potential cost of damage to your vehicle and/or trailer if broken into

My guess is that paying for shipping would be significantly less. Even so, if you just don't want to ship for whatever reason, I'm with those that say rent a vehicle that the game will fit in even if it costs a little more. It will be more secure, you don't have to worry about hauling a trailer, backing with it, losing gas milage, etc.

Since it looks like you'll be putting on some miles, a rental seems like a good course to me. While perhaps the scenario of a vehicle breakdown is unlikely based on your newish car, a rental provides the benefit of being able to get a replacement if needed. An accident is certainly possible and I like to have that 'insurance' on a long road trip even when I could take my own. Not to mention saving all those miles (depreciation---if that is still a thing) from your car.

And then there is the issue of Wisconsin roads. While I spose that it should be just fine after bouncing around in a trailer, the smoother ride inside the vehicle is something I'd try to make happen.

And welcome to Wisconsin. Try to catch the driftless area if you can.

If you are dead set against renting a van, you need to change the order of your trip so that you ARE going straight home, or at the very least, avoiding Chicago with the trailer. Alternatively, do you have any friends or family with a bigger vehicle that you could swap with for the duration of your trip?

Rent a van

Understood, but you can still go to Spooky, pick out your game, and just have them ship it for you. I guess I just don't understand what hauling it back home yourself adds to the overall experience versus all the negatives (cost, time, inconvenience, etc.) Regardless, it's obviously your decision to do whatever you want to, and you don't have to justify it to anyone (certainly not me). Personally, I just see the hassle involved and would want to avoid that part of the trip.

If your decision is to rent a trailer and haul it that way, then certainly find a trusted pinsider in a safe part of town to leave the trailer overnight would be your best bet. Personally, I'd be tempted to ask them to let me take it out of their trailer and store it in their garage overnight (something I would happily do for a fellow pinsider). Not that I've ever done it before (I have owned a variety of trailers), but it would be pretty simple and very quick to steal a trailer if you wanted to. If I had to estimate, me and a friend could back a truck in, cut the lock (depending on what kind it is), hitch up and be out of there is 2 to 3 minutes tops. Breaking into someone's garage that I don't even know what is in it would be a completely different story given the added risk and penalty.

My advice - avoid Chicago. I live 30 mins away and vowed never to step foot or spend a dime in that City ever again.

I don't know how many days your trip is or what the costs would be, but another option would be to take your trip as planned, rent a mini-van the morning you're going to JJP, then have two vehicles for the next day or two until you get home (assuming you have two drivers on the trip).

Then again, if you plan on owning your current vehicle for some time and you know for certain in the near future you will have the need to haul additional pins, then just get a hitch installed and go with your trailer renting plan.

If you can't leave the trailer with someone and have to park it at the hotel and/or other destinations then what I always do in that scenario is to find a prime parking spot where I can back in and get the back of the trailer up against some sort of solid/permanent barrier like a fence, a wall, a building, etc. (Similarly, I see semi-truck drivers park back-to-back all the time for this purpose). This way thieves can't break into the back (or if they do they can't open the doors or get anything out). They would have to break into the vehicle first and move it to get to the trailer, or somehow unhitch the trailer and maneuver it enough sideways to get to the doors at back.. Either way is risky and time consuming, so most would seek an easier target.

Sorry, it's both ways. Drag & trailer weight is worse than the 250 lbs of the machine, and U-hauls are heavy for their size.

If you are trying to avoid this long term, you need a different vehicle. A trailer sucks when moving pins, lots of extra work on the day of the move. It's a half-assed measure (that many of us have tried) that you regret pretty quickly.

The numbers don't really work out though, but what ever does in this hobby.

Good luck.

Is there an option where Spooky could have the backbox separate from the cabinet in advance of your arrival? Not sure if you have room for that scenario, or are comfortable assembling the two parts when you get home.

I hate driving in Chicago, and a trailer is a PITA.
Leave it with a helpful pinsider out in the 'burbs.

I have a buddy with Santa Fe and they easily fit a pin. Definitely would need to take it out of the box, but the game should fit fine.

I’ve laid pins on their sides before to fit them in a vehicle I once owned that had the same issue. Put a stiff pillow under the cab to support by the head. Never had any issues. Of course that was back in the era when old Williams dmd’s were a grand or 2 and everyone was just buying them to play them instead of turning them into museum pieces. I probably wouldn’t do that with a new pin.

Hold up. So you're saying you *had* a minivan... And then traded to a vehicle that is less versatile in every way, while offering no added benefit to handling, ingress/egress, view, comfort, capacity, power, or mpg?!?

Style? is subjective but I'd say a Hyundai Santa Fe is not going to win there either.

In that light, it would sure nice not having to stress ridiculous self-own logistics problems 6 times a year or whenever opportunity strikes...

..So quit fooling yourself (you're not fooling anyone else) and just get (back to) the damn van.

Chance of removing the backbox to make it fit?

I can see it now:

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OP, have you reached out to this guy? Looks like he can help you out.

I don't know what people think about trailers, but small trailers bounce like a motherfucker. I would not want a pin in a trailer. I'd feel much better inside a vehicle.

My friend an I were just talking about this a couple days ago and he said the only games he’s found that won’t fit are the premier games that are ridiculously tall when folded down. Maybe his modem is older than yours.