Pinball machines are cool. Many people also like Star Wars. Combine the two and it's like peanut butter and chocolate. So, how do you make that pinball machine even better? Have it autographed by Lord Vader himself!

I'm sure that this auction will appeal to the Star Wars geeks... er... fanatics more than your average pinball collector, but it'd be a cool thing to have for either.

The auction is for a Data East Star Wars dot matrix machine, with the usual ramps, miniature R2D2 action figures, and mode-starting light-flashing fun that you'd expect from a circa 1992 machine. There were 10,400 of these machines manufactured world-wide, which is not a huge number, and that combined with the Star Wars theme makes them pretty interesting.

However, get the actor who played the original Darth Vader to autograph the machine, and you've got a serious collector's piece. Somehow, the seller got Dave Prowse to commit to signing any message you want on the machine when you win the auction. I guess it's not what you know, but who you know huh?

The machine has been given a complete cleaning and overhaul to replace the broken plastics, refresh the rubbers, and polish everything up nicely, ready for you to add to your collection. Oh, but there's one thing that might be a stumbling block. The machine is for sale on Ebay UK, so unless you're made of money and can pay to ship a 300+ machine (plus crating) or you live in the UK, this will just be the stuff dreams are made of.

Of course, I have to say that Indiana Jones beats a Star Wars pinball any day, but I'm somewhat biased.

Thanks got coolest-gadgets for finding this.