Topic: TILT!!!! The PINBALL Thread!

[mark]

Ever since I was a young boy, I've played the Silver Ball...
From Richmond down to Hayward, I must have played them all......

Okay, so that isn't exactly how the song goes. Anyway...

Welcome to The PINBALL Thread!

I will start by asking for a moment of silence to honor a recently departed legend:

The one and only Evel Knievel.


I know that I'm not the only one around here that finds such toys amusing, so, LET'S SEE 'EM!

Games that you have... Games you had... Games you remember... Games you want... Works in progress... History... Trivia...


My first game..(gotta start somewhere)...

'Star Pool' Williams, 1975



Anyone else?

[dustyc]

Used to have a Flash Gordon machine, but I left it with a former business partner when we parted ways.  Great fun.  He fancied himself a pinball wizard, and could always find a way to deny my score when I would hold high score.  "Oh, the machine is screwed up."  That type of attitude was present in everything we did, so I was more than happy not to go back for the machine just to not have to deal with him ever again.  The only ship that doesn't float is partnership.    I'd like a Dirty Harry, Addams Family, another Flash Gordon.  Some day when one comes to me.

Show us some more.

[kirkn]

My Dad found and resurrected this one, and it was in our house when I was a kid (early 70s).  We played it regularly.

It's disassembled and stored, now, and needs a complete refurbishment.  I almost brought it home from his house one time, but I had too many projects at the time  (still do, it seems...)

[hoodellyhoo]

Not that I'm a big pinball person, but a friend and I used to go to an arcade about 7 years ago where everything was 25c. The had a massive old pinball machine there called Hercules (?). I think the pinball was actually a pool cue ball.

[mark]

History...

During WW2, pinball production was halted 'for the duration'.

If you wanted a new game - sorry, no luck.

This game was originally 'Seven Up' - Genco, 1941.
With a conversion kit from Victory Games, it became 'World Series 1943'.


The kit cost $9.50 plus shipping. It included backglass, score card, bumper caps, playfield decals('Home Runs').

'Look Ma - no flippers!'

[mark]

My Dad found and resurrected this one, and it was in our house when I was a kid (early 70s).  We played it regularly.

It's disassembled and stored, now, and needs a complete refurbishment.  I almost brought it home from his house one time, but I had too many projects at the time  (still do, it seems...)

Cinderella looks like a neat game. It looks more than a lot like 'Humpty Dumpty'. HD was the first game to have flippers. It is one of the games on 'Microsoft Pinball Arcade' - highly recommended, btw.

Not that I'm a big pinball person, but a friend and I used to go to an arcade about 7 years ago where everything was 25c. The had a massive old pinball machine there called Hercules (?). I think the pinball was actually a pool cue ball.

The most massive pin ever. Atari's Hercules. The ball was a cue ball. The rest was to scale.

Not a friendly game to work on - repairs under the playfield were done through 'bomb bay doors' under the cabinet. 


Back to Mark's toys......



'Mystery Puzzle' feature: The center of the backglass is mirrored, with a picture screened on the back. As the playfield rollovers are hit, the corresponding numbered sections are lit....

'Jig Saw' - Williams, 1957


Kinda neat, eh?

[mark]

"Knowledge is good."

A couple of favorite links......

http://www.marvin3m.com/fix.htm I'd be lost without this one. Complete repair info. Thank you, Clay!

http://www.ipdb.org/ The Internet Pinball Database. All kinds of fun facts.



'Eight Ball' - Williams, 1966


This game has a... hmmm... different... backglass than mine.

[mark]

I could make a spot somewhere for one of these....

'Struggle Buggies' - Williams, 1953

[jevfro]

I would love to find a Williams "Cyclone" machine. It seems every pizza place I went to as a kid had one... Anyway, What does one go for these days? (I guess I could try e-bay seems shipping would be expensive).  I've never had a pinball machine but I do have a Japanese pachinko machine.  I've also got the plans to make a cocktail arcade cabinet w/ a pc and a program called MAME that will play all the classic arcade videogames.  Anyone got a cheap pinball machine they want to sell?

[kirkn]

One of my favorite "pinball" machines from my high school days back in the early 80s was Hyperball!

Not really a pinball machine, but a shooting game that fired 3/4" diameter steel pinballs at different targets (enclosed in a pinball-style machine).  Continuous rapid-fire that you aimed using two twist grips on the left and right.

Kewl thread...

Kirk

[mark]

Another favorite link.......

http://www.xmission.com/~daina/classified/index.html  The Mr Pinball Classifieds

2 Cyclones on the west coast asking $1200-1250
20 games in WA asking $350-up... 'Captain Fantastic' was a good one.



Another favorite toy...

'Star Pool' - Williams, 1975

[mark]

Projects that I'm not looking forward to, part 1...

Install the N.O.S. playfield that I have acquired for Laser Cue.


one of these days.

[mark]

Project nearly done...

'Galaxy' - Stern, 1980

Trivia: 'Jig Saw' and 'Galaxy' have something in common..... Both designed by the late great Harry Williams.

[GroovieGhoulie]

Had two pinball machines when I was younger:

Paragon - one of my favorites.  It was a "widebody" machine with more playing field, two flippers per side, great bonuses, an open playing field with tons of bonuses.  It was my first machine and I am actively looking for another one.

Gorgon - The first talking machine.  Demonic and awesome.  I loved this one.


I also want "Fire", I played it once and loved it.

[mark]

A buddy of mine had 'Fire' some years back - cool game.
He also had a 'KISS' that needed work. If I knew then what I know now............. (sigh)


Projects almost done, part 2.....

'Mars Trek' - Segasa d.b.a. Sonic, 1977

To this point, all the games are from Chicago, U.S.A.
'Mars Trek' came from Madrid, Spain.

Darn clever, them furriners.

[mark]

Not mine, but fun anyway...

'South Park' - Sega, 1999

[gerhed]

I remember a late 50's arcade machine that put varying amounts of
DC. voltage into the grip of a handgun.
Winner held on to the highest voltage.
Ever heard of it?
Probably went the way of the shoe store foot X-ray machine.

[mark]

I remember a late 50's arcade machine that put varying amounts of
DC. voltage into the grip of a handgun.
Winner held on to the highest voltage.
Ever heard of it?
Probably went the way of the shoe store foot X-ray machine.

...... Sounds vaguely familiar, for some odd reason.

I'd almost bet that Marvin has one.... http//www.marvin3m.com/ 

This looks kinda like something along those lines....



Happy trails.

[mark]

Wanted - Dead or Alive.......


'Hot Shots' - Premier, 1989

This game kicks butt.

I want one.

[UnCrash]

The Adams Family was a favorite of mine:

[S-Dog]

My favorite High Speed  Est. 1986

[techy5025]

I had a Gottlieb "Goucho" sp? machine. The poor thing was in a bar that burned. Fortunately, the fireman managed to drag it outside...where it sat for several months. Unfortunately, it attached a herd of termites that I only discovered when plywood dust fell on the floor!

My neighbor probably still remembers the eight inch bell...I think it was the high score one....as I played the thing most of the first night I had it! 

Anyone that manages to maintain the normal relays, stepper relays, rotating contacts, totalizers, etc. will have NO problem with a bike's wiring.

I traded it with a friend for a computer. His first mod was to modify the operation of the flipper buttons so that they randomly reversed operation (right button...left flipper)  Now that made for some interesting play.

If you are thinking of restoring an old machine, make sure the back glass is intact. They are very hard to fine...no longer made.

Jim

[GoatBaSS]

... There has to be a twist.

[firecracker]

The one I spent the most time on as a kid:



Never had much luck "catching" the ball in the gator's mouth (or something like that - LONG time ago).

[mark]

Eye candy, part 1.

'Elvira and the Party Monsters' - Bally, 1989

[mick750F]

   I played a lot of pinball all through the 70's and into the 80's. The one game that stands out to me above all others is Firepower. It revolutionized pinball at a time when video games were starting to take hold and probably helped save pinball for at least a few years.

   This is one guys rant about it...http://pinball.flippers.info/firepower.asp

Mike

[City Boy]

I havea Gottlieb machine called Challenger.I bought it at an auction years ago.It works great and is fairly unique.It has player positions at each end with a scoreboard elevated in the centre so each player can see the entire playing surface.The playing surface is pivotted in the centre.There is one ball and each player gets to score points with it 3 times per game and defends three times.The table is tilted up from you while you are scoring points ala the normal pinball way.Each player has two sets of flippers,one set in front of his "goal",and one set at mid field.The defender scores no points but tries to score to end the scorers play.When he does;the table pivots,and the defender now becomes the scorer.This occurs 3 times per game.The game has been a great addition to my rec room but was a flop commercially as less than 500 machines were produced.My guess is that the 2 player requirement did not fit with generally individuals playing in arcades.

[BulleyCafe]

Mick 759F---

Firepower was and still is a great game. A good buddy of mine got one in the early 90's, what an awesome fourplayer game. The sound effects and levels of play were awesome. I'll have to post some pics, we got a 70's Bally called Ro Go, takes on a whole Thor / Valhalla theme, all relays and bells, pre-digital counter pinball machines rock.

[mark]

There was an arcade not far from home where fancy new games like 'Toledo'.. 'Gin'.. 'Ro-Go'.. 'Skylab'.. and 'Old Chicago' would eat up my quarters. Sometimes, I would go to the little old burger stand across the street, have a nice cold 10oz. bottle of Coke, and play ten-year-old relics like 'Central Park', 'Bank-a-Ball', and 'Kings & Queens'.

I'd toss out the couch to make room for a 'Bank-a-Ball' and a 'Kings & Queens'.

[mark]

Wonders of modern technology....


One thing that I like about the older electromechanical games - when they act up, fixing them aint exactly brain surgery. For the newer stuff, the brain-wave monitor has arrived. I found a Radio Shack ProbeScope on feebay, downloaded the latest software, and set it up on this 486 thing that the neighbor threw out.

A real must-have... a good DMM:


This Fluke 8800A came home from a yard sale for $15



Aint science wunnerful?

[mark]

(borrowed from the Japauto thread)

.................. During Franco's reign, hardly any imports were allowed into spain, surely not from lowly Japan!! but something made in neighbouring France could be somehow let into the country.
TG

Exactly. During Franco's dictatorship, there was an international embargo and we had to make everything pretty much ourselves -I mean our parents-. In the last two decades or so, the rest of the World loosen up a bit, and so did Franco. Little by little imports were permitted, but depended from where. For example, the car that motorized the country was the Seat 600, a clone of the Fiat 500 and built under licence. The same happened with Ducati, NSU, MV Agusta and many other marques that were built in Spain under license...............

........... like Williams.

'Travel Time' - Segasa, 1973
I knew about games built under license in Europe but just assumed it was mostly about shipping(delicate bulky objects).
Never for a moment thought about the old Generalissimo.

That was my 'learn something new every day' a couple days ago.


Happy trails.