Phil Lee's History with Pinball

So I grew up near a Zayres Store that had a Fireball in front,near the drink and popcorn stand. Being a mean little kid I discovered if you lifted the rear of the machine and dropped it,2-4 games racked up. So everyday after school I wore it out. That lone machine was my Office, if my friends wished to see me they dropped by,and I was always mad if someone else had it. It would be 25 years before I had my own machine,and it was a Fireball Classic.I had a history with this one as well,dropping by a rough Biker Bar everyday after work just to play it. I learned a lot getting the thing in premium playable shape and like an idiot sold it to pay a bill. So been jonesin every since,when my Daughter told me she missed having the Fireball at Christmas(she is grown now but played the snot out of that Classic growing up) I set about looking for a machine. An electro -mechanical,to be precise,since I had always wanted to learn the innards of that Fireball and was looking for an affordable Winter project. And there it was on Craigslist! Williams Klondike for 200 bucks! This machine had been in one family for 30 years finally migrating to the garage,unwanted. I took 2 hours unloading it from my pickup up 3 stairs into the house,alone. The goal was to get it working good enough for my young'un to play one game on Christmas. I hope to elaborate further on the Forum but the bottom line is she played it and was disappointed cause she missed the sound effects from the Fireball Classic. Yeah,I do too, but you have to remember, we love the things from our youth we had and have a connection to. She did say to fix it,and not sell it,which I beleive is a good sign since she is a Banker and saw a certain value in it..Anyway, I'm one of those people that think they can do anything,so I set out to learn everything I could about EM pinball. Pinrepair and Pinside have been 2 valuable commodities in the past 3 weeks as I have diagnosed and repaired a dozen issues lifting the forlorn Klondike up to around 60% from 40. I do intend to keep it and perhaps purchase another Fireball EM one day soon,you have to strike while the pan is hot!