Holland, PA
I came across an interesting game that had been in storage for many years. Not knowing at all if it even worked, I took a chance on getting it since the machine was in extremely nice original condition and appeared to be “all there” from a quick look over.
A huge shout out to Russ Snyder who helped me with the electro mechanicals. No schematic is available (even from PBR) for prewar machines and it was a learning process to figure out what stepped what, etc. One stepper was totally frozen, and it did take some effort to free it up and then understand the flow. Many cold solder breaks that needed attention, but it did light up, the animations spun and the scoring worked.
The cabinet and playfield detailing/cosmetics were my job. Fortunately, everything cleaned up nicely and all the original marbleized plastics were present that shined right back up again.
The cabinet "changed" color after 75 years of grime were removed. A few rounds of cleaner and it went from a greenish/blue color to a sky blue color.
Very interesting design to the cabinet. Apparently machines of this era were distributed on longer (33”) legs. A few months ago, I had set up the ’48 Barnacle Bill on the original legs and thought it was too high and eventually switched to 31” legs to match the others in my collection. I did this, too for the Fleet.
The backdoor has no lock and has to be removed by putting your hand into a side access panel to unlatch a mechanism that is similar to a window sash lock. Once that is done, the back panel slides downward so you can get into the box. Replacing light bulbs will be a chore because the art glass does not slide in and out like more modern games. The various components in the back box will have to be removed, and then the glass can come out. So far, so good. All the screw in bulbs that came with the machine still work and the art glass has minute flaking, so I’m leaving well enough alone for now.
Judging by the condition, I am certain it had low plays. I don’t see a serial number; at least it’s not in same place as the one pictured in the IPDB. On my machine, there is a “C” engraved on the wood near the score card. Wondering if that’s a sample or prototype?
Game play is actually quite fun for a flipperless machine. Each time a red bumper is hit it scores points and lights a potentially higher score reward if the ball goes over a rollover at the bottom of the playfield. If the special is lit, it awards the score and one of the side cannons “fires” a captive ball as a cute effect.
Each time the ball hits a blue bumper it lights a potential number of replays available and that carries over from ball to ball through the game. It’s possible that 10 blue bumper hits will light up to 10 possible replays.
To get the replays, however, is a different matter. In the center of the playfield is a rotating arrangement of 3 cannons that spins throughout the game. To get the replay, the ball has to hit one of the cannons directly on the muzzle where there is a small switch. Truly a lucky shot to get it and it doesn’t happen that often. But it’s easy to see how one can get hooked to keep trying since the blue bumpers do get hit and award potentials are commonly lit.
Here's a brief video: https://vimeo.com/139816327
Joel
