I recently made a cross-country trip to pick up a 1950 Bally Turf King.

My oldest daughter has recently gotten very interested in horses, and I thought I could use this as a good way to teach her about EM troubleshooting, soldering, cleaning, logic, etc.

We're most of the way done, but so far, so good!

This will be less a restoration than a few cool photos and a way for folks to share in the journey.

The first challenge is how to move the game. One Ball games have floor-length cabinets and are quite heavy indeed.

So, how do you do it?

First, take the backbox off. To do this you have to remove the four head bolts, remove the jones plugs, and push the female jones plugs into the neck of the cab.
Second, open the front door. Disconnect the jones plugs, then pull the bottom board forward.
Third, pull the bottom board all the way out (carefully) and set aside.
Fourth, remove the wingnuts holding the lockbar on.
Fifth, remove the playfield glass/siderails/footrail (all one piece on this machine).
Lastly, unscrew the playfield and remove the playfield from the game.

Now, the cabinet is light enough to move easily!

Here's a photo of my new friend Steve and his son. Steve hung onto the game for a few months for me while I figured out how I was going to do this. Steve's son was a huge help, and both are super nice guys.

Steve_and_Son_(resized).jpg

And a photo of me and Steve with the backglass. That game has great artwork!

Steve_and_Nick_(resized).jpg

Now, on the way back to the hotel, I stopped at a gas station, and found some bubblegum cigarettes. Haven't seen those since I was a kid.

Stallion_Cigarettes_(resized).jpg
Thematically appropriate.

And... I made it home with the family.

Dark_photo_of_BG_(resized).jpg

Now, one of the goals was to teach my older daughter how to work on machines. We got started the next day.

Learning_about_backbox_(resized).jpg

"Wow, the backglass is on a hinge!"

The bulbs shown in the backbox are run at 17V. This means that you cannot replace the bulbs with 6V 55s, 44s, or 47s.

Cleaning_a_Rivet_(resized).jpg

Here we ran into trouble. The screws holding the stepper spiders on were very very tight. Rather than continue to attempt to remove and potentially damage it, I decided to teach her how to scrub the rivets. Thankfully she has smaller hands than I do.

Cleaning_Jones_Plugs_(resized).jpg

Then we needed to clean the Jones Plugs. Here she carefully scrubs them. The plugs themselves are very fragile-feeling. I have a game from the 40s that has similarly dried out or brittle plugs, so she had to be pretty careful. Final result is nice shiny plugs, though!

Installing_Jones_Plug_(resized).jpg

Time to install.

Installing_Jones_Plug_Door_(resized).jpg

And on the door. Check out the number of games recorded on the door! Amazing. This was quite the earner.

Some interesting shots:

Backboard_(resized).jpg

The backboard is on a chain, unlike later bingo machines, which typically fold all the way over. Due to limited space I had to unscrew the chain and fold it down to look into an interesting issue.

Cable_Connector_Message_(resized).jpg

This is a notice that sits behind a removable plate holding all the female Jones Plugs. Interestingly, this is very similar to Gottlieb games, but instead of floating in space, there's actually a place to latch them in!

Time to clean:

Cleaning_Playfield_(resized).jpg

Now, my younger daughter REALLY wanted to help her older sister and I clean the playfield.

Smaller_Cleaning_Playfield_(resized).jpg

I ended up helping with the upper areas since they are too small to reach, even with a stool.

Once clean, it was time to test!

Testing_Machine_(resized).jpg

This game is crazy fun - and the gameplay is totally unlike a bingo! Caps are cleaned and back on, and I need to print off some new SI cards.

The above is without the glass on - these games are easier to test without the lockbar installed due to their construction.

Forgot to mention - she cleaned and tested all the 17V bulbs.

Sockets were not corroded at all, which is pretty unusual for games that I get.

If you'd like to hear more about the pickup and work on the game, see episodes 301 - 304 of For Amusement Only (http://foramusementonly.libsyn.com)

She does love them - this is about as close as she'll get though! She's a pretty good student. Her lesson in soldering was a set of wires under the bottom board that broke. Very difficult and she did it quite well! I did not teach her to make the joints yet (Western Union, pigtail, etc). But that'll be next when I find the broken wire preventing the GI from lighting on the playfield.

Oddly, probably a Space Invaders upright arcade...?!

Thanks Vic! What a beautiful row! Payout and non-payout versions side-by-side.

My daughter asked if we could work on the Turf King tonight! I've got to show her how to clean the search discs (common rivets are covered in grease and will not light some horse selections consistently), and the #4 horse relay on the bottom board is sticky (dried grease), so will get the alcohol and q-tip action (and a dab of new grease).

We have a problem with the 6V lamps. All of the 6V lamps test ok, but there is no power to any of them.

Transformer is generating 6V, and I've done some simple continuity checks between the transformer and the anti-cheat relay (without Ava's knowledge). I'll show her the schematic tonight if there's time after cleaning.

My guess is that one of the funky Jones Plugs has backed out or has a broken wire under the female side. Unfortunately, this is in the back of the head... thankfully my daughter can squeeze back there!

Nice! You're a brave person to do touchups while the kids are awake.

At least it's acrylic!

Ava learned how to read simple circuits in the schematic last night. We spent most of the evening going over how to determine what part of the circuit could be bad, then applied it to the lack of playfield GI.

The GI issue, as is usually the case with a Bally, came down to a bad fuse holder. The holder has been tweaked to work (for now), but needs to be replaced.

Now, there are a couple minor cleaning things to do, and fixing the occasional erratic replay count.

She's booked months in advance. I'll keep asking.

She asked this morning if we could work tonight, too. I'll have to see if she's still interested when I get home from an errand. I think the next thing will be to start on the cosmetics of the lockbar to get that beast back in place so that she can playtest the heck out of it. (Would have said 'snot', but figured the wounds were still fresh for spiroagnew).

It has sat and absorbed much palm sweat. It will need to be sanded as well because someone carved letters in front of the buttons, which already have symbols on them. I am going to attempt to have Ava do this without removing the buttons... then I'm going to have her repaint the button lettering in red.

I'll likely do the siderails since they will require some dedicated scrubbing with steel wool... I suspect she'll lose interest before seeing enough progress. May also require more brute strength than she has? Remains to be seen.

After that, the glass will need to be cleaned, and the buttons painted with a protective coat to attempt to keep the remaining chrome on them.

I am really, really bad at taking pictures, but this thread is making me seriously think about it as I go. So I'll even likely have some photos of this part!!!

OK, well, that didn't happen. Didn't get home till close to bedtime. Tomorrow, though! After chores!

Oh boy, lots of action here today. We spent today working on the glass now that the playfield had been ruled out as a problem for the GI.

Reminder that the glass is one that is combined into the lockbar and siderails. Very big and heavy and hard to move.

I set up some sawhorses and took it out to the deck.
IMG_20160116_163033_(resized).jpg

Here you can see some of the condition. There were multiple cigarette burns (people set their lit cigarettes pointing out on the lockbar. It burns down and burns into the wood).

There were also some carvings in front of each button. Shorthand for people who don't feel like reading symbols or score/instruction cards.

So the next step was teaching her how to sand.

IMG_20160116_163428_(resized).jpg

I decided to have her sand the lacquer and stain off the wood, to bring it down to a consistent color. From here we will apply a new stain to create a unified color. In the first glass image, you can see where water was dripping into the game and had discolored and rusted some parts. The buttons were freely moving, but had rusted badly underneath. Thankfully they did not rust on top.

IMG_20160116_163526_(resized).jpg

Oh! Here's one with the water damage evident.

IMG_20160116_165047_(resized).jpg

Workin' on the other side. Remember, since we sanded the lockbar we also have to sand any other exposed wood. Luckily this is the only other exposed wood that is not painted anywhere on the machine.

IMG_20160116_173521_(resized).jpg

Sanded and then polished the metal - check that out! You have to be extremely careful polishing a bingo instruction plate or these selection plates as the red ink will wipe right off. Much was already missing from oils on hands. Now, plates are shiny and Ava has a good base to repaint the red.

Ava had me reassemble the glass after we polished the siderails and cleaned the glass, then we played a good thirty or forty games on it! Spotting discs need cleaning. Then all should be well!

Oh, we also have some aftermarket paint on the cab to remove and some touch-up to do, possibly. Then stain the exposed wood and apply a lacquer.

OK, lots to discuss - been a while since I posted.

Where we left off, Ava and I were beginning the process of cosmetic restoration.

She had sanded the lockbar, and we were going to stain and so forth. Well, while I thought for a moment and waited until the next time I had to go to the hardware store, Ava and I began on paint removal.

The front and sides of the game had had the beautiful red color painted over. Using a magic eraser, lots of elbow grease and a paint remover in a spray bottle (sprayed directly onto the sponge), the game started to reveal what was underneath.

IMG_20160123_132745_(resized).jpg

I looked very closely at the gold paint on the front door and noticed that I could see a bit of the underlying design. After a bit of scrubbing -

IMG_20160123_155722_(resized).jpg

And after we exhausted the supply of magic erasers:

IMG_20160123_164256_(resized).jpg

Now, what I noticed, and what you may as well - there are just a couple of scraped out sections in the black. The red appears to have fared a bit worse (no more pics yet), but I'm curious why the op didn't just paint it red? Mysteries.

We take lots of breaks to play the game. Ava likes playing partners and we help egg each other on to get the right numbers.

Here's one of my patented shaky cam videos - 14 seconds of playing:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAniC9ao4w1/?taken-by=bingopodcast

She has been dying to show it off to everyone that comes in the house. She whips out the schematic and starts showing people how various circuits work, tells them how she tests lamps, etc. Girl after my own heart.

So you may notice from the first pic two posts above - there are several gouges and burns on the lockbar. We sanded it nice and smooth, but at this point, it was time to fill the voids.

IMG_20160207_205436_(resized).jpg

If you can believe it, I actually bought gloves! And let her use a whole pair!

She is pictured there adding in a rough, stainable filler. She didn't want to get it totally perfect, she just wanted some of the larger holes to be less noticeable when playing the game.

Last night, we sanded the filler flush with the surface, then prepped for staining.

Can't find my pic right now (not unusual), but despite lots of cautioning, some areas went on too thick. First coat of stain was down and looked pretty good! A darker mahogany style stain, matched the age and overall patina of the game. Probably way too dark for what came from the factory.

Last night, I couldn't help myself, so I went downstairs and took the lock off the door. I want to show her how the tumblers work and have her remove the pins so that we can open it with anything (don't have the key, too cheap to buy a lock).

...as I stood up, I pushed on the lock bar to help me up... left a nice big handprint. Whoops. Now we need to sand it out and start over. Didn't have the heart to tell her this morning.

Don't get used to it.

The nice thing is that it is very well engineered, and the mechanical units are very easy to clean. Turf King does have a few mechanical parts in the back of the head, so on the day we set it up, I had Ava clean those units first.

The biggest problem I have really found (aside from the typically Bally fuse holder problem) is that the trunk of wires running to the back had been opened and several wires had been cut. Not sure how it was opened, but the wires were able to rub as the tray slid back and forth over time (or maybe it was all us) and we found a total of four broken wires. Gonna get some unscented dental floss and teach Ava how to tie it back up (eventually).

So much going on... lots to update!

So, first, I 'fessed up to putting the big handprint on the lockbar. Ava was not pleased.

I sanded it out again, then we tried staining it one more time. It turned out pretty badly, actually. So once it was finished, Ava knew right away - sand it again, Dad. *sigh*

So I sanded it once more (Ava didn't help because she thought it was too cold outside - she was right). This time Ava carefully wiped excess stain away immediately with a lint-free shop towel.

IMG_20160214_153859_(resized).jpg

It turned out much, much better. At this point, we let the stain dry for a while.

I let Ava know that she had some mail! A friend sent over some Score/Instruction cards for Turf King! Ava was very excited to receive this package, and had a lot of fun going through it to find the best examples as well as the correct ones for the game as we have it set up.

IMG_20160211_180042_(resized).jpg

I saw Thomas was creepily looking on in the background, and Sophie removed him between pictures.

IMG_20160211_180156_(resized).jpg

Next, while still waiting, I wanted to teach Ava how to pull apart the lock tumblers/pins, so I brought her over to the machine (glass uninstalled), where I had had the mishap a few nights prior.

I explain to her the process of what needs to be done, she pics up the lock, turns it upside down, and this happens:

IMG_20160214_161945_(resized).jpg

I've pulled apart lots of locks to make them 'keyless', and this has never happened to me. I couldn't stop laughing. Ava didn't understand.

At this point, Ava shellac'ed the lockbar. Single coat, looks beautiful. Glossy, but not too glossy. She may put another coat on tonight.

Sophie wanted to help. I taught her how to polish metal, and she went to town on the lock surround that sits on the front door.

IMG_20160214_164047_(resized).jpg

Other than that, Ava has been showing everyone that walks through our door the game, and shows them how to play and win. It's pretty cool to watch her school people on playing the machine, especially when they have trouble making a winner and she proceeds to win 48 replays or so.

Spent yesterday evening working on the siderails. Poor Turf King had some water damage issues, as you've seen from the lockbar, but more than that, it's had years and years of folks playing the game. The oils from their hands eventually broke down the plating on the siderails in spots and required a bit of fixing. Now on this game, I suspect water damage. The breakdown of the plating is only on the right-hand side.

What is common, once an area of plate wears away - you're left with a sharp or uncomfortable rough spot where your hand travels or sits.

I was doing a bit of research, and came across a system called 'plug and plate', which was both cheap and appeared to do the small amount of plating that we needed for this game. I didn't want to disassemble the siderails and mail 'em out somewhere, waiting for a long while for something that ultimately is just a minor cosmetic upgrade. Shipping one way on the rails probably would have been more than the kit cost ($35).

So...! Ava ended up working with me. First, we sanded away the rusty spots (as much as we thought necessary), revealing the bare metal beneath. If we were doing a total restoration, we'd take the siderails off and scrape them totally clean.

IMG_20160217_194432_(resized).jpg

From there, we cleaned and polished the metal underneath. The more prep work, the better your plating can hold. Again, the primary aim is not to make it perfect, just to make it better.

After a single coat (no polish)

IMG_20160217_203435_(resized).jpg

After this, it was bedtime for some of us. I stayed up and polished the newly plated areas. Though the second pic doesn't look like much (before polish), you'll have to know that in person, this rail feels very nice. Before it was sharp and uncomfortable to hold. Ava now knows a (very) little about the electro-chemical process involved with plating.

Tonight we probably won't work on the game, but we need to finish removing the gold paint, clean the cabinet, repaint the apron(?) then Ava needs to decide on touch-ups to the cab. Aside from this, we do still have some cleaning of the shelf units to do before it is truly 100%.

I may take a look at the apron to see what's involved in removal. Normally on the bingos they are nailed into place. Not sure on the one balls.

Took a look at lunch. Appears to be above-playfield screws on the left, might be under-playfield screws or nails on the right.

Center screw is completely rusted (of course). Slotted so I managed to strip it pretty badly with all my Herculean strength.

So... next will be taking a rubber band and trying to make a better connection with the driver/slot or ... something else.

I am thinking of sanding and repainting the apron, which is metal, with a spray brown. It has rusted fairly significantly. Or rather, I am thinking of having Ava do that.

Turned out to be something else. I was able to get it out with a pair of strong pliers. I am going to take the apron to the store to find a good spray match.

IMG_20160218_184056_(resized).jpg

Yuck.

Brown is stock! Pretty cool looking, actually (or it will be once sanded and painted).

The 'shelf unit' is just my fancy name for the center shelf that pulls out with all the mechanisms.

I spoke with Ava about the apron and told her the plan - she was on board. Wanted to paint last night... ... ...

Picking up paint tonight.

Thanks! Paint obtained at lunch. Had to forego my normal bingo session. The sacrifices we make...

We've done a lot of Turf King work this weekend:

After the apron was color-matched (underside was not faded or otherwise marred - it was a glossy brown - closest match was Rustoleum Gloss Espresso Brown), it was time to sand out the worst of the rust and grime to make a nice surface for the paint to adhere to.

IMG_20160220_100008_(resized).jpg

Coarse sanding sponge - approx 150 - used to knock off the worst of the rust.

IMG_20160220_100417_(resized).jpg

Then she used a 400 grit sandpaper to make a smoother surface and knock out some of the scratches.

IMG_20160220_101122_(resized).jpg

Next, it was mask time.

IMG_20160220_102044_(resized).jpg

Sprayin'

IMG_20160220_102452_(resized).jpg

One coat done (out of two).

IMG_20160221_173701_(resized).jpg

Apron installation.

IMG_20160221_185626_(resized).jpg

Playfield complete with new S/I cards.

Afterwards, we worked on removing more of the gold paint. Ava has decided that she wants to fill and touch up the paint that is missing from the black and red areas. Her mother will likely have to weigh in on the color (since I am terrible at that), though perhaps Ava will be the new color-matcher in the household.

I am excited that the playfield is basically done - I may order some side springs for it, as new springs do liven up any playfield - but that'll be some time in the future.

Next, we have the cabinet to clean, prep and touch up, then minor electro-mechanical cleaning to complete (spotting discs and replay counter unit), a couple of switches to adjust, and the game should be perfect.

Then, the quest for a beautiful, less faded backglass will begin...

Agreed, very odd. It was common to kick the doors of these games to try to get them to award increases in odds or features, but this one wasn't that bad! I still wonder why they bothered to do it.

Common for sun exposure and 17V lamp circuits - reds turn to orange. The carry-over bumper feature is flaking away, and the sky is turning white in one area. Otherwise, it is quite nice. I'm just really picky.

Ava keeps surprising me with this project - she asked this morning when she was on the way to school if we could work on it tonight.

I think she's as ready to get the lockbar installed again as I am!

I'm a bit concerned about one issue related to the cabinet work - the trim along the sides has been painted over - we may just clean and then repaint as there are chunks missing due to damage (hitting with the siderail as it is installed - it's heavy!). Ava and I have been stripping the paint, but it's mostly bare wood under there, which may explain why they repainted the runners.

More has happened in the past few days. We've finished stripping the paint we will strip from the cabinet - the side runners are still a mixed gold, red and bare wood.

Here's a moody, dark photo of the lockbar reinstalled:
IMG_20160228_154337_(resized).jpg

I think with the repainted apron, another good clean on the ball lifter cover, sanded, stained, and shellac'ed lockbar, and replated siderails, this game is lookin' pretty good! We did end up adding a touch of new stain (after minor sanding) to the wooden slats affixed to the siderails, and put a very light shellac on them. Note the NOS instruction cards from an anonymous (for now) benefactor.

Our next cosmetic step is to either treat, sand and repaint the side runners, or to fill and touch up the cabinet front. There are some sections with minor missing paint and minor gouges, but nothing too terrible! Shouldn't take too long as most of the rough sections are either reddish orange or black.

Our last cosmetic issue will be the coin acceptor and shooter assembly. Looks pretty rough right now! Coin acceptor should polish up nicely, but I'm not so sure about the shooter rod.

I also want to plug the paint remover that we used. I will detail that in a later post. I tried several before settling on this (relatively) harmless (to the underlying image) spray bottle.

I will teach her how to wax the cabinet and then we will get to the last of the electromechanical issues - cleaning the steppers on the bottom board, and ensuring all relays and spotting discs work appropriately.

Not sure when our next session will be, but until then:

IMG_20160228_160025_(resized).jpg

64 doubled with bumper hits = 128 replays! Only five coins into this game (been playing pretty badly in the run up to this one - still came out way ahead)! There must be a unit like the 'score extra step' inside the Turf King, since the odds will occasionally do a huge run. On my third coin, they jumped all the way to 64. In a future post, I'll document how to play this game (once we have all the minor bugs worked out).

The only thing that doesn't make sense to me (and I have not had time to read the schematic to decipher its use), is the lighted sections with teaser arrows at the bottom of the glass. Wild is always highlighted, and occasionally, the stepper will move eventually lighting each of the sections. I have no idea what this indicates. Perhaps a score doubling feature? I read on Ray Watt's website that players would put in a coin to stop the stepping before 'win' lit. This was to prevent odds jumps from becoming more stingy. If anyone has any idea, I'd love to know. It is not shown on the score or instruction cards.

I'll review the schematic when we get back to electrical work.

Thank you (I'll make sure Ava gets the message)! It feels great to put your hands on that game now, the lockbar is buttery smooth, and the siderails feel quite nice in the hand.

I can't take any credit, I just bought some chemicals and paint. Ava has done all the work.

We worked a bit on the Turf King tonight. Pulled the shelf unit out.

IMG_20160302_180621_(resized).jpg

Here you can see all of the units, steppers, the rectifier, and the control unit. It all slides out on this massive bottom board. Pretty darn cool.

Our first task was to clean the spotting discs:

IMG_20160302_183051_(resized).jpg

These are items that must be treated very carefully as they have several components that can be easily broken. Ava cleaned up the outer one, then told me that I needed to clean the inner one.

I did so, and Ava applied a thin coating of lube.

IMG_20160302_183142_(resized).jpg

After that, Ava wanted to watch TV, so I spent a bit of time figuring out some of the issues with the game.

1) What in the world do the wild selections at the bottom do? They will double whichever sections' wins are highlighted. For example, if the stepper moves enough to light purse, a winner in purse will be doubled.

EDITED: I was totally wrong about this. The stepper on the wild sections moving to max only trips the fan relay, lighting all seven selections. It has nothing to do with score doubling. That was a red herring due to a funky switch - as you'll read in a later post.

2) 3, 4, and 5 will hold, but rarely light without being held. This is due to an electrical issue. I will show Ava how to troubleshoot this, but I ruled out the spotting disc, and found a switch on the control unit was gapped a little too far.

3) The schematic is helpful, but not everything is labeled.

4) The manual does not have a diagram of the control unit (I've been spoiled by the bingos).

So... Two units down and a few more to go, a switch adjustment or two, then we should be set electrically!

The last things will be touch up followed by cabinet cleaning/waxing.

Woo!

More work to make the game reliable - any game with slip ring wipers that I've ever had (including any of the bingos or the Turf King), start building up a nice thick layer of crud in the slip rings.

The purpose of the slip rings is to allow current to flow when the spotting or search discs turn. On Turf King, there is no search disc, only two separate spotting discs. The position of the wipers along with the position of various other switches allows the search to take place automatically.

The slip rings have a wiper that rides inside, and as the disc turns, current can flow through the wiper (staying in the track via pressure), to the rest of the game. A really clever way to bring electricity from something that can rotate smoothly (unlike a stepper).

So... the slip rings being filthy - what to do? You could, I suppose, take apart the entire unit enough to remove the search disc from the game, then pry apart the slip rings, after desoldering the wires that connect them. But I'm really supremely lazy.

What I do is lift one of the pressure wipers (being VERY careful as they can break easily), taking a swipe at them with a green Scotch Brite pad, then setting into the next track. At this point, I take a piece of thick string (the thickness of one indentation), and wipe it all around, like flossing. This removes ALL of the crud, very much improving current flow.

Next, I move the wiper back into the track and move to the next. Easy!

IMG_20160303_191450_(resized).jpg

Ava did this very well. To be quite honest, I was really worried that one of the wipers would break. These are slightly longer than the ones used in the bingos (at least to my eyes). If they broke, I'd have to teach her how to make a replacement, which wouldn't be the end of the world, but would be slightly irritating.

After this, she wanted to clean the labels on the bottom board, since we were troubleshooting the # 3,4 and 5 selections.

One came out. She cleaned it on my kitchen counter, but accidentally moved up and down instead of side-to-side, and the label ripped.

IMG_20160303_193745_(resized).jpg

I have a label printer that can do different fonts and print on stickers. Here Ava is printing out a new #3 selection label.

IMG_20160303_193230_(resized).jpg

I showed her how to find the issue when reading the schematics and looking across various discs. This can be confusing if you're just getting into schematics.

Ava figured out that the problem (3,4,5 will not light unless held), and narrowed it down to two switches on the control unit. I showed her how to test with a wooden dowel. Switch located, but she and I have not had time together to show her how to adjust switches, so there it sits.

The final bugs have been resolved in the Turf King! Ava and I worked today to troubleshoot some odd scoring bugs and gameplay hiccups.

1) Winning a Jockey Cap would step the wild stepper to the top, but all seven selections would not light.
This was caused by a broken wire between a single pole double throw switch on the wild stepper and the fan relay. Ava troubleshot, but Dad had to be involved to fix. I had to stitch in a small extra wire, and the soldering was in an area where solder could have dripped on Ava easily. Rather than have this inexperienced solderer drip molten metal on herself, I went ahead and did it (with her permission, of course).

2) Odd scoring issues:
There were really two small issues here - one was that occasionally, I would get a double win on something that should not have been doubled. Even stranger, sometimes I would get 1.5 times a win, when that should not be possible. This was caused by a switch that was open when it should have been closed on the A-B-C-D stepper in the head. This switch allows for double scoring when you complete the bumper sequence for your next win. Switch adjusted (again, Dad had to do).

Final issue was the clover button could not be played sometimes. This one made no real sense without the new score and instruction cards. The issue is that the game will not allow you to get quadruple wins when you have completed A-B-C-D. It disables the clover button play (which allows for doubled wins in purse or show), when you complete the sequence. This is also controlled through a 'limit' switch on the A-B-C-D stepper.

With that, the game is 100% functional and fun. Very pretty, but now we have cabinet touch up and cleaning! After that, we are done with this restoration, and Ava feels confident to take on another game.

Expect to hear more from Ava on the podcast soon and more photos here during the last of the cosmetic changes. Lots of newfound knowledge to discuss.

For those that have not played one (like me until recently!) - this game is fantastic! Knowing when to put in nickels and when to stop is really key with this game. Careful play of odds and selection buttons is important during coin up. You only have one shot, so you need to be pretty darn good at gauging where the ball is going to go and willing to nudge a bit to keep it out of certain areas. I am now able to fairly consistently get it to the bottom of the playfield, but I am not yet good enough to really steer it far left or right. I played several dozen times today just attempting to complete the ABCD sequence, so I have learned where to plunge to send it straight to A or B and how to nudge to get it to move over a bit to hit C or D, but no major moves yet. I'll get there!

There's a Universal Winner in a thrift shop near me with fantastic cabinet and backglass artwork, and my younger daughter wants to try her hand at a restoration...

Ava finished the touch-up on the cabinet:

IMG_20160320_130924_(resized).jpg

There's always more that can be done, but for now, she's looking (and playing) good!

The plan is for next episode of the podcast to be all about Turf King (episode 367)! We'll do a quick recap, go over the latest in Ava's 'pinball school', and then discuss the gameplay and features that make this game so fantastic.

Quick overview of the gameplay and rules:

Your overall goal: to plunge and nudge your ball in such a way that it lands in one of the holes corresponding to the lit numbers on the backglass.

There are a total of five player-controlled buttons on the footrail.

1) Play All: This is automatically played with the first coin of a new game. Otherwise, it will not have any visible effect unless you have replays on the register.

2) Star: This will play for a chance at increasing your odds. It will also potentially grant you 'Purse scores win odds' or 'Show scores win odds'. These are extremely powerful features, and can both light at the same time.

Your odds are stacked as follows: Purse (top of playfield) scores the fewest amount of replays (from 3 - 64).
Show (next section down) scores more (3-96).
Place (next section) scores even more (5-128).
Win (final section) scores the most (8-160).

There are a total of 10 odds steps on the machine. Some of the numbers are repeated (the first two steps score 3 on purse, for example, and the last two steps score 160 for win). We'll dive into strategy shortly, but I'm sure you've made a few assumptions. There is the equivalent of an 'extra step' relay that will kick the odds up multiple notches in one coin. I've had it jump up 6 steps on a single coin before.

3) Horseshoe: Selections. This is the heart of the game. There are 7 horses total, and each horse can be awarded individually, or with multiple. The selection button will also randomly award the jockey cap feature, which will alternate (by coin) between red and yellow (right and left) playfield holes, down below the winner section. The jockey cap can be removed if you play for the selections again.

The selection button will also randomly step the 'Wild Stepper', which, when all the way at top, will trip the fan relay, lighting all seven selections!

It's worth noting that each number has a 'HOLD' underneath it. This gives the appearance that each number can be held individually, meaning that the number will always be selected for this game. In reality, unless the fan relay is tripped (holding all selections), only three numbers can be held: 3, 4, and 5.

4) Clover: This will give a chance at doubling your win in Purse or Show. If awarded, this advantage can be removed if you play for the Star or odds increase. I assume this is correct operation, but I haven't verified on the schematic yet. It seems like the machine would need to re-portion if you get an odds increase. In practice, only one at a time can be lit. I believe both can be lit, but I've never seen it happen.

Finally, 5) The Pennant: This will light the Feature pennant on the backglass, which has its own separate portion control. Our game is set to award 160 replays if lit and you land in the hole (bottom center of the playfield). It can be adjusted to 320 replays. It is a REAL feat to get it to go in that hole.

There are two carry over features:

1) Jockey caps: if you hit the lit one, it will step the wild selection stepper to the top, tripping the fan relay. This gives you a guaranteed all selections for the next game! Every ball is a winner, unless you are unlucky enough to land in the caps again or the feature hole.

2) A-B-C-D bumpers. There are four passive bumpers on the playfield. You have to hit each one, sequentially (across any number of games). When you light A, then B, C, then D, it will have stepped the ABCD stepper to the top, which will double your next win (whatever that may be). If you land in the minimum odds winner in purse for 3 replays, you'll get 6 instead. Pretty cool! Doing this disables the clover button as there is no 4x mechanism in the game.

Strategy:
Your first coin will reset the game to default odds and pick a random selection. Everything on the backglass will flash, but I've never had the clover features award, nor the feature flag from the initial coin.

You must understand, as the player, what's happening to get the best advantage. My bingo background helps a bit here: the machine will 'tighten' as it awards various features or odds jumps, making future feature or odds jumps less likely.

So, my second coin is almost always played to get better odds. If I'm lucky, I'll get that 'extra step' jump of one or more steps on the odds stepper.

My third coin will either be in the odds, or to try to light better selections. I am not confident enough to play with a single selection lit, I generally prefer to light two or more. If I am able to light #4, I will typically stop playing for selections, as I tend to hit that number the most. It is in the center of every section.

From here, if my odds are ok, and if my selection is ok, I will put a coin in for clover or for feature. I typically don't play a ton in either feature, as it normally isn't worth the money. But I'll sacrifice 5c.

It's important to know when to stop coining, as you could have five selections lit, then your next coin brings it down to one selection.

This game has guaranteed advancing odds, which means that your odds will not reset or move to a random position with each coin. They will never decrease, which is a great comfort to a player, and something that is not guaranteed with the selections (as you can see above).

If feature lights (a RARE event), I will try to steer the ball all the way down the playfield. If one of the clover advantages lights, I will attempt to get a winner in purse or show. If I have the odds advantage of purse or show scores win, I will definitely try to get in those holes.

If the jockey cap is lit, I will attempt to get a winner first (it's dangerous to go for the holes all the way at the bottom of the playfield), I'll try to hit that. If you hit the lit jockey cap hole, it will step the wild selection stepper all the way to the top, tripping the fan relay, and lighting all 7 selections for the next game.

I am not a good enough player to consistently hit the place or win sections, but I do very much enjoy the challenge of this game.

I hope this motivates those of you with these games to get them going - an 8-year-old child was able to bring this game back to life! I am extremely proud of Ava - I'm really surprised that she kept with it all the way to the end. She really understands the game, too. I need to film her giving one of her patented tutorials.

Will do, and I still owe you lots of serial numbers from my collection. Thanks for the reminder!

Hey Ryan, I'm not sure if I answered these questions well in the episode (367), but the cab is actually pretty easy to nudge vs one of the floor length bingo cabs with the hopper installed. I can tell you that the lockbar plays a good role in the ability to nudge and on a bingo, the lockbar is slighter to make up for the difference in weight. In the episode, Ava talks about nudging. She is a person that can gauge from the plunge.

We have it on nickels at the moment. Ava likes putting in money - it'll be up to her if we put it on free play or bring it to a show.

Thank you for following along! It was a fun journey. I intentionally only did the work that Ava could not complete. She's got the makings of a very good technician!

You've got that right!

I also wanted to say a huge public 'thank you' to Dennis Dodel, who sent Ava and I a care package of score and instruction cards, schematics, and manuals to use for the Turf King.

He said, 'keep what you need (of the cards), send the rest back when you're done.'

Thank you very much Dennis. The help was invaluable, as Ava had a lot of fun picking out her favorite set of cards and installing them.

They look great, and like with most things on this project, Ava tried to pick ones with a little bit of patina to complement the rest of the game.

We have quite a lot of fun with the game, and have played it several times together on this busy weekend. She marvels at the instruction cards every time we play. Thank you again, Dennis.

Thanks BlackCatBone - that game is modeled on the Turf King in this thread!

It's a great game. I really like having it in my collection. It's so unique and fast, and the rules are really deep - much more than you would expect for a single shot game.

There's as much or more planning that goes into that shot as goes into a shot on a bingo. At least you know if you flub a bingo shot you generally have more! Not so on the Turf King.