I bought this project game from Shimoda in June/July 2014. Last night, this phoenix arose from the ashes. I'm pleased to post that it's a living and breathing woodrail again. She's humming, ringing and singing and living a far better life than languishing in a hot attic.

I'm still improving the cosmetic condition of the playfield (e.g. kick-out hole bases and new plastics not yet installed). Also, I'm in the process of touching up the cabinet. Actually, I'm awaiting the arrival of a new repro plastic set, which also includes the turret shooter plastic. The repro backglass is a Gary Conway translite, wedged between 2 sheets of tempered glass.

When the restoration is complete, I plan to post more photos. Meanwhile, my family is enjoying this unusual game with extraordinary Roy Parker art.
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The contact at the top center of the playfield (marked "special") scores the 8 ball and a replay. Landing in a kick-out hole "pocket," when lit, scores multiple replays. The kick-out holes illuminate in random couplets by striking all of the targets.

Thanks to fellow pinsiders for the comments on this ongoing restoration effort. Also, thanks to shimoda for his patience in awaiting my shipper, who rescheduled the pick-up a couple of times. Here's another photo of this nifty game:
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_{Post edited by ZNET: Editing because accidentally inserted the photo twice.}

Well, I have resurrected this old thread to post updated photos of this Bank-A-Ball restoration project. While the game is more complete than when I last posted 3 years ago and, like a phoenix, it has risen from the proverbial ashes of its original state, it requires some cabinet touch-ups. Most importantly, it's functioning at 100% and the gameplay is unlike virtually any other woodrail. In 2016, fellow pinsider, Oldcarz, posted a very nice video of his beautiful Bank-A-Ball, with the help of Pinrescue, as follows:

Last year, a reporter included my game room in a news article. He was enthralled with Bank-A-Ball and featured the backglass in the article, as depicted below. In my opinion, 1950 Gottlieb Bank-A-Ball successfully replicates the feel of billiards gameplay in a way that other billiards/pool themed games do not. It is quite a unique and unpredictable game in my line-up and I'm glad that I undertook this somewhat daunting project.

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