Bank-A-Ball is one of those games truly deserving of its reputation and attraction.

The playfield is tight and reflexive. The theme provides a layer of strategy approachable by any player. The artwork and animation are peak mid-60’s Gottlieb.

This is the kind of game you can build an entire collection around.

2AAA87BF-E68F-4EC7-81B3-A9198E1345DF (resized).jpeg

CCB21948-85FE-466F-9D32-D1C6F3DA6EB3 (resized).jpeg

3D299AC7-2C92-4DA9-9C68-16FC2BC066A6 (resized).jpeg

I have a populate playfield for this game.
What would I need to build a game around it? I.e. other cabinets and heads that could be used to build one up.

Thats pretty tough. You need the head and the ball mech. without that no game.

I love Bank a Ball, fast flowing game and good to play. But wasn't the release Pleasure Isle held back ( that too had side return lanes) to get BaB out first to market? I guess it made more sense to release the single player as it might have had a larger audience?

Do owners of "Flipper Pool" get to join the club?

Love the manual ball lift. You can also go multi ball if you feel like it.

In that photo, are you missing that wing nut, or did you just take it off for the photo? I have 2 wing nuts on either side of that rack that hold the plastic ball rack in place, and even with the wing nuts as tight as I can get them, they would still eventually loosen and the mech would fall. I used eye hooks and piano wire to make a hanger of sorts that holds the swinging part of it up - haven't had it loosen since. I wonder if the wire was an attempt at something like that - a support. That rack does take a beating from being reset often. In any case, it doesn't look factory.

And does "Bank A Ball" have 5 balls in it? "Flipper Pool" only has one ball in the machine....so no multiball for me.

flipper pool (resized).jpg

I’ve ended up with two of these machines. Count me in twice.

You put in 3 or 5 balls according to how you setup the game.

If any body bought a new set of plastics and has a good left sling left -or- happens to have an extra left sling I can use one

E9FE0ED0-C121-400A-A9C7-BE6460FEA747 (resized).jpeg

you are missing a wing nut, looks like the wire was used as a retention method... you do need to get a replacement wing nut. Home Depot should have this

If anyone is temped to repaint Ive got a pretty good match on the colors/webbing

20161112_164803_resized (resized).jpg

20170514_182518_resized (resized).jpg

PaintMatch (resized).JPG

pasted_image (resized).png

You definitely need the wing nuts, but in addition I needed another sort of support for it as those wing nuts worked their way loose eventually, no matter how tight I made them. Maybe a lock washer under the wing nut would work...that would be simpler than what I did! *laugh*

Nylon insert locknut if you really want to fix it.

Yeah, nylon locknut will probably do it. I'm a piano tuner, so I have tons of piano wire laying around....just used what I had.

Thanks for including the Flipper Pool crowd. Love the guy chalking up on these games.

E5BE0D2E-D591-41B7-ACBA-EF1840B19D24 (resized).jpeg

Agreed, great artwork. I'd get a drop of IPA and a magic sponge on that playfield though

I love that you could be cool back in the '60s with blue hair, horn-rimmed glasses, a suit that matched your hair and a tie!

It was my first machine, and they say you always remember your first. The art's a bit different from Bank-A-Ball, isn't it?
fp1 (resized).jpg
fp2 (resized).jpg
I wanted to play with the colors a little, so I went with green and yellow rubbers, had a friend powdercoat the center of the lockdown bar a nice metallic green, and of course, a fun shooter rod:
fp3 (resized).jpg
fp4 (resized).jpg
Since it was my first machine, I learned to make my shots on the fly - wasn't trying to catch the ball on those 2" flippers. It's a good skill to have.

Wow, I never thought of using an India Pale Ale to clean a playfield
One drink for me, one drop for the playfield; repeat. I'll have to be careful not to overdo the ME.

Happy Holidaze!

Lee, you must have missed cold one I had sitting on the Bucanneer in my first pic. I try to keep it below 6%ABV or it starts to lift the clear.

Dan, LOL, I totally missed that in your photo. I was looking at the BaB. When are you going to try your hand at repainting that cabinet

Man, you got a lot of dirt off that thing - good for you - looks beautiful! There are a few differences in the artwork due to the change in rules between the machines...it's interesting to have a good look at your playfield. I do like the "Mystery Score" lanes on the right and left on the AAB version - you get a random score between 100-500 when you go through the lit lane. When the lane is unlit, you get 50 pts, like everything else on the pf.

I did not grow up with AAB machines, well, with any pinball machines, in fact. I grew playing video games and only got into pinball 3 years ago - but the bug bit me pretty hard. I had to own a machine (I have 5 now) and the first one was Flipper Pool, so I played the hell out of it. I didn't even know catching balls on flippers was a thing until I got a machine with 3" flippers. *laugh*

I've never used Blitz before for cleaning a pf....you like it? Did you use magic eraser with it, or something else?

I just got one of my BAB working and I have some questions:

1) Are the top rollovers that have two balls supposed to register both on one pass or is there setting to split them so you have to go through twice for both

2) Once you get ‘special’ to appear it remains until you max out the credit wheel. Is this correct? And if it is already maxed the special doesn’t come on? Is a there a way to score points for the special instead(I assume that would be a hack)

Mike V

Indeed! I gotta get the guts to do it, though. I’ve read about folks taking off paint with the ball swirls when using that combo.

...then again if one IPA is poured into me, while the other IPA is poured onto ME then everything will probably work out fine so long as the right IPA goes with the right me...

Bank A Ball was one of my first machines in a package decal with a 61 Showboat.

I got them fairly cheap however did not know the conditions of either being as there was more weight in dust than the machines weighed.

I knew buying the both back glasses were toast but no idea about the play field.

As it turned out both cleaned up very decent and with new glasses looks decent.

My Back A Ball has seen its days, probably at a bar, so the cabinet isn’t perfect but has “character”.

I will past a picture soon.

Fun game over all, especially being over 50 years old!

I'll join the club.

DSCN2515 (resized).JPG

DSCN1542 (resized).JPG

Vic, how'd you even find it in all those machines?? Geez, I want to visit you...

Fever - yes, I've used Blitz wax too - good stuff. Thought maybe they made a cleaner too. Lately, for waxing, I've been used this S100 stuff that I like...comes off easily and doesn't leave any powdery residue.

Single players, wedgeheads especially, will create an awesome collection.

From a 5 ball setup (dont know if it holds true on 3 ball)

1) Yes, one pass thru should score both balls. There are two switches stacked under those rollers, one for each ball. One switch might be dirty or need adjusting.

2) Special remains lit until the game ends and you can rack up credits. Im guessing if the credit unit is maxed, the special remains lit but you don't get credits and might not even get knocks. I'm never burdened with a max credit unit

Yeah, dont mix the two up

Someday! Seems like a good project but I’ve got too many of those right now!

My Bank-A-Ball

Everything works 100%. New back glass from Ron Webb which mad the machine look 100% better.

Due for a good cleaning though.

As I said earlier cabinet is a little rough in spots but completely solid.

Picked it up for $250, but have probably over $600 into it with the back glass and normal wear parts.

Fun game!

47C2788F-AF56-4152-B2BF-6B9AA9A62AE6 (resized).jpeg

Oh, and I forgot to ask, as you can see my start button is missing.

Any wedge head I seen had metal start button, mine had a wooden button that finally broke, it looked home made but wasn’t sure.

Oooh...pretty! I'm going to print one out and see what it looks like in the machine. I'll post a pic when I do. Thanks for that!

Here is some paperwork I found in my package. There is a ring chart too.

479CC0DB-4FD3-45CB-8CF6-CAAF9C41F572 (resized).jpeg

95447ACE-C391-4070-AAFE-6AD3D7C95F2B (resized).jpeg

B76E6C8E-9331-4AB3-BE26-CA8ED3787C6F (resized).jpeg

I was looking at that rubber ring chart - I think they must have stretched a 3" rubber around that center island. Man, that would be tight! I used a 4" Titan there and that felt good to me. For what it's worth...

It's not always best to go by the ring chart. It's good have every size in stock for custom fit.