I picked up a non-booting, but cosmetically decent Genie recently. This is my 2nd Genie, which says a lot because I've rarely doubled down on a game.

I'm a little bit worried, because our local PCB genius has been over this game without success (yes, I'm looking at you Brian). ...I'm going to strip/touch-up/clear the playfield. Stay tuned as I mess it up....

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Those were right outa the game. Here's another shot after my high-tech method of running them through the dishwasher. You can also see I've tumbled a few parts while I wait for new supplies to arrive.

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A few more pics of the teardown....

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In the pic above, you can see one of the previous owners hacked up a couple of the connector bundles. Uggg... I should be getting a load of parts this week, including new connectors and pins from GPE - and I splurged on a new PI 1x4 board.

My new PinTisserie™ - Playfield rotisserie from Marco arrived yesterday. How did I ever go this long without one??

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Top of playfield has been stripped of everything except the pop bumpers. Before taking the time to remove them, I decided to go ahead and give it a quick first pass cleaning. Here is a before and after pic:

Before:
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After:
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DISCLAIMER:

Before I get too far along, I want to stress that I am NOT doing a full restoration. I like to think of what I do more as a 'players restoration' - where the game plays and looks as good as new (or better) from the players point of view. That means I'm not too concerned with polishing parts on the underside of the playfield, or repainting the inside of the cabinet. Don't get me wrong, I really admire the guys who have the patience, skill and tools to do all that. ...but I'll leave that to the pro's like HEP (if you have not seen his threads - he is the pinacle of pinball restoration). I'm just a guy doing this in his garage for fun.

With that said, I do try to 'up my game' each time, and with that in mind I spent a little extra for some 2PAC in a can. ...read some good things about it - hope it works out ok.

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Got the pops removed and gave the playfield a final cleaning before laying down the first coat of clear. ...and yeah, the milar rings just came right off - which was nice.

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Thanks Arcane. Yep, that's the plan. This was the 'sealing' coat. I'll lightly sand this layer, then do any paint touch-ups and fill the inserts before the final coats.

And at some point I still need to re-pin all the connectors - not really looking forward to that. ...it's not terrible, just tedious.

1st coat of clear has been sanded, and touch-up work has started.

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Key lines re-painted
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Before the first coar of clear, I cleaned the playfield with Novus 2, then Naptha, and used some Magic Eraser on the ball trails and swirls.

Honestly, I don't feel 100% comfortable giving 'restoration' advice - I'm a hack. For good advice, go read one of Vid's guides, or check out a thread from HEP or Brain f'ing Kelly. Those guys do it right. I take shortcuts...cut corners... have crappy tools and work out of my garage. ...so while I like to think I may inspire someone who isn't an expert to save a machine that's otherwise headed fo the trash, I certainly do not want to hold myself out as an expert in the process. For the most part, I do it for fun. I enjoy trying to do as best I can with what i have.

D'oh! It was Naptha - not Acetone. I used Naptha after the Novus.

...geez - now you see why I'm not 100% comfortable giving advice - that would have been very bad advice. I've fixed my original post.

Probably the day I WASN'T drinking.... that would explain it.

Thanks Jim! I'm always looking for a fun project.

Thank you! Yep, I'm just using the standard Creatix paints - got 'em from Hobby Lobby. It takes a bit of trail and error to get 'em mixed right to match the somewhat faded colors on the playfield.

Yep...that was tough, and honestly I'm not really proud of what I did there. Here are pictures from after all the paint touch-ups, and after the 2nd coat of clear. My plan is to sand down this coat, put on another - sand that down - then apply the final (4th) coat before final sand and polish.

For the upper area that was blown out - the PROPER way to handle that is with frisket mask, airbrush tools, etc. However, I don't have an airbrush, and when I priced a few - seems a decent one runs well over $100. So, being the hack I am, I took a shortcut. I painted the entire yellow area with a fat brush. It took a few coats to cover and even out. I then took 1000 grit sandpaper and sanded it out some to smooth out the brushstrokes. Then...and get ready for the purists to cringe...I used press on letters for the text. Uggg... Well, it came out ok - not something that will pass a close inspection - but better than just leaving as it was IMHO.

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Yikes! ...well, at least the rubbers look ok. Think I'll have to pass on that one.

I decided to let the 2nd coat of clear cure for a bit longer, so started working on re-pinning connectors. It's tedious, but once you get on a roll it goes pretty quick. Snip, strip, crimp, insert - rinse and repeat over and over...

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https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/ Search for 'Edge Connectors' They do not come pre-labeled, I did that with some nifty press on letters from Hobby Lobby.

Well.....crap. I had two cans of clear left, and decided I'd use both to try and slather it on thick and hopefully be done with it. I sanded and cleanded the playfield before applying, but unfortunately, I'm not happy with the results. There wasn't enough clear to completely level the inserts. To make matters worse - on the last can I got some condensation that dripped from the spray nozzle onto the playfield.

Damnit.

I tried to see if I could polish it all out - started with 400 grit to level, then went to 1000, then 1500 and finally 2000 before starting with the rubbing compound, polishing compound, etc. After working on it for a while, I could tell it just wasn't going to come out nice enough to warrant the effort. I don't want to spend another 5+ hours polishing this playfield to a nice, clear shine if the inserts are not completely level, and there are other imperfections. So, I decided to order some more clear. My goal is to get everything level so I can put down a thick enough coat of clear that will not require hours and hours of sanding and polishing to get a smooth clear finish. I've seen it. If I can get everything level and then apply enough clear, I may be able to just let it dry and be done with it.

The good news is that my Pascal PI 1x4 board has arrived. Now I can finish re-pinning all the connectors, and get most everything else cleaned up and ready to go.

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Thanks Brian, but I went ahead and ordered 4 more cans this morning.
...that should be more than enough.

True, but remember, I'm a hack! The only clear I have is in a spray can, so I'm doing the best with what I have. I got 4 more cans, and used two on just the inserts. I sprayed a thick coat, let it dry for about an hour or so, then used the rest of the can on a second layer. This was then sanded down - and the process repeated with the second can. That's where I am right now. You can see I am making progress getting them level - but yeah - not all of them will be 100%. Later today, I plan to sand this down one last time, and use the final two cans for the final coat. If all goes well, I should be putting everything back together in a couple days.

Oh, and my new PI 1x4 board arrived. I HIGHLY recommend it for any Gottlieb system 1 game. Going through the cabinet wiring, I found a couple things that need to be fixed before I try to power it up for the first time. It took me a while, but finally realized the knocker was missing - it's two wires had been cut. Also, some wires in the coindoor need to be repaired.

I'm beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

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I just finished laying down the final coat of clear. It's not perfect, but I think it looks GOOD! ...here's a couple quick preview pics - will post the 'money shot' when it's had a bit more time to set.

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Boom - I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Drinking a Jack 'n Coke - it's a good pinball day.

I need to explore the economics of spending over $150 in spray on clear vs buying some 2PAC to handle the inserts...save me a lot of sanding and wasted clear. I know...should never try to cut corners...

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Thanks! Yeah, I probably will bring it to HAAG.

Thanks guys! I am really happy with how the playfield came out. Of course, it is not perfect. Even with a very flat playfield, you can not expect perfection if you just spray on a thick coat of clear and walk away. HEP, Vid or any of the other pro's would spend hours sanding out any imperfections and polishing to get a perfect glass-like surface. I saved myself many hours of that work by just accepting the minor flaws and imperfections. In my opinion, it is still MUCH better than what I started with.

So I've started to reassmeble the playfield. Before going back on, every part is inspected, cleaned and shined. It's a good opportunity to gap all the switches too. I still have to fix some wiring on the coin door and in the cabinet. I have a new knocker mech coming from Marco - and I ordered all the LED's I will need (to do it tastefully - I'm not a fan of the rainbow LED puke - especially on these older games).

Here's my tally so far:

Base Game: $300
PI 1x4: $400
8 cans 2PAC: $160
Connectors/pins: $25
Knocker/misc $60
LED's $120

Grand total: $1,065 ...or maybe a few $'s more.

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Since you are doing a playfield swap, there is no avoiding all those staples. Sux.... I know. I've done a Firepower, Xenon and Paragon playfield swap. For each of those, being the hack I am, I just removed the staples, unscrewed everything and then moved the entire wire harness, mechs, lamp sockets and ground braid - all in one big clump. No soldering needed for the most part.

....Happy Thursday folks! It's another Jack-n-Coke and Genie night for me. With a couple Alien games thrown in for good measure.

IT IS ALIVE!!!

...just got it to boot up and figured I'd share my happiness. There are lots of switch adjustments that need to be made, one upper flipper isn't working, one pop bumper isn't working, stuck switch scoring random points, etc. BUT IT WORKS!

I was a bit freaked out earlier this week when the first boot failed. Then the new board defaulted to French and that threw me for a bit. I got into the test modes and was happy to see the controlled lights working, but no coils would fire, so the game would not start. I had my DMM out and checked diodes, etc - but it's funny - IT WAS A FUSE! Yeah, I chuckled to myself when I found it. D'oh!

I'll post a few final pics to close this thread once I get it tuned up, cleaned up and put on the backglass. (I have a couple options on a better replacement pending - hope to resolve that soon)...

Thanks for lookin'!

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Ghosting - it's not just for the new Sterns!

...yep - after logging some games, I noticed I was experiencing some 'ghosting' on this insert. I'm going to ping Vid and get some advice on how to best to avoid this on any future projects. I'm open to all suggestions....

The good news is that Genie is playing 100% - only have one bulb out that may need a new socket - everything else is A-OK!

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Thank you sir!!! ...lesson learned - the hard way - which seems to be the only way for me.

I had a few adult beverages and played some games on Genie last night. In addition to the 'rock solid' performance of the new PI 1x4 board, I am really impressed with some of the code improvements.

Attract mode: Normally Genie would sit dark (except the GI) between games. The Pascal board adds a nice sweeping attract mode.

Skill Shot: A random flashing skill shot at the ABCD rollovers, and a neat lightshow if you hit it. The entire machine flashes - including the GI - which it a neat trick for a '79 game.

Ball save: Yep - a nice 6 second ball save (adjustable of course)....very nice to have when game is set to 3 balls.

Display Improvements: Scrolling text, flashing text - audits and adjustments spelled out.

High scores: Saves and allows you to enter initials for the top 5 high scores.

....tons of other enhancements and adjustments. Obviously, I highly recommend this board for Gottlieb System 1 machines.

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Yeah, my heart sank a little when I saw it. But just so there's no confusion - Jar155 has been SUPER cool to deal with in my attempts to get a better backglass for my Genie. We've PM'd...and hopefully FedEx will make it right. It's all good in the 'hood.

EDIT: Jar already refunded my $$, which was above/beyond what I expected. Great guy in my book.

When it comes to glass, I must be cursed. First, the backglass from Jar gets destroyed during shipping. Then, the new playfield glass I ordered from Marco got damaged in shipping. And now, the replacement that Marco shipped out has also been damaged. WTF is FedEx doing!?!?!

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Well, it's about time to wrap up this thread. Genie has been playing rock solid, and last night I was finally able to move her into my office and install the original backglass. You can see why I was looking for a better replacement, but overall it's not too bad. I will probably just live with it 'as is' for now. You can also see why I'm buying new playfield glass (if I can get it delivered with breaking). It'd be dumb to spend all that time repairing and clearing the playfield, only to hide it behind terrribly scratched glass. Anyway, here's a few pics I took after getting it set up last night.

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And it's fun to play too!

GLASS UPDATE:
I was so excited that on the 3rd attempt, FedEx was finally able to get my playfield glass delivered without shattering it. Unfortunately, my excitement was short lived when I opened the box, and realized the glass was the wrong size. D'oh!!

The Gottlieb Widebody glass I ordered should have been 27.5 inches, but the glass delivered was only 24.5. I already spoke with Marco, and they are going to ship out another tomorrow. Will FedEx shatter it? Will it be the correct size? Tune in next week as the glass saga continues!

It is comical. ...a bit frustrating, but nothing more. I'm not out any $$ - it's just time. The folks at Marco have been GREAT - excellent custome service. They told me to just keep the glass that was the wrong size. The correct size is supposed to show up today - fingers crossed it's still in one piece.

FINALLY - my new glass arived last night. It was still in one piece, and the correct size - woohoo! So that's it for this project - I'm done. Genie is playing great, and I had a lot of fun fixin' her up.

Here's a few before/after pictures:

Before:
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After:
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Thanks, it will be there!

UPDATE: While I said it would be available at HAAG Expo, Phil has asked me to volunteer this game for the tournament - so you'll need to enter the tourney to get a chance to play it. I may bring Alien for the open area.

And to officially close out this thread - here's a link to my website where I documented this project:

http://www.bradberryman.com/Pinball_Genie_2017.htm

Enjoy~!