The history of my Pinball Frontier began exactly a couple of years ago.
There was a very big construction in our back yard, out of which we built a grill gazebo or backyard cottage. It was finished by the end of 2013. After having it furnished, I saw there was an empty space where nothing important would be included.
It came to my mind that getting a Pinball to put there would be fine and fun, since during my adolescence in Durazno, my hometown ( 180 km from Montevideo, where I live now) I used to spend long hours playing pinball with my friends and the Frontier was my favorite.
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In April 2014 I got Fernando´s telephone, another Pinball fan, whom I had never got to know before.
I called him, and he told me he had 2 pinballs, the Xenon and the Lethal Weapon.
I told him I wanted to buy one, but specially a Frontier. He said that he did not know it, and had no idea of where I could get one here in Uruguay.
Fernando and I had been virtual friends for two months, we had never met before. Two weeks after our first chat, he sends me the photograph of a Frontier, which belonged to a merchandiser called Richard, who, by chance while having a conversation, told him that he had a pinball and that he would be interested in selling it, therefore, he sent Fernando a photograph.
Then I called Richard and went to see his pinball. I could not believe my eyes when I saw it: the Frontier was in front of me…!!! Nevertheless, it was not all good news, the left flipper hardly had any power, any strength at all, only two displays worked at a minimum, for several segments of the numbers were burnt, the playfield was peeling everywhere and the backglass would not exist, it was just a horrible translite and the cabinet was painted blue!!!
I was so excited that said to my wife: •
“It´s nice, isn´t it?” and she said: “No, it´s not nice, it´s awful, and think it over…
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Through Fernando, Richard knew that I was very interested in the Frontier and would tell me that it was in a very good condition (…) and, just putting a few pence on, I would have it impeccable, like new. He asked for it
the amount of US$2500.-!!!
I wanted it, but realized it was in such bad a condition that it was not worth that money!!! With great sorrow, I left it aside; then I bought a Tri Zone (Williams), recently full restored by Leonardo, a guy I met through the Internet, in a similar place to e-Bay.
We became friends and kept in touch.
A few months later he was given a Batman (Data East) to restore, for the owner needed the money to pay some debts. Leonardo told me this, and as I had some more room in my BBQ, for I had the TriZone and a MsPacMan video, and it was in good condition and cheap, I finally bought it.
The Batman was great fun, but my mind went on thinking of the Frontier.
In the meanwhile, I kept on looking for one among the few people who might have a pinball here in Uruguay and found one person in Maldonado city ( 130 km from Montevideo) who has a full cabinet of a Frontier, painted brown, all its cables and legs cut with the purpose of making a drawing-room table!! Besides it had an awful backglass, only the glass and no backbox at all and, of course, no boards of any kind!! He asked U$500.-, but I bought it for U$300, and I brought it home with me.
I bought it just in case I could get a complete one some day, and this one could be good as a donor.
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In February 2015, I contact Daniel, the person who has more pinballs in Uruguay. He has over 70 machines, but they are all from the 1990´s and not from the 1980´s, the ones I prefer.
One day, talking about the subject, I tell him that I have a Batman which he had been looking for from long ago, because despite he had a lot of pinballs, he did not have the Batman, and wanted it as much as I wanted the Frontier!!
He told me that he knew only one Frontier that he had repaired some time before, but that it was in a terribly bad condition, and know what??? Unbelievable, it was Richard´s…!!! Then I told him that if he could get the Frontier for me, I would exchange the Batman for him. And he says: “Really?” and I say: “Yes”.
Two or three weeks later, Daniel calls me and says that now the only Frontier in Uruguay is Richard´s but he is rather reluctant to sell it!!! Then I asked Daniel to make an effort to get it, and not to tell Richard it was for me, remember he knew I was very interested in it, but I did not want him to rise, or at least, leave the same high price he had asked me for at the beginning, and that I would give it to Leonardo for him to restore it.
In August 2015, after four months negotiating with Richard, Daniel can get it for U$1600.-
Daniel gives it to me together with some stuff like displays module, tilt panel, head box locking bar, etc., and took it to Leonardo´s in Santa Lucía, his hometown, 60 km from Montevideo. (Remember, Uruguay is a rather small country where distances of two hundred km are longer than in big countries...)
I told Leonardo that I had got it, and now he could repair it patiently, there was no hurry, he could take his time to fix it, in a way that its finishes were perfect and looked brand new when it was ready.
What mostly worried him was the playfield, it was in a really bad condition: the bear under the flippers lacked half their face; the snakes by the slingshots were nearly all erased; in the upper part, where the wolves are, there was a groove from where the ball went out, and a lot of other details to repair.
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In the meanwhile, my father-in-law, Dardo, insisted in the fact that he owed me a birthday present and that he would like to give me something I was in need of. There, it occurred to me, as he is a cartoonist and painter, he could give me the restoration of the playfield, and he accepted!!! He did it in two weeks, and, for my taste, it was perfect!!!

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Leo varnished the restored playfield, repaired and fixed all the electronic elements, chose the best plastics of the 2 playfields, restored the apron, painted the legs and the cabinet. He polished the steels and restored the coin door, now it is coin-operated , I did not want it for free, I wanted to feel the same sensation of putting a coin in the slot as when I was a teenager.
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But the backglass, oh dear, it looked impossible to restore!!! You could never get one in Uruguay, so the only chance I had was printing a translite.
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I found a good image in the Internet (16MB). But the problem was that, being a jpg file, when we passed it to Adobe Photoshop, we saw that the meassures and distances of the different displays would not coincide with the displays module of the backbox!!! Then I had another bright idea... I asked Gaston, a graffic designer, to erase the displays black spaces of the image we had and paint the image that would supposedly be in that place. So he did. He painted "Kenny Rogers´s" hat and coat in the first and third display, he drew the feather and the natives, and the native´s drawings in the second display and more drawings in the fourth display and also erased the displays of "Credit" and "Ball in Play" by the moon. It worked, actually he is an artist of Graffic Design. Then we printed the image in translite and put it on the original blackglass where we could copy the exact place where the displays had to be and also the masked words like Tilt, Game Over, Shoot Again, etc., for them to coincide with their back box lights.

After correctly mark the different places, we cut the translite with a utility knife and it was absolutely perfect!!
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After six months of hard work by Leo, Dardo and Gastón and lots of hours I spent browsing in the Internet, one day by the end of February 2016 the Frontier landed in my house without previous notice!!! There she was!!!
Game Over…, or rather the game begins, the hunting is over, I´ve got her at home !!!

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And last but not least, I would like to thank these persons who in one way or another, managed to do it possible for me to have my beloved Frontier well restored:
- Fernando, who gave me the contact of Richard, who had the only Frontier in Uruguay
- Daniel, who negotiated Richard´s Frontier for at least four months, bought it and exchanged it to me by the Batman
-Dardo, who restored the Playfield
-Gastón, who designed and made the final image of the Backglass
-Leonardo, who made the restoration of the Frontier

Besides, I want to thank two Pinside Members:
- The_Director, who sent me an excellent image of the playfield with which Dardo could paint all its details.
- Winston (wtuttle), a Pinside Member who contacted me and came and visited Uruguay, after which, we became very good friends. He sent me the Rubber Ring Kit and the plastics inserts for the coin door, (things you would never find in Uruguay).

I also want to tell you that I have been lucky enough to get in touch with Greg Freres, such an important person in the world of Pinball and of course in Bally Pinball, who was very kind to promptly answer my questions

Thanks all of you

Hi Winston !! thank you for your kind words, you are always welcome with us
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Thank you very much for your kind comments. I hope you enjoyed !!

Hi Scott , thanks a lot for your helps !!

Thanks a lot, I´m glad you like it !!

Thank you very much , you are also doing a great job !!. Newly I sent you a post

Thanks a lot for your comments !!, I saw that you have a Frontier in your wish list, I hope you find one , as you say with " patience and persistente" the things come. Good luck !!

Thank you for reading !!

Thanks a lot for your words Mike.
It is as they say around here : " no need to know, but have the telephone number of who knows !!! "
I'm glad you liked it !! Pablo

I leave the link of winston history in uruguay

https://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/wtuttle/stories/pinball-at-the-ends-of-the-earthor-in-this-case-uruguay
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I was sent the original Pinball Frontier manual from The Netherlands.
I know I could found in PDF in the web, but I prefered the original one.
Thanks Jonathan !! (Editor from Pinball Magazine)
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Thank you very much to you for your help, I'm glad you liked it . Right now the crickets are singing or screaming ( I do not know how to say !! )

Thanks Captive_Ball !! You are right, but my family disagrees with you, they say that the crikets only scream !! HaHa

Thanks for your words, I´m glad you like it !!

Hi, I'm back to tell you an anecdote that happened to me a few months ago on my birthday.
Called me Leo, remember him who restored my frontier, to greet me for my birthday which was in May.
During the conversation he asked me if I could do him a favor, and I said of course, what do you need ?
I need you to look something inside the frontier, that i need.
Perfect, I'm going… I put the phone in speaker , I said.
Lift the playfield and try to remove 2 screws that hold a small carpet
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And I did it , and look what appeared
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A small package with a sign that said “ sorpresa” (it translates "surprise")
Then I open it and find a birthday present that he has placed in February before handing me the frontier !!
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And look what it was, 2 coin dispenser !!, One for my frontier and one for my tri zone.
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It was kept for four months in my frontier and I unknowingly.
The truth is that for me it was amazing and very exciting.
I love the sound of the coin when I put it before playing , it´s a magic sound, and that is why I don't like pinball with “free play”.
And Leo knew it.
I just wanted to share it with all of you.
If you want you can leave your comments.

Muchas gracias por tus comentarios dejavu_pin !! Quedó realmente hermosa y con lo dificil que fue conseguirla, yo ya sé que se quedará conmigo para siempre !!!
Te comento a tí y al resto de los pinsiders que voy a escribir aquí , en éste topic, otra cosa muy curiosa y sorprendente que me sucedió. Quiero escribirlo correctamente en inglés así que lo voy a hacer en unos días. Saludos

In English for all of you :
"Thank you very much for your comments dejavu_pin !! My frontier is really beautiful and with how difficult it was to get it, I already know that she will stay with me forever !!!
I tell you and the rest of the pinsiders that I'm going to write here, in this topic, another very curious and surprising thing that happened to me with my frontier. I want to write it correctly in English, so I will do it in a few days. Regards "

Hi all !!
Some say that second parts, never were good, but I think this is not the case, since, what happened to me, is hard to believe.
This part of the story began many years ago, even before buying my Frontier.
You must remember, as I said at the beginning of this subject, I was looking for a Pinball Frontier everywhere, and could not find it.
I also looked for it in Argentina, (bordering country with mine, since there is more offer of pinballs than in Uruguay).
I also looked for it in Mercado Libre (it is the same as ebay in this part of the world). In the search, I only found the Frontier Backglass, which seemed in real good state, but it was nonsense, since I did not have the Frontier yet.
After a few weeks, I saw that the publication in Mercado Libre had finished but the backglass had not been sold.
The publication never appeared again, nor could I find any publication of the same user.
Luckily, as I said in the restauration story, a few months later, I found the Frontier and bought it.
As you might remember, the backglass of the one I bought, was in very bad condition, and Gastón, my Graphic Designer made a translite, which, for me, was absolutely perfect. But, I always kept the idea of having the original, in mind, and, just for the sake of my own entertainment, I continued to search for it, and, suddenly, remembered the Argentinian issue. Since it was not published, there came to my mind a good idea to discover the publisher.
As you know these Internet selling sites, are just for selling, they do not allow to publish for buying, in which case, they eliminate them immediately, for the software detects key words. Then I made a small trap, in the add, I wrote: "C©mpr0 backglass pinball de los 80" (translated: I buy backglass pinball of the 80´s) I put that symbol (©) and a cero at the end instead of the “o”, in order the software could not detect the word “buy”, and it worked.
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In the text, I did not want to emphasize the Frontier in order the price would not go too high if they realized my predilection, so I wrote: “Interested only in backglass of the 80´s, among which there may be some interest in:
Xenon
Flight 2000
Frontier
Flash
Flash Gordon
Skateball
The price will depend on the title and the condition it is in”.
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A few hours later (the fish bites the hook), he asked me, “How much would you pay?”
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I recongnized him for his user name and the city he was from. I made myself as uninterested and answered “That depends on which one you have and the condition it is in”, to what he said “I have several, Flight 2000, Frontier, Scorpion among others”.” Ok I said, press buy and you will see my data and then we talk”. I do not know why, he never contacted me again, and I had no way how to contact him. Imagine how I felt knowing that there was a Frontier backglass in this far corner of the world waiting for an owner and I could not locate him.
It was then, when it occurred to me to write to an Argentinian friend (Martin), whom I had met in a trip I did with my family to Mar del Plata.
I, then, thought, that the story could be similar to that of my country, we are not many people who like pinballs and we all know each other, that is why I thought that my friend might know him. Mar del Plata is a town of 600.000 inhabitants at around 250 miles South of Buenos Aires.
All I knew about the seller, was his first name, Oscar, that he was from Mar del Plata City in Argentina and in his Mercado Libre history, he had sold lots of pinballs and parts of them.
Then I emailed my friend telling him about my search and he said he did not know him, but that he would ask some friends. Two hours later, he calls me saying that a friend of his knows this man, Oscar, and gave him the contact. I told him to go on with the negotiation by himself and to keep me informed. A few moments later, he told me that he talked to him and that he had the Frontier backglass and other backglasses too and that he would go to his house the following weekend.
By then, I was happy that the first part of the search was over, I only had to wait a bit more.
But, one of the best parts of the story comes next. My friend said that he knew that I was looking for it everywhere, therefore, he would give it to me as a present!!! The reason of this, is that my friend had interest in three of the backglasses, then he made an offer for all of them (five), the seller accepted, and the price was much more reasonable, that is why, he gave me the Frontier one.
I only had to pay the delivery home. You might fancy my happiness and how much I thanked him!!!
Then, here begins the second part of the story. I had to find out how to bring it to my country, since, though it is a bordering country with mine, the distance from that city to Uruguay was 620 miles and many times, it is not easy to go past through customs, mainly such a big pakage as it would be. There was high risk of loosing it at the customs or that the glass broke. It was then, that I began to think of friends who lived next to the border line Uruguay/Argentina. Then, one day, at the hospital, I am a doctor, I asked a friend who lives at the border next to Argentina, and he told me that he actualy crosses there (a town named Colon) every Tuesday to opperate on patients and that he had no problem in bringing it through the customs and then to my house in Montevideo.
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Then I called Martin, and told him about this. He had to send it to Colon Agency, under the name of Gabriel who would withdraw it.
The best day to send it, would be a Monday, for Gabriel would withdraw it on Tuesday when he goes to the hospital in Colon, and that way, we avoided it to be there for long in order the glass would not break.
Then Gabriel told me, that, to his surprise, the customs officer was a patient of his (here in Uruguay, we are few people, and, mainly in countryside towns, nearly most of us know each other). Gabriel is an Urologist, and you know, what they do with the finger after we have passed our fourties, we must be nice to them and never get them angry !! Haha. Then he tells me the dialogue with the customs officer was more or less like this:
Customs Officer: Hi Doctor, how are you?
Gabriel: Fine thank you! I am going to the hospital and my wife and daughter are coming with me and will buy a few things, is there any problem?
C.O.: No problem, doctor, I am here until 10.00 p.m. No worries.
Then he goes to the hospital, and after his work, goes to the agency for the backglass.
At 9.00 p.m. he is at the customs, and the C.O. says, “Go ahead, doctor, and have a good night”. And no-one checked his car.
When he arrived home, he called me and said that it is perfectly packed. I asked him if he did not hear sounds of broken glasses and he said “Noooo, it is fine”. And the folllowing day he brought it to my home in perfect condition.
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In the first two photos it is seen with nylon protector

And this is the end of my odyssey in the search for my Frontier´s backglass.
Now, in spite of having the original backglass, a moral dilema comes up: after so many hours of work, endeavour, dedication and enthusiasm of Gaston making the graphic design of the translite, and of Leo working in the final details of it, I feel pitty changing it for the original, it lookes as if I were experiencing kind of contempt for their more than excellent work.
That is why I left the translite and have the original very well packed in a safe place, you never know…
Here I leave you the photos of both of them placed.
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The end of this story was a few months ago, and although I had already told it to my family and friends, I just wanted to share it with all of you
Please, send me suggestions and comments on this story and what you would do in my place.
Cheers, Pablo

Yes !! , it was like an intelligence operation, haha , all this just for a backglass !! Cheers

Yes, I agree with you, and that's why I prefer the translite. Absolutely true , both have great stories behind them and that's why it was a pleasure to share it with all of you. Thank you very much for reading it.