The one pictured above that I restored is Semi Gloss White, Semi Gloss Black & then Satin Magenta. It really dries much closer to a semi gloss with a fairly heavy final coat. I've done two of them now & have a 3rd here for resto currently.... they look amazing with the magenta.

Everyone thinks that PB cab was more "pink" but thats just because they all faded very bad. Once you pull the side rails off, that Magenta is the closest color to original you will find in a spray can. If anything it is just SLIGHTLY darker than original.

If you wanna that ultra high gloss non original look to game, just clear coat it when done. Some people like the clear look, some don't. I think its OK on some games & overdone on others. I have cleared several games I have restored, but PB is not one I'd do in clear, unless the owner really really pushed for it. I think PB looks very "tasteful" in Semi gloss & not cleared.

where can I get stencils?

Here is a photo of my repaint. The white is simi-gloss rustoleum that was put on with a gun. The black is gloss rattle can and the pink is magenta satin rattle can.

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Looks perfect!
Did you powder coat the legs?

Yes, the legs are original Bally legs that were Power-coated satin black.

Thought you folks might enjoy seeing this.
I don't own the 1978 game or any of the others, but it was really hard not to acquire this piece of pinball history quite a while ago when the stars aligned.

Here then is a very special 1st Edition of Pinball! by Roger Sharpe.
What's special about it? Read the pictures.
Note: contact information for Mr. Sharpe was redacted for photo.

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Freshly painted cabinet project this weekend for my wife and I!

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Really nice!

That looks amazing, great job and enjoy your project.

nothing like a nice freshly painted cabinet, nice job.

New to Pinside! My Dad used to fix coin-ops all around the Phoenix area in the early 80s, and was able to snag some equipment people no longer wanted. I used to stand on a milk crake and play our Playboy (along with a Williams Flash) all during my childhood. It was definitely a hit in the neighborhood growing up.

Anyway, he passed away in 2008 so I've been wanting to stand these up again. It's in decent shape but I plan on doing some basic restoration or at least deep cleaning. I plan on starting a thread for some advice once it's stood up. It has the original backglass and has no obvious flaws. My dad used to tell me the backglass in definitely the most fragile part and during his time working on coin-op there were instances where they would shatter for no obvious reason just walking them across the shop. Whenever I have to move the unit or remove it from the back box this is always the part I'm most paranoid about. Realistically, how fragile is the original backglass? Obviously i'm not going to mistreat it, but if I'm not being stupid are these things pretty solid? How often do these accidentally break during maintenance?

Sounds like a fun project. Don’t worry about the backglass. They are pretty tough. Just make sure you don’t drop it or bang an edge or else game over. If your backglass edge trim is missing make sure you replace that. It helps protect the edge of the glass. The only other advice I can give you is to be mindful of the silkscreened side of the glass. It does scratch fairly easily.

Super stupid question - which lock is a replacement for the back box lock ? I can’t get mine to fit the backglass lock bar

Just finished My Playboy project with a new cab using solid maple trims and 3/4" bottom maple ply.

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Im contemplating a Playboy with a planked playfield as my first Bally SS game. I did a back check and CPR last ran Playboy in January of 2019 with plans to run more in the future. Anyone here heard rumours as to when another batch is expected? This could be a good candidate for a first playfield swap for me. Not an over abundance of stuff to deal with compared to say a Whirlwind.

That one is available. They aren't silkscreening any more. It is all digital printing now. Just place the order and wait for it to show up.

Its says more on the way and has no option to add to cart

Just send an email. My guess is they are done but going through the clear coat process now. If the photo is up there it is likely being worked.

Anyone put in pink star posts? Im thinking pink posts with white rubbers would look good. If anyone has done clear posts with pink rubbers, id be curious to see what that looks like as well.

Anyone have a source for molded drop targets?. I had to replace mine and am not happy with the quality.

Both sound like great ideas!

Continuing work on my Playboy resto this weekend! Restored the Backbox insert light board, including using Vid's Epoxy trick for filling in the missing light blocks that were gone. The results probably could have been better - the epoxy did not cure well - but it's much better than it was. Getting close to moving down to the main cabinet!

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Is anybody using the alltek light board in their playboy? I intend to use LED's, and I'm not sure where to connect the wire that Alltek says needs connected to the backbox light board? Anyone have a suggestion?

Finally got the Playboy out of storage. Playfield is in great condition except a little wear around the inserts. The worst part by far is around the 5x light. There is quite a bit of ballswirl that I'm hoping to clean. Planning on cleaning and waxing it tonight. Looks like U11 on the sound board is bad so I'm ordering some replacement parts and a few caps. See this thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-playboy-some-sounds-are-quick . I just installed an anyPin as well.

What is the best way to prevent future wear? I'm going to keep a good waxing/ball replacement regiment but anything else? The playfield is in such good condition otherwise I feel like stripping, touch ups, and doing a full clear coat following vid1900's guide is a little overkill. If I can prevent more damage I think I'm satisfied with the condition. Honestly the cabinet is in worse condition than anything else.

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Due too dimpling errors, I shipped CPR a game used PF to Mike @ CPR to help correct the issue. So the process is starting over now to produce a better product.

Really depends on what your plans are for the game. A decent players condition game? If so do the magic eraser/alcohol clean up (plenty of threads on that) to get the ground in dirt out of the artwork. Done plenty and it will clean up a lot of that. Then a Novus 2 clean. Follow that up with several coats of high quality wax (again many threads on wax). Most of that wear in the arch area will come out with magic eraser. Min-wax natural stain gently applied ( I use a Q-tip) will blend in wear in the shooter lane and arch area worn spots.

For those of you who repainted your cabinet with Rustoleum Satin Magenta, did you use the "American Accents" or the "Painters Touch". Doesn't look like there is any difference but I want to make sure.

I used painters touch. Worked awesome, and looks great!

Thanks, your cabinet came out great.

What is the stock flipper rubber color for this game? I've seen red and yellow. I ordered a rubber kit from Marco Specialities and it came with yellow, but it also came with a Bally Playboy sticker/barcode on the bag but a a Stern Playboy rubber instruction sheet inside the bag. Googling images it looks like a lot of both colors, maybe slightly more red.

Per the manual, p/n: R-406-3 red flipper rubber.

I think the flyer shows yellow

Bally playboy, red or black on white flipper bats
Manual specifies red.

You have the wrong kit. Unless you have a stern playboy. Then you have the wrong thread lol.

Right thread, and yeah it looks like they mixed up the kit. I bought 2 kits which came in the same bag and ironically I followed the manual for my machine and at least had enough for one full replacement and it looks like two full replacements. Possible the Stern version has a similar enough rubber set except the flipper color. I'll just order a Bally Playboy kit from someone else when I have to change the rubbers and keep this weird kit as a spare.

Spare rubbers are a plus in my book. I always need them

I'm in the early stages of building an alternate rule set and game modes for the Playboy powered by a lot of the work DickHamill did in this thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/replacing-the-m6800-in-a-stern-mpu100-with-an-arduino/page/3#post-5740886

He's already got alternative rules for Stern Stars now called Stern Stars 2020, and Bally Blackjack 2020. Basically you build an entirely new game ROM on an Arduino and you can pretty much do anything. I'm looking to make Bally Playboy 2020 and make it available.

The Playboy is pretty straightforward as it is. Collect keys, get mega points in the grotto, collect month targets, get extra ball, etc. I'm envisioning a lot more depth, similar to newer games. For example, emulating "lower and upper playfields" by loading and unloading game states. For example, say you get in the grotto. The grotto instead of plain 1k/2k/3k/4k/25k points while captured it clears the entire table, turns the bonus scoring in the bottom of the playfield into a countdown timer ticking down from 40 or 20 or something. Ejects the ball then until the timer runs out points would be multiplied by the number of keys you have at that time... Or something.

Admittedly I don't have much experience playing pinballs other than Bally Playboy and Williams Flash. What objectives or features would be cool for this game? Consider out of the box ideas like using one of the backboard displays to show some other data like a subscore or multiplier or something. Unlimited balls is possible, or sudden death where you have to avoid the pop bumpers or keys or something. I'm planning on taking a close look at the playfield and drafting some new rules in the next few days.

Thinking more about alternate rule sets the drop targets pose a real problem for moving between game states. You can't "set" drop targets, only reset them all to "up". The obvious solution is to make the drop targets a trigger for one of those phase changes. Hit all 5 drop targets as the goal (or part of a goal), reset into a new mini-game mode, then when the mini-game ends, reset the drop targets when you resume the outer/main game.

Here's another interesting example: Getting all 5 drop targets starts a 39sec countdown for invincible mode where draining the ball automatically kicks it back to the shooter lane without losing a ball and pauses the timer until one of the top keys is hit again. If you can get all the months before 39sec is up you are rewarded with the satisfying drop target reset sound and get an extra ball which when played is double points. You could turn the other switches into time extenders so if you're down to 10sec, hit it into the pop bumpers and each pop bumper gives you like 2sec back. Could make for some really fun intense moments where you're down to the clock, shoot it into the bumpers, then you get lucky with a real good flurry of bumpers, see your bottom bonus timer quickly fill and are back to up to 30sec+.

I really like the idea of using the 1-10,20 numbers on the bottom as a timer mechanism with some objective during that time. Month target seems like a good accessible goal which doesn't slow down the game a lot like the top keys can. Maybe something else during that time like hit the center #5 Key target and it starts collecting the other keys. So one strategy could be the normal way of getting the keys, or getting all the drop targets and hitting the #5 Key two times (because you've probably already collected 2-3 keys).

Ok. So i bought the thing with quarters in the Slep Student Union at the Altoona campus of Penn State in the late 70's. It was one of three pins there, and the only one worth playing. It was there the entire two years i was there. Fast forward to 1986 when i visited a coin-op dealer and found the used machine and purchased it for $200.00. Played it for YEARS till the boards started "acting up." For Father's Day this year i got the Alltek package and installed same. The fever has started again....

How's the playfield? Mine came out of the Arizona State University game room. Playfield and back glass are great, but the cabinet is pretty worn. I wonder if the issue is those games don't get much play due to broke college kids? Maybe yours has had a different experience...

Just got my Playboy project up and running for the first time tonight! I'm very jazzed right now - It boots up, register's a coin, and starts a game. Couple things that seem odd though could use some help on

1) Starting a game, the lower left display starts to zero. The credits is a 40. Playing a game I can hear targets register, but no scoring.

and...

2) When getting a ball into the grotto, the ball doesn't kick out. Turning on and off the game the grotto easily kicks the ball out, so it doesn't seem like a coil issue.

Also, does someone have a video of the attract mode on this? My playfield likes seem to be randomizing doing flashing, but doesn't seem very "attract-y"

THANKS!!! I'm very excited to get this project close to functional again.

So when you start a game with more than one player the bottom left stays at zero points when you play that player # and nothing scores? Or nothing scores on all players?

Does that coil fire during a self test? 3X push on the test button. If it does, check the switch contacts, most likely not making contact when a ball is sitting there.

Attract mode should show all the lights in the bonus area lighting from top to bottom, one at a time. Other lights go in order like the bonus X lights.

Uploaded just for you:

Looks like rom might be bad. After starting up again the Mpu self test doesn’t complete. Getting new ROMs and see if that helps.

Hopefully simple grotto switch question - on the leaf switch, there's a center layer, and there's a top and bottom layer (that are always in contact)

When no ball in the grotto, the bottom of the leaf is touching the center later. When the ball is in the grotto, only the tips of the top and bottom layers of the lease switch are touching.

Does that sound "normal" or when the ball is in the grotto should the center layer be touching one of the other leafs?

The shorter stiff centre leaf is there to hold the idle lower leaf position (the lower leaf should be tensioned against it) - the centre leaf isn't there for any electrical contact reason.
The purpose of that short centre leaf is replicated on other playfield switches.

I just got some of the short lane dividers with the Bally logo on them for my Bally Playboy. I had replaced them with some plain generic ones, but will install these soon for more of a "factory" look. Planetary pinball has them in white and red. Got some red ones too for my Strikes and Spares, Mata Hari and Fireball II. I haven't seen these available for a long time.

Game rules question - when should the drop targets reset? Mine all drop fine, and when a game starts if they are down they reset, but I’m not sure when they should be resetting.

Thanks!

Drop targets reset:
- On machine power on
- At the start of every ball
- When all drop targets have dropped
- During solenoid test mode

To my knowledge there are no settings/switches that adjust drop target reset frequency.

Thanks for the heads-up. Those have been out of stock for a long time now.