Joined the club today. Totally stoked to cross this one off the wishlist!!

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Definitely. This playfield is in great shape. I already reached out to a few people. Going to grab a few tasteful mods.

First order of business. I ordered a CPR backglass in December in anticipation, so just threw that on with a chrome lift channel from @gatecrasher.

Translite
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CPR mirrored BG with chrome lift channel installed. Much better!

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Just made one of my customary bound manuals. It’s been a while since I was this excited about a game! This thing has some meat to it.

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Rule Set, Manual, Operator Handbook, IPDB printout, Parts Manual and Parts List, Schematics.

Mine actually tags the top right pop and then bounces around a bit before trickling down. I’ve had a clean plunge all the way around the orbit, but it’s only happened once or twice.

Making some progress. Man, this thing was dark and drab!! Crappy colored concave LEDs in the GI that barely lit anything.

Here’s what it looked like:

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Comet cool white GI and inserts done, added trough light and serious PF cleaning. Much better now!!

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Shooter was sluggish, some shots barely made it up the ramp to the Thing kickout. Rebuilt that, and added a trans blue shooter rod in place of the black. Upgraded the cab speaker, made a keychain.

On to cleaning the dirty cab...

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Those are pretty damn cool.

I would say there are most likely at least 16 or 17,000 left in the world that are either in private collections, on location, stored in a warehouse, playable or sitting in grandma’s basement in need of repair.

The game was extremely popular, so I’m sure some got trashed over time and were discarded, some parted out, some Frankensteined together to make one good machine, etc.

In my context just to clarify, I meant how many probably went on location and were trashed by lack of maintenance or upkeep, or sustained physical damage, and eventually trashed or parted out.

Ironically, I always remember I was at a bar in downtown Philly when I was younger, and after a fight erupted, a poor TAF was smashed, PF glass shattered and a leg broken off the cab. I would imagine that game wasn't repaired, given how cheap they were back in the early 2000’s.

I didn’t get into pinball until years later, but in hindsight...I should’ve dragged it out to my car.

You definitely need the diode on there. You should also check the corresponding transistor on the FCB, and check the solder joints / possible shorts or arcing on the circuit.

Some games are finally set back up post renovation!! Most of them have been dismantled since mid April. TAF earns display in the first spot. Man I missed playing this Thing.

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Congrats. It’s a great game. But you absolutely need the magnets working to get the full effect of the modes. Sometimes they grab the ball and throw it SDTM. It’s awesome. Lol

But what the hell was that person thinking with those bulb selections. Holy hell. Get some cool white or sunlight and add a few spots and a trough light.
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Game looks friggin stellar! Nice work.

I was actually debating on throwing some mirror blades in mine. I think they look better than side blades. Brighten the game up. Made a huge difference in my Frankenstein too.

How’s the clearance with the sides and playfield with those installed?

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Definitely. This game is dark enough without modification. I don’t understand how he played it like that. And totally drowns out such awesome artwork.

The colors are definitely more saturated and darker, and I think it looks good and fits the overall mood of the game well.

I do keep the translite handy all set up with trim so I can switch it out…plug and play if the mood strikes. Here’s a comparison shot for you.

Also, on most CPR glasses I use 1/8 trim on the bottom edge as well, then I lightly tap a 3/16 chrome metal lift channel in place over that with a rubber mallet…lightly. Saves you putting tape on a brand new backglass, and it’s nice and snug that way.

A chrome lift channel definitely looks awesome with a real backglass in there. Way better than the crappy plastic lift channel on the translite. Well, especially because I have chrome armor on mine.

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I do the same plug-and-play thing with the CPR glass I have for my BSD, and the alternate translite. Switch it out every month or so.

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Almost all games have a bare bottom and are only painted about halfway to 3/4 down the sides out of the factory. Yours looks like it was resprayed by somebody at some point, and they were just sloppy. The harness clamps don’t have paint on them, so the wires were obviously re-fastened after they did it.

Most people that restore games leave the bottom bare still (or actually fully replace the bottom panel), but paint the sides all the way down. That’s what I do on most.

But if you’re going OG, I would just clean up the bottom or replace, and spray the sides 3/4 of the way down.

My Radical has part of a Bad Cats cabinet in it. When I saw it, I thought it was awesome.

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Stumblor is nice, but not absolutely necessary. ColorDMD alone is great on this game. Color is a definite upgrade.

Same with Pinsound. A great upgrade, and I have it in three other games. But again, not absolutely necessary if you’re trying to save a few bucks. The original audio is stellar on this game.

Powdercoating trim is also a personal choice. You can buff or polish the original armor, or you can certainly spend $300 - $400 to powder it. Black is a good choice, if you go that route. Again, I have other powdered games, but my TAF is chrome.

At minimum, add a spotlight or two, a trough light, and I think the Fester chair mod.

As for price, I don’t know if $13k to $15k will hold steady over time, and I would probably let mine go in the 11 to 12 K range and it’s pretty damn nice. If I were ever inclined to sell it. If you don’t mind shopping and doing upgrades, grabbing one if you can find it for $8 or $9k that needs love would probably be optimal.

Not sure where you’re located, but my game room is always open for people who want to come and check games out before they buy one.

I mistyped pasting from his post.

https://stumblorpinball.com/en-us

I think there are glitches in some of the software. I have an awesome set up in my BSD with Pinsound. Pinsound Plus board, upgraded speakers, subwoofer with direct audio cable, the works. It cuts out once in a while during gameplay. Otherwise pretty reliable.

But with that set up, the audio quality is certainly not the same as original. I have a PSW10 subwoofer on my TAF with upgraded speakers and OEM sound board. Sounds fantastic.

Other than a possible ROM corruption issue or cold solder joint / connector issue, hard to say. If it fully boots, likely something that’s easily fixable.

If it’s really nice aesthetically and a good price, I would take it. If you’re skeptical, toggle through the menus and run a switch, coil and light test while you’re there. See if anything comes up. I would probably do the test run on the Thing mech too. Make sure that’s functioning properly.

That could be a good thing for the condition and price. A lot of them have wear on the scoops. Buy some Cliffys.