Another bear rug "do-it-yourselfer", I see.... Well done!

Beats the hell out of paying $60 for that thing, doesn't it?

(BTW, that last picture in your post is from my machine and my thread on the how-to.)

What did you use for the white paint? Anything special or different?

Well done! Looks great. Did you do the "metal" bits in a bronze color?

What did you do for movies? Set dec? Matte paintings? I've seen some concept drawings, sets, and set pieces firsthand from some of my favorite shows over the years and I've always been enthralled with what I've seen. Such a cool, massively overlooked skill.

Perhaps Rick at PPS could work on getting a 25th Anniversary TAF 2.0 version made with the movie audio like that one has. I wouldn't do it identical to that FP version, but there's a lot there that is way better than the original.

Thanks for the tip! I'll keep this in mind when I go to install the swamp set in mine.

If you mean $2500USD that's a good deal. If you mean $2500NZ that's a great deal! In the end, the blown out chair hole, and other playfield stuff won't largely affect play. Clean the heck out of it, get it running 100% and you'll be so friggin' happy with the whole deal, trust me.

Well done!

From what I remember when I did mine, the ramp needs to be removed, but not completely. I think I was able to leave the wiring attached. But don't quote me on that.

Take it all the way out and use it as an opportunity to clean the crap out of it!

Gomez actually says that. He also says, "It has to warm up........So it can kill you!!"

As far as I know, the only two voice actors from the movie that are in the game are Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston.

No no, you're partially right. In the movie, Wednesday says the "It has to warm up..." line. But in the game, Gomez says it.

Plus, I would imagine if they used any of the other actors from the movie, they would have given them a "Special Thanks To" credit as well. Actors are EXTREMELY finicky about that kind of stuff.

That being said, no one is credited for Cousin It's "sounds". That probably was one of the B/W employees at the time, with some digital processing I'm sure.

I never said this. Also, you're using Raul Julia and Gomez as separate entities, I'm not, simply because we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Mr. Julia specifically recites lines for the pinball machine that were actually said by other characters in the movie.

And that's why I clarified my earlier point to be that of: "If they used other actors from the movie". Obviously, they could've used other voice actors overall(as they did with Cousin It). But to use Christina Ricci or Christopher Lloyd, probably would've entailed them receiving proper crediting. Most Hollywood types demand such things, along with a fat paycheck to use their voices and likenesses. Hell, Christopher Lloyd wouldn't even give his consent to his image being portrayed on the backglass for TAF in digital form for Farsight's The Pinball Arcade version of the game! (I don't know if this had been resolved yet or not.)

As for the line attribution to, or not to, a specific character played by anyone other than Mr. Julia, it doesn't really matter. Precedent has been set by Mr. Julia reciting the lines originally said by himself AND other characters in the movie, but now specifically and only for the pinball machine. Furthermore, outside of the character of Cousin It, no other male voice that either reacts to an action or gives an instruction or report of gameplay ("Well played Thing...", "Get the extra ball...", "Out to the cemetery...", "The Mamushka", etc.) or any other intelligible speech, is so markedly different from that of Mr. Julia's own voice that it can be logically inferred that it is not his. Additionally, I would put forth that the very cadence of how the voice actor in question physically says, "It's not plugged in yet" is evidence enough, given his manner of speech in the movie upon which this pin is based, that the voice actor for that line is Mr. Julia.

We know from his many callouts in the game that the volume and pitch of his voice changes depending on the type of action relative to specific instances of gameplay at any given time. We can safely assume that since essentially nothing is happening when the chair is reached when the light is off and no mansion award is set to be given, that his mood is very light and non-consequential, thus the very flippant way he delivers the line in question. Whether or not it is meant to portray that of another character, we may never know since Mr. Julia is no longer alive. But we do know that he did not imitate any other characters from the movie when he usurped their movie-specific lines for use in the pinball game.

I, too, like to argue.

As for the "It has to warm up..." line, it's when you start the second multiball from the chair. Standard ROMs have this, too.

Hey, those look familiar!

I also did this version of that one where the letters were grey.

TAFM351-D.jpg

Still pretty much just a $2 pencil sharpener with some strangely placed LED's. Makes it look like some kind of a weird TARDIS. And don't even get me started on all the spelling and grammatical errors in the description!

What'll impress me is if the safe's door were to open when the bookcase opens. Then there's something to talk about!

You ain't kiddin' jack! What could possibly be the reason for charging so much?

I'll be generous on my estimates here:

Rug: $10 -eBay
Plastic dye/paint: $10 -hardware store
Green Micro LEDs $8 -on Amazon
Double sided tape: $6 -hardware store(I used Velcro for mine, less permanent and easily removable)
Stainless bracket: $20 -metal fab shop(more likely way less, I'm just over-estimating again)
Alligator clip leads: $5 -for a 10pk most anywhere

So what is that? $59? On the high side?

I'm sorry, that kind of mark-up is just ridiculous. For $165, that thing better get up and dance everytime I hit that ramp.

There are also people who have the money to buy it who are unable or unwilling to buy the parts to make it themselves, let alone know what the parts actually are or really cost. They probably just make them as they're ordered, too. There is also the fact that they're pretty much the only ones selling that mod. So if someone has the ability to buy a $5k+ amusement machine and wants to add extra trinkets to it, but isn't a tinkerer in the least, they look at that and think "Oh well, it's what other people have on their machines and this is the only place to buy it." It also probably helps that they might be buying up all the Playmobil bear rugs that show up on eBay. It's what I'd do if I were selling that mod. There are lots of possible factors as to why it's so much. We could postulate endlessly, but the simple fact remains, the price too damn high for an under $10 kids toy(that was part of a larger playset that probably sold for less than $20 for the whole set).

But….that's why we're here. Pinside. We help those that want to make this stuff for themselves and save oodles of cash doing it. Heck, between all of vid1900 and LTG's posts alone, I'll bet a newbie could practically restore a pin with very little outside help. (Not really, but damn close!)

Case in point, here are two on eBay right now for about $10 shipped. Get 'em while they're hot:

ebay.com link: Playmobil Bear Rug Western Indian Hunting Animal Fur Excellent Condition
ebay.com link: Playmobil 3157 3274 3659 3870 3877 Bear Skin Rug Indian Castle Miniature

And here's my thread showing how I made mine, with pics:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-cheapo-taf-bear-rug-mod-1

Other folks made theirs nice than mine, too!

I did. I think I sold my extra one for under $20 to a fellow Pinsider.

Yup. And I have no problem with that whatsoever!

In fact, I hope to get to that level in life, myself. Nah, who am I kidding. I'm too good with my hands just to leave them idle.

That train mod also starts with a $3 part. It's just a repurposed pencil sharpener. Most mods for TAF and TZ are all just pencil sharpeners with some LEDs thrown in them:

Train is on the far left on this one:
ebay.com link: 5 Vintage Die Cast Miniature Pencil Sharpeners w box

Here's the telephone:
ebay.com link: Antique Telephone Die Cast Metal Collectible Pencil Sharpener

Here's the "vault":
ebay.com link: Antique Safe Die Cast Metal Collectible Pencil Sharpener

Here's TZ's slot machine(and the reels spin on this one, too):
ebay.com link: Vintage Play Me Slot Machine Pencil Sharpener Die Cast 980

That train is really nice, and it matches the one on the playfield and the one in the DMD animation really well:
On the playfield
In the animation

But the one in the movie is this one:
Screengrab from the movie

Which you can see on Amazon here(also available on eBay):
http://www.amazon.com/Lionel-Locomotive-Hallmark-Keepsake-Ornament/dp/B000K80HWI/ref=pd_sim_201_3

Looks like all you'd have to do is remove the chrome piping and it's done.

Now the dilemma is, do you match the playfield or the movie? Both are technically correct in their own way.

(I vote for matching the playfield.)

With most TAF's, there is enough play in the factory drilled mounting holes for that whole scoop assembly to where all you need to do is loosen the screws, twist the assembly in the direction you want it to go, and hold it there while you tighten it back down. That's what I've done on mine, anyway.

Could be just an intermittent thing. My suggestion would be to clean the optos. Easy place to start.

A q-tip with some 91%(or higher) isopropyl alcohol usually does the trick.

It's in the manual, which you can download from IPDB, if you don't have a physical copy. Just google "IPDB TAF".

Here's a pic from the page it's on:

Screen_Shot_2016-05-27_at_4.34.57_PM_(resized).png

The optos are on the board labeled "C".

I've played the gold roms a number of times at shows but my machine has the regular roms in it and always will. The gold roms just seem like a bunch of added fluff, and points, to me.

JMHO, YMMV.

I haven't really looked it up yet, but I'll ask here in case anybody knows off the top of their head:

Is there a definite or factory correct color arrangement/order to the pop bumpers?

I know on other titles like TZ, they belong in a certain order, but since the pops have nothing to do with the skill shot on TAF, I don't have a reference point. I ask because when I go to rebuild the pops, I've got matching skirt colors to go with them that I'm thinking of using. I'd hate to have one or more colors out of order!

Looks like my red and blue are switched, then.

Can anyone else confirm this arrangement?

You guys realize the price he's paying is in British Pounds, right? £4K = roughly $5300. Granted that TAF in the pictures looks pretty nice, but seeing it in person will make all the difference in the world. The seller might be one of those scammers like we've got here in the states who use googled images in the ad and actually have a piece of junk.

I'm not saying to not go look at it and/or to not go buy it, I'm just saying to pump the brakes a bit and take it slow. Don't get in a mad rush and make a hasty decision. Educate yourself as much as possible on the problem areas TAF has, how much they cost to fix(parts and labor time), and what to look for when you go look at it. Then, look at what TAF's sell for in private transactions in and around the Manchester and Sheffield areas. Retailers here in the colonies mark up their used TAF's to as much as $10k or more, if they think they've got something really nice. But TAF's rarely go for that much in private sales, unless it's a TAFG in really good nick. A retailer on ebay lists machines for $9k all the time that would sell for literally half that in a private sale here on Pinside.

All that to say this: Arm yourself with information. It is your best friend and your best bargaining partner in negotiations when you go to look at it.

True, but I'd rather have someone new to the hobby err on the side of caution rather than overspend on a crap game.

If that game in the pics is as nice in person as it looks in the pics, I don't think he has much to worry about. But he won't truly know until he goes to see it.

Plus, it was always my impression that the pin market across the pond was a good bit cheaper than in the states since there weren't as many collectors. Before I got my games, I remember reading of TAFs and TZs going for around a couple thousand pounds over there and trying to figure out how I was going to get one shipped over here since I'd still be spending less overall than what people wanted for them back here in the states. I guess their used pin values have caught up to ours, then?

Well, if what you say is true about the state of pinball over there, then rest easy in the knowledge that if that TAF is as good as it appears to be by the pictures, the amount you'll be buying it for is almost exactly what it'd sell for over here, if not less! Surely when you get there and see it, you'll be able to haggle him down a few quid from his asking price, too.

Good luck!

-You already know you love TAF, you have no idea if you'll love GB.

-GB's theme might be great, but you don't quite know if the gameplay will be there.

-TAF's theme is decent, but already you know you love the gameplay.

-GB will only go down in value as its "newness" wears off and Stern keeps churning out games. New Sterns have had a high turnover rate in the pinball community these last few years.

-TAF's will always hold their value, are always collectible, and highly sought after by newbies and veteran collectors alike because it's such a great game.

-TAF's are easy to work on and have been around so long, there's hardly anything that comes up that someone on here doesn't already know how to fix. Pinside has a vast wealth of knowledge on pin repair and a great bunch of guys who share that knowledge freely. I've benefitted from it numerous times.

…Shall I go on?

That must be something in the Gold software. I've never seen an adjustment for magnet strength the menus on my TAF.

I don't know how you would clean the magnets, unless he meant cleaning the poles. But even then, the coils would have to be seized on the poles due to soot/dirt buildup or something like to even affect the strength of the magnetic field. Even with the dirt in there, the magnetic field is generated as a function of the electricity passing through the coil. The metal pole transfers this magnetism to the playfield.

Perhaps there was something underneath the playfield, above the magnets, that was hindering that field?

Or maybe he's just talking out his backside?

Or am I wrong somewhere?

The extra easy, easy, medium, hard, and extra hard settings are for general gameplay rules, settings, extra ball settings, replay settings, and all kinds of other stuff. The Mansion Tour medium and hard settings simply change the number of rooms from 12 to 13, respectively.

The way that shows up in gameplay is when you get either the 3 Million or 6 Million mansion rooms…

On medium, it lights up both rooms, but only counts as one room.
On hard, it only lights up the one you were awarded, counting them separately.

Here mima, try these:

ForMIMA.pdf

(Don't forget to print at 100% actual size!)

True.

Starting second multiball from the chair triggers this call out.

I assume you're talking about borygard? Yes, he is the man!

Fantastic.

No matter how correct they are on the value of TAF's, everyone at home who's got one that knows absolutely nothing about pinball, now thinks that their beater with a worn mansion, magnet burn, and gutted chair hole is worth $6k, if not more.

I call it the "Barrett-Jackson effect".

As we all know, there are more TAF's out there than any other pin, and there are still tons of them in non-collector/mom and dad/average joe hands who now will look them up on eBay and see them even higher than "what the TV said" and will ask an arm and a leg for theirs, trying to put their 25 year old nephew who works at Taco Bell, through college.

…or does that only really happen where I live?

I might be interested in your old LCD, if/when you decide to sell it.

Sorry, that was meant for 30FathomDave with regard to him possibly selling his old LCD ColorDMD, if he replaces it with the LED version.

I already have a DMD with a vertical line out.

It's on my TZ and it's the rightmost line.

I dunno Bryan, a good friend of yours sold me my TAF that needed a few parts and quite a bit of work for $3500.

Of course, that was over 4 years ago, but still!

I've seen a number of TAF cabs that have the one sideart reversed. If I were to guess, I'd say that when they were building the lower cabs, at some point, something happened to the set of screens typically used for the left side. Either they needed to be replaced or they got damaged somehow. Because they were making TAFs in such massive numbers at the time, they couldn't afford to lose a day or two(or maybe more) of production and just decided to print the right side then flip it over and use the same screens on the left side.

Remember, there wasn't too much going on at the time with respect to production accuracy with the cabs. There are a good number of cabs that had blue TAF art for their backboxes and gold art for their cabs:

https://images.pinside.com/2/9a/35/29a35c8cf48be32ef1abbc0f55d71da23adb8f36.jpg

I don't think they worried as much about accuracy as they did just getting as many games out the door as possible.

If you have one you can trace, I think it's just a thick piece of fiberboard you could probably have made for you somewhere.

But don't quote me on that.

Just started noticing an issue with mine recently. When Thing goes to drop the ball back into the saucer, or does the "No, no, no..." fake grab, the saucer kickout seems to fire early as it's launching the ball into Thing and it's rebounding back into the saucer, so it kick it out again while Thing is retracting and the ball is finally able to clear Thing.

Is this a common thing? Is it an opto situation? Do I just need to clean them or is one of them getting flaky?

What have been your experiences with this situation? I'm not entirely worried about it since it doesn't really affect gameplay, but it is definitely not normal operation and I'd like to fix it before things get worse as it may be a symptom of something else and I'd like to track it down early.

In gameplay, just light up the yellow T-H-I-N-G letters. I'm not sure how to do it in test mode. I know you can run the thing hand to test for the optos and motor function, but I don't know if it also fires the magnet.

Sorry I can't tell you more. I've rarely gone into the test menus on my TAF since it hardly ever has something go wrong. I don't know it nearly as well as I know my TZ.

I got in on the reopen, too. Never got a confirmation email, wasn't expecting it either.

Word is Mirco is making TAF playfields, too, once CPR's run is done. Which means that there will probably be TAF playfields made and available to purchase indefinitely, much like with TZ(which has been known to have similar licensing issues). I finally got to see some of Mirco's playfields is person at PAGG this year. Impressive stuff.

The smoked ramp fits well with games that aren't brightened up with LEDs in the GI. If your game has the GI replaced by stronger LEDs that throw more light, you'll want the clear ramp. It's a better match for that look.

If your game is stock, or simply still uses incandescents, the smoked ramp is the way to go. It's meant to be a dark corner because of the lack of lighting. That's why B/W went with a smoked ramp instead of clear in the first place.

Again, it's all about the overall look you want for your game. When planning out what lights, colors, and additions you're going to make to your game, you've got to think about the big picture and what items will work with other items and how they compliment each other. I've seen TAFs and other games that somebody just threw the whole LED box of Fruity Pebbles in and then proceeded to put every mod(pencil sharpener) known to man in there as well, too. Made me want to puke. That's a show-off piece, not a pinball game you'd enjoy playing. Some people enjoy that, I do not. Not saying they're wrong for doing it, it's just not my style.

There are some new, retro-type bulbs out there these days that look pretty good. Nice warm color and have a great glow to them. Unfortunately, you'll never really know how they look until you put them in your specific game, and that means buying them and trying them out.

No matter which ones you get, if you do decide to go LED for the GI, I'd get herg 's GI-OCD board. Smooths everything out beautifully and makes everything behave like incandescents.

Somebody's new version of a "Swamp Accelerator". A machine that's properly leveled will always drain the swamp properly, but it can be a bit slow for some people. These accelerators shorten that time. Any angled piece of just about any kind of material will work in there, honestly. Just don't block the exits and you're good.

I'll take one!

Just make sure they're the right material. They're supposed to be more of a soft rubber as they are meant to absorb impact, unlike the regular rubber where they would just bounce off.

You could always just do the black vinyl wrap on the lockbar and rails. Nice and cheap, and reversible.

Most definitely a prototype! There was a thread here not too long ago by High_End_Pins who restored a very early prototype. I'm guessing you could glean a ton of info from that thread about what you've got. Found it:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/new-featured-hep-restore-is-taf-prototype

Take pictures before you do a bunch of the cleaning and repairs, if any. Documentation is worth its weight in gold.

Hey, those look nice. Where'd you get them? Haha...

I've really been wanting to make some sort of prop rods(likely some sort of 2x4's cut to fit) that you could "pivot" the playfield up onto for some time now. I need to really open her up and look at possible mounting points, to the playfield and the inside of the cabinet...

I had to fix my scoops on my TZ so I took them to an exhaust shop. A lot of those guys do custom exhaust systems that can typically have stainless pipes after the headers, which means TIG welding. TIG welders can handle stuff that thin no problem. I just called and asked a couple shops if they could TIG stainless and found a shop that was close by and had the time that afternoon. I took the pieces out and showed him the broken welds and he had them done in about 10 minutes and for $20. All I had to do was make them pretty again with a little cleaning, sanding, and re-graining and they were good to go. They've lasted about 6 years, five pinball shows, and about 4000 plays so far. I think they'll be fine for a while longer...

Plus, according to the movie, it should be Pugsley in it, with Wednesday saying the "It has to warm up..." line. However, the enthusiasm with which Raul Julia says it is absolutely fantastic.

I used to find these all the time on eBay when I was actively looking for them. They're Playmobil Bear Rugs from an Indian set of some sort. People sell them separately all the time. I bought one, cleaned it up and painted it with some Krylon Fusion and it was good to go. Mounted it with some adhesive backed velcro so it could easily be removed for servicing the ramp or whatever and since it's mounted to a piece of stainless steel, cleanup would be a breeze, if the next owner of my TAF didn't want it. I didn't do any LEDs in it as it's just to something I wanted to do at the time. I think I was all in at around 10 bucks, at the time.

I just checked eBay and there are a few on there. Apparently prices have gone up a bit on them, but not by much. Kinda proves that for those that want these mods and want them with LEDs, 40 bucks is a pretty good deal considering the time it takes to modify them and parts to add to them.

Just a couple nit-picks... the bottom one looks better overall as it's better sized and centered but it's missing the copyright "C" logo, and they're both missing the dot in the "i" of "Family".

They do look great, though! Is it too expensive to do one at a time like this, is that what you mean? Would it be more feasible to do these in large batches like you were thinking?

If there are times where it's not firing at all, I'd be looking into the opto right above that flipper. If it's just a matter of always working, but missing, it takes time for the game to learn the timing of the flip to make the swamp. Even then, it shouldn't make it every single time. That wouldn't be fun if it was guaranteed points every time.

There's a quick way to eliminate one of those as the cause; there's a setting in the menus, House from Swamp. Set this to "No" and if it still happens, you know it's the Chair. Menu Setting

Either way, I'd be checking the scoop switch of whichever one it is. It's probably either set a little too high/close to the scoop itself. If so, loosen the two little screws and adjust it away from the scoop. If that doesn't change anything, make sure the diode is securely attached to the switch. There might be a cold solder joint on one end of it. If that doesn't change anything, check the wiring going to and from the malfunctioning switch. There might be some wires that have come loose or had their solder joints stressed in the transfer. In the menus, go to the single switch test and when you locate the malfunctioning switch, it should have underneath it the wire colors used for that switch, both sides. You can follow those wires around and look at all the places they're soldered to to see if there's anything hanging or about to split off(like it's only hanging on by a single strand).

None of these may actually fix the issue, so be prepared. But at least you're eliminating a lot of the other possibilities. After these checks and fixes, if it still persists, we can look into other causes.

I could've sworn I saw a new smoked ramp at Starship Fantasy's booth at GSPF last month, but don't quote me on that. Website doesn't list it, but you might try calling them about it.

That's exactly what I do when I do topside teardowns for cleaning and polishing. Only work in one main area at a time to mitigate doing too much at one time and not remembering what you took off from where as there can be lots of duplicate parts used in many different areas of a game.

Wow, that's a low number! I had always thought that the first 12-20 or so went to Bally employees. Then, after that, the first 400 or so went overseas and the remainder stayed stateside.

Either way, congrats!

I don't think there was truly anything sequential about the commemorative plaque numbering system at Bally, which is also kind of later proven by the whole Cactus Canyon numbering fiasco. I would imagine they saved the lowest numbers for the Bally employees. With the late date code on number 8, I'm thinking they either saved the employee gifted TAFGs until the end of the run, or that might have been a warranty replacement of some kind. The latter is kind of hard to believe, though, with such a special model game. Or, maybe they ran all the cabs at once, installed all the boards and electronics, then perhaps had playfield issues towards the end of the run that necessitated a new run late in '95. Then, when those PF's came in, they installed them and finally let the game out the door.

A nice little mystery, no matter what, that's for sure!

I used to work at a flexographic printing company and can attest to this kind of thing happening a lot. Not so much the different color thing, but the poor mixing of ink. Sure the computer and the scale tell you what and how to mix your inks to get the specific color you're trying to hit, but if the pressman puts one, or two, too many portions of certain colors in mixing the one he wants, it'll be off. Sure the color may only be off by a couple percentage points, or as it's actually known, the Delta E, but it's still different to the naked eye and noticeable. That's not even taking into consideration the need to keep the color mixed well during long printing runs and when refilling the ink, taking into account the color(s) that are already in the ink container and factoring that in to your new mix.

Worse comes to worse, you could always get on youtube and find the clips of the scenes that have the sounds you're looking to replace. Then find a youtube to MP3 conversion website and download the MP3 file of the clip, then cut out the section of the audio you want in an audio editing program(I'm sure there are some free websites or programs you can use to do that kind of thing).

I thought PinSound had a place for people to upload their mixes for games... Have you looked there yet? Was TAF not on there?

So, does anybody make a thing box accelerator yet? It would definitely help speed that transfer up a bit, especially for people with games set up a bit flatter than average. Seems like it'd be a pretty easy mod to make with an equally easy install. Any takers/makers? Or should I just go ahead and start the process myself?

I'm talking about the box that Thing lives in. My game is set at a pretty high playfield angle and it still takes a bit too long for my liking for the ball to make it to the Thing kicker.

I have to readjust my Thing box, so I might as well take it off and take some measurements. Then I'll make a few calls to see how much it'd cost to make to see if it's something feasible for us.

Couple things to look at/check:

Look at the wires attached to the solenoid for the 180º kicker and make sure they're fully connected(no frayed wires) and there are no cold solder joints(meaning that the solder has cracked). If you've got a soldering iron handy, just go ahead and resolder the wires on with fresh solder, just to fully eliminate that as a culprit.

Make sure all the mounting screws for the 180º kickout scoop are nice and tight as well as the solenoid mounting bracket screws.

Remove and check the Thing box. Mine was having a hard time transferring the ball from the box to the kicker scoop and in checking to see what might have been wrong, I noticed that the longest wall of the box(the one that faces the player when the playfield is down) at the very edge of it that feeds into the scoop was slightly bent outward(most likely from repeated ball hits). That means that it possibly was behind the edge of the opening for the kickout scoop and causing the hangup. A simple slight tweak with some flat edge pliers to square it back up and the transfers were going super quick, as normal.

Well, I'm happy to report that the prototype v1.0 for my Thing Box Accelerator works with flying colors. I ended up cutting it out of some spare sheetmetal I had since it's basically free and is meant for a proof of concept more than anything else. The ball practically races out the hole when the Thing box is placed on a perfectly flat surface, which is what I want since it needs to be good for those with games that don't have as much playfield pitch as some others do. I've also got v1.1 that I have to test as well. While I was drawing up the first one, I got an idea for a version that attaches differently. Gonna make both of them to see which one will ultimately be easier to install and also easier to remove. I'm a big proponent of mods that are removable and non-destructive. I wouldn't want to make something that jeopardizes harming that lower box as they're pricey and can be hard to get sometimes. They both basically drop into place, though. The install time for either one is mere seconds.

After I get v1.1 done and tested, I'm gonna ask my friend who does laser cutting for a quote on doing as large a sheet he can fit to bring the price down per piece. If it's too much, I can cut these out by hand fairly easily, especially v1.1, but laser cutting them would be way faster and have a way cleaner finish. As v1.1 gets finished, I'll know more about material cost, ease of making them, ease of install and all that other good stuff and will report back.

Edit: After looking at a couple places that sell new Thing lower boxes, I may end up making both versions available as the way v1.0 attaches is very different to that of v1.1 and v1.0 will definitely not work for the replacement version of the box, at least according to the pictures I've seen so far.

Was doing some cleaning recently and noticed that my Thing hand has a bit of slack in it, meaning that it can move forward and back a bit regardless of position. Feels like it's slack in the gears or something similar.

Is this something that's adjustable?

Is there a screw/bolt loose somewhere that I can tighten?

Removing the Thing motor mech looks to be fairly straight-forward process, are there any hidden tricks or warnings if I need to do it?

Edit: Did just a quick bit of research... Looks like what might be happening is that one or both of the set screws on the rectangular linkage arms just outside the motor box might be loose. That's exactly how the hand is acting, as if there's too much slack between a set screw and the flat edge it's supposed to be locked down on. Should be an easy fix. Would still like any and all tips in regards to removing that motor box, if you've got some, though!

Yep, thanks! Easier than I thought, but just wanted to be armed with all the info just in case. I ended up removing the whole mech and found that those set screws on those shaft arms weren't the problem. The slack is internal with the gears. I ain't opening that box! Everything works and doesn't really need to be messed with, so I ain't a gonna! I just cleaned it up a bit and reinstalled it. I did remove the hand, disassembled it, cleaned it, fixed a bad solder job on a broken wire, and put it all back together and back in place. Looks really nice now, too.

If that gearbox ever fails, then I'll get into it and work on it, but until then it stays sealed.

Same exact story here. Played one in my college's bowling alley/arcade area when it was a brand new game and was hooked ever since. Took me about a year to find one when I finally started looking for one. Got a great deal on it as it needed a bit of mechanical and electrical work, but it's been rock solid ever since. Owned it for about 10 years now and have no plans to ever part with it. Good luck with your search!

I'm sure a number of them do, yes. But if you went to Fresno State, then it was the same machine.

Mine is painted front and back.

Yep. The game adds a letter with each ball played, upon hitting any switch after launch.

If @playdium's transistors on his magnet board went bad, shouldn't he be able to just replace them and be good to go? Just in case the replacement board from barakandi won't be ready for a while.

Hmm, I hope you guys aren't talking about the same game.... It's not in Indiana somewhere is it?

Could get awkward.

I don't think it's for anything in particular. I have it on mine, too, but nothing goes there specifically that I know about.

I find I'm doing that more and more lately, doing things to hopefully outsmart myself later on. What's sad is, it usually works.

This is normal behavior in test mode. The firing interval is 1 second for the first number of firings, then it grows after that. If your kickouts get weaker during normal play, i.e. the swamp kickout trickles down and just hits the top of the slingshot or your chair kickout doesn't make the ball bounce off the left flipper over to the right one, then you can replace the plastic sleeve inside the solenoid(s) and that usually does the trick.

Christopher Lloyd doesn't have any callouts on TAF, sadly.

He also says the lines, "It has to warm up.......So it can kill you!", even though that was originally spoken by Wednesday(Christina Ricci) in the movie.

Over time, the tabs that the screws go through that hold that box to the playfield can slowly bend. This then misaligns the transfer hole from that box to the kickout scoop and the ball tends to hang there. Most of the time a simple removal of the Thing box under the playfield and reattaching it works well.

Make sure that when you're testing the trough switches, you're not doing so with your fingers. Use a ball to do that. If it registers with your finger, but not a ball, then the switch arm just needs to be adjusted.

This is correct. The cab art on TAF was directly screened on at the factory. I think MB was the first game to get decals, but don't quote me on that.

As far as I know, the story about the right side cabinet art being used on the left side is one of two situations I've heard and both are quite plausible.

1) Screens only last for so many printings and need to be replaced after a certain number of impressions. While a new set was being made to replace the set being used on the cabinet production line, there was a delay of a few days in getting a new set due to a fire or some other calamity at the factory. Only the right side one got finished. So, they just used the right side one on the left and called it good just to keep getting games out the door until a new left side screen was made.

2) During production, the left side screen got munched somehow and the screen shop was busy with another title and couldn't make another TAF left side screen until the next day. So, again, a day or so passed before a new left side screen got made.

Either way, no matter what the real story is, the TAFs that have the right side art on the left side are technically factory correct, and pretty rare considering the short amount of time they were actually made. In fact, I believe I've even seen old factory photos or footage of TAFs being made where the games on the line are these exact games, with the right side art on the left.

It's not a decal. It's direct screen-printed thick globs of ink. If you run your fingers over the artwork areas like where Thing is or the AF logo, you'll feel all the different raised areas. Those areas are where the different screens for the different colors were laid down on top of each other.

http://www.flippers.be/pinball_cabinets.html

I'm still waiting to see someone make a Pugsley figure for the electric chair. He was the one in it in the movie. Of course, it was Wednesday that said the "It has to warm up" lines, versus Raul Julia saying them for the game, but that's a different issue I guess.

If it works with your finger but not the ball in switch edge test mode in the menus, you most likely just have to bend the switch's arm up a little bit so it sits higher up in the scoop area. Pretty common problem to have and a very common fix to have to do on these games.