(Topic ID: 219475)

Cactus Jack's fan club!

By Tux

5 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 108 posts
  • 38 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 months ago by Snowtrooper
  • Topic is favorited by 13 Pinsiders

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Topic poll

“Is Cactus Jack's the perfect pinball machine?”

  • Absolutely! It should be worth $50K. Could it be the next remake candidate? 1 vote
    33%
  • It would be if it had more rubber cacti. 1 vote
    33%
  • No, because all of Gottlieb Premier's games share the perfection equally. 1 vote
    33%

(3 votes)

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There are 108 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 3.
#51 3 years ago

Oh wow, I had no idea there were still new pieces actually available anywhere. Not terribly priced, either, a hair over $100 for both left ramps if I screw mine up removing the tape, or if they really are damaged. I think I'll take the chance on removing the ugly tape and see where I get. Worst case scenario, at least I know I have a recovery plan.

Thanks for the heads-up, slghokie !

#52 3 years ago
Quoted from SVTRondogg:

Hello all, new Member here. In talks on bringing home a Cactus Jack's for my first pin. Just had a few questions.
1. Anything in particular to look out for?
2. How succeptable are the cacti puppets tp damage? What mechanically makes them dance? Any chance the rubber can be fixed or replaced long term?
Thanks!

The cactus cowboys are antenna toppers. Search eBay for "cowboy cactus antenna". $15

3 weeks later
#53 3 years ago

I had to put a new upper playfield together and needed the 200,000 decal. I've attached the image if you need to print one on a waterslide decal sheet.

cactus jact's upper playfield (resized).pngcactus jact's upper playfield (resized).png
3 weeks later
#54 3 years ago

Here's something I haven't figured out playing the real pin or virtual all these years;

What is the voice clip/call out when hitting the 4 slot switches above the cactus bumpers? Top right of the playfield. "Wahoo tumbleweed" or "Wahoo I believe" is what I can garner?

#55 3 years ago
Quoted from SVTRondogg:

Here's something I haven't figured out playing the real pin or virtual all these years;
What is the voice clip/call out when hitting the 4 slot switches above the cactus bumpers? Top right of the playfield. "Wahoo tumbleweed" or "Wahoo I believe" is what I can garner?

Pretty sure it's "wahoo/yahoo tumbleweed"

2 weeks later
#56 3 years ago

Well, finally picked up my 1st pin last night - Cactus's Jacks.

I picked up a NOS manual from eBay a few months back; unfortunately for the first timer it is more of a Test menu progression and electrical/parts schematics than a How To for someone like me.

Doing a quick run through of a few things and had a few beginner questions:

1. What is the best way to verify both balls are inside and where do I look?
2. What is the purpose of the lone ball on the inside left in a silver rail?
3. Where is the best source I can buy some new balls online? I looked on Amazon and found some mixed reviews on what is available.

Thanks all. Looking forward to sharing some pics later on!

#57 3 years ago
Quoted from SVTRondogg:

Well, finally picked up my 1st pin last night - Cactus's Jacks.
I picked up a NOS manual from eBay a few months back; unfortunately for the first timer it is more of a Test menu progression and electrical/parts schematics than a How To for someone like me.
Doing a quick run through of a few things and had a few beginner questions:
1. What is the best way to verify both balls are inside and where do I look?
2. What is the purpose of the lone ball on the inside left in a silver rail?
3. Where is the best source I can buy some new balls online? I looked on Amazon and found some mixed reviews on what is available.
Thanks all. Looking forward to sharing some pics later on!

1) ball trough, bottom right. It's a bit less obvious than on a Williams pin, imo, but should be easy enough to see
2) that's for tilt detection, if the entire machine is lifted up during play
3) I buy mine in bulk on eBay. Your mileage may vary. Tons of opinions on this one

Enjoy! I like my CJ, although I've come to realize how awful my playfield is and it's really bummed me out. I missed out on a nice touched up PF for $150 so I'm getting the feeling that what I have is what it's going to be... And that's a bummer.

#58 3 years ago

Well here's my entry into the Cactus Jack's Fan Club. This is my first pin so it's all new to me.

As mentioned in my previois post, I had trouble starting the game with the 2nd ball accidentally dropping into the Thorny Surprise VUK while loading the balls. That has been resolved.

I did discover a desoldered wire on that same VUK which I was able to fix this evening.

Two issues with the VUKs:
1. The one that shoots into the wireform at the top left wasn't making the turn in the wireform and drops bacl to playfield. It seems to have loosened up a bit and makes it 85% of the time.
2. The ball will get stuck in the Thorny Surprise VUK maybe 30% of the time and the game will not advance.

Aside from that, the only other issue I have noted is some minor static/buzzing over some of the music, and a few loose wood bars you will see in the photos.

It shipped from the East Coast via freight so I was expecting some minor issues. Good overall condition and very playable with VUK #2 being the biggest annoyance.

I have only had it 24 hours so will continue to dig in as time permits. Apologies for the orientation of my photos posting on mobile.

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3 months later
#59 3 years ago

Just took ownership of my a Cactus Jack's. My first pinball.

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#60 3 years ago

That looks clean. Mine is...ugly. Great first pin choice.

1 week later
#61 3 years ago

Could someone take a picture of the way their pop bumper cacti attach to the caps both on top and on the inside? It seems like the ones on other Cactus Jack's stand up better than the ones on mine, and I suspect a couple mounting parts are missing or they might even be using incorrect springs.

1 week later
#62 3 years ago

Hi All! As I'm waiting for my Cactus Jack's to ship to me, I'm thinking ahead to swapping out to LED. Does anyone have a "kit" list for the CJ that they're willing to share? I know I can purchase a full kit from Marco - but I'd like to compile my own to save some cash. I'd really appreciate it if someone had one to share to make my purchasing easier! Thanks!

#63 3 years ago

jagroo Whatever you do, use warm white or sunlight in the GI. Mine came with cool white and it looked terrible. Cool white looks better than warm white in the transparent inserts, though. Other than that, I recommend color matching the inserts, except use warm white instead of yellow for the yellow inserts. Yellow LEDs aren’t as good as other colors. I put Comet LEDs in mine and they’re my favorite of those I’ve used.

#64 3 years ago

could someone take a picture of the part between the 2 flippers?

i try to restore the playfield, but i missed the picture.
thanks a lot because i'm lock at this point
HD picture will be great
xav

image0000001 (resized).jpgimage0000001 (resized).jpg
#65 3 years ago
Quoted from Tux:

jagroo Whatever you do, use warm white or sunlight in the GI. Mine came with cool white and it looked terrible. Cool white looks better than warm white in the transparent inserts, though. Other than that, I recommend color matching the inserts, except use warm white instead of yellow for the yellow inserts. Yellow LEDs aren’t as good as other colors. I put Comet LEDs in mine and they’re my favorite of those I’ve used.

Thanks Tux ! I'm a fan of Comet's lights as well. I used their warm white and pink suggestions for yellow and orange on my Checkpoint, and I was really happy! I used frosted 2SMD on the inserts on that game and am going to change to the clear lens 1SMD for the inserts on the CJ and see how that goes.

I really appreciate the tip about the cool white for the transparent inserts for Cactus Jack's. I wondered if it would be too bright. Did you use frosted or clear lenses on those transparent inserts? After reading Comet's comment about cool white I had ruled that out for GI with Red/yellow/orange plastics but wasn't sure if I should go sunlight or warm. Which did you choose? I don't have the game in my possession yet- but I figured I'd try one of each and judge before ordering. I can't wait to get started!

#66 3 years ago

cactusxav I found this photo online from a seller of a used playfield. It's a great photo.

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#67 3 years ago

The first pic is my trashed area between the flippers. Second is the decal that went on after repaint of the white ring (I have the inkscape svg file if you want it). Third pic is the repair with a not so great color match on the red. Fourth pic is one I found on the web.

Hope this helps

IMG_20200730_114045 (resized).jpgIMG_20200730_114045 (resized).jpgcactus jack throw fruit merged layers2 (resized).pngcactus jack throw fruit merged layers2 (resized).pngPXL_20200922_164247685.PORTRAIT-01.COVER (1) (resized).jpgPXL_20200922_164247685.PORTRAIT-01.COVER (1) (resized).jpg636e8f8151a430ebbc354479a9c76b1f (resized).jpg636e8f8151a430ebbc354479a9c76b1f (resized).jpg
#68 3 years ago
Quoted from jagroo:

Thanks Tux ! I'm a fan of Comet's lights as well. I used their warm white and pink suggestions for yellow and orange on my Checkpoint, and I was really happy! I used frosted 2SMD on the inserts on that game and am going to change to the clear lens 1SMD for the inserts on the CJ and see how that goes.
I really appreciate the tip about the cool white for the transparent inserts for Cactus Jack's. I wondered if it would be too bright. Did you use frosted or clear lenses on those transparent inserts? After reading Comet's comment about cool white I had ruled that out for GI with Red/yellow/orange plastics but wasn't sure if I should go sunlight or warm. Which did you choose? I don't have the game in my possession yet- but I figured I'd try one of each and judge before ordering. I can't wait to get started!

jagroo I tried warm white in the transparent inserts and it just looked strange for some reason. Sunlight might look even better than cool white, but I don't have any of those to test with at the moment. I'm fairly sure all of the inserts in my game are two-SMD Comets. If you go with one-SMD ones for the inserts, I'd still recommend putting the brightest Comets you can find in the yellow "throw" inserts. Those inserts very brightly and rapidly flashing are a large part of the excitement of multiball on this game in my opinion. The inserts in my game already had LEDs when I got it and I haven't felt the need to change much. If I recall, all of them are frosted except for the flex head bulbs used in some of the drop target lights and the purple inserts.

I also used cool white for all flashers to make use of the illusion that a cool white light appears brighter than a warm white light of the same actual intensity. I recommend using either cool white or warm white Comet eight-SMD flex head flashers for the ones underneath the diffuser in front of the dancing cacti, as well as flex head warm white one-SMD bulbs for the dancing cacti GI. The flashers will not appear to be significantly brighter than two-SMD GI bulbs there, while the one-SMD bulbs will allow the flashers to retain their effect. You might need to put a small dab of hot glue on (not in) the base of the light sockets there in order to keep the directional flex head bulbs from rotating. Note that the issue is not that the bulbs themselves rotate in or fall out of the sockets, but that the top of the socket (which holds the bulb) rotates relative to the base of the socket. If you put hot glue on the socket, plan to keep the infamous fine strings of hot glue from getting everywhere or you'll regret it. I'm going to add the dab of hot glue the next time I have my game open. I used Comet's 12-chip flashers for all of the ones under inserts, but they wouldn't fit in the backbox light board holes, so I used the eight-SMD flashers there.

The one place I do recommend using yellow or orange bulbs is in the pop bumpers. I tried warm white in them, but yellow looks better with the transparent caps in my opinion. I might change my mind on that later.

For the GI, I prefer warm white on most games, but especially on Cactus Jack's. It's set in a tavern with oil lanterns on the chandelier! Sunlight might also look good, but I suspect warm white will still look better. In fact, Comet's retro bulbs might even be the best here, though I've never used them and therefore wouldn't recommend doing the whole GI with them without doing small scale testing. In the backbox, I recommend making everything frosted and warm white except for the fruit (egg, banana, tomato, pumpkin, watermelon) lights, which I decided to use clear lens warm white bulbs for after finding that I preferred the bright, crisp circle of light that they gave to the fruits as opposed to the diffuse, dimmer circle that the frosted bulbs provided. If you don't like the backbox to be as bright as the playfield, you might want to use one-SMD bulbs in its GI and two-SMD bulbs in the playfield GI.

Penultimately, the insert lights do have some ghosting issues without non-ghosting LEDs, so be warned if that will bother you. Finally, be forewarned that removing the little metal "speed nut" acorn nuts that hold the playfield plastics to the posts is likely to be a huge pain. Some even remove the sockets from the bottom of the playfield to replace the bulbs in order to avoid dealing with them!

I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any more questions!

#69 3 years ago

Does anyone know what the size of the plastic rivets are for the shield over the shooter lane ramp?

Mine are pretty loose and I'd like to replace the set with the correct size rather than go trial and error route. Thanks!

1 week later
#70 3 years ago

Thanks Tux I appreciate all the suggestions! I'll look it over and test out some of the bulbs I have before placing the order!

#71 3 years ago

Does anyone know how to remove the plastic rivet-like fasteners that hold the cover on the right (shooter lane) ramp? That especially is a ramp I don't want to try anything stupid on due to the difficulty of replacement. Not being able to remove the cover makes it a pain to clean.

#72 3 years ago
Quoted from SVTRondogg:

Does anyone know what the size of the plastic rivets are for the shield over the shooter lane ramp?
Mine are pretty loose and I'd like to replace the set with the correct size rather than go trial and error route. Thanks!

SVTRondogg I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be loose like that. I believe all of mine are. I'd recommend just leaving them as-is if they're not causing any significant problems.

#73 3 years ago
Quoted from Tux:

Does anyone know how to remove the plastic rivet-like fasteners that hold the cover on the right (shooter lane) ramp? That especially is a ramp I don't want to try anything stupid on due to the difficulty of replacement. Not being able to remove the cover makes it a pain to clean.

They are two pieces. The 'button' snaps into the receiver. It should pull out of the receiver.

82AC3604-40 (resized).jpg82AC3604-40 (resized).jpg
2 weeks later
#74 3 years ago
Quoted from SVTRondogg:

They are two pieces. The 'button' snaps into the receiver. It should pull out of the receiver.
[quoted image]

Ah, that makes sense! Thanks.

2 weeks later
#75 2 years ago

A little after the fact here, but I have found the Comet warm white retro bulbs work very well in Cactus Jack's and Class of 1812.

My CJ is missing several of the acorn nuts. On my 1812, there are these little orange rubbery/plastic caps instead. They easily push on, come off easily, and still snuggly hold the plastic on. I would rather have these, but I can't find them anywhere. Does anyone even know what they are called?

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2 weeks later
#76 2 years ago

Pinball perfection.

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2 months later
#77 2 years ago
Quoted from Tux:

Ah, that makes sense! Thanks.

I replaced my loose one with some from Marco that fit well.

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#78 2 years ago

Are there any shooter lane ramps still out there? Found a crack in mine on the hard left turn that was previously repaired with tape.

I have the two left plastic ramps in my parts bin.

2 months later
#79 2 years ago

Can anyone send me a copy of the Cactus Jack's rubber ring chart?

3 weeks later
#80 2 years ago

Can someone please tell me what all the call outs are saying I can't understand the majority of them. Thanks!

1 month later
#81 2 years ago

When refurbing my cactus jacks I found the cactus lighting less than adequate so I added an led strip above them. You cans see them directly, but the game looks so much better with some light back there.

IMG_20211103_134734 (resized).jpgIMG_20211103_134734 (resized).jpg
#82 2 years ago
Quoted from Fn4me:

The first pic is my trashed area between the flippers. Second is the decal that went on after repaint of the white ring (I have the inkscape svg file if you want it). Third pic is the repair with a not so great color match on the red. Fourth pic is one I found on the web.
Hope this helps[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Nicely done @fn4me! Wish I had this before I repainted mine....in the end mine turned out nice.

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1 week later
#83 2 years ago

I need some parts if anyone has the left wire form for the up kicker and the long plastic ramp I would pay dearly for these in any condition mine is missing thanks people

#84 2 years ago
Quoted from Snowyetti:

I need some parts if anyone has the left wire form for the up kicker and the long plastic ramp I would pay dearly for these in any condition mine is missing thanks people

Left side ramp?

#85 2 years ago
Quoted from grbgemen:

Left side ramp?

Yup left side

#86 2 years ago
Quoted from grbgemen:

Left side ramp?

Thank you for helping me out with the plastic part of my quest you sir are a gentleman and a scholar now I just have to track down the metal wireform anybody here make custom parts?

#87 2 years ago

Or maybe know a guy who knows a guy.

#88 2 years ago

Ok here’s a long shot does anyone have a wireform for the vuk I can borrow to have one made ?I found a person who can do but he needs the part to do it.obv I would pay for all the trouble and shipping.name your price not sure there is any Other way at this point.

8 months later
#90 1 year ago

I'm trying to find the eprom files.
Any idea where these could be found ?

#91 1 year ago
Quoted from wylcot:

I'm trying to find the eprom files.
Any idea where these could be found ?

Found them !
Cheers !

Have fun, guys !

7 months later
#92 1 year ago

Greetings!

As an avid fan of Gottlieb, I have finally acquired a System 3 pinball to add to my collection, and am now the proud owner of a Cactus Jack’s. I am in the process of performing a good thorough cleaning / shop out / overhaul and converting over to LED bulbs. Could someone take a high quality picture of the small plastic that is shown in the picture attached? I just found mine is severally broke with only a couple small pieces remaining. I know these are no longer available, so I am going to fabricate and manufacture a replacement. Any help or assistance with a high quality photo would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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#93 1 year ago

Congrats. Such a fun game.

4 weeks later
#94 11 months ago

I came across these while looking for some parts for my precious anthropomorphic European-American desert plant. They actually look somewhat tempting. Has anyone tried them yet?

https://www.retrorefurbs.com/shop/cactus-jacks-pinball-sideblades/

#95 11 months ago
Quoted from Snowtrooper:

Greetings!
As an avid fan of Gottlieb, I have finally acquired a System 3 pinball to add to my collection, and am now the proud owner of a Cactus Jack’s. I am in the process of performing a good thorough cleaning / shop out / overhaul and converting over to LED bulbs. Could someone take a high quality picture of the small plastic that is shown in the picture attached? I just found mine is severally broke with only a couple small pieces remaining. I know these are no longer available, so I am going to fabricate and manufacture a replacement. Any help or assistance with a high quality photo would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
[quoted image]

Congratulations, @snowtrooper! Welcome to the world's most surreal saloon. I'll remove that plastic and scan it for you the next time I clean and wax the game. Would you like me to photograph it or scan it on my printer/scanner combination, or both?

#96 11 months ago
Quoted from Tux:

Congratulations, Snowtrooper! Welcome to the world's most surreal saloon. I'll remove that plastic and scan it for you the next time I clean and wax the game. Would you like me to photograph it or scan it on my printer/scanner combination, or both?

Hey Tux!

Thank you for the assist. If you could do both, that would be fantastic! This will allow me compare and chose the best for a reproduction plastic.

Ken

#97 11 months ago

For all those new owners or those who may be curiously, I took some pictures of the band assembly when I recently performed a thorough l cleaning and overhaul. Believe it or not, the Gottlieb Cactus Jack manual nor does the 1992 Parts Catalog show any pictures or parts blow out diagrams for the band components. Hope this helps anyone one in need of for clarification.

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#98 11 months ago
Quoted from Tux:

I came across these while looking for some parts for my precious anthropomorphic European-American desert plant. They actually look somewhat tempting. Has anyone tried them yet?
https://www.retrorefurbs.com/shop/cactus-jacks-pinball-sideblades/

I have these on mine, I really like them, I’ll take a few pics when I get the chance.

#99 11 months ago

Here is a few

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2 weeks later
#100 10 months ago

Anyone on here ready to sell their Cactus Jack's? I'm looking for one.

Thanks

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