Hi BB,

I don't think you will look back. I have an extremely nice Congo that Bryan Kelly restored for me. People may think that I am crazy for having a restoration done on a Congo, but I love this game and it was worth every penny to me to have Bryan bring it up to such a high level (HEP restored the playfield).

The game itself plays very fast and I love the theme and the movie (I know I am in the minority here on this). The start of volcano multi-ball never gets old to watch. Shooting the volcano ramp is also more challenging than your regular ramp shot. I think that the playfield art work is also very well done. PPS has created reproduction plastic sets as most Congos in the wild seem to have their share of broken/cracked plastics.

FH is a timeless classic pin, however Congo has been an under-valued pin for a long time and only in the past year or so has it risen up and garnered more interest in the pinball community. I would do the trade in a heartbeat, but I am biased.

Gord

Here are a couple of photos for you from my Congo.

Gord

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I assume it is an original North American as I purchased it from someone in the US and had it shipped to Bryan Kelly for a restoration about 3 years ago.

Gord

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Thanks. Bryan did a really nice job on the restoration and I am very happy with it.

Gord

Very nice find indeed. I picked up a really nice used Congo volcano ramp (cleaned up very nicely and no cracks or chips) back in November of 2013 from someone who had a complete Congo populated playfield that he was parting out.

The game was water damaged from Hurricane Sandy IIRC and the cabinet and boards were pretty toasted so he was selling anything that was salvageable.

Gord

Hi,

I had a similar problem on my Congo and fixed it 100 percent by replacing the volcano weldment with a replacement volcano weldment from Mantis Amusements.

http://www.mantisamusements.com/congo.htm

Gord

I concur that the gorilla should be facing straight when not in use. See the photo below for how the gorilla appears in my Congo when the game is off.

Gord

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I corrected my post. I caught it about 2 minutes after posting it.

I actually like the movie Congo (flame suit on) and have seen it a few times. I know that the lower playfield ape is not Amy, but had a momentary brain fart.

Gord

I don't think that cabinet decals are available for this title. I seem to recall another Pinsider buying a set of cabinet decals that another Pinsider had created, but they are not available from any vendors IIRC.

Gord

Good deal. What did you do to fix it?

Gord

Nicely done. It looks like the lava is ready to flow.

Gord

In the 3+ years that I have owned my Congo I would have a similar issue occur on occasion. I have attached a photo of that area of my Congo below for your review.

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This issue occurs with the volcano weldment when the weld gets broken and the VUK shoots the ball over the volcano ramp sporadically and directly onto the playfield. I fixed that issue by purchasing a new Congo volcano weldment from Mantis Amusements. Since installing the new volcano weldment from Mantis Amusements this issue has been completely resolved on my Congo.

http://www.mantisamusements.com/congo.htm

Gord

Wow, those side decals look like they were professionally done.

Gord

Please post some photos after you have cleaned this playfield. That looks like a nice find.

Gord

Nice video. I like how you have the multiple views being simultaneously displayed.

That was a pretty dang good game you just logged. Beats the hell out of my high score.

Gord

The plastic protector set for Congo has a protector piece for the middle plastic. You do not need to purchase the Shapeways guard as well. I think that these were offered when there were no plastic protector sets available.

Gord

Hi Alex,

PPS carries them.

http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=PP&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-04-10382-7A-1

Gord

Here you go.

Gord

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Hi Alex,

Will this work? If not please provide me with your email address and I will email the high resolution scans (5MB each) to you.

Gord

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Hi Bok013,

I see that 4 years ago there was a thread looking for a scan of the lower Congo playfield. You posted in that thread which is below.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/congo-lower-playfield-scan

Were the playfield scans that were done at that time unsatisfactory?

Gord

Dang, this has been a long journey for you then. Keep posting and maybe start a separate thread again and perhaps you can find someone in the middle of a Congo teardown/restoration that can get a good scan for you.

I am sort of surprised that no one has a scan of portions of a Congo playfield already. Keep your playfield scan request alive and you might get lucky.

Gord

The signature looks like 'John Trudeau' who is Congo's designer.

Gord

Pictured below is a photo of my Congo with the lockdown bar removed so that you can see the stickers installed on the receiver.

Gord

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That is a strange one, see the URL below that was previously posted in the Congo club regarding the same issue.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/congo-club-owners-only/page/24#post-3197847

I don't have that issue on my Congo so I am posting a few photos of that area for you to review to see if you are missing something on your Congo. You may want to zoom in on the photos for the best detail.

Gord

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See link below.

https://mantispinball.com/product/congo-square-drive-plate/

Gord

Look at solenoid 27/28 in the attached 'SFT - Solenoid Flasher Table' which shows you the schematic for the Blu-Yel and Blu-Org wires in your photo. Also attached is a PDF file for the 'PDB - Power Driver Board' for Congo. I believe that your orphaned connector will plug into J107 on the PDB, but please review the two attached documents to confirm.

I have also attached a photo of connector J107 (from PDB) from the back box of my Congo and it looks just like the connector in your photo with the same wire colors. These two wires are for the volcano flashers and the perimeter defense flashers. Please review the attached documents/photos at your convenience.

Gord

SFT - Solenoid Flasher Table
PDB - Power Driver Board
PDB - J107

What Mitch said. The Mantis volcano weldment will fix your issue with the ball sailing over the left volcano ramp when ejected from the volcano VUK.

https://mantispinball.com/product/congo-volcano-weldment/

Gord

Yes, my stock volcano weldment did the same thing as yours and my stock one was not broken either. Since I swapped out my stock volcano weldment with the Mantis volcano weldment the problem is now 100 percent fixed.

Gord

Here are a couple of pics of the outlane plastics installed on my Congo. These were purchased from 'The Pinball Center' a few years ago.

Gord

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After you shoot the left ramp 3 times to spell M-A-P then on the 4th time the ramp diverter should engage.

Gord

Here are a few scans that I found in my Congo archive.

Gord

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https://www.pinball.center/en/shop/pinball-parts-by-game/congo/9554/volcano-for-congo?c=0

This post has been moved to the JP club.

Kerry is very talented with metal working on creating pinball parts. I worked with him back in March of 2018 to get a hole protector created for TFTC and it turned out great.

I am definitely in on purchasing a 2 way deflector for my Congo once they become available to have as a spare.

Gord

Hmm, that sounds strange. Once you lock the 3rd ball in the volcano then volcano multi-ball should start immediately.

Gord

Congo should have 4 balls installed.

Gord

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Ditto, as I have had my Congo for 8 years and have never heard this audio clip.

Gord

The airplane looks nice. Does it have any lights on it?

Gord

I was able to successfully replace the side rails on my TZ back in 2015 without damaging the cabinet side art. See the URL below for the input that I received and the final solution.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/side-rail-removalinstallation-for-decaled-tz

Gord

I had a similar issue on my Congo and the diverter was actually rubbing against the plastic underneath the ramp on occasion. I very slightly reamed out the plastic hole and that fixed my issue.

Gord