I'm restoring a 1964 United/Williams Pacer Shuffle Alley. It has 25 score reels (24 0-9 reels for scores and a 1-10 reel for the frame). It was filthy, so when I started cleaning it I found the numbers on certain reels were more robust than others. I knew alcohol or Simple Green wouldn't work, but even a light hit with water was enough to destroy some of the numbers beyond a simple Sharpie fix.

Inkochnito created a PDF based on custom font that he had made, which is awesome but doesn't match the other score reels, which means I'd have to replace all of them. Since I had so many score reels, I wanted to be able to replace the numbers on a reel, either all the numbers or just a single messed up one, and have it match.

I noticed, at least on this machine, that the score reels use the Futura Bold font, which I think just about everyone has on their computer. Knowing the font helps a lot, because I was able to create a project file for Silhouette Studio to cut a new set of numbers out of vinyl decal material. You can fit 8 reels worth of numbers on a single 12" wide roll.

The end result is pretty great. It looks better than some of the crude paint jobs on some of the other reels that are on here. I'm not sure if this will hold up over time, but we'll see. If it doesn't hold, I can use a similar process to paint numbers on. Instead of pulling off the vinyl around the numbers and sticking the numbers on, I'll pull off the numbers and leave the "holes" in the vinyl as a stencil. Then stick the vinyl on, paint, and enjoy!

Anyone with a vinyl cutter can do this. I personally own a Silhouette Cameo 3, but others should work, too. You can download the Silhouette Studio v3 file here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejc540sfm9d6c9g/score%20reels.studio3?dl=0

You can create designs with other fonts (including Inkochnito's) if necessary, though each new font takes some tweaking. In general, you want letters that are 1" wide, and the strip from the top of the first number to the bottom of the last number should be 15.45" (the trick is getting an equal gap between in this 15.45" space). These measurements should allow anyone with a different vinyl cutter to make their own, too.

I hope this helps those of you with mangled score reel numbers!
Cameo (resized).pngIMG_4783 (resized).jpegscore reels (resized).png

Thanks for the feedback!

@Inkochnito, that's interesting. The 1 in your version of Futura Bold is different than mine, as is the 7. Everything else looks pretty close, but your 1 is more pointed on the top left, and the point of the 7 is cut off.

Either way, it's much closer, and the only way anyone would really notice is if they A) Weren't playing the game and B) Have been staring at pinball score reel fonts for a few hours.

@rufessor, I just used whatever black roll I had laying around. Looks like it's Oracal 631, which is not permanent. It's held just fine over the short term, but it would make sense to use more robust stuff going forward. And as for gloss, the stuff I used is matte, and you don't notice in the machine. If I had gloss, though, I'd have used it. If I wanted to do all 25 reels in this thing I'd be sure to get some.

A few more thoughts:

1) If the reel just has the ink-based markings on it, it's super easy to clean off the old numbers with rubbing alcohol. If paint has been used to touch it up, cleaning off the old stuff is hard. Goo Gone worked best for me, but even then it was like 20 minutes of gentle rubbing with a paper towel.

2) I couldn't whiten them at all with approaches I'd used before (high concentrate peroxide and Oxi-Clean, set out in the sun). I figure the absolute worst case scenario could be to use white vinyl first, then apply the black numbers. At that point, though, Inkochinto's approach is the most appropriate.