I have owned a POTO for ~4 years; bought mine without ever having played it because my wife and I love the theme (and the price was good).

The trap door seems to be the most impossible to replace part. The trap door on mine was 50% in tact when I bought it, so I had to hack it a little, but it's fully functional and pretty good looking. Ramps and plastics seem to hold up well, but I believe there are new replacements available if necessary. Also, the Phantom's mask, which is printed on the *outside* of the backglass, is very often flaked away. However, my wife printed out a replacement mask and stuck it to the backglass, and it looks great. A 10 cent solution that did a B+ job (i'm sure with some experimenting with different paper types etc you could make it an A+ job). I have a hi-res file of the mask that I could share if needed.

Gameplay wise, it is simple but challenging. The main goal is the multiball (which actually has a pretty interesting progression). What keeps me coming back is the difficulty of the game. It is very fast and unforgiving. The super jackpot is a serious achievement. It's a great game to compete with friends on because the ball times are short, the objectives are clear, and getting a good score is challenging. I'd be wary of having it in a small (1-3) game collection just because of the simplicity, but it works great in my 5 game collection.

Finally, what most people say about the game is that the artwork and music are its best aspects. I'm more concerned with playing the game than looking at it, but I do agree that the sound is fantastic (I hooked mine up to a sub and it's incredible), and the artwork really is beautiful and so detailed.

I just sold mine last year. Make sure the magic mirror is there because it cant be found. They do sell protector decal replacements for the mirror and stand-up targets, but not the spinner. The game is fun and i miss it. Great music and art. Some of the best in pinball. I also feel its a game that feels better without LEDs, since the regular bulbs match the moodiness of the games theme.

The mirror can be fabricated, I got one made at a local furnace place. The guy banged it out in a couple minutes and did it for nothing because he thought it was interesting. I think the critical thing to look at is the playfield, the gold commonly wears. The ones with nice play fields seem to go for more. I love the pin it's awesome considering the era. Many people seem to compare it the DMD era and rate it poorly. Against other system 11s it more than holds its own, great game.

Need a magic mirror contact cliffy. He had made a few with side brackets.
Magicchiz

A perfect backglass with no damage on the Phantom transition face.

Now, I know who bought the backglass.
I price quoted the shipping, but I have been regional travelling out of the country, and could not close the deal.
You beat me to the strike of the iron.
Hopefully, you did not pay full price, as this was unwarranted, and you can negotiate.

I had the same problem when I bought my POTO. It would power up but not start. The problem was with the CPU board and I had it sent in to a place and they fixed it. The game works great now. I would take a good look at the CPU.

Maybe if he negotiated though, you would have swooped in and got it.

No, sorry I don't. I had a tech repair guy come in and he took the board and sent it to a guy that he knows and got it back in about two weeks. I asked him but he said he didn't bother to ask what was wrong. He put it in and it worked just fine. If the guy coming to your place is experienced in board repair he should be able to figure it out. It does really sound to me like it is the CPU as mine was doing the same exact thing.

Steve

You are accurate on the availability, not many left except when games get parted out.
Some did to make two games into one.
I was going to keep that one on my one of my last walls somewhere.

I too had a non-booting game that got repaired. I believe the issue was the 2 main capacitors (one of which is huge) on the CPU board. Your tech guy should know better than me, but that solved it on my game.

i have owned one. common is missing art/gold paint. never seen one in perfect shape. magic mirror is a plate plus a spring to shut the mirror. backglass has art work on both sides. artwork on the outside is usually cracked and flakey. make sure pop bumpers pop and score. those double stack switches for the pops are very hard to find. game card has all the rules on it. if you play the game it is very fast and tough. make sure the organ works properly too. motor is tough to find.

Keep it safe, and in a climate controlled environment.
Watch for veining and flaking, as this backglass was not as well constructed as 1970s EM glasses.

Congrats. I love mine. Had one before and sold it. Had seller's remorse immediately and found another one. This one is staying.

Hey guys,

Wondering if someone can help me out with a pic of the organ door arm where it attaches to the motor. Mine was working fine and now won't fully close, I think I am possibly missing a spring or maybe I have the wrong arm installed...

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

Lee

Amazing!! Please have that back glass scanned now!

where did you get the backglass? private owner? anybody know where to get stand up target decals?

Try an art supply store.

Are you looking for the music notes or the round gold?
Magicchiz

Does anyone else have a problem when a second lock ball enters where it rests (sorry not sure how to explain it) that the second ball instead of landing behind the first ball, it will ride over the first ball and rest on top of the second ball? It doesn't happen every time for me, but every 5 or 6th time it does it.

I located another unblemished backglass for my collection racks (the owner had a NOS spare) that eventually may be scanned for use by BGResto or CPR but there are several problems specific to this game backglass.
This is a much more complicated backglass to recreate than others, and it will be more expensive to recreate.
First, is the mirroring.
Second, is the mask, which has a transparent silver filtering in order to show the Phantom face when lighted.

I just finished restoring mine and am seeing the same problem. I'll have to think about it, but right now I'm thinking about installing a ball gate along the path that the ball rolls before it gets to the VUK, so that a second ball is slowed down a bit and doesn't occasionally ride up over the first ball. It seems the second ball shoots down the path so fast it just bounces up and over top of the first locked ball.

ill have a poto for sale in the next week or 2 if someone is looking.

when ball hits organ targets, is it normal for organ to raise up and then slam back down. the weight of the ball reaches the top of the organ ramp then causes organ to tilt open. What is supposed to stop this? I looked under playfield, but don't see any way to prevent this from happening, is there a rubber grommet or something supposed to be on the motor?

It's not supposed to do that. I think there is an arm that isn't engaged by the coil or mech until the targets are hit 3 times, or you get the skill shot / rollovers that also raise it. I've seen that happen on someone else's game, but again it's not supposed to. Something isn't right. I can check mine out when I get home tonight or tomorrow if someone hasn't answered by then.

Make sure the path behind the first locked ball (under the plastic) isn't obstructed. That does happen occasionally even when it's not, it's the only weird design on this pin. Both balls have to be sitting on that switch for multiball to be ready...you'll hear the cool music change and light show. Jaaaackkkpottttttt!

yeah if you could, take a pic for me. there is a lot of play in my armature. it raises fine when supposed to, but... it also tilts

IMG_0393 (resized).JPG

Mine also does this every time the ball hits the organ targets. I just figured this was normal and it doesn't seem to hurt anything. If it isn't normal I'm not sure what to do about.

anybody else with a poto verify this is normal?

No, I have never had the organ open and slam back down like that.

Here's mine. I see the problem. You're missing the retention spring on the armature, and I'm assuming anybody that has or had this issue is missing it as well.

image (resized).jpg

Like stated above, not normal. Sometimes when you shoot the ramp you get a slight lift, but barely. I've rebuilt my flippers, so sometimes when it really gets up the ramp quickly and slams the targets the organ ramp might lift only slightly...about 1/8" or so. But that's just from the force. But my buddy has one that was literally lifting way up each time the ball ascended the ramp, so I'm assuming his arm is missing the spring also.

awesome, thank you, it was driving me crazy! lol

what coils are used for the flippers too?

I can take a look later...haven't jumped on here too much lately.

I am in desperate need of a backglass...please please please help a brother out..PM me

Not to rain on your parade, but good luck. They don't come up often.

Interesting fun fact:

Most people do not know Paul Faris used his own daughter as the model of the woman on the backglass and playfield dressed in lingerie. Some people find this a little bit creepy. Think about that when you play this title.

I hear ya, but I am willing to pay for this as are many other people. POTO has the best art of any game out there! Let's get it done!

Well I sure as hell will think about that now.

giphy[1].gif

Actually yeah, that's kinda weird.

great music on this pin, old data east sound quality on this game and Robocop is bada$$

If anybody is missing a backglass completely, and doesn't have small children....

Parts - For Sale

Phantom of the Opera Alt Translite Archived

New (selling multiple, business) - “New alternate translite for Phantom of the Opera. Also great for wall art. Has one very small minor scuff on center / right hand side. Price includes shipping.”

2017-10-03

Langhorne, PA

Colsond3

45

Archived after: 42 days

Viewed: 639 times

Status: Not sold