The pricing setting does not touch the number of credits when we press the credit button, only the number of credits when we add money. The Alltek mpu has a freeplay setting.

Are you sure that the Alltek is configured for an Eight Ball Deluxe ? Check the manual of Alltek. To change settings, you must do it with the pinball lighted off.

Good point on the credits, a game is always 1 credit. But I did not see where he said he has an Alltek, or I missed it.

You did this with the power off or on?

Original boards

I think it was with the power off. It was over a year ago so I’m not positive but I would do it with the power off to be safe.

You are right, I've mixed two posts from different members !

so guessing I should play the game and see when this sudden credit appears...

SO i did the memory clear, but now if i change the switch to try to set it to freeplay, the game doesn't launch into EBD. If i set the switches to EBD, it does come on, but now when i try to start a game, the callout don't occur and a ball doesn't launch in the shooter lane.

Maybe a fuse went when i swapped it?

Anyone have any nice led pics...Ill prob just go warm white and maybe a little amber if it looks good.

yes defiantly warm white for GI, cool white just looks out of place for this title.
cool white under white inserts and color match all other inserts.
warm whites in the backbox , 1 cool white behind the 8ball to brighten it up.

This is pretty much how mine is. Only difference is I wound up going back to incandescents behind the words Eight Ball Deluxe across the top of the back glass.

Confused here. If you set it to coin op, does it show credits? If you set it to free play did you turn off the credit display as described in the Alltek manual?

So I did the memory clear, and if it set it to free play and turn off credit display the way it recommends in the manual, the game doesn’t restart into EBD, it gets stuck and never fully restarts.

If I set the games selection just to EBD, the game feature switched does seem to be doing anything. It also now doesn’t seem to fire the ball into the shooter lane. Also, if I for the ball into play, there are no sounds and when the ball drains, the game resets. I have reserved audio and they seem to work in test. Not sure how to test the shooter lane coil.

Sorry I’m not really sure what’s going on. Hopefully one of our Bally experts will chime in. If you haven’t already you should post the issue in the early solid state tech forum. You can also try sending an email to Alltek. The guy is very responsive to any issues.

Thank you. I was unaware of both of these options. Thank you for sharing them.

You’re welcome. Post your issue in the forum I’ve linked. The guys in there have seen every possible issue with these games.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/forum/tech-early-80s-solid-state

Wordy post, sorry in advance!

My friend talked me out of selling my EBD (it was slated to be my next hardtop, and given the nightmare my high speed has been, I'm just not feeling it now) because he volunteered to do all the work on it without completely gouging my eyes out from a cost perspective (eg $300-400). It's got a decent cab, but it's not perfect. It doesn't need a full on repaint, but a light touch on 'refreshing' it could do wonders. Anyway, I'm not planning on doing anything with that, at least right now.

So, scenario time:

I've got $1015 in it as it sits (machine+hardtop cost) so clearly I've got some leeway in bringing it back. It has the following issues:

-backglass is delaminating in BIG sections; thinking this is likely past any sort of reasonable repair. The Shay backglass is the best I've seen and will run me about $375.

-plastics are junk and need replaced. CPR set is $150, Shay is $170. No idea which is 'better' as Shay doesn't have any pictures

-already has an Alltek board but the other boards are stock and likely haven't ever been worked on. Probably need to send those out to my board guy to check out/repair any issues. I want to LED anyway so I assume the lamp driver board will need attention.

-Everyone knows the '81 lamp sockets are heinous, so those will be replaced also. I was planning on going with bayonet, unless there's some reason not to?

-several wiring hacks soldered directly on to the boards to undo/repin with new connectors etc

-Legs are gross painted black; I could have my powdercoat guy make them beautiful.. Should I? Anything else I should have him do while it's apart? Rails, lockbar, etc?

-I'm sure there will be various parts that need ordered to replace worn or non working components. Figuring $100-200 here.

So with the backglass, plastics, misc parts, and labor costs I'll be around $2000-2200, and more if I do board work, powdercoating, etc. I definitely don't mind being invested in this game for "what it's worth" but I always worry about going overboard and being way upside down. Say this were to stretch out to $2500 or so but at the end of it I had a hardtopped '81 EBD with new plastics and glass plus nice powdercoated accents, fully LED with sockets swapped and fixed/reworked boards... $2500 isn't bad at all, right? I mean, it's certainly 'up there' by pinside historical numbers but iirc none have been recorded sold with hardtops yet.

Thanks for reading my ridiculously long post

If it makes you feel any better, I've got about $4500 into mine.

-Paid $2000 for the base game. Yeah, too much but it had mostly new boards, the back glass was nice and it was local.

-paid $500 to have someone else stencil and paint the cabinet. I spent close to 40 hours prepping it.

-I installed new playfield and plastics. I also replaced all the lamp sockets.

-New legs and side rails.

-All new displays and many other parts.

-Was given an 84 version playfield with lots of parts that I used many of.

-I repinned every connector. That alone took 8 hours over two days. After 4 hours of it one day, I had to take a break.

I've got over 120 hours into the restoration and I don't think I'd ever do another from that era. It was a lot more work than I was used to.

$2500 with a hardtop doesn't sound all that bad if everything else is fairly nice.

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I had planned on this being a super cheap build since I got the machine for $667, but I've completely butchered the hardtop prep on my high speed and I said I absolutely wouldn't do the same to my EBD--I'd sooner sell it than let that happen. But my friend stepped up and made my decision on what to do a lot easier..

EBD is one of very few games I will voluntarily let myself potentially be upside down in but I can't get too crazy. Money is always tight on this and I have to pay attention where I am as I go along. Bleh.

Doesn't look so bad in pictures but I'm actually... It's pretty rough in a lot of ways. Cabinet is fairly decent though. There's potential...

IMG_20190815_145525 (resized).jpg

It all depends on if you like the machine and intend to hang on to it and enjoy it or do you want to flip it down the road and recoup costs. IMO, $2500 is not a bad investment at all for a decent EBD if you like the machine and it's a long-term keeper.

I've got an '84 EBD that I don't ever intend on selling. It's my favorite game from my youth and still is today. I've got just under $3K invested in mine and that's before putting in a hardtop, and I'm perfectly fine with that. New paint, repaired cabinet, original backglass in primo condition, new plastics, sling and flipper rebuilds, Alltek lamp board, tasteful LEDs, all new drop targets, reconditioned PCBs, rebuilt pops, reconditioned displays, and it plays fast, nice, and smooth. The playfield is actually pretty good except for cupped inserts and wear around the scoop, targets, and in the inlanes. The wear in the inlanes is bothersome as balls held by the flippers actually get stuck in place when you drop the flipper. I'm using a playfield protector now to eliminate that and the cupped inserts, but I plan on putting a hard top in soon and I won't even bat an eye at the price (I did a Mata Hari hard top last year and love it).

Bottom line: Spend, play, and enjoy.

It's funny, because when I got this machine (it came as a package deal with meteor and Black Knight 2000) I thought it looked like the most overrated thing ever and I was intent on dumping it as quickly as I could. Luckily I didn't get it sold before I brought it home and tried it out. Mine plays like absolute crap (all I did was adjust one pop a bit, but otherwise it's in as-found condition still) and it's STILL fun to play. I think that says it all.

I fully intend on keeping it long term and plan on it being well out in front of some of my other machines in terms of which order I'd potentially sell them if I had to. So I guess that alone makes the long-winded post a bit moot. But tbh it sounds like $2500 with all the touches I mentioned isn't egregious by any means, and I guess that's what I was going after.

Thanks to both of you for your candid responses, I appreciate it!

I paid over $3000 for mine. Cabinet and playfield are pretty nice. I’ve since replaced the backglass with the Shay repro. Replaced the crummy legs with repros from PBR. Boards are new. I easily have over $4000 tied up in mine. I plan to upgrade the displays. I’m in way too deep but have no intention of selling it. I’d say go for it.

The way I see it, I have 5 machines (with F-14 coming, so 6).. as far as titles I really don't want to NOT have in my collection, Eight Ball Deluxe would safely find itself in the top half--safely ahead of High Speed and probably also in front of F-14 (no idea until I put some plays on it) and pretty equal but slightly ahead for me with Meteor and Space Shuttle. The only game I have that might be ahead of EBD in terms of overall desire to keep might be world cup soccer 94.

EBD is awesome. Once I have a nice one, it's going nowhere and will be played, a LOT. I think I could stomach having up to 3000 in it, with absolutely every 'wishlist' item checked off. Seems a common theme for EBD owners to go completely off the rails.. There's good reason why.

I guess I've danced around a bit on my position here. You all goated me into it with your big numbers

Nicely done. I'm no longer concerned, LOL

Wow...new gold standard to compare our EBD's to. $7500 but I don't think I've ever seen a nicer one:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/89466

Damn, that's nice!

Yikes. It's definitely beautiful though.

Joined the club yesterday. Has new CPR playfield , all new Alltek boards.

2DB03353-DCA2-4AE0-A0D7-D9AFDA754E19 (resized).jpeg

66184D0E-C8A0-4F66-8A4E-6A3898B57036 (resized).jpeg

A6C95B99-6639-4E45-BD8E-60D63A03D3A7 (resized).jpeg

Two nice machines! I believe that's the first one I've seen hardtopped. Mine is headed south to get worked on very soon. Seeing yours makes me even more anxious to have it done and back in my lineup!

My EBD had been restored 10+ years ago by someone before me and looks like they took a belt sander to it with all the deep groove on the playfield. It did have a overlay and a playfield protector on top of that. I was really worried about the overlay coming off but it all peeled off in one piece. Needless to say that the overlay will not become a wall hanging. Sanding the playfield inserts was the biggest job but I got smoothed out and polished. She plays so much better and looks amazing.

It looks outstanding. I really like the hardtop product. My Space Shuttle plays fast as hell. I can't wait to play an EBD that's nearly as fast. My only real experience is with a neglected game with half working flippers... Lol

I don't think that you can put too much money into ebd. I have done 3 high end ebd restores. They sold between 4800 and 5300 in the early 2010s and in 2018 for 7750. There's always a good market for ebd. A good investment imo. I have 3 more ebds to do and look forward to see what they go for.

Good perspective. I wish my cab were a bit nicer. Overall it's pretty decent, and could possibly be freshened up some, but the back box has a bad chip in one corner and that would take some reworking for sure. Generally I'm not a huge condition collector anyways--most everything gets somewhat bruised going down my stupid staircase anyway--but still.

I'm excited to get rolling on this. I think it's heading south on Saturday and the legs/rails/lockbar are headed off for powder.

I’ve got a question for those folks that have done an Ebd restoration and replaced the light sockets. What did you replace them with? The original 555 style or a 44/47 light socket and any particular reason for choosing one over the other?
Thanks in advance!

I'm going with bayonet style on mine. I absolutely hate wedges. Not going to use those any time I get a choice.

Did the same.

I changed 3 bulbs in my EBD and broke two of the posts. What an absolute turd setup with the original configuration.

Yep, bayonets for sure. I've replaced a fair share on mine. CANNOT stand those wedges either. Just a PITA IMO

Yes definitely bayonet. Except for me on EBD Gi lamps on the upper play field I kept the 555 sockets where you can see them under the clear plastics to keep the original look. It's hard to find bayonet sockets that will keep the bulb above the pf surface without the side of the socket being visible.

Good point. I'll probably leave the top PF and back box ones as wedges, even though I hate em

Is the issue everyone has with the wedges that they come loose?
Just joined the 1981 EBD club and going to be doing the final touches to make it perfect. Will be switching to LED's so may as well get the right bulb holders if it's worth it.

When I did changed mine with comet led bulbs they went in so hard. I finally took my knife and shaved a little of the outside of the plastic to make a wedge and that made it easier to slide in the sockets. When I did the hardtop I did replaced some of the sockets to bayonet style.

Thanks for the replies, guys! I’ll have to look for a source now to supply me with a load of new bayonet sockets.

PBL is where i always get them. Terry's the best. .

My issue was adding LED lamps. The tolerance is too tight and the contacts were flaky. 555 lamps sockets are no longer made so you will have issues with them breaking and the contacts worn out. I switched over to bayonet on 2 ebd swaps. Well worth it.

When I did my backbox. I replaced the sockets to 44 style. Pinball Resource had the absolute best price, after comparing all the normal websites. 70 cents a socket.

I'm going to replace all my old-design 555 bulbs and sockets with the 44 bayonet design. But I want to make sure that I order the right sockets from PBR.

Should I use the 1 1/8' bracket #A-2916 for feature lamps and the flush mount #A-1363 for G.I, bulbs?

Also, do you just use ground braid for the daisy-chain voltage wire or something else? Thanks.

Can someone who is absolutely 100% sure their '81 has original legs show me what theirs look like? I'm trying to sort out among three sets from a high speed, a meteor, and the EBD I got and I want to be certain I'm powdercoating the right set. All three of these sets were painted -- poorly -- and I'm not sure what goes where, ASSUMING any of them are even original.

Bally EBD legs are 28.5 inches. No ribs along the outside 90 degree edge. The bottom where the leg leveler screws on the bottom will not be rounded off like Sterns. Will be a sharp 90 degree angle.
Original color charcoal grey.

Meteor about the same except the bottom plate is rounded off. Medium grey or black.

HS originally were chrome.