This one's in real nice shape beyond a few scratches on the backbox. Hardly any playfield wear and a decent backglass. Festus and the gang stopped by yesterday and said "make that cowboy dance!"

Yep, we've got Surfers in Texas and Cowboys in California. What's this world coming to?

Sexy paint job on that surfer. Has to be one of Gottlieb's better cabinet paint schemes.

Thanks guys!

Ken

Way cool dudes!

Ken

Thats right pardner.

I posted these on another thread, but what a beautiful, amazing machine. I don't think I had heard of or seen one of these before, but when I first laid eyes on it , I knew I had to have it. Perfect backglass, nice original cabinet, semi-beat original legs, and according to a piece of paper in the coinbox, a new playfield recently installed. Now where does somebody find an NOS playfield for a 1958 Williams? I guess it really doesn't matter because I won't be needing another. Merry X-mas!

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I have since corrected the flippers.

That is a terrific looking game. However, I guess that the guy who installed the NOS playfield delegated the flipper bat installation to a subordinate. And they're off. . .

If you look closer he did say he corrected the flippers.

I've already fixed it. I'm not sure what happened there, but it is not the first time I've seen that.

What I found funny, and the reason for my post, is the idea that someone successfully completed a playfield swap, only to install the flippers upside down (or else, more likely, delegated the task to someone altogether unfamiliar with pinball machines). Naturally, anyone acquiring this very nice machine was going to reorient the bats. Keep on flipping and congratulations on adding Steeple-Chase to your line-up.

I'm just jealous.... Nothing else to say....

Very nice score. Congratulations!

Bruce

First you need to get through Devineress. And then it only gets harder.
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The guy that changed out the playfield did a very nice job. I didn't get it from him. Flippers look OK now?

Well they don't to me. Rome wasn't built in a day.

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"sigh......" jealous again

Almost - need another rubber ring on each one (unless you're using 1 1/8" pinballs).

Kinda reminds me of WMS Pit Stop, in a small way.

My Sweet Add A Line 1955 is finally ready to play
Well, not sure if flippers need double rubber or not?
Anyway huge thanks to DF for advice re troubleshooting

This game is a keeper simply for this one feature.

As you unlight the last rollover ( there are 16 ) the game goes crazy and fires an amazing 26 knocks ( replays ) ! Jackpot heaven.

I will post back the day I accomplish this feat but it might take a very long time.....

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Cool game!

Yes. The "round top" style of 2" flippers should be double-ringed when playing with a standard 1 1/16" pinball. I know the usual ring kits folks buy don't include them, but buy a dozen 1 1/4" rings to have on hand and use them as the bottom ring, then put the 1" ring from the ring kit as the top ring.

I always thought that the double rings was a hack. Did the early machines use 1-1/8 balls?

Yes (late 40's games).

You can even see the double rings used on some Gottlieb flyers (when the image is clear enough).

Not a hack, just the correct way to ring that style of flippers.

Very useful info

Will add to next order.

26 knocks? Wow, beautiful game. I'd give my left arm for that . (It's a good arm too, no tats or broken bones ever)

I once asked Steve Young this very question.

He was emphatic, even for Steve, that double ringing this style of flipper was not correct.

Interesting - that sounds like fun. I'll have to remember to ask him myself sometime.

But I gotta go with the Gottlieb factory on this one.

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Interesting debate.

I looked at various flyers I have - they seem to have just the 1 rubber.

Whether that means anything not sure.

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I prefer double ringing
with white on bottom and red on top

That's been my experience with the flyers also. Between that and Steve, I'm staying with one. Plus, the flipper has one groove.

But it's your game, your choice.

Look at the flyers from about Ace High and later, and you'll see the double rings.

It's about the geometry. Take a 1 1/16" ball and see where the center line is relative to the one ring on the flipper; they don't line up (the center line on the ball is below the ring). Adding the second ring below the top one meets up with the center line of the ball.

If you have original flippers and have interest in preserving them, the second ring is cheap insurance. Repros are now $14 a pair, and nice originals are hard to find. An extra pair of rings is $1. I've seen enough broken 2" round top flippers to appreciate why Gottlieb started adding the second ring themselves.

I like the look of the two ringed flippers.

Does this apply to Williams flipper games with the rounded top and other manufacturers?

Bruce

That looks like a neat game. I would like to play one someday.

The track is very similar to Pit Stop's but used in a different way. There are several ways to win games. Besides the normal point threshholds if you round the track once it will light the alternating gobble holes for a million, twice they will light for one special, three times two specials, and four times, three.

The lit horses on the backglass are a carry over feature from game to game and have corresponding shots on the playfield that will only lite in order after a horse is lit on the backglass. To add a horse to the backglass you must first make it once around the track which resets at the beginning of each game. Three horses are rollover shots including the center drain and the other four are gobble hole shots. Once all horses are lit another replay is awarded. It took several players over the weekend to try to get that last horse Equipoise but I sunk the shot last night. This game is going to be set to take dimes.

Yes.

Placing an order then.

Thanks,
Bruce

Just looked at my 1958 Sunshine flyer - double rubbers.

Now I know why a fair few rubber kits I always end up with 2 spare 1 inch rubbers.

Seems like they put 1 inch in instead of 1 inch 1/4.

yes, that's what they're for. The 1" will work, will just be a bit tighter.

And ever wonder why the area in front of the flippers on 50's games are sometimes blown out with wear? And the wear doesn't really line up with flipper "drag"? What do you suppose happens when the flipper rubber hits above the center line of the ball?

Good point.

Steve told me Gottlieb did not use or produce 1 1/4" rubber for their games, therefore, he doesn't include it inhis Gottlieb rubber sets (though I do believe he stocks it for other manufacturers)

1 1/4s fit pretty good on those dead bumpers.

Well, I am going to double rubber all my games now - advantages outweigh any disadvantages.

I really doubt you'll see any differences, but it is not going to hurt anything.

I like it. Aside from the added protection, it gives you a tiny bit of extra flipper reach. A lot of these 2" games are pretty brutal so anything helps.

I thought I had doubled up on Flipper because of that wide gap, but I just looked and nope.

Two inch flipper games are a true measuring stick.

All my EMs have two inch flippers on them. Ironic because I grew up playing mostly long flipper games from the 70s. Only game I have from the 70s now is one I never played back in the day- Gorgar.

There are a still a few short flipper games that were made in the early 70s that I might consider, but it is the 60s and prior that I prefer now.

I like a mix, 2's and 3's. Gives variety. Two different games/way to play really. Sometimes I switch to a 2" and forget to nudge right off the bat...and the drain happens...then I remember to nudge on ball 2...then forget on ball 3...

Growing up, I hated 2" flipper games because they were, often, old machines Now, I love them. I only have 2 machines with 3" flippers. Wizard! and Top Card. I also own a Crosstown (Which I feel the flippers are too far apart) and have often wondered how installing 3" flippers would improve the play.

It would bastardize the game and make it ridiculously easy. My first pin ever was a Gottlieb "Hearts and Spades". Someone had converted it to 3" flippers, but they maintained the normal gap by moving the holes farther apart. Still, the game was way too easy to beat, and got very boring very quickly. My brother has a "Subway" and he once made a set of extended flippers for it out of some type of plastic. He had them installed for some time, but it made the game way too easy to beat, and since it's an add-a-ball game, made game times ridiculously long. He has since restored it to normal condition with the original flippers. Designers knew what they were doing when they came up with a game design, and they usually achieved a good balance of playability and return for the operator. That, after all, was their job.

Flipper Fair/Subway (AAB) share the same layout as Cross Town (replay)... but Flipper Fair was designed first in 1961 during the "AAB golden age" which had no replay equivalents. This layout was originally designed to be an AAB game only. That's why the flippers are so far apart because the primary challenge (and fun) of this game is to keep earning more balls than you drain with those risky center shots.

I'm generally not an AAB person because most of them play and look like inferior adaptations. But this layout? Gotta be AAB. Just doesn't work without it... too punishing.

If I owned a Cross Town and was limited to five balls, I'd want a narrower gap or a center post. Five balls with no extras to earn = quick death.