Thanks leckmeck for the 4 square!

790A3BB3-DB88-4116-B199-922810CF1194 (resized).jpeg

B98E18FF-56C2-4F0D-BF8F-E58DA515FE04 (resized).jpeg

Yes, that sounds like quite a chore to move. Mine has 3 sections of 1” solid slate with wood frames attached. If it was in 2 pieces I’m not sure 4 people could have moved them.

79B3D3D1-0276-4842-AA8F-A13FC8D62EAE (resized).jpeg

I like pool. Once it gets broken down for storage does it ever get set back up?

I like shooting pool too but I think the fact that you always need other people to play makes the pinball machines more attractive.

I doubt mine will ever get set back up unless I go broke and have to sell my all my machines or if I move to a bigger house which is very doubtful. I just didn’t have the heart to sell it. Lots of good memories.

My son got one with his last house. We moved it a little to a better position in his basement, leveled it and played one game. About 6 months later he gave it away to the fiancés brother. I'm thinking that one game I played with my son was it for his pool table.

When I was a teenager the neighbor kid had one in his basement. We actually played it a lot, but we didn't have pinball machines...

If you have other people to play pool that are interested you can gain a little skill and then I think it can be fun. But it has to be your thing and the main focus of a game room. If it gets regular play it can be enjoyed. If not it becomes a table or bench for other items.

I am thinking mine might have been only 3/4in slate and not one inch
which helps some.
Your looks thicker.

I gave mine away when i moved, as i did not want to move it.
It had only cost me $200 years before, as I bought it from a surfer dude who was broke.
I was much younger and still able to man handle things.
Now even pinball machines are too much sometimes.

Fancy Eatin Table

Floor painted with lots of imperfections but it’s a mixed tile game room so who cares. Picking up a Top Card next week to round it out.

B92903D2-CCBC-47DC-B4E4-B4965F7E7FD5 (resized).jpeg

Picked up these two. Have the Pro Football up and running.

20211023_155449 (resized).jpg

20211031_170356 (resized).jpg

In what amounted to a buy one get one free deal, (the seller wanted both machines gone) we recently came home with this beautiful Gottlieb Super Spin and a SS Mata Hari, which is one of my all time favorite games.
Some out there will notice the Mata Hari backbox has black wood around the backglass. The guy said the original paint was fine but he painted that in flat black acrylic because he thought it looked better. Honestly, it kinda does but the paint wasn’t sealed and comes right off.
Super Spin was 99% working straight out of storage (two bent score motor switches) and is incredibly clean and in excellent condition.
What a game! It’s our first EM, although we have played many, I always feared owning one.
The Wifebot is an EM genius and glanced at the schematics, reached in, and instantly fixed its problems. When we got it home she went through the machine and cleaned all the switches, checked gaps and made me look as confused about the process as she does when I work on a System 11 board. All I know it it was incredibly clean inside when we bought it and worked better when she was done!
Anyone else notice how a EM Gottlieb looks somewhat haunting and disturbing when it’s quietly sitting all lit up on its own in the dark?
Looks like we will be buying more EM machines. Wifebot loves them and so do I.

B8DC74FB-80BE-4839-B2BC-3AC87724F410 (resized).jpeg

BF8234D2-206F-4E75-A1D7-502A754BB253 (resized).jpeg

Your wife's a definite keeper!!

Be careful, they breed when you aren’t looking. I went from one to two in 4 days, to 5 in 6 months, to 15 now with two loaned out to friends because I am out of space. They are like giant Tribbles.

I love my Jet Spin (the 4-player version of Super Spin). I have it set up so there are six ways to get a special:

- Score threshold
- Vari-target/bullseye shot
- Star roto target (at max bonus)
- Right standup (when bonus is 4K)
- Left standup (when bonus is 6K)
- Right standup (when bonus is 8K)

Now, rather than going for a high score, my goal for each game is to get one of each type of special.

Picked up a Twin Win from a fellow Pinsider.

I need a back door (which is an older style 4 player head). Anyone have anything local to Central Pa? Please PM me. Thanks

20211102_204253 (resized).jpg

hey what's with those WMS flips down bottom... oh the horrors! Seriously, nice looking game. I enjoyed this game when it came out; doesn't get a lot of love but I think it's kinda cool.

Yes, good eye on the Williams bats. Bally flipper parts underneath. Lots of love required to get this back flipping, but a good winter project.

***Need 4 player back door***

Great game. Good luck with it! One thing I noticed with this title...the inserts are not secured. Especially, the lower inserts by the flippers.

A fun day in the mancave with these games Looking to add a big hit (projects are fine). Everyone Enjoy your day

B8B8D006-43B7-4DC0-B825-A234DE4E20C8 (resized).jpeg

CD03183A-7218-475A-8379-2EB48B529773 (resized).jpeg

Nice line up, I guess you don't nudge your games based on that Gas pump globe sitting on top(?) Of your Strange World?! Also, you must be a big Jetter fan...no comment!

That’s an excellent idea!! We may try that when everyone in the house gets better at playing Super Spin. Currently we have it set to Add-a-ball but with the bonuses set higher before it will light the specials. Only the Wifebot regularly lights the 100,000 light, but she sucks at playing Pinbot, so it all evens out.
Funny how this old Gottlieb got more plays than the solid state machines when my sister and her two sons showed up. It was the only machine with two player games started every time. “It’s more fun to compete!” as they say.
BTW I’ve been calling my wife “Wifebot” partially because she is a well oiled machine when it comes to EM stuff and because her first (successful) work on a SS machine was Pinbot. She thinks it’s rather funny when she’s deep in a pinball machines guts and I say in a monotone “Wifebot Circuits Activated!”
She went to look at a broken Flipper Cowboy machine for sale the other day. The older couple didn’t want to sell it but it wasn’t working. They called a nearby shop who wanted $100 just to look at it and $75 an hour labor. More importantly, that place wanted them to bring it in to have it looked at. No house calls. The place also offered to buy it from them for $300! So they said no and advertised it themselves for $750.
She heard their story and that they had the machine for nearly four decades.
She climbed in, did her magic, and got the machine up and running in a couple hours.
She refused to take any pay for the work. “I didn’t replace anything, should you charge someone to straighten a bunch of bent switches and tighten some switch stacks while drinking their coffee and chatting?” She said.
She also told them to take their ad down and keep their pinball machine, but if they ever want to sell it or if anything stops working in the future to call her first.
She truly believes good deeds have their own rewards and couldn’t take advantage of their situation.
I agree totally with her, unless it’s a Bride of Pinbot or Black Rose, then the pinball machine better come home with her!!!
On Halloween night she took a picture of Super Spin because our nephew, in his early twenties, thought the machine looked disturbing and creepy when lit up all alone in a dark game room. After the picture was sent to everyone, she turned off the machine and came upstairs. About five minutes later we heard it start a game…
I went downstairs pretending to be brave because nobody else would and unplugged the surge protectors for all the machines from the wall and tried not to run back up the stairs.
Of course everyone was a bit worried it was haunted, but …
…do I ruin the scary story???
November 1st in the daylight, of course, Wifebot went to look Super Spin over. She came upstairs minutes later with a huge grin.
“I must have double pushed the power button after I took the picture and the start button switch blades were almost touching each other. I probably accidentally bent it when I was cleaning the coin mechs.”
Ugh!!! Well, I personally was never afraid!!!
Now let me un-suspiciously wash some laundry…

604DA4E6-AE63-4CCB-B52A-D825FED97E3F (resized).jpeg

Great story!!!!! And lucky guy with a pin loving wife. Mine tolerates well, and funny, her one game ---- Bride of Pinbot.

Wifebot was not always a pin loving wife, Val was into a lot of hobbies, but early on when we first discussed it, she said that if we were to buy something big and electronic and stupid, then she really preferred Arcade machines.
Her dad’s best friend had EM pinball machines and when she was young she learned to play and work on them a little bit.
We both grew up in the arcades and video game scene. Her dream was to find an original Ms. Pac-man cocktail table like the one she played at Pizza Hut when she little, and I wanted this super cheap Kings of Steel pinball that a friend from work kept offering to sell to us.
When we bought that pinball machine, I was excited and she was “meh.” I let her play the very first game on it, and you could see her whole attitude change as she pressed the start button again and again. I didn’t get to play it that first day at all. Or even the second day…
We never needed to buy the Ms. Pac-Man cocktail table after that, but many pinball machines followed that first one.
I think it really comes down to making the hobby a shared thing. I am not in control of what we buy and own, neither is she. Every machine we have ever owned or sold was a mutual decision.
In the beginning the Wifebot liked art touch up and playfield work, then started working on playfield mechanics and electronics. She never worked on SS backbox boards until recently with Pinbot, but loved rooting around inside other peoples EM machines and making them work. We hadn’t owned any EM machines until now mostly because of limited space and priorities. (AKA: The wishlist)
Both have recently changed.
Wifebot read this response and she is proofreading and editing my response… removing about half a bookshelf’s worth of text.
She is taking it from here:

If he keeps calling me Wifebot on these forums somebody is going to misunderstand and think he is referring to some creepy relationship he has with a pinball machine and not a real person!
But I do think it’s cute!!!
I know you’re not asking for advice but I think your wife could be just as enthusiastic about it as I am, the the fact that she likes Bride of Pinbot is a good start!
If you really want to find out how she feels about the hobby, offer to sell or trade a couple of your games for something she likes. Have her help decide which ones to buy, and more importantly, which ones should go. Then you will find out which of the games you have that she both likes and dislikes and what games she is interested in owning.
Be honest and discuss it with her, let her know you want to share this hobby WITH her not share it AT her.
Lemme explain that! Don’t accidentally let it turn into a teacher and student situation or inadvertently talk down to her.
Ty thinks I am amazing, and I am! Ha! Let’s be honest tho - he’s really good at some things and so am I. I would NEVER have him touch up a scratched up playfield and I think he would not want me to solder any more Transistors!
Pinball isn’t our only hobby, and there’s a few things we don’t do together, but when it comes to the expensive and space consuming stuff like our British sports cars or the game room, we both have to be interested in the hobby. If he suddenly found a passion to collect antique Greyhound busses of the 1960’s I would not be interested and we would have a very big fight. And I would win!
That’s all I got for now, this is way too long!

Wifebot was not always a pin loving wife, Val was into a lot of hobbies, but early on when we first discussed it, she said that if we were to buy something big and electronic and stupid, then she really preferred Arcade machines.

Thanks for the great response and story. If we were younger and life were a bit different she might join more. I’m 65, and she is a bit younger. Or as we usually tell people, waaayyyy younger. Been in the hobby about 6 years. She was in an auto accident in 2016 and now gets light triggered migraines. And has some back issues so bending over machines is not a good idea. Some days she can play for half hour or so, others has to leave the room right away if anyone is playing. She does help me get colors right when touching up, shoos me out to the garage to work on machines or play when she knows I am stressed. And even supports the plan to build a pin shed in the back yard to expand the collection. So I’m pretty lucky. Thanks again and have fun with your pins.

Wifebot thanks for the insight and reminder. Men and women are very different. What you said isn’t new to me, but is something I need to be reminded of.

Picked up a Gottlieb Fun Land and a Gottlieb Dancing Dolls.

20211114_171302 (resized).jpg

"Funland" seems to be coming out of the woodwork everywhere lately!

Took the plunge (hehe, see what I did there!?) on the weekend and got my first EM. A 1976 Gottlieb Sure Shot. Game is in good condition. Everything is intact and working. Cabinet needs some love and a few other little things, but fine as is for the most part.

The part that isn't so amazing is that pretty much every single one of the inserts is sunken down slightly. This is a pool based theme, so those inserts are pretty easy to see and count... two inserts for each of the 15 balls in a rack.

A couple are more noticeably sunken as they will actually cause the ball to hang-up and stay there until you shake the machine back and forth to free it. Those are the two inlane ones as the ball slows down enough in that area for the little lip to stop the ball.

I am trying to figure out where the good EM threads are so I apologize for asking here, but what is the best way to go about correcting these sunken inserts? It seems like they'd be the kind you would gently heat up and then push from below with an appropriately sized socket or dowel to bring them up flush again. Is that what I'm looking to need to do? Again, thanks for the help and direction. Love the old sounds and chimes on this game!!

IMG_5723 (resized).JPG

IMG_5725 (resized).JPG

IMG_5729 (resized).JPG

IMG_5743 (resized).JPG

IMG_5744 (resized).JPG

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-ultimate-playfield-restoration

Answer: I went searching on YouTube for Super Spin/Jet Spin videos when we first got our Super Spin because there was nothing better for me to do. The Wifebot was deep inside the machine and I found out exactly how she feels when I say “hold the light right here…” to her.
Anyway, PinballHelp.com posted a series of videos 9 years ago on removing and reinserting the playfield inserts on a Jet Spin/Super Spin. The principal is the same for pretty much any pinball machine. This is a really good series of videos and makes it a lot more simple to do than my own procedure that I used to use. (Don’t ask!)
The first video link is here and it’s a series of short and detailed videos:
(I don’t know if the YouTube link will work from pinside)

Or look it up on YouTube:
Leveling playfield inserts on old pinball machines Pt 1 - PinballHelp.com

I hope this helps you!!!

Dancing Dolls!!! This gets my vote for the creepiest Gottlieb machine ever spotted in a dark room!
Love the weirdness to it though!
Fun Land is popping up everywhere lately, as jrpinball said.
It’s really strange and I can’t quite understand how this really happens. Pinballs tend to show up for sale in groups and then disappear again.
Recent examples: Three different Twilight Zones, two Star Trek TNG and three Black Knights all showed up on our local Craigslist over the past 6 months, all by different sellers, then all disappeared (except the Star trek TNG - that’s the latest one) We’ve also had two high speeds, two Doctor Whos, two Pinbots, two Monte Carlos, two Harlem Globetrotters, three Charlie’s angels, and two triple actions advertised each at the same time as one another as well.
All I know is if this is how you get a wanted machine to appear for sale locally, then I need to place a few fake Black Rose and bride of pinbot ads! They’re not expensive machines and certainly not rare but nobody that has one for sale on pinside wants to ship them… frustrating!!!
But enough of that. Hope to see you post a shot of your dancing dolls and fun land all set up and running!

I call that particular game the "woodwork" game. Sometimes, one certain title seems to come up everywhere, like they're "coming out of the woodwork".
"Funland" seems to be that game lately. Speaking of "Dancing Dolls", they were popping up everywhere for a while. I managed to grab one myself during that time.

WOW! Those tutorial videos are excellent! Thank you very much for posting. Exactly what I was looking for. Cheers!

Glad that was able to help! Be sure to post some progress pictures on here as you go! Can’t wait to see your results!

Seen a few Wing Ding and Travel Time “woodwork”games recently too. Different areas, but still within my max shopping distance.
Last time I saw a dancing dolls for sale in person was in Florida at a flea market. it had a retro 60’s reproduction Barbie in it. Very odd!
Waiting for a bunch of Masquerade machines to come out of the woodwork!!! Its an amazing pinball for those who don’t know.

Tie game with the neighbor

20210106_204435 (resized).jpg

You need to have a one-ball rolloff.

I got a new machine for my Birthday.

7680935A-177C-4968-B2CF-50CDCAB12A9A (resized).jpeg

6 ball multi-ball !

20211209_193311 (resized).jpg
Picked up a wild life someone painted it black then tried to remove the black so I couldn't leave the game like that so
20211209_193243 (resized).jpg

100_3245 (resized).jpg100_3259 (resized).jpg

This cleaned up nicely.

Twin Win Full (resized).jpg

Twin Win Glass Front (resized).jpg

Picked up a Gulfstream from my brother-in-law who rescued it from the back of a pickup truck as the guy was about to push it off into a landfill . After 3 years of not being able to get it working he gave it to me, it was missing legs but otherwise mostly intact. Now working 100% after a few months of rebuilding

20211205_091256 (resized).jpg

Nice job as always Ralph

Nice job as always Ralph</blockquote.

Thanks Chris ,JRC,rat tamago

Painted a Jacks open for a client has to be one of the best EM machine's I have played.
20211107_113616 (resized).jpg20211107_113541 (resized).jpg20211108_190952 (resized).jpg20211108_191040 (resized).jpg20211108_191337 (resized).jpg20211108_191805 (resized).jpg20211108_191818 (resized).jpg

Fun game, miss mine. That old, no room to keep'em all problem. Enjoy

Nice save

My line up. The Williams Serenade will be listed soon.

IMG_1871 (resized).jpg