~~~Escape From The Lost World Club~~~

Just because it looked like fun... I picked up an 1988 Bally Escape from the Lost World project last month. I had no luck locating a EftLW Cub here on Pinside, so, here it is... Welcome!

My Escape from the Lost Word machine should turn out pretty nice once shopped and repairs have been made.
...So when I picked it up, the general illumination was 99% burned out, there was no trace of sound, broken plastics, insert graphics were missing (come on Classic Arcades, I can use a hand here), rubber rings were destroyed, filthy playfield and inside cabinet, missing the correct playfield glass (with the artwork on it), the plunger was mushroomed without a rubber tip (I'll need 2 fresh silverballs, of course), no backbox light present, many loose wires and coin mech switch dangling from the coin door, no coin door lock or manual and lastly... the upper left flipper coil was a mess of dangling, drooping, melted copper wires that I'm guessing failed when it locked it on. ...Oh yeah, there was a bunch of coffee beans mixed up in the dust as well as a bunch of loose parts, $8.75 in quarters (mostly from the 80's and early 90's), about 40 tokens and four 1980's nudie Polaroid photos.... Nice!!!

As of today, I have the sound working well, the coin door wiring sorted out and the upper left flipper flipping. It's playable. Boy, isn't it nice how easy the upper playfield swings up to service the playfields? I have already used it a bunch and will be a whole lot more while shopping it out.

Years back, I had a Blackwater 100, with the similar shaped cab and unique molded plastics. It was probably as unique as this pin, except BW100 started off with multiball which was pretty cool.

Machine splash:
Dan Langlois design.
Greg Freres art.
1,500 production.
Bally/Midway 6803 MPU.
It has the unique shaped cabinet that requires 5.5" longer rear legs.
Playfield glass had artwork applied to it to give it the appearance of more depth.
There's a bunch of molded plastic parts such as ramps, the bottom arch and volcano.
Weighs in at 225 lbs and measures 75" x 50" x 28"

Well, alright then. Come on in to the ALL NEW THREE DIMENSIONAL PLAYFIELD ENVIRONMENT!

Bring your EftLW tips, tricks, gameplay, pics, tech, questions, mods, stories... you name it right here.

Cheers, Steveo

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I made a little forward progress with my EftLW project today with the GI lamp issue. It was as simple as locating and fixing the burned connector under the playfield. It almost looks like a real pin now with the lamps working.

I'm going to have to remove the rechargeable battery before it leaks and damages the MPU. 30 year old battery and no leak!!! It's pretty awesome that it's been doing its thing since November of 1987!!!

I have a question regarding the backglass: Is it supposed to be plexiglass or safety glass? Mine is plexiglass. Thanks!
~Steveo

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No. Sadly GLSP3022, it's just a regular plain tempered glass. Hopefully there will be a way to print the artwork and then apply it to a standard glass.
~Steveo

Finding a little time here and digging deeper into my EftLW project I now have the rechargeable battery removed and replaced with a remote AA battery pack. The old battery was just beginning to leak on the PCB where the "-" end was soldiered into place.

I also installed two new balls. It's amazing how different a game "feels" when new balls are put into service.

As a final note, my backglass illumination 34W incandescent light bulb was missing, so I installed a 12V LED strip into the top side of the backbox. I could also add another separate strip at the bottom if I felt that it wasn't enough, but I do like how little the reflection is down on the playfield glass. I've attached a photo of it illuminated inside the backbox and it really freaks out my phones camera.
~Steveo

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Here's two EftLW Horror Pics.

The upper left flipper coil and the shooter rod tip.

.....I'd say that they have come to the end of their "useful life" duty. I had to file the tip down on the shooter rod just to get it out of the cabinet.
~Steveo

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My BG glass came to me in plastic. Safety glass would be an improvement in my opinion.
~Steveo

This is the right place to inquire.
Where the price lands pretty much comes down to geographic location, physical and mechanical condition and the buyer and sellers desire to acquire or eliminate. My guess here on the left coast in CA the price of the machine that you described would be somewhere around $1200-$1500.
~Steveo

Pinside has the $$$ range:

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Welcome to the EftLW Club!
~Steveo

Super clean pin lutijn!!
Very, very nice condition!

~Steveo

Welcome to the EftLW Club RONR11! Looking forward to seeing you new pin!

~Steveo

Hey RONR11,
I hope that you are aware how the upper playfield lifts up for access under and below it. If you don't have a manual, IPDB has a digital copy to view:

https://www.ipdb.org/files/789/Bally_1988_Escape_from_the_Lost_World_Operating_Parts_Manual.pdf

Section 8-4 and 8-5 describes the access.

Cheers,
Steveo

I no longer have my EFTLW to confirm, but from your pic it looks like it goes on the tab of the lamp holder on you middle lamp.

Spitballing here...

Veify switches 3 and 4 (lower left corner of image) are working properly.. if they both work correctly, verify that wiring and connections back to the pcb(s) are not broken.

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Maybe this switch?
Opto? Cold solder joits?

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Welcome to the club RGC!
Nice looking EftLW machine. Ours is long gone to a new home. It’s hard to tell from your first group of photos, but do you have the path from the 3rd flipper that leads across the playfield? I don’t see it in any pics.
Nice cleanup of your game!
Steveo

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We had no sound when we got our EftLW years ago. I don’t exactly remember how it was totally resolved, but I do recall that the volume control on the coin door was opposite rotation to increase volume. [it may have been an incorrect replacement potentiometer as none of any of our 170+ pins over the years have had this direction of sound control. This was our one and only Bally 6803 game here] Also, there may be a volume control pot on the sound board inside the backbox that may come into play.
Good working sound in this game and all other games is paramount to complete the pinball adventure.

Yes. Clockwise (volume up) is the norm. That’s pretty much the best resolution to remedying your sound issue. If all issues could be resolved as simple.

Does pages 7-4 and 7-5 in the manual help? I no longer have the game.

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I think from looking at online photos that maybe someone in the past added those screws/rubbers due to a damaged ramp entrance…. Hard to say without seeing that area populated.

EftLW manual is online here:

https://www.ipdb.org/files/789/Bally_1988_Escape_from_the_Lost_World_Operating_Parts_Manual.pdf

Looking forward to seeing your GI LED job.

very nice improvement indeed!

Guessing…. Settings found on page 39 (5-5)
https://www.ipdb.org/files/789/Bally_1988_Escape_from_the_Lost_World_Operating_Parts_Manual.pdf

From the online manual. Hope this helps. We no longer own a EftLW pin.

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We’ve sold our EftLW pin a few years back. Here’s the only pic that I have showing the legs (just barely at that) that came with it. I don’t think that I see ribs.

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