I have had a Game Plan Sharpshooter longer than most of my other pins. I just don't ever seem to get tired of it. It is always fun and always seems to have that one more game feeling.

However....I hate the artwork. It is cheesy and dumb. Western, sure. The name, fine. Almost feel like it could have been Sharpe Shooter though.

I knew I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what. At first I thought I would try to convert it to a cocktail style pinball machine. Game Plan made tons of cocktails, so that might fit.

One day, needing some cash.....(okay I guess as a pinball collector, that is almost every day)....I sold the cabinet. I gutted everything except the front door, plunger, siderails, flipper buttons, empty backbox and legs. Someone converted the cabinet into a virtual pin. Actually, come to think of it, the cabinet was the best art on the machine.
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I couldn't find a piece of furniture to convert into a cocktail pinball cabinet. So I decided I would look for a new cabinet for the machine. I found a great old 1950's Genco Tri-Score, and decided it would be perfect.

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Next for the theme.

The first backglass idea was based on the original drop target pattern.

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Then, not sure about the simplicity of that design, I decided to go in a Tom Petty direction.

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Not sure how that would work if the machine didn't play some music, I went with a more classic sharp shooter idea.

Annie Oakley....

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The Annie Oakley I actually had printed on backlit adhesive vinyl. I botched the mounting and then decided perhaps that wasn't right either. In the end I decided on a cool comic book style image.
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Next came the playfield. I knew I wanted to go simple. I wanted bare wood with a dark stain, so I picked classic white posts and opaque inserts. Here is the original playfield.

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stripped, inserts removed, ready to be sanded.

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Here I have stained the playfield before the inserts so I didn't stain the inserts accidentally. Then setting inserts, clear coat, decals, clear coat, and polished.

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The inside of the machine is still a mess, but the inside of the front door shows it has the original coin mech which I will wire up eventually so that it will trigger a coin switch. Also, I used the old ball lifter as a start button by placing a switch behind it. Pretty crude, but no one will see it.

In addition, I have mounted all of the boards to a new back panel board. The circuit boards are on the back and accessible from a back panel that lifts out. The displays (reducing to two players for the small head) and ball count displays are mounted on the front. I am using Comet's LED strips to light the translite. The translite will be mounted to a piece of lexan and holes cut for the displays.

The transformer and power supply board are mounted in the lower cabinet under the head. I had to extend one wire bundle to make it work. There is no room in the head for the transformer.

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I finally received the playfield posts I needed. I mistakenly ordered the tall posts, so I needed to order again. They were all out of the short yellow lane guides, so I needed to split red and yellow. I cut the windows for the displays and backed them with dark tinted plastic to hide the outlines of the displays. It turned out well. I also backed the translight with dark tinted plastic in the areas I didn't want lit. Not perfect, but looks better. Next I need to redo the plastics. I also need to attach resistors to the controlled lights to stop them from twitching.

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I finished the plastics and installed them. They are a western gun theme with images from original patent applications for each weapon. I wanted them to be very plain, which they are. Not sure if a bit more color would have been better. I'll keep them as they are for awhile, then consider again whether more color would have been better. I'll try to post a video of the machine in action once I finish adding resistors to the sockets with LEDs.

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