I've got a beautiful flipperless Big League from 1940. It's really a piece of art. Only one I know to exist, too.
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Hi Genco guys, I'm looking for an instructions card (or a scan or picture of one) for my 1940 Big League. Or any type of documentation, really.

It's quite a longshot since I haven't seen or heard of another example of this game in almost 10 years of owning it. But it can't hurt to try, right? If you have something, please let me know!
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I hadn't, but I have now. Thanks! Very cool to see this generation of Genco's features described and drawn out. This is going on the wall next to my Big League!

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Here's some pics of how it's done on my 1940 Big League. Works great. Not sure if I like the placement of the bridge though.

I hope the pictures clear things up a little. If not, I'll gladly describe which wire goes where. Not now though. It's been a long but fulfilling day of pin hauling and I'm off to bed.

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Will definitely do, when I'm near the machine again.

Thought it might be good to have a copy of the bit on Pinrepair about this problem here in the group too, for future reference.

From Pinrepair.com:
Genco's DC Dilemia.
Unlike everyone else, Genco used DC voltage to power all their coils at about 18 volts. To do this, they use a selenium rectifier to convert the transformer's AC voltage to DC volts. This style of rectifier was used before the invention of silicon diodes. Selenium rectifiers are notorious for failing gradually over time, and then dying suddenly. It is not a matter of "if" a selenium rectifier will fail, but rather "when" it will fail. Selenium rectifiers fail because they develop high, internal series resistance, resulting in lower bias or "C-supply" voltage. Their forward voltage drop increases to the point that they no longer convert AC voltage to DC. As this happens, the increased resistance causes the rectifier to heat up, which eventually causes it to burn. When this happens, it emits a highly pungent and nasty odor, and could start a fire (selenium rectifiers probably reached their peak in TV sets of the 1950's). Nowadays their use would probably be restricted in consumer products because of the toxicity of selenium.

The biggest symtom of a failing Genco selenium rectifier are coils that are "weak". For example, the classic case is the bell solenoid just doesn't have enough juice to ring the bell. The bell plunger goes up, but it doesn't strike the bell with enough force to actually sound the bell. Or when the score reels or continuous units reset, they do it lethargically.

The selenium rectifier should be replaced with a conventional bridge rectifier. Radio Shack sells a 25 amp 50 volt bridge with lugs that works just fine, though I personally use a 35 amp 200 volt bridge (because I already have them around for solid state games and their power supplies).

The new silicon bridge is easy to hook up to the Genco transformer. Just remove the two top outside green wires going from the transformer to the selenium rectifier, and connect them on the two AC lugs of the bridge (the bridge's AC lugs are diagonal to each other, and usually at least one is marked "AC".) One of these AC transformer leads should go through a 10 amp fuse (which would blow if the new silicon bridge shorts, which can and does happen.)

Then the upper solo output wire from the selenium rectifier (which has a cloth wire going to the harness) should then be connected to the negative lug on the silicon bridge. The "+" (positive) silicon bridge lug is then connected to the transformer's top center lead, which also connectes to the old selenium rectifier (cut the connection to the old rectifier though.) After mounting the wires, put a wood screw through the hole in the center of the silicon bridge, and screw it to the wood panel. Leave the original (and now disconnected) selenium rectifier there, for that "original" look.
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A 1954 Genco 2 Player Basketball which has been converted from using the original Selenium rectifier, to a new silicon bridge rectifier. Note the 10 amp fuse installed too, on one AC lead going to the silicon bridge.

Alright, let's see if this helps. The wires that come out of my transformer have heat shrink tubing around them, which will not make it easier to see. But here goes.

This first picture is taken with the playfield in upright position. Camera facing up from inside the cabinet.
The orange wire in the foreground that comes from the transformer connects to the left lug of the bridge in the third picture of this post.
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This second picture is taken with the playfield in upright position, camera facing down.
The upper transformer lug in the foreground of the picture connects to a greenish wire which goes into the wire harness of the playfield, this is original.
The middle lug with the white/purple wire connects to the lower lug (plus) of the bridge in the third picture.
The lower lug with the orange wire in the foreground connects to a 10A fuse, which then connects to the right lug of the bridge.
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That leaves us with the yellowish wire that comes from the upper lug (minus) of the bridge. This goes into a white wire that goes into in the wire harness.
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Please do! I'm curious now if mine is actually hooked up the way it should be!

Cool to hear that it worked! And too bad to hear about your GI :/ Hope you get it fully working soon. These prewar oldies are really cool when they play like they should.

I think my Genco Hi-Fly might still be running on its Selenium rectifier. When I modify that to use a Bridge rectifier, I'll make a Youtube short on it. Right now, the info on this simple mod is just too hard to obtain.

Thanks! I think we've solved this now though.

Great looking Argentine!

Nice catch! Beautiful machine.

Should you need any help figuring out the scoring mechanics, let me know. My 1940 Big League has exactly the same playfield layout, and probably exactly the same ruleset as well.

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Toyguy, you asked for pictures. Here's 2 pictures of my backbox. Do they show what you are looking for?

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This Four Roses just popped up for sale nearby. I've seen the machine first hand a few years ago and know it's in very good condition. Exceptional, for a 1940 machine.

Would look great next to my Big League. Same year of manufacture, same cabinet style, same condition.

Any idea on the value, anyone? It's fully complete.

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It is a thing of beauty, no doubt.

Cool story behind it too:
Machines like this one were donated to the US army by Genco, to provide the soldiers with amusement in Europe during World War 2. The current owner heard this from an ex Genco employee at Pinball Expo years ago. Could have been Steve Kordek.

The current owner bought the Four Roses from a farmers' son. This man said that the American soldiers had left the machine with his father when the war was over, together with other things they weren't taking back to the US.

I wouldn't be surprised if my Big League was brought into The Netherlands in the same way. It is of the same age, also was bought from a farmers family, had been there for many decades and is in amazing condition.

This Four Roses and my Big League are the only two Genco machines of this vintage (both are 1940 machines) that I've ever seen in the Netherlands, in 20 years of collecting. Which is not strange: I can imagine that normal import of amusement machines was non-existent in WW2.
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1. True story. So what do you think it's worth? Hard to say, I know. But what would your ball park be?

2. Looks to be a boxing machine. You see them a lot on fairgrounds here.

Thanks! I did expect a game in this condition to be worth a bit more. And I know the seller thinks that too.

Any other opinions on the value?

Cool, thank you as well!

To be clear: I'm not putting any of your estimates in doubt! It's just nice to have a couple of them to have a strong negociation point.

These letters are cool, thanks for sharing! Do you have more of those?

Think I already answered question #1 in my pm to you, no?

For reference:

I think the button on the lower cabinet knocks off the credits on the machine. See, these old machines were used as gambling machines back in the day. In many locations, accumulating credits would mean the bar tender or shop owner would pay you a certain amount of money (or cigarettes or candy or whatever) once you had finished playing. After such a payout, the knockoff button would 'reset' the machine's credits for the next player.

That is beautiful. Congratulations.

Oof... That looks rough, @petebest. It seems like the cabinet of your Junior was shortened at some point.

Here's a few pics from my 1940 Big League. Looks to be the same system.

Good luck!

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For those of you that like gameplay videos, here's one I've made that digs a little deeper than the usual one.

It's from my Genco 1940 Big League, which is the sister machine to 1940's Big Town (same game, different artwork).

Enjoy!

Thanks so much for your kind words, Joel! Where do I find your videos?

Another video of my Big League!

Good guess sir! It's a tilt mech. And it uses the same spring that a late 30s Genco spring bumper does.
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Very cool find! Prewar bumper Genco's are very pleasing to the eye.

If the machine is complete and not completely rusted up, it shouldn't be extremely hard to get working.

There's a big chance that the dc voltage for the coils won't work because of a blown out selenium rectifier. You can exchange it with a bridge rectifer to fix it.

Ipdb.org doesn't have any pictures of the game yet. Would be cool if you could supply them!

I know the feeling. I have yet to encounter another copy of my 1940 Big League. Figuring out how it is supposed to work with nothing but the machine itself as a basis was part of the fun though.

I created this video partly because there is so little information on these machines. Every bit helps.