Hi Grand Lizard Owners. I have the opportunity to add a GL to my collection. Recently shopped out and looks good. Play field shows minor wear and innards are void of any burn marks or battery damage. It's very clean. Asking price is $1900. I have new Sterns and old EM's, but no SS pins from the System 11 era. For you folks that own one, what is a reasonable price for a working and otherwise clean GL? I've seen crazy variations in price as I've tried to research this. a few years ago a good one could be had for $1k. Has that changed?

I really like both the play and the somewhat creepy theme (would look great next to my TWD).

Thanks!

Cyrus

Hi. Quick question. Today I went to look at a Grand Lizard that I've had my eye on. It was bought and cleaned up, with some minor repairs, by a local retired engineer who reshops pins, mainly EM's, but he does a nice job on the occasional Solid State. The game looks good with some minor wear on the pf. The circuit boards look fine. No battery leakage. It plays great but there is no back ground music, All the other sounds are there. Just no drumming. The sounds associated with targets, spinners, etc, all work.

The seller didn't know about the back ground music. I'm wondering, is there a way to turn off the music? I'm thinking perhaps the last owner disabled it to keep from going insane? I didn't want to mess with the settings or the menu while I was there, I've never owned a system 11 system before, so was wondering if shutting off the music is a feature/option with this game. Just curious.

Thanks!

I joined the club today!

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Thanks to some help and photos by Luzor I was able to re-connect the drumming music on my Grand Lizard. However, this also brought back the infamous humming that is known to this game. I replaced the sound card (no change) and power board and just ordered some speakers because hum or not, new speakers have to be better than 1986 speakers.

My problem: sometimes when I turn the game on, I only get the drumming music when I start a game. There are no game-play sounds at all. It's like silent night but with the drumming. If I shut the game off and turn it back on then the play field sounds come back and I'm good to go. Subsequent turning it off and on indicate no further problems, but it seems when I start the game after it's been off for a while, it won't provide the other sounds. If I power off and on again they come back. It's not the end of the world, but I like my tables to be 100% and I'm trying to figure out what would be causing this. Any thoughts? Thanks.

I wish they would do one for the upper play field. Mine has some wear and I'm now regularly waxing it with Carnauba wax. But mylar for upper play field only would have been sweet. Not sure why mine has mylar on the bottom play field but not the top where there tends to be a lot of wear in a very small PF area.

I thought about buying the new protector and just cutting it in half, but that would be a waste. My GL is no longer on a route so with HUO I don't think the wear and tear is anything that prudent waxing won't protect. I have in the last few months replaced almost every circuit board, to include MPU, power board, sound board, PinScore LED display, and put in new speakers. (Still have original flipper control board.) Pinball PCB had a few System 11 boards in stock and it came plug and play for GL; now it's like having a brand new pin. The old MPU was having issues with the battery pack and adjust errors. I thought fine, I could install a lithium battery and hope for a few more years, or just say screw it and buy a new MPU.

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It would be nice if we had more options but heck, nobody even makes a lizard head replacement for the PF. It's also impossible to find a bad ass lizard to use as a topper.

Side blades for GL would be sweet. Speaking of upper PF wear, I can't say mine was too bad when I picked it up last year. It had of course been routed but by the time I got it, the GL had been relegated to back room storage due to some MPU problems and dead switches that were easy to fix, but nobody seemed bothered to do for an mid 80's game.

I had some wear spots on the upper PF but nothing like the bare surface of so many GL's. I cleaned and then carnauba waxed the PF, then put some strategically placed pieces of mylar on the one wear spot that had eaten into the PF, and then along a few lanes that were starting to lose paint. I would have preferred a proper restoration but this was easy and worked out fine. I thought about auto clear coat but the mylar worked fine and is doing the job. We almost broke the top 100 on Pinside several weeks ago. I think GL went to 101 but is up a little higher now.

Welcome to the world of restoring a Grand Lizard! Pinballlife.com and Marco.com should have the replacement parts (and there are other good vendors out there as well, I just use these two the most). The part numbers are in the owners manual which you can find easy on line. I'd suggest either purchase or print a copy as it will be handy as you go forward, especially when you get switch errors on start up. Pinball Life actually sells the entire flipper assembly for the right and left flipper; I had to add the lane change switch for the right side. Basic soldering skills are all you need. Customer Support from Marco and Pinball Life is very helpful if you are not sure what part you need. These are old games and sometimes require some TLC to get back to 100% playability. My music did not work either and I found someone had removed the cable. I think Luzur sent me a photo of the wiring, I had a cable made at the York show by a vendor, and I got the music back. Look through this page as I think the photos are here. That's probably why you are not getting the background music.

Look at page 12 of this thread. Luzur posted the wiring for the sound board. The hub is the back box. Make sure you have all the cables and they are seated correctly. I was missing one and didn't even know until I got a valid photo showing the back box sound cabling. It can't hurt to compare.

Check out this Grand Lizard protype. At least that’s what it appears to be.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/looking-for-historical-information-on-this-grand-lizard-#post-4823056

Luzor nailed it. Mine hummed but I replaced the PSU and put in new speakers and the humming completely went away.

The game is fun. It’s my only 80’s pin. Upper PF’s are torn up on many of them but a decal is available.

The tongue should not be that low. Several owners have made their own by replacements by cutting it out of a red plastic sheet. Did you find a decal for the upper pf?

Luzor, do you know anyone selling the tongue replacement?

You should be able to get a decal from this member:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/grand-lizard-upper-playfield-decal

I’m actually surprised that nobody has made a replacement head or tongue for GL. Mine are both fine but others could sure use some remakes.

I put LED flashers in the sockets that coincide with the lizard head and they look great. The decal for the upper pf will make a big difference.

Can’t it be reproduced in a 3D printer? And...I don’t know much about 3D printers but they seem to be used to reproduce a lot of things these days.

I think the game is pretty well lit. The led’s when done really bring out the play field.

Gorgeous when you compare it to the GL’s with the chewed up upper PF.

Unusual to see an UP on a GL in that good condition.

I had that happen when I went to LED. I thought about it and...went back to the incandescents. No pain; no pain. And I actually like having a few of those bulbs in the game.

I would not even try. I tried to pull up a small piece of mylar somebody stuck down on the UP and the paint wanted to come right up with it. Instead of mylar I'm using this stuff now. No adhesive and sticks great. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002J6CO9I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00

I put Pinscores in mine a few years ago. I was happy with them.

Pinballlife has ready to go flipper mechanisms. It's a total replacement. Easy to install. I've got them in several of my older games and I have three of them in my GL.

My GL was the first game I ever restored. It's like new. Boards were replaced, displays, speakers, flipper assemblies, Comet LED's, etc. It's at the point where I'd never get back what I paid into it! But what is great is that friends can come over and play it without me having to explain auto-save, rules, etc. It's just an easy game to play and always a lot of fun. The sound track is great for a mid-80's game.

I went mostly with Comet SMD 2’s. Warm on the PF surface, and natural below it. Flashers were basic Comet 12v offerings that matched the colors of the incandescents. The lighting is now brighter, but the LEDs don’t wash out the PF.

First, congrats on getting a GL without a chewed up upper PF. They are hard to find! Ref the backglass, the original one by Paul was nice. Python's is FUGLY and does not really go 100% with Paul's PF art but it's such an anomaly that I decided to leave it as is. GL is a fun game. Just old fashioned pinball from the days before you needed a Masters degree just to figure out the rule set! I love the sound package.

Clive at CoinOp Cauldron is my go to; the work is excellent. He has repaired or reconditioned several of my boards for various older games. GL was my first restoration. I was still new to the “hobby” back then and replaced most of the boards with new ones from PinballPCB. They make outstanding boards but today I would have just sent the old boards to Clive. Much more cost effective and they come back as good as new.

I’ve kept mine. It is really popular with friends who otherwise go comatose when you try to explain to them the rules for a modern pin. Python’s back glass is epic ugly. What’s not to love?

And your restoration looks fantastic. Enjoy the game at least for a while when you finish.

Sad news today….

https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2022/02/22/barry-oursler-dies/

Pinballpcp makes arguably the best replacement boards for GL. Or you could see if Clive at Coin Op Cauldron can recondition the board that’s blowing the fuse. He does excellent work, going through the entire board, and the cost is reasonable.

http://pinballpcb.com/