My prayers are with you and your family.

God bless,
Fatsquatch

well made game....let me know if you need help. Great for kids not Yeti's. Jpop

Anything that encourages kids to LOVE pinball is OK in my book!

I would totally buy one if it was cheap enough. There was one on eBay for $50 but pick-up only and across the country. I'm running out of room and Fatsquatch has run out of pins to sell us, plus I've got to get my niece (who is currently 3 months old) started on something someday.

I picked up two via CL for my nephew, $50 each. He has had other toy pinball machines and has broken all of them in short order, except the Zizzles.

Which Pirates game?

I had the Pirates Zizzle and traded it for a gumball machine.

I plan on getting one when my sons are a little older and putting it in the lineup so they can "be like dad."

I have a zizzle as well. The flippers could be a little more solid, but for $50 it really wasn't a bad deal. The kids that come over enjoy the crazyness and my cat walks on it to get onto JM

Put a center post in it before you give it to the kid. The flippers are to far apart.

And use the other two extra posts from that top trio to block off the outlanes. Those things drain something terrible.

They're great to learn how to nudge.

Some might say you're a bit biased, Mr. Pop.

My condolences.

Better value than buying "The Pin"...right??!

I've got the same Zizzle. I'm kind of thinking about giving it a make-over. Turning it into an "adult" themed POTC. Heh heh. If you play it legit, it's basically impossible to get wizard mode, but you can lift it up and turn it almost on its side before it will tilt, so it's funny to play it by rocking it back and forth (way beyond nudging). The top rollovers are too hard to get sometimes, but can be improved by adding a couple of curved barriers to direct the ball into them.

Zizzles have wizard modes?

Yupe. It even says so. Right there on the playfield. Though maybe we should be putting this all in quotes. "Wizard mode." "Playfield." etc. etc.

I've never played one but actually think their pretty cool, what were the issues with them not being successful as a cheaper toy?

Why does this post read like a confession?

Im going to buy one, one of these days for my Son, so he can have one to call his own. Sort of like getting your first BB gun. You'll throw your back out kid.

That's actually pretty cool, I think it's a better idea than the Stern fiasco.

me too, one of these with real parts would be good, I'd like to get something for my niece in a few years when she's a bit older

Why does this post read like a confession?
Im going to buy one, one of these days for my Son, so he can have one to call his own. Sort of like getting your first BB gun. You'll throw your back out kid.

Confession time...
My first pin was one of these

3Ec3N83H45K75F95M7d6381bb77ec1a581589..jpg 3E23G53L15Ne5L35Jfd630dc448ed08d71ed7..jpg

I do not think they are too bad for the pricepoint. Good for kids or non pinball enthusiasts.

I picked up one of the early version marvel games for free. Fixed a pop bumper and sold it for $50.

Guy was stoked to finally own a pinball.
(He would never have the money to own anything more expensive)

Fun for a few games. Got stale to me fast do to lack of rule depth. Shot map was a pretty good fan layout.

My first pin I believe was tomy electronics.

ebay.com link: vintage 1979 Tomy Atomic Arcade Pinball Machine

Best of luck hope the kid loves it.

You can get a stock, average condition, G1 POTC, newly
listed on Ebay, for a Buy-It-Now of $495.00!
Starting price of $349.00! 9-16-13
That must be a Dynamite gumball machine.
Are you sure you didn't trade for a Sucker machine?
Not so easy, is it Matey!!

I don't even know what the hell a Zizzle IS....
(going to Google now...)

I think it's great you got a pin for your GF's kid. I remember my very first pinball. It wasn't a 'real' machine, but I LOVED IT! Here's a pic of me back in '76 playing that first NIB while my brother, dad and grandfather watch.

RACE-O-RAMA.JPG

Hah! Great photo!!

They actually look pretty cool! I have never see nor played one before. Do they have a little display?

Has anyone ever posted pictures of the insides of Zizzle machines? Or of the underneath of the playfield?

http://zidware.com/pinballzizzle/index.html

I will put up more stuff as I find it....all LED lit
pinball from 2005! May have some under pics...Jpop

I've had mine (used of course) about a week now, have done a few minor mods: post halfway up left side just above "cannibal island" moved to being a centerpost between flippers, bumper pins about half inch ahead of the sidewires, bits of soft foam slid in behind the slingshot arms (so they only trigger when they've been hit),
the little mods sure allow for a fighting chance, really improving the gameplay. I wouldnt call the mods "cheating", it can still slide the ball right down the three drains like a meannie, sometimes repeatedly choke-choke-choke..
THEN, right after getting it all dolled up, bumper cluster solenoid meltdown (fixed!), followed now with a main power transistor overheating issue (fixable replaceable I hope!).

after the little mods, gameplay was really good! when you get to "davey jones battle mode" you hear "welcome aboard" and the music changes to something a little darker mood, not so easy, even with the 3 bounce pins in. when you get to "wizard mode" (completing all targets twice again and several hits to the chest) the music changes again, very cool, and here comes the adrenaline!

it really has its plusses, the playfield (with minor mods) and gameplay are really good when everything is working as it should.. but that runs straight into its MINUSES (darnit-darnit-darnit!), they really should have spent a few extra bucks for better components, like slightly heavier wiring, solenoids and microswitches, and possibly a bit more "bulletproof" mainboard (?). I honestly wish they had, maybe theyed still be in production now. IMHO, reliability issues bit em in the hiney and they ran away leaving people unhappy, instead of upping their game to fix things.

reliability? I'd also just picked up an OLD tomy "StarCom" toy pinball. the battery cover missing, the tabs all corroded.
wired it up to a 4v transformer with a couple diodes to drop the voltage down to its "audio section" (1.5v), and the little thing runs like a champ! people familiar with them know -everything- runs from one little motor driving scads of little gears levers and cams, is pretty crazy, but it still works today now decades old.

Was offered one with a broken shooter rod - not able to fix with glue . No parts available - wouldn't give $20 for the junk !

I like the Zizzle machines. My kids enjoyed them, and as has been said, getting to wizard mode every time is NOT likely. I too put a post between the flippers, and I also put one in between the lanes to make that shot for wizard mode advancement possible.

The only problem I've had with the machines is the plunger assembly. Both machines I've had have broken, and they're ridiculously difficult to fix. If that wasn't an issue, i'd keep one on hand just for the novelty of it. As it is, I just gave away a PoTC gen 1 the other day, and he'll probably be back for the Marvel at some point, which is too bad as I had added LED GI to that one, along with a bunch of cool Marvel Figure Factory figurines to it.

Did you see the new Oz Zizzle LE??

oz pin mini.jpg

now I know who to call to ask for moving help

Keep it up Ted. I am loving this stuff. LOL LOL LOL.

Thanks! When I first saw that photo, I thought it was Photoshopped!