A close friend of mine was out with his family browsing the annual community yard sale in his neighborhood and he was sending me texts and pictures of tech stuff that he knows I collect, after about 4 messages he sends me a text that he found a pinball machine for free in a driveway. Of course I figure its some beat up destroyed EM machine that isn't worth the space in a dump truck but he sends me a picture and tells me that the name is Cyclone and I immediately tell him to grab it regardless of the condition because there had to be at least some salvageable parts on it. Well he wasn't able to fit it in his Nissan Leaf for obvious reasons so they make a rushed effort back to their house 5 blocks away and get his pickup and two other neighbors in hopes it wasn't snagged by somebody else, got back to the house where the machine was and managed to get it loaded in the back of the truck the best they know how. I made the 2 1/2 hour drive to pick it up later that day and after buying the family a nice Sushi dinner and the 2 1/2 trip back home I finally got it unloaded. After spending the next day troubleshooting the dead GI, no controlled lights, half non working slings, dead kickers and non working Ferris Wheel toy I was able to get the machine playable after 3 hours and by the end of the day it was back to 100% playability. The machine was extremely dirty and all the bulbs were blacked over from the years and years of dirt and dust buildup but a quick wipe down and changing out burned out lights with some LEDs I had on hand it is getting back to it's former glory. It amazes me that some people will get so sick and tired of something taking up space that they will toss it out with the trash but as the saying goes "One mans trash is another mans treasure" and this is the fourth machine next to Police Force, Victory and Buck Rogers to end up in my hands this way. I am hoping to do a full teardown, cleanup and full LED retrofit within the next two weeks so it can make an appearance at the Golden State Pinball Expo in Lodi Ca later this month before it finds its permanent home in my game room. Have your friends keep their eyes open, you never know what thay may find for you!

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I got so into troubleshooting and repairing that I didn't take time to take photos of the before, lets just say that the playfield mylar was so filthy that after running my hand across the playfield it looked like I erased a chalkboard with my bare hand. Without that mylar in place this would have been down to wood easily! I'll be taking more photos as I do the teardown for sure!

Finally got the rubber rebuild kit and LEDs from Cointaker. Spent the evening tearing down, cleaning and installing some lighting mods under the tram scores, subway tunnel and under some of the plastics to make them more legible. Almost done with this one and it plays as good as it looks!

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Final adjustments, a few solder repairs and it looks like this Cyclone is ready to take riders on a fun filled adventure once again! It will be showing at the Golden State Pinball Festival along with my Southpark and 275+ other games from other private collections next Friday - Sunday in Lodi Ca. Hope to meet some of my fellow west coast pinsiders there!

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Yeah I was thinking of making a little blurb on the right side coinage card explaining its acquisition and time taken to get it up and running again. I really got lucky that other than a burned GI socket on the power supply there was no other board damage or burned up components other than bulbs and fuses in this machine, she sure cleaned up nice. I promised my close friend that so long as I never part with this machine due to unfortunate circumstances I will be leaving this one to his now 12 and 10 year old daughters in my will since they were also instrumental in spotting it!

Thanks, man! Maybe we will get a chance to bump into each other and share a game or a brew! On another note I have found myself in a love / hate relationship with this game. Sometimes it takes me on a 3,000,000 point ride and other times it will drain me into oblivion, I've given it the bird and walked away a couple times already, that boomerang shot is damn tough and after 30+ games I still haven't been able to repeat it with regularity! ~Cheers!

Last item on the punch list after GSPF is to do a full cabinet touchup or repaint it if I can locate paint stencils. One way or another I will need to get it out of the garage and into the game room otherwise the wife wont let be bring in any future projects!

The phone does exaggerate the colors, trust me when I say it looks much more tame in person! I like the way the colors work into the carnival / circus theme but I know it's not for everyone, however I think we can definitely agree that it looks a hell of a lot better than sitting dilapidated in a driveway with a free sign on it!

Hang Glider is a great machine, picked one up a few years ago for $300, fast playing EM. I love the upper button field above the pops! I bet that breaks your heart that your dad sold that Cyclone machine all those years ago!

Swapped around some of the LEDs to take down the color a little bit. I think I found a compromise between color and usable light compared to the color bomb I had going. Also verified the plastic Comet ramp and Boomerang under ramp crack reinforcing repairs I did last night and are good to take on heavy play. I need to stop messing with this thing or I’m never going to be happy!

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Well she passed the break-in test at GSPF with 445 plays and only suffered one sticky trough switch episode and a sling switch dislodge. She received multiple compliments from the public as well as some fellow pinheads and I was asked twice if I would reconsider changing my mind about not offering it for purchase. As the call out goes “We Have A Winner!”

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Less than a week has passed since the Golden State Pinball Festival and Cyclone having received a clean bill of health has not even made it out of the garage and into the game room as another project makes its way into the garage. A client asked me to check out their non working multi Pac-Man machine they recently came across and after giving it a quick diagnosis they didn't want to put out the money for the 4-5 hours of my charged time to troubleshoot and repair the issues with the 38 year old board and CRT so they sold it to me for $150. I managed to get its heatbeat started in a couple hours and over the next couple months hope to fully restore it and possibly use it as a trade or collateral on a Pin. The wife on the other hand isn't as optimistic about it leaving the house......... and so..... Project Pac-enstien begins!

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Indeed! I wish they would have found a way to keep the attract mode for the games, I'm not complaining though! I also wouldn't mind obtaining some original Pac-Man Roms in the event I wanted to put the board back to original state.

Added over 6 years ago: Edit: Turns out that when taken out of Free Play mode the machine rotates attract mode for each of the 8 versions.