Been dreaming of a day when I could put all 3 together myself...

I'd like to join this club some day...

Funny. When I saw the one I got for sale, I couldn't find much info about it. Just that it had a great light show with a cheesy 80's theme, and that was about it. But after I sold mine, I keep seeing a lot of people looking for one.

I kinda wish I had mine back, but I'm happier with what I got to replace it. But sometime down the road when I start getting a few more machines, I'll probably look I to finding another one.

I'm still wondering who is sitting on a topper, and what the price is. Someone out there has one... Someone on Pinside knows about one... It's out there. I want it.

I should have kept my laser war!

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I didn't want to be telling myself that, so I've managed to keep it even after several very nice offers. I couldn't even let myself put LED's in it, it's so fresh and new feeling still.

Now where's that darn topper hiding at?

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Interesting. You've got a center drain post. I know mine didn't have one, but can't remember if it had a dimple for one to go.

Good catch. I'm not sure what the story is on that. I never realized most of them seem to not have one. The one I have is an HUO from a private collection a coin op had via a family member.

If you need your laser-fix some first friday, we have one at the PinVault in fountain square, Woody. It has a center drain post.

oh cool! Started following PinVault on facebook recently. Will have to check it out. Is First Fridays the only time it's open?

Yup! It's currently the only day we get enough people meandering through the Murphy.

I joined the club and bought the "minty" Laser War from Harvs over the weekend. I'll take some pictures later and show off the work he did.

I do have a missing part question for everyone. Does anyone know what part or gasket goes between the back of the playfield and bottom of the glass channel? There is some residue that looks like the remains of the sticky part of a foam gasket or double sided tape. All I can tell from other pics is that it is black.

Thanks!

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Ok guys. I need help.
Recently picked up a laser war as my first pin as the price was right. When I went to look at it the machine it was giving free games and popping constantly. The seller assured me his son had messed with it and I could go in the menu and fix easily. After moving the machine the switches from 41-48 I think quit working but the free game thing went away. Then today the free game thing is back but the flippers quit working.

Please tell me where to start.

Believe it's just foam weather sealer. Go to Lowes. Think it may be .5 - .75 inch wide. Get the rubbery kind.

I had a similar issue when two bulb sockets were touching each other. Look under the playfield, and just make sure nothing is touching another. Could potentially be hard to spot. So you may need to go one by one. I found mine, because I had to bend a socket to get access, but forgot to bend it back.

Thanks Woody,

I'll Look it over tonight.

orlando.craigslist.org link

not my add , just posting it here if anyone is looking

Curious if you figure out the issue.

I'm not sure if this is the place for this sort of question, so forgive me if it isn't:

I'm thinking of picking up my first pin, and it's Laser War. The seller is 2+ hrs away, and the machine has issues. He says the left flipper is dead, and the play field has wear. He's asking $750.

I'd like some advice as to whether I should go check it out, or run away. I'm somewhat mechanically able, and I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty.

What do you folks think?

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Edit: Thanks in advance for your input!

Link to pappy's thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/laser-war-data-east-1987-possible-first-pin-need-advice

Thanks, FF.

Hi Folks -

Starting to get back into my Laser War machine. Had it on this weekend for some friends + family to enjoy, and I started getting reports of one of the flippers sticking at random. So, I gave it a try and sure enough, the right flipper sticks in the 'up' position sometimes.

I did some quick searching around and found an enormous amount of info out there, but figured I'd post here and see if anyone could recommend a good starting point.

It's worth noting that the flipper assemblies + coils are original!

Thanks a ton in advance!

-Craig

Rebuild the flipper assemblies. Sounds like something mechanical is getting hung up.

Gotcha, OK. I probably can handle that. I've purchased some parts from Marco before, and found this on their site:

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/500-6306-20

Given I literally have the original parts, do you think I should just get a kit like that and do them both? Any other parts I should change out while I'm in there?

THANK YOU!

-Craig

While this won't be specifically applicable to Data East assemblies (most of it is about early Williams and WPC flippers), there is still a lot of good general flipper rebuild information here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-upgradingrebuilding-flippers

Another supplier option as well: http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3524

The reason for rebuilding and replacing parts in assemblies is that the old parts have typically been worn out, are out of spec, and don't function as intended.

If you're doing one, then yes, do the other. It's like replacing a pair of shoes. You don't just replace one shoe; you replace both at the same time for some similar reasons.

I'm totally with you about doing both. Might as well do it while I'm in there! Heck, it's closing in on 30 years old at this point, so the factory parts had a good run.

I'll open it up this evening and eyeball things under the playfield, then get the kit ordered up.

Thank you. I'll report back once I've got things back in order

-Craig

Also make sure to check the coils that they are giving the proper resistance readings. and that the coil's hole isn't too small to accept a new coil sleeve. Sometimes coils can short out, overheat, and expand.

http://pinballmedic.net/coil_chart.html#de_stern_conversion_chart

I cannot find the part at the moment, but also keep in your head that you may need to replace the mounting brackets for the flippers on the underside. The OEM ones are thin metal, so threads may be stripped, or something may be cracked on it. Can't remember if it was just a suggestion or if I saw a problem with one of mine, but I ended up replacing both.

Actually, I may have had to take the whole bracket off, because I couldn't get enough grip on the bolts to remove the coil. I had to take it to the vice, and use vice grips. And at that point, I may have found a crack, and someone here suggested those brackets.

Sorry, can't find the product on Marcos or PL.

Found my old thread.

Here's the baseplates.
Right - http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/515-5077-01
Left - http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/515-5077-02

And here's my thread with my rebuild questions.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/laser-war-flipper-assembly

@ForceFlow - I was going to ask if I should just replace the coils entirely while I'm in there. Again, those are originals.

@Woody24 - Good tip. I'll open it up tonight and eyeball things. Thank you for the pics and link!

This will be the most "in depth" fix I've done on the machine so far. To-date, my biggest was replacing the display driver board + all of the score displays with an LED one. My originals did not survive the move to my new house. Blah! I've also done a bunch of LED lights on the playfield, which make it look fantastic!

Guys, thank you for the help. It's really appreciated.

-Craig

Only if they have gone bad. Otherwise, it's not necessary.

Got it. They seem to work fine, so I'll leave them as-is for now.

OK, so I cracked it open last night and saw those base plates..they certainly did not look thin, but I guess I'll see when I extract the whole flipper assembly. Probably a silly question, but do I just desolder all of the connections while it's still connected to the underside of the playfield?

Take photos. Then desolder.

If it looks like it's black, or was black, it's the thinner baseplate. The new ones look more gold with a shimmer to it. Kinda like oil on wet pavement.

Good call on the photos FOR SURE! That is as cheap of insurance as you get

Yes, both of the plates are black. Both coils appear to be the same as the top one in the link you pasted above -- sort of purple-ish in color.

Once I have the flippers out, I'll make the call on the plates.. if one or both have any issues, I'll just replace both. Again, I appreciate the tips.

-Craig

Anyone else's red-base go stdm all the dang time? I had some funky-ness with the spinner's switch arm being outside the guide when I shopped it. Maybe I should just bend the guide around a bit more.

Hi, newbie here! I'm working on my Laser War and I'm missing a few plastics. I'm missing the 2nd layer plastics that are on top. Number 9,3,8 and also #4 on the attached photo I got off of Ebay. I was seeing if anybody had a scan of their plastics. I was going to try to recreate them. Love all the comments about your Laser Wars machines.

Thanks
Rob

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I was the one who bought the Laser War Playfield on Craigslist. That's the project I'm working on.

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I'm assuming you're completely level and have the right pitch here. Mine usually hits the right flipper and I did not have to adjust the guide. I do have my pitch a little steep though because I don't want to break anything since mine is so fresh and new.

I just flipped the score 2x last week and finally hit 25,000,000+. I wasn't able to save my initials on high score because the game code thinks it was 5 mil+.

It would be cool to see more activity on the score board.

Hi Folks -

Finally got around to ordering the flipped rebuild kit as suggested, just haven't had a chance to install yet. I was playing the game yesterday with some friends, and noticed that when the right flipper does stick (it's happening more and more frequent now), if you press the left one, the right immediately retracts. This almost makes me think it's an electrical issue somewhere. Any ideas?

-Craig

You could try rebuilding the flippers.

It's probably mechanical and the vibration from the left flipper is knocking the right one loose.
If it still occurs after a rebuild you can determine if it is electrical by turning the machine off whilst the flipper is stuck up. If it drops = electrical.

Oh, great tip about shutting the machine off while it's stuck -- I'll give that a shot before diving into the flipper rebuild.

Thank you, supermoot!

-Craig

(just rebuild `em it's quite easy)

Stern Pinball at The Westin Chicago North Shore
Friday, October 14

"Something you don't see everyday, Joe Kaminkow playing Data East Laser War, the game he designed, and the first in our companies 30 year history. #SternPinball"

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Ooh. Wonder if Laser War is going to be apart of the the Pinball Arcade? I see the logo on the step and repeat banner next to it.

Very nice machine! I will have it back very soon if it all works out today!

Thanks. Frankmac I love the game.......

"Laser Wars" is back!
11 months ago I regrettably sold this game .

Today I picked up a gem 20 miles from my home. Wow!!!!!!

It is a happy new year!!!!

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Thank you, very much. I'm certainly very proud of this specimen, however yours looks quite immaculate as well!

Welcome back into the club! Congratulations are definitely in order! Such a great, significantly historical piece of pinball history! Imagine if Data East would have flopped and not went on to become Sega or Stern, would anyone still be making pins still today?

P.S. - looks like we are both very deserving of the elusive and infamous topper...

Does any have a ion cannon plastic in good shape to sell? Or can any one point me in the direction where I can pick one up? I have a small crack in my plastic and would like to replace it! Thank you..

I would love to have that topper!