Mata Hari, along w. 8 Ball Deluxe, are my favorite classic Ballys.

I was able to pick up a nice Mata Hari for cheap about 2 years ago. It had all new pinscore displays, ALL new Alltek boards. Even though my playfield cleaned up nicely, I got lucky and found a new CPR playfield. When I finally get around to doing the swap, I plan on re-doing the cabinet using pimballpimp's stencils.

My backglass has a 5 inch scratch. Wish I could mind a nicer one.

I agree, Mata Hari deserves a club.

Mata Hari is a lot of fun. Have played several over the past few years, including an EM about a month ago at TPF. Nice to see a club forming

Picked up my MH couple of years ago had a nice cab and near perfect BG. The play field was toasty so I got a CPR PF and plastic set. Rebuilt everything plays fast and of my favoritesi in my lineup.

Don

Love Mata Hari. Played one at the PHOF years ago and couldn't stop thinking of it. Have one in the garage waiting for restore this spring/summer. New playfield, plastics, and cab restencil. Mint backglass with the writing on the dagger. Can't wait!

Glad someone started this club. Mata Hari is a great game. Looks simple enough, but it's a challenge. Beautiful artwork. I've had mine for 4 years or so. Mine does have the writing on the dagger.

Had to post a couple pictures...art on this game is top notch...thank you Dave Christensen
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Glad to be a part of the club. I had one many years ago that I swapped an NOS playfield into it and had a mid life crisis and sold it to a fellow in New York for 1500 back in 2002. I had big time sellers regret and picked another one up a couple of years ago that I will restore soon with a CPR playfield. I love the artwork and the game play. Dave Christensen was a master and my favorite pinball artist.

Don't have it anymore, but it was the first game I purchased. After all the repairs, learning the ropes of these Ballys, i had to tackle the playfield which was worn to the wood. Really difficult to repair all that artwork. Then I had to replace the backglass which was covered in some sort of gooey paint. I put way too much into it and sold it at a loss, but I am o.k. with it. I still miss that rack though

My wife was not happy when I purchased Mata Hari (the old "it's too good a deal to pass up"). After she started playing it, it quickly became one of her favorite games and she let me know that it will not be leaving the lineup. It is a simple and understandable layout that I find really fun and challengeable. I also like that the right loop is the same shot as my Playboy (that one that feeds the groto) so it gives me practice on both at the same time.

Nice! Glad to have a club for her!

In my house she lives in the downstairs gameroom in the corner. I Love me some classic Bally games.

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Perfect timing with this thread - just started restoring my EM

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Guess I'll lurk in the club. I have both an EM and a SS waiting for TLC and/or full restoration. I won't have time for the next couple of years due to other obligations. But I'll be looking forward to your progress and reports on the EM restore.

My playfield is in good shape. Not perfect but no bare wood either. I do have one of those playfield protectors on mine. Works good for me. Mata Hari fan since 1978. It's 3 games in 1 w/the drop targets, A-B lanes and the kickout. Gotta work for an extra ball on this one. Outlanes lit for 50,000 makes side drains tolerable. Oh yeah, my game had the underside punched out at some time to rob it I suppose. Has a home made ghetto plate on it now.

2nd pin that i ever bought and still have it set up in my basement.
Also have the EM version awaiting restore.
great game

Just got my 1978 SS Mata Hari. It was supposedly operational which was bogus. I already posted for help on the Tech Forum. The Playfield and Head are in great shape. Looks good. The only part I've been unable to locate is the spring for the drop targets. I have one that's broke and missing the spring. Everyplace I've checked are out of stock. If you know a source, please let me know. Some of the others look a little out of shape. Happy to find this club. Be talking to ya. JJ

Mata Hari never gets old to me. Can't believe more owners haven't chimed in. They gotta be out there. What an iconic game from the late 70s. Helps if you were there. I was only 12 but was into it. Something you don't forget. Saw a Mata Hari and Power Play in the Alladin's Castle here. The 1st digital score solid state machines I laid eyes on. Beautiful.........

Would love to get a project MH, either version.
Would look great next to my Embryon, Old Chicago, and Mr & Mrs Pacman.
Something about the Bally's from that era - they made some great players.

Any one know if correct apron decals exist? The ones I have don't have the black outline.

Well, not sure where these guys are with this yet, but I have been following....

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-apron-stencils

Update on the restoration. Just have to touch up the cab, put the new legs on and tweak a few things.

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Eye catching pin for sure.

I've been working on my Mata Hari and ran into issues with the GI lighting. When tou torn the game on it blows the F5 20a fuse. I've tried tracing everything back and can't find anything touching or burnt. I pulled all the bulbs out and still blows a fuse. When I check continuity, it beebs between both sides of the wires. I'm out of ideas on getting this fixed.

I got a players condition Mata Hari that was missing all of its backbox guts. I am doing a few playfield touch ups and can't wait for that box from Alltek to show up this week! It probably hasn't been operational for a decade or more. I will probably run into a few difficulties, but I can't wait to get it playing again!

Got it! A tab was founded over and basically welded on a lamp socket. Broke it loose and it worked!! Now I just need to decide on the correct LEDs and either replace one display or all with led displays and find A new backglass. This game is on great shape and has been in very little home use since 1982.

Is it my imagination or is the man's hair on the EM version darker??

Picked Up a second Mata Hari for some reason. Is there any clean backglass scans out there?

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Have had mine for four years but in a smaller collection. I'm a bit tired of it at times but I know I'd regret selling it if I did. It's in great condition with a pretty nice original p/f and has the inscription on the BG dagger.

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I got mine a few weeks ago. Love it. I added a few color leds just to break up all the white playfield inserts. I also just got these awesome custom cards. It's in the dining room for now. Who needs a dining room anyway.

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Nice score cards...where did you get those?

Anyone have a mint Mata Hari backglass they'd sell?

Contact PinCardz through Facebook. If you order them, make sure you let him know what bonus scores, balls etc you want or anything else you may need changed. He told me to spread the word.

https://www.facebook.com/PinCardz-116464558365193/

Yeah, those are cool. Thanks for the heads up.

Is there supposed to be some kind of sleeve or dome over this bulb under the top right arch? It's a pretty big hole for such a small bulb.

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Did a little touch up to My spare Mata Hari to get it ready to sell. Came out pretty good! What's the current value for a good player with a little pf wear?

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Digging around inside the cabinet of my Mata Hari SS I found this with the manual.Pretty cheap fora game that was only a few years old at the time of sale.

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Meter reading: 44849 that's $11,200 in just a couple years-not bad!

I played your machine for hours at that convention! Nice game.

I picked up a MH from an neighbor moving across the country in July 2015. He originally bought the game from an operator friend in Champaign, IL in the early 80s (it still has the license on the side). In the mid 90s he had it rewired for 240v when his family moved over seas. They moved back in the early 00s and it sat in their basement until I moved it out in July 2015.

I stripped the playfield and gave it a good cleaning with the magic eraser, applied several coats of wax, tumbled the metal, replaced nylon nuts with stainless steel for an old school feel, flattened the the plastics in the oven, rewired the transformer, and soldered in a new plug and varistor. I would light up, but it wouldn't start. After 2 years of it sitting in my basement, I finally bit the bullet and took it in to be fixed monday. The tech has repinned almost everything and is installing an Alltek board. He says its working about 95% and should have it done next week! Can't fricking wait!

That looks right to me.

That stuff is the easy part, its the electronics I don't understand.

Hey guys,

I'm in Arlington, TX and purchased an SS Mata Hari. The playfield is in very very poor condition. Lots of wood exposed so it would take 100s of hours to restore it. Can't find any CPR reproduction play fields so I'm wanting to make a vinyl overlay.

I currently have a friend that's working on scanning a visual Mata Hari game at 100dpi and enhancing at 300dpi. There are color change anomalies that occur around all text and numeric images. It's a very very slow and tedious process trying to make all the corrections.

Is there anyone out there that already has the digital artwork for a Mata Hari playfield or can scan their unpopulated Mata Hari playfield that's in great condition or has a reproduction playfield that can be scanned.

If you live in Texas, I can borrow an HP 3d portable scanner and scan your playfield. It doesn't effect your playfield and only takes approximately 1 hour to scan.

Thanks for your help, in advance, of any scans, and or any artwork that you already have and can provide.

Gary

What is the writing on the dagger translate to?

Any idea how many have the writing on the dagger for SS ?