That looks phenomenal.

You and mrm_4 have convinced me to redo mine, though it will be at the other end of the spectrum; just enough to get it working and playable. I'll replace everything broken, clean everything cleanable (already accomplished a lot of this), repaint the apron and legs, and that's about it. Gonna keep it as close to $0 as possible.

Got a project worthy set of original plastics if anyone has a need.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/original-mata-hari-plastics-great-for-project-pin#post-5476875
I had another set I post earlier that I was going to tell you about jibmums but those puppies went fast!

I have a couple random pieces pictured as well outside of the set if anyone needs a replacement.
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My plastics are actually pretty good, no cracks just a few ink rubs from the screws underneath. Actually there's one crack, on the right arch by the baron's epaulet, somehow it's in the middle of the plastic yet doesn't extend to the edge. No idea how that might have been accomplished. Perhaps a dagger thrust.

I've been following along... awesome job! Nice video of game play as well.

Looks amazing, great job! The cabinet also looks incredible.

I've never had a Bally game with a rebound assembly on the upper playfield before, is the rubber donut supposed to have a metal cylinder in its hole? There isn't one in the drawing in the parts book, but mine has one and it looks original.

When I did my resto I had 2 playfields. One of the rebounds had the sleeve and the other didn’t so I cleaned up the one with the sleeve.

All of the Bally’s I’ve done had the metal sleeve. I tightened the bolt so the washers were tight against the sleeve.

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Same here... metal sleeve.

I'm working from home today (like most everyone lately) and had the TV on in my office as background noise. A 70's suspense movie (When a Stranger Calls, 1979) was playing on Showtime and I just happened to glance up at the screen at the right time and saw a nice SS Mata Hari.

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And Hot Tip!

Heh heh....that was the first R-rated movie I ever snuck into when I was underage.

Me too, tho this one I didn't have to sneak! I was 13 and lived in a smaller town. In those days, if you were underage going to an R-rated movie, the lady at the box office selling tickets would call your mom and ask her if it's ok for you to see the movie. With my mom, as long as there was no sex she let me see most anything.

Here are a few pics of my Mata Hari EM.

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Nice!

I was planning on putting a hardtop and stenciling the cab on my MH SS this fall. Due to the world being in slo motion I have decided to do the hardtop now and wait until fall for the Pimp stencil. On my machine, the inside right rail that holds the metal piece doesn’t come all the way down to the apron like my EK does. Maybe 1/2 inch short. I’d send a pic but I already have it apart. I’ve seen other pics on here of MH’s that show the same thing. Are they all that way? Thinking of making another rail as the upper plastic won’t be able to screw on that rail if I slide it down. Am I overthinking it and should leave it alone? Is there a reason it doesn’t come all the way down to the apron? Thanks for any advice/opinions. BTW... as I’m writing this, FedEx delivered the hardtop. That thing is awesome!!

Is this what you mean?

Because now that you mention it I hate this stupid gap and it makes me want to make a new rail. It’s like I can’t unsee it now hahaha

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Yep...that’s what I’m talking about. Maybe they are all that way. That rail on EK goes slightly down into the apron and looks better that way.

My Mata Hari has it spaced as the above photo. The gap from the plate to apron on my Paragon is 2-2.5 times greater than MH. My guess is they centered the plate based on average ball eject point from game to game. It has never bothered me.

Thanks for the responses. Sounding like they were all done that way. I might just leave it. Let me know if u decide to change it mrm.

First time playing in a while. Been preoccupied with Firepower.
Highest score yet. Kind of bummed I didn’t roll the score yet on this machine but came damn close!

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Nice job! I can’t even break 600,000.

I've flipped it on a few occasions. In fact, just to annoy my son, I was in the 950,000's on the third ball with an extra ball waiting for me, and I let both drain so that I could hear the three knocks for setting the high game and overtake the current high game (his) of 770,000. That was a few month ago...he's been trying to get in the 960,000's to do the same to me.

During the process of putting a hardtop on my Mata Hari I decided to get Reese Rails make me a new set of rails. I got Taylor to cut the inside right rail one inch longer so it would go into the apron instead of coming up short of it. While it doesn’t affect the play any, I like the way it looks.

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I like the extended rail as well....the lines look so much better. Good call!

Looks great! One thing that I thought was kinda dumb, was the exit text "1000 and Glory"... never associated getting drained with glory of any kind.

Always thought “Glory” was a nice way of saying bonus but yeah what’s glorious about a drain?

I have a question for the group. I just completed a hardtop install on my Mata Hari and of course I've messed something up along the way. I'm not overly familiar with the electronics in these games so any help would be appreciated. My machine has a Ultimate solenoid driver board. When I turn the game on I get all lights on (playfield, display) and really nothing else. No chimes and it will not take credits. When I look at the driver board, the LED for Q12 is red and the LED for Q19 is green. All other test LED's are out. I believe Q12 is for the left drop target bank and the right slingshot(?). I've checked those switches and they appear to be set correctly. I've noticed when I reset the left drop targets manually, the coil is energized and stays energized. Thanks!

I'm not familiar with the boards you have, but I have to ask whether you have checked the voltages from the rectifier board. Maybe you're missing the 5 or 12 volts.

"Ultimate" board is the Alltek, right? Is your MPU the original Bally or is it an Alltek, too?

When you say you "get all the lights on (playfield/display), are you talking about the GI lights or do the control lights also go off and on which would denote the systems booted all the way thru to attract mode? I'm trying to figure out of your MPU has booted properly because if not, we should start there instead of the SDB.

But a good first step no matter what is what Billc479 recommended above..check the test points on the rectifier board and make sure you're getting the correct voltages needed to start everything up.

Do a double check of all your connectors and make sure none are plugged in wrong or over by one pin.

Thank you @mrm_r, @billc479, @mathazar. You were all correct. The problem was a rectifier plug. The J1 plug has 8 female connectors, but the Rottendog replacement board has 9 pins. The plug is on the side of the backbox toward the back, so I didn't notice I plugged the female end into pins 2-9 vs 1-8. So after fixing that and replacing a fuse everything started working. Thanks again for your suggestions!

I've been trying to roll mine, but I haven't cracked 900K yet. Came close though a couple times. In hindsight I guess I should have installed 7 digit displays, but when I was putting mine together I didn't think that would be possible with MH's relatively low scoring values.

I still have to pinch myself every time I turn mine on. Even I can't believe I did such a nice restore job. haha

I dialed in my strategy, i get the saucer out of the way first to load up that 5x bonus
Then I go for the A+B lanes to get the extra ball
After I get the Saucer and Lanes where I want, then its the dreaded drop targets, and just try to complete the banks as much as I can.
That 916K score felt like it took an hour to get there. I have my tilt set too high so not able to nudge like I can on route games. Maybe I should adjust the tilt so I can bump a little more.

What do you guys have your saucer hole bonus settings at? I just switched mine to liberal scoring hoping it will help. How about the post settings? For some reason mine doesn’t have the extra holes anyway. My top score is only around 525,000. I suck at this game! I keep messing with the sling shots. I don’t know what else I can tweak. How many degrees is your slope?

I have my saucer and A-B score set to Liberal with the 3-Ball setting. I have all of the adjustable posts set in the "Medium" (middle) position. My slope is 7.5. With a hardtop, it's pretty dang fast. My scoring strategy:

1st Priority
Drop targets. 50K awarded with each set of 8 downed. I can usually drop two or more targets with each hit, either side by side or ricocheting off of one bank into the other. On occasion, I can drop two side by side on one bank, ricochet into the other bank, and drop two side-by-side there for dropping 4 targets on a single flip. That's fun. Should be awarded a Special for that.

2nd Priority
If while holding a ball I don't think I can get a good shot on a remaining drop target because of a bad angle (like the sling is in the way to hit a drop target on the same side as the flipper holding the ball), I'll send the ball to the top for a saucer shot to get the multiplier instead of passing the ball to the other flipper for the drop target shot. If I miss the saucer, I usually get one of the A-B lanes which builds towards an extra ball.

3rd Priority
If I've built up enough bonus points (15K-20K) I'll turn focus to getting the saucer multiplier maxxed out to 5x before turning my attention back to drop targets and the 50K that comes with getting all 8 down.

4th Priority
Likewise if I see I'm a couple of A-B lane completions away from an extra ball. I'll trap the ball with either flipper and send it up the A or B alley hard enough that it crosses over the playfield and comes down the other alley. After getting the extra ball, I'll return my attention back to either the saucer (if not maxxed at 5x and I'm at 15K-20K bonus) and then the drop targets.

Thanks for the tips. I’m definitely going to try to follow this. I usually try to set out to get the saucer hole first, but I usually wind up going away from it. I very rarely will get awarded an extra ball for the A and B lanes. I also need to raise it up again. I had a board under the back legs to raise it but I took it out. Now the slope is only 4.8% on my Craftsman digital level and it’s way too slow. I’ll put it back up. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to get it up to 7% even with the back legs extended all the way up. I’m using the extended 3” leg levelers.

I have mine steep enough to make the saucer difficult, I also have a playfield protector on it so it plays crazy fast!

I have my EM on 3 ball play, conservative saucer settings and play angle around 7 degrees and change. I haven’t turned it over yet; my best score is 825K. I played a collector’s dialed in SS game set to 5 ball play and liberal settings and scored over 1.6 M... what I love about MH though is that just when you think you have its number after winning at score with a few specials to boot, you can get your butt kicked immediately thereafter, and at times can’t beat it for many repeated games.

That’s what I like about 70’s Bally SS games. Just when u think you got them mastered and u think your turning into a really good pinball player.... they put u in your place....then u start kicking their ass again. It a viscous cycle. But keeps my interest in playing them. I swear they are possessed!

This is my best score since I installed the hardtop. It plays so smooth, if I miss a shot now it’s all my fault. Maybe I’ll roll it one day.

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Saw this ad pop up in case anyone’s looking for one:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/97822

Why is there only 1 hole? There should be 3. This is an original playfield.

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Here’s mine before the hardtop went on.

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Yeah, I definitely don’t have that on either slingshot. It looks like they forgot it. I do have the 3 holes on those posts that are a few inches above the slings.

My hardtop only came with the middle hole, like u have. I’m going to drill another hole to make it easier for the ball to go down to the flipper. The post will cover the hole I have now.

I was thinking about moving mine a little also. Will it really make a difference in actual game play?

It will make some difference. Not a major difference. I experimented with the 3 holes on the original playfield and kept the post on the inside hole to make it easier. I can tell a difference on my hardtop in the middle hole. More drains now. Move it to that outside hole and it’s a bitch.

So if I wanted to set it to the liberal post setting, is it necessary to also move the 2 posts that are above the slings?

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