Have you ever thought of reducing the image somewhat to have them used as a replacement image for the boring red drop target bullseye image? I’m restoring an EM version and one of the things we discussed was creating our own DT image... yours would be cool for that purpose... 1st image on one bank, 2nd image on the opposite bank as one idea.

Beginning Mata Hari EM restoration - backbox mechanics about 3/4 complete...components cleaning up nicely. I plan on installing a rescreened original playfield acquired from Illinois Pinball several years ago as well as a repro Shay BG. Cabinet needs some structural repair and repaint as well... will repost progress as work transpires.

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Finished the mech panel; much smoother to work with a well maintained low mileage pin; I went all out and cleared the main panel and the 2 support boards housing the relays. Rebuilt both steppers and installed a new line cord. Cleaned and polished all metal including the female jones plug receptacles. Now onto the cabinet work and repaint.

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Molotow spray paint looks to be available in Australia - Signal Red and Signal Yellow have been recommended...you may need to purchase a fat cap for each color allowing a wider spray pattern. I plan on using these colors for my EM restoration...stripping the cabinet now.

All components on the old playfield disassembled... steppers rebuilt, replaced all lamp sockets... ready to transfer onto my rescreened original playfield (I believe this original p/f was rescreened by CPR, and sent back to Gene Cunningham, who I purchased it from back in 2012)...regardless it’s a lovely cleared PF, and since it’s original, component alignment problems should be minimal/non-existent. The cabinet will be repainted due to flaking paint, but will wait for spring to tackle it... will be using Molotow spray cans with fat caps (signal red/signal yellow).

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I just got back from our library with some printouts of what we decided to go with... my wife did the photoshop work... decided to go with a bit of color but not fully like yours which look fantastic..this is for a full EM restore... thanks for providing the initial images!!!

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Pain in the ass cutting, sticking them on and covering with thin Mylar, but worth it!!!

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I’ve learned that Bally drop target banks suffer from an issue with the lock collars wearing down creating too much slop when resetting the bank resulting in one or more targets staying down... I replaced the far collars (opposite side from the reset coil) on each bank. Case closed, resets nice now... these are going into my Mata Hari EM!!! Collars and springs from Marco; PBR probably has them too.

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I posted this on another topic, but wanted to also ask this group of fellow Mata Hari owners..

Would love to see a Mata Hari apron score and instruction card set...

There were something like 15000 of these games produced in the SS version, and another 170 or thereabouts in EM format... I’m restoring an EM version now trying to get it ready for the York show in a few weeks... anyone out there willing to share custom cards for me to adorn on my game at York???

Thanks for posting! Coindropper from Texas has made some custom cards, so I'm going to print those out as well as some original looking cards that match yours... will probably use the custom cards for the York show, then change back.

cheers!!!

Moving at a fast pace on getting the EM cabinet done prior to York... waiting on some more Molotow cans to complete the body... head is done. I highly recommend these paints for those that dare a repaint job, especially EMs as the sheen is more of a tween-er between satin and semi-gloss. These paints go on smooth, cover really well, and dry quick. They do take some time to get used to, as you spray the paint very close to the surface... 4-8 inches is typical. Here are a few pics of the head that's drying and soon to get its second color after a very light wet sanding (if anyone has alternatives to prepping the base coat for the second color I'm all ears.

The Molotow Signal yellow is spot on as a replacement to the original yellow. Dick Blick and Bombing Science carry the cans.... something like 251 different colors, not too shabby; BS was a bit cheaper when I ordered.

I live in MD and can't legally purchase colored lacquers, but find these cans are a very good alternative. I'm really excited to see how they do with Pimp's stencils. Will report back as I get to this later in the week.

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Man,

Yeah, that might look funky with all that red already on the P/F... but who knows... haven't contemplated doing it myself.

Yes, I noticed the game couldn't complete a reset cycle, because the ball count unit wasn't resetting completely. Saw the issue right off the bat - the nylon cog sprocket wheel was binding inside the unit's metal shaft (have never seen a like issue in 25 years). Shaft was clean and lubed properly, so I filed the shaft to reduce friction. That didn't work but I did find from a vendor at the show an old step-up unit from a Bally Bingo with the same type of design. After some surgery, placed the bingo nylon shaft inside the problematic step up and there was no binding. Issue never returned and the game played fine for the rest of the show. Lucky that a vendor had a bally step up in his parts bin!

From IPDB:

"The backglass shows a dagger; there's a version with an inscription on that dagger reading "Meine Ehre heißt Treue" (German, "My honor is loyalty"). This inscription was the motto of the Waffen SS troops in WWII and was adapted from a statement made by Hitler in 1931. Mata Hari died during WWI rendering the inscription an anachronism for this game. Margaretha Zelle (1876-1917) was born in the Netherlands and established herself as a successful exotic dancer, traveling all over Europe under the name Mata Hari. During WWI she consorted with high-ranking officers, both German and French, which ultimately led to her being executed as a spy.

I've seen a lot of comments on how rare the inscription is ... it seems there really isn't any definitive answer to this question. Someone did post that they've seen quite a few out there WITH the inscription; I'd have to agree that the inscription isn't that rare. What's interesting is that my EM MH backglass had the inscription, even though the EM version came out a month LATER than the SS version, at least according to IPDB.

Kudos to Pinside members for helping track down and keep me sane throughout the restoration journey of my EM Mata Hari. Without the great suggestions, hints on cabinet paint and preparation, late night photo exchanges, and last minute parts mailings, it wouldn’t have had any chance making it to the York show this past weekend. Not only did it make it, but won best in show... woohoo!!!

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I do like most of what you did... I'm not a big fan of the shooter rod though, I think it does clash , and the Bally sticker didn't come out until 79, but hey who cares? I love the coin inserts, very nice touch. Love the game too!!!

From all the info I've gathered prior to doing my game, the Bally and Susan B Anthony coin door stickers both came out AFTER the Mata Hari Run... that includes the EM (4/78)and SS versions (5/78), so if you're a stickler about mimicking the stock look, that would bean a clean coin door / no sticker of any kind. Always up to the individual, I actually like both stickers, however IMO, if you're going to use a SBA sticker, at least one of the coin door inserts should match the sticker... e.g. (5 plays $1 dollar).

Have fun with it!

Been looking at the CPR Topper... something about the photo they used just looks out of place with the rest of the game IMO... what does everyone else think?

For this title, YES, scarcity of the EM version definitely brings a higher price tag than its SS cousin in most cases. I bought mine for 1500$ about 10 years ago; needed a ton of work; playfield a wreck, front of cabinet delaminating, backglass marginal, mechanics dirty and nothing really working. I think I paid the going rate at the time, not a bad deal but not a great deal either. After a major restoration and spending north of 2K for playfield/backglass/legs/paints/parts, etc. etc., I don't plan on having it leave any time soon.

If I had to speculate at today's market, perhaps $1500 - $2500 for projects, peaking at $7K + for very pristine/ultra-restored examples. May seem high to some, but I've seen this game go for big bucks over the last 5 years or so.

You can always go without the sticker - they weren't applied on the Mata Hari EM/SS games from the factory.

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

Same here... metal sleeve.

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.

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.

Funny how this game seems to follow me around... after restoring one last year, I’ll be doing a full shop job on another one ... my serial no. is 1031, and the one I’m working on tomorrow (2nd shot) is 1056.

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Not mine unfortunately. The current owners have had this game ever since the woman's dad gave it to her as a gift when she was a teenager. They recalled a story told by her father that he had walked into a vending distribution center in Ohio and requested to buy the top player in the lot, the one that players loved the most. The owner immediately offered up Mata Hari EM. I'd say that the OP knew EXACTLY what he was doing. The game has travelled plenty, from Ohio, to Seattle WA, to TX, and now to Middleburg VA.

Finished the shop job this evening. It was in incredible mechanical shape, and one of the few EMs I've seen that was serviced the right way... super clean, all steppers cleaned and lubed, very little coil dust, no corrosion, and those crappy Bally fuseholders long gone. Made my job so much easier.

Cool addendum to this story, I was invited back to talk shop with the dad who bought the game; he's currently 79, and hasn't played the MH in years.
He's coming from Ohio next week to spend some time with his daughter and son in law... he's a big fan of pinball and beer... how can you go wrong with that?

Thanks for the kind words Eagle18!

Almost positive 10K has an associated chime on the EM, will have to check my schematic though.

You missed out on the OC run... that's history. They did a small boutique run and it's been sold out for a while now.

UPDATE:

CPR does have Old Chicago playfields in stock as of 1/31/2017. I bought one and am restoring the OC now.

Stock became available in 2020, not 2017!

Interesting transaction. You can certainly hang as an honorary member!

Congratulations, she's a lovely survivor... what's the game counter say? Curious.

Based on all the games I've seen and worked on over the years, I'd say 44k is a bit on the low side; 50-55K would be midpoint IMO. I have a Target Alpha with 3,000 count on the meter, but have also had a few 60s games that passed the 100K mark. Most others in my small collection are between 20-75K, a few over, a few under.

Nice... I would suggest though that you create several more options... perhaps different art/color and a card or set of cards that mimic the free game award values that matched the stock cards. For me personally, I wouldn't want to display cards without showing free game awards. Just a thought.

Could you post the serial no. and whether it's a pointed or smooth shooter rod, thanks!

They are elusive but there are more survivors out there; I have serviced several, one this year.

Warning on Toledo - it's a yawner IMO.

Yep tombstone.

Just a guess - limits the travel the pop bumper skirt axle can travel, to prohibit the axle from moving outside of the spoon switch.

I remember playing an out of the box SS MH at a Time Out arcade in Springfield VA... I played it a lot and I remember to this day that it definitely drained occasionally from the saucer kickout... so I'd say if it drains 10%, then that's probably close to reality on that game, at least from my experience back then. My current EM MH drains a bit more than that, probably close to 20%. I'm keeping it as is.

I noticed this same error on a few switch contacts on my EM MH as well; weird.

He's sold at least one and probably two shown in that photo. Brian S. from Illinois, great dude!

Last time I talked to him he was shy only one title... def. not Six Sticks... IIRC it's one with less than a handful of copies produced.

Haven't played the EM in a while, might have to get her going this weekend... I really like the angle... mine is around 6, probably about right for the EM... but I may go up a bit. Great video, I like the ability to see both the playfield and above board views, well done.

Use the tips pointed to alignment holes. It plays perfectly that way and it's the factory stock setting. Two great reasons to set it this way.

That looks perfect!

You might want to consider dying the original ones.. there are a lot of like colors to the original that may brighten them up and add a touch of color... Rit makes a few flavors of dye; I like their made-for-plastics line... works great on older colored posts. You can also control the darkness of the dyed color somewhat, depending how long you leave the posts in the dye bath. These aren't the greatest pix and I don't have any before/after, but I really liked the way the dye worked out.

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Those are the real small trifurcon pins, correct? What are you guys using for a crimp tool? I remember way back in 2010 when working on my KISS that getting the proper tool for that very small size pin was very hit and miss. Would love to know what folks are using, since I have a buddy that's getting ready to do a STAR TREK.

I commented about this earlier...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mata-hari-club-em-and-ss-all-are-welcome/page/13#post-6114121

My MH EM hits the right flipper, but does drain occasionally, and that's fine, part of this game's "allure" IMO. A good nudge just prior to ball eject lowers the odds a bit. The Time Out arcade in Springfield Mall (northern VA) hosted a bevy of sample games over the years in its heyday, and I played a Mata Hari EM a LOT... I remember bitching about the "Mata Hari Drain monster" as we called it. I didn't see a diagram of ball trajectory in the SS manual on IPDB; will need to look in my EM manual to see if it's shown there. Bally did have game manuals having diagrams of ball eject path (e.g. Old Chicago).

I have the MH version, its an immediate reset, lights special and awards 50K - also immediate action. If you take off the stack to get to the burned switch, take pix as you go. LMK if u get stuck, Ive replaced switches a bunch of times - call Steve Young at Pinball Resource for switch parts

You're learning by doing... its the only way. Kudos on your progress.