Algonquin, IL
A month ago I found this abandoned operator warehouse on facebook marketplace up in Milwaukee. Got in touch with the dude and checked it out. He had sold the majority of stuff a year past and needed to liquidate what was left. Based on what games were there, and what evidence there was of other games, it had already been extremely picked over. I spent a ton of time over a few weekends picking through this filthy old warehouse for any possible gems of parts. There was a hole in the roof which made holes in the 2 floors underneath it from all the water coming in. I assume there was a ton of mold in there too. The building had also previously been hit by lightning a year prior and was partially on fire. Some areas were extremely sketchy with the risk of the floor going beneath you and the ceiling coming down from above.
Upon the seller sending me a bunch of initial pictures, I noticed in the background a Midway White Lightning of one picture!!!
I love these old mechanical games, and have never seen one of these for sale!
I thought it may be too big for my house, but would figure that out later!
I checked it out the first trip up there and it was certainly huge and heavy.
It seemed to be complete except for the gun assembly which I'd never find online.
After some thought I decided I must have it, I'd figure out 3D printing a new gun or something.
So I picked it up the following weekend.
I had some more time to poke around the 8 floors of the warehouse.
Most of the stuff was on one floor.
However, on 3 other floors, there were batches of mixes of crane games, jukeboxes, shuffle bowlers, and EM pinballs.
Along with a good amount of other random shit you'd expect to find in such an old abandoned warehouse.
I looked desperately amongst ALL this shit for hours to declare the gun is long gone.
I brought a bunch of tools, and took off the corner brackets that held in the glass.
The game was on it's heavy end and some kind soul from the past left it on a wheeled cart for me!
I wheeled it out to the freight elevator and we took it down.
The very sketchy freight elevator couldn't go down all the way, leaving a 2' edge at the bottom.
Fortunately, I was chummy with some other dudes grabbing all the jukebox parts and they helped me safely unload it and take it to my car.
I have a 2011 Honda Fit that I keep specifically for moving games.
I've moved a ton of big heavy games and things in this car, but this was by far the biggest and heaviest.
I had measured prior and felt good about it fitting in there.
I needed to remove the shroud at the top. It very clearly was removable, but I had to get to the bolts inside the back.
Naturally it was locked, and a key in the coin box that fit in it didn't work.
I took a flat blade screwdriver and elegantly popped the back and got the very long bolts out - next time I'll remember my cordless.
Popped her in and she barely fit! I was worried the top would hit against my rear windshield, I managed to squeeze a box in between and hoped for the best.
Every time I pickup a game in this car, the people question if it will fit, this was no exception.
Needless to say, they were all pretty impressed!
I'm looking forward to bringing this one back together.
I can't find much information on these games, who else has one?
I'd love to get a copy of some other documentation that came with it.
Per this ad - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/em-arcade-games-schematics-and-manuals
I know a parts catalog and instruction book exist.
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water/bleach mixture
