Had this pop up on facebook marketplace yesterday... Seller would NOT respond; both the wife and I messaged him. About 7-8 hours after posting, he removed it from the marketplace. Dunno if it sold or he realized what he was selling. From the pictures, it looked in "ok" shape... It def. had some rust and the left return lane(?) was stuck closed. Take a look at that price though!

pinball (resized).jpg

I finally purchased a Dungeons & Dragons of my very own!

Now comes the hard part... How to have it shipped? I'm not going to have it shipped on the legs (especially with those extra long rear legs). Seller is concerned about stability with shipping it on its back, since the bottom cabinet is not flat like a normal machine but instead inclines towards the back. This kind of really only leaves the option of shipping on it's bottom with the rear braced/supported by something.
I haven't been able to find a reliable, dedicated delivery (ie: fast eddie, bob cunningham (I know; bob retired)) that will go from NY to Indiana, so I'm most likely going to have to go with Michelle Bianchi and STI.

Figured I should ask fellow owners who have had experience with transporting one of these how they went about doing it and what they would suggest?

I'm looking at about 700 miles, so that's fairly close in distance. Do you remember the cost, by chance?

Well… gave up on shipping ($600+) and drove the 700 miles myself. Now for the 700 miles back!

4FEA44DE-903B-400E-8C0E-3EF512871F67 (resized).jpeg

Got it home last night... checked fuses, checked wires, etc... got it on its legs and plugged it in. Seems to be all working, though it is missing the "roar / laughter" sounds when you start the game as well as the roulette end-game (match the number). I'm guessing the latter is an option in the menu (I've not had a chance to go through the menus in detail yet). Missing the upper left playfield plastic, but otherwise the playfield is in really great condition. The translite is flawless on this one; even has the original purchase date and service tickets for this machine.

IMG_5378 (resized).jpg

IMG_5381 (resized).jpg

IMG_5383 (resized).jpg

Suggestion was made that I ask here, since someone might have replaced their plastics- Does anyone have an extra upper left ramp plastic (see image) that they would be willing to sell?

Upper_Left_Ramp (resized).png

EDIT: Of course, an hour after I post this- someone posts a bunch of original D&D plastics on ebay. lol... Well, I bought the part I needed, but it looks like the guy listed about 17 other original (non-reproduction) plastics in case anyone else is looking for some replacement parts.

Guess all I need now is a topper... (saying this in hopes one pops up on ebay in an hour! LOL!!! )

EDIT 2: Found out that the sound settings on my machine were set "wrong". There's 4 options, and someone had set it to "5". Turned it back to factory default, and all the sudden I now have dragon roars and witch laughing, etc! I guess I really should've done the factory settings reset sooner.

Speaking of which... Can anyone tell me what "German Prize / German Meter" and "Slingshot" do? I enabled/disabled both but am not seeing any difference in gameplay or display?

I do think what Zigzagzag said is probably right about the cost; This was one of the last Bally machines before the Williams purchase in '88. They probably didn't have much money to throw at it, especially after adding the dragon topper.
I've seen a few with the blue brick fronts and while they do look nice, but I'm keeping my cabinet as stock/original as possible. I just feel like there's more value in an original, unmodified cabinet. But I'm also a sucker for pinball patina.
Changing the front art shouldn't make much of a difference in value, should you ever think about selling/trading later.

In the end, it's your cabinet; do what you prefer.

Not sure if this pictures help, but here you go? About 49.75" total cab length front-to-back, and the logo (from each of the white points) side-to-side is about 46.5". If you measure from the front of the cab to that white point, it sits 1 and 5/8ths" back.

Not 100% sure where you're needing a picture for the opto/wiring, but http://www.pinrepair.com/6803/#opto has a really good breakdown of opto repair for the bally 6803.

measure (resized).jpg

measure2 (resized).jpg

Looking really nice! Such a vibrant color compared to my original cab that I'm half tempted to update mine.

Just saw one listed on Facebook about an hour ago for $3k. Lexington, KY location. Says they will not ship.
Only about a 3hr drive away for me. Lot shorter than my drive to New York for mine!

Edit: Pending/sold, looks like. Sold within an hour of posting.

Alas, no topper; I would've made an offer on the topper.

To the best of my knowledge (and the parts manual), the topper has two strobe lights. Backbox just has a 34w lamp bulb in the center.

Also, you need to clip your C12. (See picture) http://www.pinrepair.com/6803/6803removecap.pdf

Grats on joining the club!

pasted_image (resized).png

I mainly got airballs from the plunger during launch. Have had the ball fly out of the shooting lane and hit the drop target area. To prevent that and protect my plastics, I put a piece of clear acrylic over the shooter lane that runs from the two rubber post caps down to the plunger. Think I've had it air ball off a bumper once.
I don't have a stock shooter rod though, so I don't know if that's contributing to the airball issue. Bought my machine where the previous owner stuck the glow-in-the-dark Stranger Things D20 shooter rod on there. I do have the original shooter rod and will stick it back on there at some point.

Yeah, I think mine is an issue with the plunger tip being low. Like I said- mine had the original shooter rod replaced, so I think whoever did it probably didn't get it aligned well. Easy fix.

So quick question... What should I use to clean/wax the plastics and playfield?
Obviously there's some differences between a 1987 machine and something like a new Stern; What's good for one may not be good for the other. I see a lot of people talking about Novus 2 to clean and 1 to wax/polish (particularly for NEWER pins) but want to be sure that something like that would be safe (not stripping away paint or coating) because it's an older machine.

Thanks- I don't think it had been cleaned in the years prior to my purchase so I wanted to vacuum out what I could, do a light clean, and get a fresh coat of wax across the playfield to protect it. I just want to make sure I don't damage the playfield, which is what I was worried about Novus doing. I've read Cleaning and Waxing Pinball Machines - Vid's Guide (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cleaning-and-waxing-pinball-machines-vids-guide) here on pinside, and it describes pretty well about how Novus is an abrasive and strips away top layers. Novus 1 is the only one I had considered using.
I've also seen (in the same pinside post, posts #23-#26) use magic eraser + isopropyl alcohol to buff by removing the top coat, only to have it strip away paint... so I was worried that the alcohol might strip away the coating.

So it looks like Naphtha for cleaning and removing old wax, and Carnauba to wax.

Just got finished installing new rubbers on the playfield. Looks so much nicer now with clean whites. Will have the playfield cleaned up probably tomorrow. I don't have a lot of ball swirl, so I think I'll forgo the magic erasure route. Thanks everyone for your input/help!

Hello! Nice save! Playfield looks very nice! Welcome to the club.

Well... No luck in finding just a topper. Messaged quite a few people, put in bids for just a topper, etc. So... I bought a whole second machine w/topper.
Totally reasonable solution, right? Made a 12hr round-trip today to get it. Guess now I need to put one up for sale.

IMG_5563 (resized).jpgIMG_5565 (resized).jpg

IMG_5569 (resized).jpg

The ipdb rom should be fine. I have the virtual pinball table of D&D that runs with that rom file and there's no issue.
Needs to be both U2/U3. (You probably did both, but just in case). German and US use the same sound rom, so you don't need to replace those.

Step 1: Go by the indent/notch; never go by the label when installing. Eproms will fail if they are installed backwards.
Step 2: Double check that all your rom's legs are in the sockets because they're easy to bend.
Step 3: Try putting the old roms back in and see if they work fine; If this is the case, it's most likely that you got a bad burn/damaged chip/broken leg.
Step 4: If the old roms don't work anymore, check fuses and do other troubleshooting.

Pinballrom.com sells a set of both for $19 right here via pinside (https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1089-pinballrom/05970-rom-dungeons-amp-dragons-cpu), or you can go to somewhere like actionpinball.com where they're $18 each. I've not personally ordered roms (yet) so I can't vouche for quality from available sellers.

For a brief moment, I had two Dungeons & Dragons. I feel like this is some kind of rare achievement. haha!

IMG_5622 (resized).jpg

If you can find someone to print them, there's a dropbox where Les73gtx made them...
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w1l7p1fev3tv20v/AADNANl9wmJf1Muo3sfyeC3sa?dl=0

I'm pretty sure the black outlines (like around the flames, etc) are painted on the playfield around the light and aren't actually a part of the decal.

pasted_image (resized).png

Pretty rusted side rail and rough side art (definitely sun faded)... But it has the topper!!!

Guessing you're looking at the one for sale out of Jupiter, FL. They need to clip the C12 on that machine.
You can tell it's been 'updated' a bit anyways, cause it has the plastic leg guards under the legs, and the lock down bar and side rails are black instead of the cheap stainless that it came with.

I'd be willing to bet that either the side art graphics were chipped on the edges or they were worried that it would get chipped so they've covered it up with tape. Without seeing it in person, it's really hard to know one way or the other. The other photos they have listed show pretty nice side art, so I doubt they're hiding damage. I'd ask for a few pictures of the inside cabinet (under playfield) to check and make sure the cabinet isn't splintering or in need of repair, but keep in mind this game is from the late 80s, so they've seen a few decades of wear and tear.

Literally the first D&D that I've seen with electrical tape on the corners. I think it'd be a miracle if that tape was still on there from the manufacturer (Bally) since 1987. All the photos and listings I've seen for D&D do not have that tape on there. The two D&Ds I've owned, the others I've looked at to purchase, and the others I've played in arcades/etc haven't had tape. Like I said; they probably had or were worried about the side art chipping.

You'll probably want to clear coat (if not powdercoat) those side rails and lockdown bar instead of paint; don't want it flaking off.
Their pictures look good on their listing. It looks clean and has a topper. Side art is a little faded but that's most of them; the red just disappears if it sits in the sun. My recommendation for anyone buying a pin is "see it in person if you can"... cause otherwise you never know for certain.

Good luck with your purchase though! It really is a great game!

Time to cut a hole in your ceiling! lol j/k

Took me half a year or so to get an original topper for myself (and that required I buy a second D&D). During my search, I ran across a few different toppers that people had made for D&D.

My first machine even came with a custom topper... a Dragon toilet paper roll holder that had been modified to hold an LED strip.
CPR sells an acrylic topper with blue bricks to look similar, but the dragon on it doesn't really match the art style.
Probably the best one I've seen was a Medieval Madness Premium Dragon, that they wired up to illuminate the fire breath.

I had one person who said they could recreate the original box for me (minus the graphics), but they disappeared after I started asking some basic questions (how long/how much).

CPR (resized).pngMedieval (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).png

I can't access my machine right now to take precise measurements of the trim (My kid flooded the house and our living room is in storage).
You can find the back glass measurements here: https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php/General#Backglass_Sizes
Get some trim and cut-to-fit.