I just joined the club! I remember this title fondly as one you would line up to play by putting your quarter on the glass. Mine’s a good condition player with a 9 bg and I am very happy with it!

For my inaugural question to club members....is there a source for the wire gates (there are 5 of them on paragon)? Marco is out of the ones I’m looking for, which are 2 at the top of the waterfall.

Oh, and is there an accepted abbreviation for paragon ?

Ottawa loves it some Paragon I guess!

I bought mine from a local collector who brought it back from Washington DC (I think).

I only need the gates, the brackets are sound. PBR is out of stock so I might have to try fabricating my own. It still plays great though...except for a few dodgy lamp sockets everything works 100 percent. I’m still trying to find the sweet spot on the sustain adjustment to get the sound just right but I’ll get there.

I’m sure settings have been discussed on this thread before...but I’m waiting to roll it before considering switching it to 3 Ball. I have PARAGON letters scrolling and the inline dts scoring a letter just like my old Harlem globetrotters. I think of Paragon as a widebody mirror image version of Harlem globetrotters. It’s funny but I hardly ever lost the ball between the flippers on Hg but it happens all too often on paragon.

Hi tubbee, welcome. My pf has a bit of wear too, but it’s better than a lot of paragons I’ve seen. I’m getting a pf protector to make sure it stays as nice as possible.

Yeah I’m getting better the more I play it. I’m using the drop catch a lot with the right flippers. Now when I scissor the ball its often off a slap save.

Thanks guys! The picture has one of the gates I need. You can see that a bit on the left is missing so I bent it with pliers to reestablish the hook. So far it is working flawlessly but I’d still like to replace it (ASE-2250-25). I am missing the top “in gate “ to the waterfall (9 on the parts list, ASE-2250-59). If I can’t find the -59 gate I might try that kit from Marco to make my own. I’m lucky to have a buddy with similar pinball tastes who also has a Paragon (with the number of Paragons in Ottawa we ought to be able to get parts in bulk

I know these early SS Ballys are known for bricking drop targets, but is there an easy way to mitigate this his on Paragon? Both the inlines and and the 3 waterfall drops brick too often for my liking, especially when it denies me my double or triple bonus!!

I have a pf protector on the way, I’d be interested in others’ views on installation, improved play, etc.

Keep on flipping!

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Sweet mod! I’m jealous.

I just replaced the lamp sockets in my pop bumpers with wedges, at least they don’t flake out anymore.

I have a playfield protector in my Paragon. I think these early SS machines are perfect candidates for this solution if you don’t want to go to the CC option yet. It will protect the current state and frankly I think my Paragon plays better with it ( I have a bit of cupping in my inserts, which the protector addresses).

Not everyone is a fan of these, but I think they have their uses.....

I’m with the wax it and play it crowd! If you have cupped inserts, and if you already have the playfield protector then you might want to install it. I did it on mine (it’s not that hard to install on paragon) and the gameplay improved considerably...ie the benefit from addressing the cupped inserts outweighed any detrimental effects on how the ball rolls. I clean and wax the installed protector every so often, and about once a year I remove it to clean and wax both sides, and the playfield.

Paragon is sweet sweet pinball!

My inserts are cupped as well, and before the protector a slow-moving ball would swerve and meander over the bonus triangle. Frustrating! The protector was an easy fix for me because I have zero experience in using clear...

If you do end up installing the pf protector remember to adjust the height of the inline drops to avoid ball traps from lowered targets (it’s an easy adjustment from below the pf). You need to remove the flipper bats, pop bumper caps, spinner, and all gates but that’s it. My pf has a small nail near the upper right rail rebound thingy that the protector did not allow for so I had to make a small snip to make it fit.

I have mine on 3 ball. The PARAGON scans, and the lit letter is awarded at the saucer and upon hitting an inline drop. I have the first free game at 200k and the second at 450k, which is hard enough that I need to add credits every once in a while.

My playfield is a little worn, and has cupped inserts as many machines of this era do, but I have a playfield protector that fixes that. I am a fan of pf protectors in these instances since I don’t have the skills needed to fix it any other way

Rebuilding bally ss pop bumpers was the first “serious” maintenance I ever attempted and it gave me confidence to attempt more complicated things. I followed Vid1900’s guide and everything went smoothly. It was my first attempts at desoldering and resoldering and they are still popping like mad 3 years later!

If you go that route I recommend replacing the lamp sockets with wedge-based, this will eliminate the flakiness from all the vibration they take.

I think I got my rebuild kits from Marco and it had everything that should be replaced, except the lamp sockets which you would have to add to the kit. Good luck! Paragon is a great game.

This has happened to me a couple times. I bet your flippers are good and strong

I have this ( or something very similar) in my Eight Ball. It does the trick, ie no ghosting or flickering controlled lamps. On the downside, sometimes the connections get flakey and I have to open the backbox to re-seat them.

I believe it was all the paragons shipped to Europe that had that difference, and that is why we now refer to it as an “Italian bottom”. Apparently, the story goes that Italian players like to trap the ball, take a sip, and call their next shot.

If you can’t source one or more of the gates you can do what I did….

Marco sells a wire bending kit with a jig and some wire stock. I used that to bend myself a replacement gate (the topmost one that lets the ball into the waterfall but prevents it from coming out). I traced the gate from a friend’s paragon and bent it as best I could. The result is not perfect, but very functional (hasn’t failed yet!)

Looks fantastic! Where are those leds getting their power? Do they each have their own battery?

Thanks Kolk1. Nice work!