I own a nearly new Pistol Poker. I bought it from Gene Cunningham years ago. He had never plugged it in and I am pretty sure that he bought or bartered for it when brand new. (It was stored in his main heated warehouse but in an area with no power nearby.) When I brought it home (to my heated warehouse), the counter showed 10 games on it, probably from games played at the factory as there were still cardboard protectors on parts of the playfield. So I removed the protectors and played about 20 games. It has been sitting here unplayed since then.

It is time to thin the herd. If anyone is looking for a pristine Pistol Poker, in "new out of box" condition, let me know.

Tom

Recently joined the Pistol Poker club. Very happy with the game, lots of game play for the price point.

Had a couple questions. Anyone experience problems with the shooter rod and getting the ball into game play? Also getting an error message "Flasher Lamp Problem". Any suggestions on resolving these problems?

Has anyone considered doing a plunger conversion to a gun like what is used in the Shadow or Indiana Jones, etc? Not sure if this is even feasible but it be great to have a gun plunger on this game. Thanks for the help.

Could it be done? Yeah, pull an auto launcher from agbgowt or mc. Then wire in your gun handle. Modify the roms to utilize that switch to fire the coil.

Why on earth would you do it though? If you want a game that has a gun style auto launcher just go buy one. No sense in modifying a low production game just so you can pull a fake trigger.

True, have no idea what is involved. Just wondering if it would be an easy fix. Guess not. If I am keeping the game for my collection, I don't mind paying for modifications.

It isn't and please don't wreck a rare machine because you think a mod would be cool... Just stick some stupid toy on top and call it a day.

Not much love in the Pistol Poker thread. I had these custom cards made for my Pistol Poker. If you are interested in purchasing a copy, send a PM to Mr_Tantrum. He charges $6 for the pair. They are great quality.
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Pistol Poker issue. Game stopped advancing when you get the shot in the hole in the middle and now does not even say "Ready-Aim-Fire" or even use the flippers to advance what you want to put it at on the back box by selecting a suit. Ball does shoot out to the top of the playfield. Also when making a suit like a pair of Jacks, or Queens or Ace and Jack, etc it will not advance to another suit as stays in that position. One more issue is the left Slingshot does not work. Contacts are fine and in test mode the coil works. All these issues stopped working at the same time. Help please as I am stumped. I did change the CPU, Matrix board as well as the power supply with extra boards but had to change some Roms to the other boards. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Plastic protectors for Pistol Poker being released at the end of April.

Hey fellas! Recently acquired a Pistol Poker. Really enjoying it so far. I too was having issues with balls loading when they were not supposed to during multiball. I had not found this thread yet or it may have saved me some time. I eventually did figure out that the outhole coil was very strong causing the balls to “jump” the release coil bracket thus allowing balls to enter the shooter lane when they were not supposed to. My solution was to fashion a simple bracket that sits over the ball 1 location in the trough. This makes the area above the release bracket to small for the balls to fit through thus stopping them from being able to jump it. This has fixed my multi ball issue. Bonus to this mod is with the existing wire that keeps the balls from falling back to the outhole, the Playfield can now be lifted with the balls still in the trough with no worries of them falling out. I forgot to take a picture of it, but will at some point and post it up.

On another note, does anyone know if there are any cliffy protectors out there that will work on the scoop holes on the upper Playfield?

Does anyone have a power board for sale?

Thank you!!!

Marco has them: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/PCA-028

Marco's has this board listed as a #PCA-028
Pistol poker shows a PCA-019A.

They look pretty different. I will call and ask non the less.

Do you know if it will work or if its an upgrade or something?

here is a pic of my board

Thank you for responding!

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That PCA-028 will not work. The only game in the world that it works in is my Slam-N-Jam prototype. This board is very different and was going to be their next generation of power supply, but they went out of business before it could be implemented.

A bunch of these boards were made, but unfortunately they really have no use or value to speak of. The parts vendors that have them on hand nowadays snatched them up without knowing what they were.

Thanks for the information. I'd like to get the right one. any idea where I might check?

Thanks again

Alvin G expert to the rescue. Marco needs to change that listing then. I would have made the same mistake. I see now from an earlier thread, that even Planetary didn't have the power boards. Power boards are usually pretty basic in design. Surprised one hasn't been replicated.

All I have left are a few DMD controllers and MPUs. All the sound boards and power supplies I had are gone.

was already knocking on his door before my post! Lol

Thanks Faz

I agree. Probably due to the small demand because of low production games that would use them.

Keep your eyes peeled for one on eBay or offered up by someone on here. I have some in storage somewhere, and have some people interested already if/when I get them dug out, and if I end up with an extra one I’ll let you know.

much appreciated!

Thank you

Serial number 543910 checking in..
Playfield serial #303
The journey begins..

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Just discovered the manual in my cabinet!

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There is also a service addendum and the build sheet in a bag on the back page.. Pretty cool

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Thanks for posting.

New PP serial 542010 owner here. Played it a few times and really liked it along with the low production numbers thought it would be neat pin to add to my line up. I actually bought it from another board member here worked out some numbers and I acquired it from him. It's a very clean beautiful example. I can't wait to tear it down, clean, wax, and led it.

I do have an issue from the pics included. No DMD in the game when I got it. I threw in a working DMD I had laying around and all I'm getting is these money symbols on the display. Some come and some go and from time to time I'll get a almost solid screen. I pulled the dot matrix board and found some blown up caps and replaced those and flowed solder on all points. There was'nt cold solder joints but a few were cracked. Last owner didn't get anything form this DMD so I'm making progress at least. If I pull the ribbon cable from the CPU to the dot matrix controller nothing happens or changes. I'd like to buy a new ribbon cable for that at least. I did have a dot matrix controller board to DMD ribbon cable handy. Replaced that and nothing. I'm thinking corrupt roms maybe? I did check all voltages going in and out and they are pretty much spot on. I flowed solder on the power supply as well. All boards are virgin on this thing. Nothing was touched all original. So if anyone ran into this issue or has the next place to poke around let me know.

Also the ball shooter lane gauge sticker is missing. I know they don't make these in any of the kits but I have a really good local guy who can reproduce any art work and make them into a sticker. If anyone is willing to loan me their piece or if you can get me a really good high rez scan of yours, we can have these reproduced as well.

Oh and when is the ColorDMD coming out for this table!

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Anyone else have the Cliff protector? I just ordered one up!

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I'll have a conversation with myself on this DMD issue I guess So replaced both ribbon cables (a new 20 pin came today) and same. I'm thinking now it's the Octal Latch chip (SN74LS373N) on the main CPU at U23. Has me curious that it's in a socket from the factory. Sometimes when I see that it's for a reason. I just ordered a handful from eBay too see where that gets me. There is a few of those same chips on the dot matrix driver board as well so I got a few extra just in case I need to explore there. I was wishing that 20 pin ribbon cable was some of the issue as it had a good ding in the middle of it. But same stuff. The wait goes on. Even without the DMD it's fun to play just wish I could see what the hell I'm doing! Made up some new instruction cards as well.

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Cliffy installed. Before and after pics. Of course one of the posts snapped off the second I made a turn on it with the ratchet. Oh well more parts to order. Looks great. Cliff makes some first class stuff!

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And the DMD works! I ordered one of those NOS ones that ( https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/pca-020a.html ) Pinball Australia has moved my chips over and working like new again. Was nice to actually play the game finally and see what I was doing. Next up tear down and shop it out with a LED treatment..

I checked the audit menu and found it only has 118 plays on it! Last owner said it was huo so it may appear to be just that.

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Well in this time of social distance, I've torn down my PP and did a full shop out. Comet 2SMD sunlight leds (getting a little ghosting here and there) new black rubbers, cleaned and polished all parts. Did a strip of amber LED's under the upper PF to light up the lower PF a bit. Also did a 3 SMD strip under the apron. Comet disc in the pop bumpers red/white. Went with some red LED's in the upper lanes. Always nice to shop a HUO only game they come up so nice!

Here is a little video I made...

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Hey guys anyone know a good place for flipper coil sleeves? I also need a coil stop bracket. Looked all over and it seems they are hard to find. Looks like a Williams sleeve in there but it won't fit through the coil mounting assembly. PBR no good but I have reached out to Pinball Spare Parts AU as it seems they have a ton of Alvin G stuff. I got my game all shopped out and can't play it because I need to rebuild the flippers!

PSP AU has some parts for Alvin G. but watch out:
I bought for Alvin G. "flipper shaft bushing Alvin G FSB-001" and they are *NOT* for Alvin G. machines ! I got my money back without problems but still in need of shafts and plunger.

What you can do is change compeltely to WMS Sys11. There are instrucrions in the internet. If you change the whole baseplate you can swap completely to standart parts. It is no longer original but you can play with rebuild mechanics on that.

Otherway is, there are also Gottlieb Sy2 parts out. They are nearly the same but you need bearings for "normal" flipper bat shafts and, sure, the bats itself. I am working on this but ... no time, other projects ...

Thanks for the info! I reached out to PSP AU waiting to hear back if they even have the sleeves. I was thinking the same thing on the WMS flipper assembly. I was looking at these and they almost look like sys11 flippers from my BK2K. Well at least I know what I'm working with! Thanks again...

5506. Starting with PP they did a weird thing with the serials where they added a 10 to the end of every number. As to where the numbers for PP started, I can't remember.

I think the production numbers arent accurate on PP and Mystery Castle. IPDB reports 200 and 500, but from the MC serial numbers recorded it's the opposite. More like 500 PPs. I've seen a ton more PPs in circulation and for sale than MCs.

From the serial numbers recorded there are at least over 300 PPs and 197 MCs.

I found some NOS decal sheets for pistol poker. $20 a set

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One small project complete finally. When I bought this game the plunger guard was damaged and the previous owner had it welded. Well the sticker had to be removed to repair the lip. And of course the sticker package for PP don't include this sticker. Well now I can make it complete again one of the guys on KLOV made this up for me with some measurements I e-mailed him. Came out pretty damn spot on I think considering mine is still slightly damaged on the end from being welded. One thing is for sure from 2 feet away you'll never notice. I had a few spares made up in case anyone needs one of these impossible to find stickers! The only thing is they are not laminated. You'll either need to get it laminated or just use as is. The UV might

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And installed! Was so nice to finish off this item on my PP. Was driving me nuts not having that decal there.

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Nice Work!

I can't find these instructions to swap for WMS Sys11, and would appreciate help locating. Thanks!

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/converting-alvin-g-flippers-to-wms-assemblies.131415/

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alvin-g-flipper-crank

Cant be too hard. But you need complete assemblies except coils , incl. flipperbats because Alvin G. uses larger diameters.
Than just control if the EOS is normal open or closed ...
On this way you have to chance for completely renewed flipper bats ... but lost originality ... I own 5 Alvin G. and on my MC the flipper bats are weared out but ... no time, too many other pins to work on .

I am sitting on a pile of nos ag flipper bats for this reason. Prefer keeping my stuff original where possible

The bats are not the problem ... several parts are available from pinballspareparts.com.au but important things like plungers are missing.

Same for the transparent targets. No way to find them, you can only make the clear plastic yourself and rivet to a new standuptarget from aftermarket.

Hey - can you please post a pic of the bracket you made - my game was fine for a couple of years and now balls started jumping the release bracket again. Ready to try your fix! Thanks

Looking for help, game resets sometimes when both flippers are pressed simultaneously.

From what else I've read, there's a situation with old capactiors on the PSU namely the 15,000 mfd cap (C2?) and 100 mfd cap C5.

The quick and dirty fix that will not last apparently involves adjusting VR2 on the PSU to approximately 5.4VDC.

I assume, since there are no test points I can find on the PSU from the manual scans, is that it would be ok to test VDC across fuse F6 to dial in that voltage properly.

Any other tips?

Here's what I found:

===
Here's some info from The Ninja:

"But the interesting thing about Alvin G games is the 5 volts on the power supply is adjustable via a small pot. Ninja turned the voltage up to 5.40 volts, and the flipper resets disappeared. Now at this point some ninjas may just walk away and call it “fixed.” But not this Ninja. Because the problem will come back. The issue was the 12/5 volt regulation caps were drying out and not doing their job. So when the flippers are pressed (putting stress on the transformer and effecting the other voltages), the 5 volts would dip, and the game would reset. If the filter caps were good, this would not be a problem.

The right solution is to fix the power supply. And that involves replacing the 15,000mfd filter cap for the unregulated 12 volts (which ultimately becomes the regulated 5 volts.) Also replace cap C5, which is a small 100mfd cap. This small C5 capacitor is wired after the voltage regulator (where the big 15,000mfd cap is wired before the regulator.) It’s important to replace both caps, which the Ninja did."

If the BR turns out to be good, definitely consider reap lacing those 2 caps. I've had a similar issue on a couple of Bally pins where replacing the big cap did the trick. They only last so long...
===

Unless you have a real need to immediately play the game, I would forgo messing with adjusting the 5V regulator pot, and just replace the Caps as suggested.

I don't have the game here, going to get parts together and fix on a remote site.

C2 - looks like a radial cap, or is this a snap cap?

C6, C5 - looks like radial cap?

Have a bare nos main ramp that i am looking to let go if anyone in the club needs one.