Finished my Riverboat Gambler topper. I connected 3smd matrix led strips from Cometpinball to the Royal Flush card lights under the playfield so they light up in conjunction. The topper is from a Maverick pinball machine but was the best thing that had the cards in the same order. Thanks to /u/indypinhead for the original idea.

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Just put this up for sale:

Machine - For Sale

Riverboat Gambler Archived

Used - shows wear but 100% working and clean - “For sale is a 1990 Williams "Riverboat Gambler" pinball machine. It is a family friendly game with a casino theme and catchy background music. A fun machine to play for kids and ad...”

2019-07-22

Jarrettsville, MD

Alan_L

2,000

Archived after: 23 days

Viewed: 190 times

Status: Didn't sell to Pinsider

Want to buy the 4 buttons in the lockdownbar for riverboat gambler. New or used in good condition.

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I made this topper for my Riverboat back in 2014. Each of the cards on the the topper are tied into the playing cards on the playfield.

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The Mavrick toppers are neat addition.

Never even knew there was a RBG club. I do not have one yet, but will someday would be my guess. In fact, if someone has a very nice example in the upper midwest and wants to sell it to make room for a new Stern or a Wonka or something, PM me a description and price.

Figured I'd throw this out there again, as Club RBG is seeing a little action lately:

If anyone happens to have their apron off at the moment, do you think you could make a high-res scan of the center section so I can redo the artwork? My apron is in great shape except for that middle part, where quite a bit of the printing somehow got worn off, and I'd like to recreate it as a decal. Thanks!

This little bracket is probably an unobtainium piece, but easy enough to remake. Would anyone mind taking measurements of theirs for me? Thanks!
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Absolutely stoked to get these in the mail today. Like finding a unicorn!

Nos Ramp and Lockdown bar buttons!

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Awesome, how did you find that?

I bought some plastics from someone on Facebook, and I mentioned that I was interested in the Riverboat Gambler promo plastic he had in another lot (I didn't care about the others in that lot, so I passed on that). He mentioned that he had some other Riverboat Gambler NOS parts at his shop. Made a deal and I am beyond happy!

Chris

Great find. You never know, never hurts to ask. What else you got?

A really great find.

I sprayed my buttons with Rustoleum 2x Clear to protect the lettering three years ago. (masked off so just lettering was sprayed)
The lettering is still perfect to this day.

The factory lettering seems to be easy to rub off.

Bud

Hello,
got my riverboat gambler but without the lockdownbar i am searching for all this buttons (or a replacement).
It is not possible to get all buttons in the shops. have anyone ordered similar buttons in china ?

thx mike

I just finished up a 16 hour restoration on an Addams Family for a customer and he intended to have me restore his Riverboat Gambler as well but decided that since he didn't have the room for two machines he liked my offer to trade him my labor for it and so I now have a new project. Low S/N 500033 with Diamond Plate playfield which is in great condition other than the chipped card decals. There are two damaged plastics which I will be able to repair with minimal visibility. There is some damage to the raised plastic over the Collect Royal Flush ramp on the roulette capture ramp but it doesn't affect gameplay and the red ramp has some fatigue at the raised rail over the blackjack shot. Other than the minor issues I will be able to turn this one around to be a great player and I expect this machine to look as good as the Addams Family turned out considering it was in the same condition when I dug into it. I along with the rest of you am "Riding On That Lucky River Boat"!

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After a few hours of tearing down and assessing issues under the playfield I got a chance to do a preliminary wipe down and wow does this baby pop! I replaced about 75% of the lamps and flashers with on hand spares I had and what a difference the color matching made. After seeing the lighted card toppers some of you have done I MUST add the same mod when I get this one finished!
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dupe post

Mike - I replaced all my buttons with NOS. If you want the old ones let me know. The lockdown bar will need the holes and you’ll need to make sure you have the membrane switch as well. I only have the buttons. Let me know if these will help you out. They are intact but the writing is rubbed off. The white button is a little discolored as well but they are better than nothing.

Chris

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No offence to brother #Silverunicorn.
I have a spare whole lockdown bar if you need one. Its the shipping to Austria thats tricky and expensive.

No offense at all. If you have a complete assembly that's probably better than just the buttons

Chris

Thank you for all answers.
I miss all of the parts

so my idea was to install normal buttons like in an Arcade Machne with cables.
My version in the picture works fine, but i want the buttons to look like original (rectangular).
i am searching for buttons like the originals but they cannot be to deep because of the contacts.

thx Mike

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Installed some lighting mods today. Red border LEDs for the upper ramps, red LEDs on the unlit left side of the bumpers, LEDs under the slot plastic and installed LEDs under the cards and Roulette on the Roulette ramp. These string LEDs are 12dc neon sign retrofit LEDs and work perfect on the GI circuit, each module is about the same brightness as a single mini LED bulb.
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Mod lighting unlit
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Mod lighting lit
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I changed up the lighting on the Roulette ramp since the LEDs weren’t getting the light through the numbers as I wanted so I cut some blister packing to bridge the gap over the shooter lane and was able to hot glue the LEDs right under the desired areas. Number 14 and 16 were a little tough due to the ball diverter but it’s not even noticeable.

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Much better, didnt want to nick pick on version 1. The whole led upgrade you did looks fantastic.

Thanks a bunch! From a test standpoint it worked but my OCD kicked in big time and after dinner I just had to go back to the garage to change it up. I love the way it turned out and it has a much more finished feel about it. Please don’t hesitate to chime in if you have ideas or have done other lighting mods I haven’t thought of. I did order the Maverick topper and will be doing the card lighting synced with playfield card mod as well as adding some Casino chips to cover some ramp cracks.

That looks really good! That ramp looks so nice all lit up like that, and it's not overdone. A+ to you!

Chris

Nearing completion!

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Taking inspiration from some of the other mods in this thread I ordered up the Maverick topper and made my own open frame backlight and tied into the lighting matrix. I used the same 12vdc LED modules that I used under the Roulette ramp. It’s nice and subtle, I love the way it turned out!

Edit: I covered the bottom horizontal strip of wood with some black tape so it almost disappears with the absence of reflected light from the topper (not pictured). The wood frame is very solid and will stand the test of time but when I’m feeling ambitious I think I’ll build the frame out of aluminum flat stock and suspend it with 1” standoffs and nuts.

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Any nice custom apron cards out there?, can't find any from the usual sources.

Old Ebay ad. New Pinside ad up.

Up for Grabs again.

SOLD!

Parts - For Sale

~Riverboat Gambler~WILLIAMS Pinball Lock down Bar~Works! Archived

Used, fair condition - “WILLIAMS RIVERBOAT GAMBLER PINBALL LOCK DOWN BAR USED~IN NICE SHAPE COSMETICALLY. GRAPHICS HAVE BEEN WORN OFF ON ALL 4 BUTTONS. ALL 4 BUTTONS WORK GREAT. UNDERNEATH LOCK DOWN BAR ...”

2020-09-23

Anaheim, CA

Ericpinballfan

35

Archived after: 10 days

Viewed: 141 times

Status: Sold (amount undisclosed)

Hey everyone. I just added a near perfect RBG to my small collection. Looking through this thread, I see one example of someone who painted/powder coated theirs yellow. Anybody else change up the color on all the metal parts? I'm specifically thinking all black but I'd like to see any and all colors if you've done it?
Please post a pic.
Thanks

My 2 cents: don't powder coat it. Leave original.

^^ Stainless steel and chrome are beautiful. I am pretty sure I know the game you bought. Looked like a very nice one!

I'm very conflicted on this. Part of me thinks it should remain original because it is so nice. But everyone also comments that "it's yours, do whatever makes you happy". I don't want to kill the value of the game - I really don't think it would, I just want to see what other have done - if anything.

It is very nice. Needs a cleaning and some LED's and I need to look at why the center bank of targets don't work. Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase.

It also has a slight hum/buzz coming from the back box. Anybody experience this or fix it?

My last cent: riverboat is a tough pin to sell to begin with. They seem to sit.

Don't expect to get any return on the powdercoat. And expect some to not like it.

But in the whole scheme of things, it's only a pinball machine and it's yours. Do as you like!

I have a question about the game play during multiball. If one of the balls lands up in roulette, the game goes dark while I "pick a color", making it near impossible to see the other balls on the playfield until roulette is finished and the lights all come back on.
Is this normal?
It doesn't seem right.

I recently completed a topside teardown and cleaning on my Riverboat Gambler. The game play was fine before I started. Cleaned and waxed the playfield. Added Titan rubbers. Cleaned and put new sleeves on the flippers. Now the game play can best be described as "violent". The ball launches off the flippers incredibly fast. I can jump the ramp heading up to the slot. It ricochets between the slings with some serious power.
I avoid playing it now out of fear that I'm going to break something.
Working through this, I don't think it's the flippers since, correct me if I'm wrong, I can't adjust the strength/power on these. Plus, it's still very forceful between the slings. That leaves the Titan rubbers? I still have the old rubbers and was going to put them back on and see if there's any change.
What did I over-do here?

A friend's Riverboat Gambler is having some problems when it powers up. It starts a cycle of the lift crank assembly on the ramp moves a little, followed by the left drop target solenoid energizing and all the controlled lights will go out and then come back on. I've also noticed that the +5VAC and blanking leds on the MPU board are solidly lit, and the diagnosis led is blinking. The diagnosis and the blanking led will go out when the left drop target solenoid is energized. I've reseated all the connectors on the MPU board and there is nothing that jumps out at me on the MPU board that looks fried. Now when I go into the adjustments and bookeeping settings, the solenoids stop there energizing cycle. Any suggestions on where to start to troubleshoot this?

So I fixed that problem by reseating 1J8 on the MPU board. Now the next problem is the game will reset shortly after I launch the first ball. Also the display is saying press advance when it is powered up. When I check the messages, it says wheel error, and I've reseated the two connectors on the back side of the wheel board without solving the error.

The fix was to replace the bridge rectifier on the power supply board, however that was after I recapped the board and replaced Q5 trying to track the problem down the schematic. The next problem was while all the solenoids work in test, most didn't work during gameplay. The problem solenoids were all of them minus the flippers, slingshots and pop bumpers. After I added a little bit of solder to the connector pins/bridge rectifiers on the auxiliary power driver unit board everything was working perfectly.

I'm fixing up a Riverboat Gambler for a friend and need to find out what size spring is used for the ball diverter assembly, part number B-13915. The instruction manual doesn't list it, but it shows clear as day in the diagram.

I no longer have this machine, but I know what you are looking for...try looking through Marco's site listing springs, I think you can find something that will work.. Do you have the broken part...?

https://www.marcospecialties.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=spring&VIEW_SIZE=60&VIEW_INDEX=2&view=card&sortOrder=SortKeywordRelevancy

Mick

Unfortunately I didn't see the old spring when I went through the playfield cabinet. I ordered a couple of different sizes, so I'm crossing my fingers that one of them will work.

Part #10-389. In the Williams "red" parts catalog. This is only place I see it for sale - http://www.actionpinball.com/parts.php?item=10-389

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Thanks! I also have to replace another part that isn't listed that I later found out was the drive arm. I was looking at all the parts at Marcos and one of them was used in a bunch of other Williams games. I looked up the parts list for Adams Family and lo and behold I found that part as well. It is #A-14185.

Here's a tip if all of your GI on the playfield doesn't work and everything on the backboard interconnect board is working. Check the relay board, part number C-11998-1 under the back end of the playfield. I was fixing this same game and two of the pins on the 7-pin connector were crispy. I replaced the header pins, the connector and later found out the relay was toast to. Fixed all of that and the game is all fixed up.

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Just picked up a nice Riverboat Gambler on this rainy Sunday.

Guy said he's had it since 95. He gave me a shirt he said you could only get at AMOA show when it came out, not sure if that's true. He also wrote this rules sheet back in the day. Cool meeting older guys that have been in the hobby for long time.

I've probably only played this one a few times at some shows, excited to put some plays on it.

http://www.pinball.org/rules/riverboatgambler-notes.txt

http://www.pinball.org/rules/riverboatgambler.html

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I guess he wasn't lying either when he said he had this since 95, the paperwork was in the cabinet. So many times you hear this but never really know.

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