i had a buckaroo without the paint on the cover, it was just removed. most likely yours is the same. you can get the decal from the guys from down under.
there was almost NO difference in the sample game and the production run.
unless the sample game has some major difference than the production run sample games have no added value than bragging rights

Some 50's and 60's sample games do have notable differences from the production runs (more so on the 50's), but by the 70's those differences were pretty much gone. (Volley might be one exception, with a very different playfield art package.)

King of Diamonds has some differences between sample and production, which came after Cow Poke, so it might be worth a careful comparison to a production playfield to see if your Cow Poke shows any. Another way to check is against the flyer, as the flyer photo is often of the sample game.

My buddy has a Cowpoke sample too, no art on the cover...

The Cow Poke I'm restoring for someone has the same plain metal cover also. Mine is not a sample. The new silk screened cover from the boys down under makes all the difference in the world in the looks of the game IMO. Just installed my new Pinball Rescue cover a few days ago.

The Cow Poke flyer shows the plate with no artwork on it. And so does the Buckaroo flyer.

Since these are both June 1965 games, that suggests that the artwork didn't appear on the plate until later in production. So some games apparently were made with plain plates.

The argument; "make it look nicer" or "keep it sample". i favor make it look nicer, its only the snobs that think it must be pristine/holy.

I know Im going to hell, I put red start buttons on AAB games.

Ken

If we all did it the same it would be boring. If it's reversible back to original that's always good too.

Not like a drill a hole in the door... but try and find a AAB door these days

ebay.com link: Gottlieb 1960s 1970s Pinball Machine Coin Door High Hand Big Shot Domino etc

The original playfield design, (Flipper Cowboy), had no artwork on the center piece throughout the entire production run. A lot of guys probably don't know there's artwork on the Cowpoke center.

The Roto Pool that I'm restoring has a misprint on the PF and pool balls instead of O's on the BG in the word pool.

TedIMG_2169.JPG

the flyers were printed in advance of the game being produced and some last minute changes were made that wasn't on the flyer that the samples had.
then there were those changes after the samples were made. then there were the mid production changes very rare.
I had a few sample games over the years most did not have any differences, I had a BaB sample with the text in the out lane arrow,
like dirt said any differences were almost no existent by the 70's
my blue note sample has a noticeable difference on the pf. the guys face is half blue. I believe the rock star sample is the sample.
I believe Volley was the biggest departure from sample to production that gottlieb ever had.

image-4.jpg

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Ice Revue's removal of 2 outlanes in favor of rebounds is also a huge departure. During the days of the Pinball Trader, Bob Herbison mentioned some playfield target scoring changes on a few woodrails. Hopefully he can chime in here. Roto Pool was pointed out to me by George Pins, (upstate NY), that also has outlane change in scoring between sample and production, or maybe simply an absence of the "100K" playfield notation. I don't recall.

Just wondering.............I've seen the black fill-in on the shooting lane on Rock Star-Blue Note. Is this a sample-production inclusion? I like it!

the games with those painted ball lanes were made from particle board not the laminated plywood were the bare would had grain. they were used on small runs on a few games in the mid 70's
I know jack to open, volley, big hit and blue note/rock star

I've also seen a Totem (SS) with the MDF Playfield. There is a Blue Note here in Edmonton with it as well.

I had to really look to see the misprint.

At least it would be fairly easy to just change that 'P' into an 'R' (if you wanted to) I probably would myself.

But there are probably collectors who would prefer that it just be left alone.

that was a screening error most likely was on every one produced.

looked at ipdb and looks like only sample had the ppoduct error