Sweet , jackets and secret handshakes, I'm in.

There's a spider pointer for sale on E-bay right now, or at least there was.

Ahhh.. there it is:

ebay.com link: Scared Stiff back box pointer NEW Last one in stock

Wise Guy, I don't recall the lights spinning with the spider on any SS I've played before. Seems to me the spider spins and the inserts it lands on lights, and that's it. It would have been cool to have the inserts light with the spider spins.

Note that I haven't played my SS since July, as I tore it apart for a major refurbishing. Hopefully I'll have it done soon, but for now I can't check and can only go by memory, which is not always 100%.

Ah, sorry. I saw he had a $25 opening bid on it, but I missed the reserve. That must be $125 then. Bummer, pretty pricey.

Hey Scott C. I have spiders in the webs of the Apron on mine. My serial number indicates it was the 43rd made. It also has the early production playfield art differences.

If you go on Robert Winters SS site, he's got a good write-up on early production playfield differences.

Check it out: http://www.robertwinter.com/pinball/ss/sample/sample.html

I'm at work now Skypilot. If I was at home I'd go down to my gameroom and take a picture of my SS's serial number picture and I'd share it with you. It's pretty easy to read mine. It's mostly all zeros with a 43 on the end. It also lists the date manufactured. My machine has the early production playfield art and the early production apron art, that coupled with the 43 in the serial number, should (I say "should" - from what I think I know) indicate that the SS I have was the 43rd made (unless I'm misremembering and it's the 48th). It's 40-something for sure, LOL.

Ignore - double post.

Alright, here's some pics of my SS. First off, it is a re-import from Germany. I know being a re-import may make it undesirable for some collectors, but I couldn't really pass it up, as it appears to be an early model with the cool differences in the playfield and apron.

In the top pic, you can see the serial number ends in "00043". I think this is sequential for SS production. If so, this would indicate 43rd produced. The production date is August 3rd, 1996. How does this compare to everyone elses?

In the second pic down, you can see the spider that appears in the web of the early production apron art. It matches the spider on the sides of the back box.

In the bottom pic, you can see a different guy on the 3rd light of the Stiff-O-Meter. I wonder why they changed this guy on the regular production art. Does anyone know? I also like the spider web graphic on the "Spin Spider" insert.

100_0112.JPG 100_0114.JPG 100_0115.JPG

I did this on my SS, but I also have all my other games this way as well. I just could never get used to LEDs in the GI of my 90's Williams/Bally games, but I love them under the inserts and in the pop bumpers.

I need one of these stand-offs too. Hopefully someone can point the two of us in the right direction.

Those holes are for two anti-bounce back bars (that's what I call them) that some Scared Stiffs were equipped with. There's actually 4 holes in total. The two holes that are on the remote control graphic as shown in your photo, and one under the left flipper, and one under the right flipper. The 2 holes under the flippers that I'm referring to are not to be confused with the 2 flipper alignment holes that reside near the tips of the flippers when the flippers are in the down position.

My Scared Stiff is equipped with these anti-bounce back bars and so is my Totan. These bars are designed to keep the ball from bouncing off the apron and back into play. They prevent you from doing "bang-backs" as well. I personally would rather not have the anti-bounce back bars intstalled and just have those holes, as when I get a ball coming like a rocket back down the bat ramp, sometimes it'll go SDTM and bounce straight up off one of those bars and actually smack the playfield glass. I hate that. I'm afraid to push them out of those mounting holes you show (they simply press fit in) as I'm afraid the playfield graphics will chip around the hole.

So don't worry, those holes are factory issue, and to my knowledge every SS has them. I suppose if someone was going to do a playfield restoration and a touch-up and clear, they may remove them by filling and painting them. Is there anyone here with an unrestored playfield that lacks these holes??

I could add photos of the anti-bounce back bars when I get home if you want to see what they look like installed.

Sure Amendes. Check back in a couple of hours. I'll take a couple of pics of that area when I get home from work and post them here.

Edit: Hey Amendes, I found one picture that I posted earlier in this thread showing an early production apron that my machine has. In this picture you can see the right anti-bounce back bar. You can see it mounts in the holes you were questioning.

SS_anti-bounce_back_(resized).jpg

Man... they're gonna smudge up the glass.