Glad to see there is atleast one other Argosy fan. If you need any help getting yours up and running just let me know.

So I love my game, but to this day I have no good way to get consistently get the ball in the kickout hole. Anyone have any tips? Mine is simply keep the ball alive long enough and hope at some point it ricochets in.

I'm considering purchasing this as my first EM machine. Any pros or cons? I like spinners and drop targets and the artwork is family friendly.

Purchased this pin last weekend. Need to clean the player stepper unit. It’s a fun machine. I like the spinner and drop targets.

Last night I disassembled and cleaned my first EM stepper unit. The player unit wasn't advancing on our new Argosy. The problem was the pivot points on some of the ratcheting levers were gunked up and not allowing the sprocket to advance. Very rewarding to get it able to flawlessly play 4 player games now.

I also cleaned/waxed the playfield, lubed the spinner, cleaned and adjusted one of the roll-over contact switches, and high tapped the transformer. Great evening working on the machine.

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Looks very clean. Mine was a mess when I got it, lots of broken solder joints and mis-aligned leaf switches.

But there is no better feeling than ripping that spinner when its lit up.

Thanks. The machine appears to be well cared for and with low mileage. Those photos of the player stepper unit were taken before I cleaned it. haha.

Nice I just picked up one with a shot backglass and beautiful playfield.

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Wow, that is nice! DOesn't even have the typical kickout hole wear.

I'm not only a member, I'm probably one of the first!

Argosy was the first game I bought, back in 2002. Borrowed my parents' Explorer and picked it up at the Pinball Parlour in Landsdale, PA. The proprietor, who had not yet started wearing a dress, allowed me a couple hours to just play all the games he had for sale (all Williams EMs) until I decided what I wanted to buy. It was a tossup between Satin Doll at $200 and Argosy at $350 (plus he threw in some rubber!) and I went with the Argosy. Of course I should have taken BOTH of them, but at that point I was still counting pennies.

Anyway it was a great choice for a first game. I had researched for a couple months before buying my game, and had been intrigued by the "something for everybody" concept of Argosy - spinner, drops, kickout hole, ball save gate...it seemed to have it all baby!

Having never before played an EM, I was a little discouraged by how slow and spongy it all felt during my test drive, but Joe, my NYC pinball guru, told me not to worry about it. "We can fix it up clean it, rebuild the flippers, it'll play great." Joe helped me bring it up to my apartment and set it up and I must have played it for 3 hours straight. And he was right - didn't take much work to get it to play nice and sprightly, and I learned a lot about working on games quickly.

It's a great EM to play, with lots to shoot for and all the classic EM elements. You can't post pass but it's an awesome game for working on your shatz and tap passes, as well as drop catches and dead bounces. It's kind of an oddball theme but it's classy and looks really nice.

I still have the game, but when I moved it went into mothballs...based on the play counter, I've put about 50,000 games on it - that's of course not counting restarts and servicing and guests etc...but that's A LOT of Argosy games. I don't really have room for it and I can probably go a few years without playing Argosy again, so it's currently being babysat at my friend's basement in the house he owns in Brooklyn, so very happy it's getting used and not taking up any of my space.

I do know there's a chance I'll never see it again but hopefully one day I'll have more room for it and I can take it back. It really is a cool game and it's a great "bridge game" between the EM era and the SS era - in fact, I believe it is the final EM-only game that Williams produced. It's also not on the list in the back of my Pinball! by Roger Sharpe book which lists every game Williams produced - Rancho is the last one listed. If it had come out a month or two later I think it would have just made the list.

Long story short, Argosy rules! It's garnered a bit of a following now due to several high-profile PAPA-related tournament appearances, as it's one of the more "playable" EMs. Good players can keep it going for a long time. It is an "up top" game but ripping the spinner is always a great way to get up there, and the upper kicker makes it fun and interesting trying to get bonus and coax the ball into the ball save gate lane. And, risking the dangerous drops for double bonus and/or EB can also be fun and lucrative.

I believe the game plays best on 3-ball settings, with the Double Bonus already lit at the bonus hole. I've seen some 5-ball games take wayyyyy too long in tournaments.

Some pics from the old apartment before breaking it down...I do chuckle when I see noobs terrified about what they are going to do to their games in a home environment and getting cliffys or other "guards" to protect every inch of the game, and waxing every 25 plays...

I've owned this game for 20 years now and 10s of thousands of plays...I'm pretty sure it doesn't look too much worse for the wear than the day I brought it in.
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Well, here is a pic from as it sat 20 years ago at the Pinball Parlour...

How's it doing after 20 years with me? A little more wear and tear here and there but I'd say it's aging better than I am!

20 years ago:
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11 months ago (totally forgot I replaced a broken plastic when I bought and sold another Argosy 10 years or so ago):
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As you can see the bg is flaking bad but the rest cleaned up nice,I used Coca Cola and aluminum foil on the metal and I managed to get it playing 99%. Every once in a while the ball advance unit is sticking so I'll take that apart tomorrow and give it the same treatment I gave the player stepper. Seems like a fun game and from what I was told it is Keith Elwins favorite EM. The play counter is under 32,000 plays. Feels good to get my first project up and running with no outside hands in the machine.

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So with a little bit more action here, I'll bump my question.

Anyone have a reliable way of getting the ball to the kickout (bonus) hole? To this day I seem to only get it by chance ricochets.

I love this game!

I first played it at PAPA headquarters in Carnegie. I'd search it out whenever I went, and turned a few buddies on to the game every year. I was lucky enough to actually snag that very game when PAPA got rid of their inventory.

Like Aztec and Grand Prix, you just can't get any better rip action than from those Williams spinners. Add the sling at the top and the lane at the top to open the gate, the angled drops, and the tough kick-out hole, and the game, as Levi says, "offers something for everyone."

Argosy now lives at The Pinball Asylum where a new generation of players are experiencing the fun of this under-appreciated classic.

Here is ours!

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Just send it up there sometimes it sticks sometimes it doesn't.

You an also backhand it on the volley sometimes.

I get it into the kick out saucer either by accident, from the left flipper, or as a rebound off of the drop targets or left side.