St Joseph, MI
Quoted from oldcarz:Speaking of unreasonable for a game room.
Love the weinermobile on top! 
(Topic ID: 87707)
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Quoted from oldcarz:For this thread, I'll add a few more things that are coinop related -
Pelham Puppets Marionette Theater. Been modified from the original 8 track loop to play a cassette tape of children's songs. Timer runs for about 2 minutes while the puppets dance. I have various tapes for it, but also modified it to run with a Sonos speaker under the unit, which will play whatever song/play list that I, or the kids, want. With the changing tastes of my grandchildren, it currently is playing sound track from Trolls
Lil' Trigger horse ride. This runs on a dime, but no sound card currently installed. Could be added but chose not to. This is the 1/2 size version of Sandy. These too, stayed outside all year, but small enough to have in the house.
Mini carousel - at 4' in diameter, it could go into a gameroom, but keeping it outside. Not really afraid of the elements...these stayed outside of grocery stores for years without casualty. I had the coin box mech removed and it runs on a remote control fob.
Short video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v7kyqp2i7qdrwde/carousel.mov?dl=0
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Wow what wonderful machines-always so good to see young children captivated!
1 week later
Quoted from hoov:Looking to purchase a reasonably priced 16' - 22' Big Ball Bowler in the Midwest - willing to travel for the right deal. Preferably original and working or close to it. Have desireable Gottlieb em's to trade.
Dammit, wish I had room for one. Passed on a couple already.
Recently picked up this nos Coke 'musical slider bank' for my diner. When the lid is lifted a 'things go better with coke' 14 sec tune plays & by moving the bottles a glass clicking sound emits. Anyone have one of these? On mine the button which releases the tune does not travel far enough & the damn thing appears a sealed unit. Also bottles do not move freely. For the button I am thinking of devising an upper spring mech but interested if anyone else has encountered these issues.
Quoted from dasvis:Dammit, wish I had room for one. Passed on a couple already.
I've been waiting until we built a new house that had room for one. Can't wait to roll the 1st ball.
Quoted from Tyamry:Almost finished with setting up my downstairs game room in our new house! Got this set up a couple of nights ago...having a blast with it!
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Sweet. Looks like a St. Louis Ball Bowler restoration..........
Quoted from Tyamry:Almost finished with setting up my downstairs game room in our new house! Got this set up a couple of nights ago...having a blast with it!
[quoted image]
Nice! Is that where the bowler will stay? Wondering if that's enough room while you are playing pinball 
1 week later
Just a note regarding a resto of my United 1962 Tropics ball bowler recently. During servicing of a player strike/spare unit I noticed that the tail of the ratchet wheel torsion spring was preventing activation of the zero position switches. Realignment of the tail fixed the problem.
Anyone else experienced this issue?
1 week later
Picked this Pool Alley up several years ago from a local paper ad. Looking for motivation to get it working - anyone have a lead on some 81/2 pins? There are plenty of the 10" pins out there, but this uses the smaller ones.
20190106_115234 (resized).jpg20190104_173711 (resized).jpg20190104_173843 (resized).jpgQuoted from jeffk:anyone have a lead on some 81/2 pins?
What pins could you use, the #1 and #3?
I'll be able to help you out. Shoot me an email..
[email protected]
Thanks, email sent.
Added over 5 years ago:Update: Got some pins today from Tim, wanted to send out a big thanks! I've been looking on ebay and various internet sites on and off for a long time for these, great to finally get some.
You can use the longer pins, and an adapter that screws on to the back of the mounting, giving it the side-by-side holes that would mount the United short pin. You can cut the bottom off of the longer pin, and it'll still look right. Takes a bit of modification to make it work.
Magic Baseball is up on ebay. http://ebay.us/TOfFD6
Quoted from johninc:Magic Baseball is up on ebay. http://ebay.us/TOfFD6
Nice looking machine John. Odd to see an old game like this with absolutely no graphics on the front or side of the game. GLWS
Quoted from cait001:holy crap wow, thanks for sharing the link. I have never seen that before.
There's one in the PHoF.
Quoted from wayner:Recently picked up this nos Coke 'musical slider bank' for my diner. When the lid is lifted a 'things go better with coke' 14 sec tune plays & by moving the bottles a glass clicking sound emits. Anyone have one of these? On mine the button which releases the tune does not travel far enough & the damn thing appears a sealed unit. Also bottles do not move freely. For the button I am thinking of devising an upper spring mech but interested if anyone else has encountered these issues.
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After trying various spring/washer combinations to get the music button to activate when the lid is open with no success I found a dab of 'stuk tack' on the button provides sufficient adhesion for the lid to consistently lift the button and the music activated.
Quoted from johninc:Magic Baseball is up on ebay. http://ebay.us/TOfFD6
This ends in a few hours and it's pretty cheap!
1 week later
Does anyone have knowledge of skee ball machines?
A buddy sent me this pic.
Any ideas of age or value if it works.
It was described to him as working but needs some cosmetic work.
He is thinking of checking it out and sent me the pic to see if I knew anything about them. His wife loves skee ball.
All I know is they are big and very heavy.
I told him to get it if it works. 
It’s always nice to mix up the game room with other types of machines.
37BD9300-1A60-4656-9A47-59DB1413FC51 (resized).jpegQuoted from ultimategameroom:Does anyone have knowledge of skee ball machines?
Most likely it's from the 60s or 70s, but could be older. 1974 was the last year of the
mechanical Skee Balls. I'd pick it up even if it's not fully working. Any idea how much he
can get it for?
After taking off the nets, it separates in 4' and 10' sections by removing 2 bolts.
A few years back, a Friend picked up a non-working one for $600.00 I got it straightened
out in a couple hours, and he later on sold it for $1,500.00
Edit: Also, on one of the back doors, there's a 2 digit number that represents the year of
the machine..
Quoted from Mopar:Most likely it's from the 60s or 70s, but could be older. 1974 was the last year of the
mechanical Skee Balls. I'd pick it up even if it's not fully working. Any idea how much he
can get it for?
After taking off the nets, it separates in 4' and 10' sections by removing 2 bolts.
A few years back, a Friend picked up a non-working one for $600.00 I got it straightened
out in a couple hours, and he later on sold it for $1,500.00
Edit: Also, on one of the back doors, there's a 2 digit number that represents the year of
the machine..
Thanks mopar ! I will pass on your info. Very helpful. My buddy is going to look at it after talking to the current owner. Price was not discussed. Very hard to tell condition from the dark picture. I will post further info once I hear from him after he checks it out and hopefully picks it up.
Quoted from ultimategameroom:Thanks mopar ! I will pass on your info. Very helpful. My buddy is going to look at it after talking to the current owner. Price was not discussed. Very hard to tell condition from the dark picture. I will post further info once I hear from him after he checks it out and hopefully picks it up.
I have one of these. Mine was modded to work at an amusement park though. I believe the serial number was a sticker, so it could be gone. Mine is gone. I was told it was earlier, like early 50s, but i have no idea. Ive moved it with 2 people, but id suggest 3 at least. As far as value i really dont know, but 1500 working sounds like a good number.
20170428_183518 (resized).jpgQuoted from MrBally:That's a 1950's machine in photo 1377.
Can you elaborate? I'd like to know how the mechanical Skee Balls are dated.
(I don't know if this discussion belongs here or in https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/shuffleballskee-club-join-us)
To my knowledge they made the same basic mechanical Skee Ball model for decades up until the mid 1970s. I've read that the same model was made from 1909 on but I'm not convinced. There is a patent (https://patents.google.com/patent/US1185071A/en?oq=us1185071) from 1914 so the basic game was available then but I'm not sure when model shown in reply #1377 was first made.
There's supposed to be a date on the inside of the back door I believe but I don't think I've never seen one. Is it supposed to be stamped, or engraved or a paper label? Mine has a plastic label (remember Dymo label makers?) that I assumed the operator put there. Does that count?
So if the date on the back door is missing, how else can you tell when it was made?
I think ticket dispensers and Winner lights came along at some point during the run but I also think that those must have been available as a retrofit kit for older games too. Mine had those features but it definitely looked like those were patched in later. Does anyone know for sure?
/Mark
Quoted from MarkG:To my knowledge they made the same basic mechanical Skee Ball model for decades up until the mid 1970s. I've read that the same model was made from 1909 on but I'm not convinced.
They may be mechanically the same but the design changed at some point. Here's mine from 1937. Skeeball was owned by Wurlitzer in 1936-1937. They made two models that were slightly different. An electric version and I believe a pure mechanical. Then Philadelphia Toboggan bought Skeeball in 1946. They manufactured the style mentioned above until the 70s.
WurliBall (resized).jpg
Heres my candy, gum ball and peanut machines. All pretty nice and some real old. Got keys too! I can remember as a kid getting gum from the ford side slide machines.
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Quoted from pin-pimp:Hers my candy, gum ball and peanut machines. All pretty nice and some real old. Got keys too![quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Those machines need some gum in them. Ford still cranks out 3 million gumballs a day not too far from my house. The area smells like bubblegum.
Quoted from MarkG:To my knowledge they made the same basic mechanical Skee Ball model for decades up until the mid 1970s.
Yea, you're right Mark, the mechanics of the mechanical Skee Balls were basically the same right up through to 1974,
and as Alex mentioned, the very first were much longer, like 30 footers, (maybe even 36').
The one I have set up is a 1971. A Friend send a pic of his 1949, and it looks the same as mine. He asked if I had
an extra ticket dispenser, so seems like the dispensers were used in the late 40s, or maybe was a later additive.
Although it's not on, I do have the "Winner" topper..
IMG_0719 (resized).JPGQuoted from AlexF:Here's mine from 1937.
Yes, your's has a good characteristic style Alex. I'd trade mine in for one like yours..
While once receiving parts from Skee Ball, they send me a flyer of a machine that looked very much like yours.
It explained that they reproduced a few in celebration of it's 100th year. I think it was like 4k and change..
Quoted from Mopar:Yes, your's has a good characteristic style Alex. I'd trade mine in for one like yours..
While once receiving parts from Skee Ball, they send me a flyer of a machine that looked very much like yours.
It explained that they reproduced a few in celebration of it's 100th year. I think it was like 4k and change..
I had another one I sold to a friend. At the time I didn't think I could shoehorn it into my tiny basement. After he got it all fixed up and working I realized I made a mistake. 
So the hunt was on for another. A guy came to my friends house to buy a jukebox and told him hey I have a buddy that has a couple of those. So with that lead I found mine and made a new coin-op friend. So between the 3 of us we have 3 Wurlitzer Skee Balls. They must have all landed in Wisconsin? 
Could the type of back legs tells us a little more about time frame of the mechanical skee balls. My back legs are round (that's the hole that is in the bottom board in the back cabinet... compared to others that are approx. 2" square openings.
1 week later
Quoted from pacmanretro:While not perfect, I finished cleaning up my radio....I mean gumball machine....I mean Slot.... today.
Bought double bubble gum for it, but they seem too big. They fit, but have to almost pry out (fingers can't quite get out).
Anyway, I SWEAR it's not for gambling!!!! [quoted image]
What size do you have in there? Small gumballs are .62", .56" or .5"
Quoted from yaksplat:What size do you have in there? Small gumballs are .62", .56" or .5"
Good info! Thanks! yaksplat
I just bought a big bag of refill balls from grocery store (meant for kids home machines I'm sure), not commercial specific size.
I was suprised that they were a bit big. Measure a small handful and got around .578 - .612. So, while they are not exact round/consistant, I would have to call them .62".
KIMG0159 (resized).jpgIn the final stages of a full resto of a Groetchen Pikes peak trade stimulator. The machine includes a tilt mechanism which involves a weighted lever which is intended to lock the third mountain climb until a new game is reset. At this point beyond me how this actually works, whether it has been modified by a previous owner and prior to the resto I was not aware of this function. The second pic shows the lever and the third pic the third climb with the slot in the reverse side (the only climb with this slot). Anyone had experience with this function? Thks.
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1 week later
I believe (although I’m no expert) the yellow and red ‘painted’ versions only used Mint/Spice for the flavors.
My painted red (restored by someone else) also came with an error. I got a deal on it and just haven’t messed with it yet. Can you spot it?
BB0BA2E0-640F-4E34-8527-DBACE682EBC0 (resized).jpegReply
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