So an older man in 80’s calls me about a 1965 Gottlieb Bank a Ball he bought in 1969. He lived about a mile from my home and said he either wanted to sell it or get it repaired and give it to his three grandsons.
I go there and the game needs a total restoration since it’s been sitting for over 40 years.
I plug it in and it started to smoke. The left flipper assembly is apart and laying in the lower cabinet coin box and too many other issues to list.
He asked me what it would cost if I did the restoration....Then I noticed the sticker on the top metal apron and lower card tray. There it was, the sticker I use to put on the games at the store Coin Amusements, where I worked at from age 12 to 17 (1968 to 1973).
I told him I would do it for free, if I could swap my card tray from my Bank a Ball in my collection for the one in his game after telling him a big story about my time spent working there.
I ended up spending 6 weekends there and about an average of 10 to 12 hours per weekend. I got the game looking and playing great again and made a friend after all was said and done.
He was very happy to hand down that game from Coin Amusements that he cherished for many years to his son and grandsons and every time I see the sticker on my Bank a Ball when I play it, brings me back to my old job at Coin Amusements on Mt Prospect Ave in Newark NJ, that I loved so much back then.
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