Hello All

Let me start by saying that, if by chance, this type of club already exists, I have no desire to duplicate it. If on the other hand, it does not, than we might just end up with one of the smallest clubs here on Pinside or maybe it will be larger than I anticipate

Anyway all are welcome who have any type of bowler or skee ball machine. I would like to have a place where those of us who have one of these gems can go for information specific to these great games. It can be sometimes difficult to find info about this genre of coin op games. Many who are into pins have either no interest or no room for a larger machine. Hence it would be nice to have a goto place where tech/misc info can be freely and easily exchanged.

A perfect example was when I was trying to put my Alley Cats into Free Play mode since there is no mention in the manual about this very handy setting. I was lucky enough to ask this question to a fellow Pinsider who works for an operator in town and she was able to advise how to do it. Be nice to have this kind of info flowing so we can all benefit

Anyway, I think I have laid out the gist.

Let's see where it goes. Your thoughts are welcome. Let's keep it positive and helpful

George

Hi Jeff

Well then, welcome. Glad to have you!!

I cannot believe that you fit that in your Suburu. Wow. I was prepared to go and get the Alley Cats that I now have but upon reflection, may not have been able to fit it in the Sienna I have. The seller offered to deliver and unpaid a few bucks extra for that.

Love the bowling pin sign that you have by the machine. Can you advise where you got that. Would like to have one by my game.

Glad you joined. Hopefully more will join us and we'll all be better off for it!

George

Welcome All! Great to see the level of interest! Alex, never knew there was a "Skee Alley" Neatto!! Great pictures!!

George...

Was very close to picking up a Skee Ball this past summer from a guy close to me. Reasonable price and the machine looked great. Ahhh, then there was the issue of getting it into my basement. Oh well.

And here is the sole entrance to my basement (on left, powder room on right) which already has seven pins in it!! These things do multiply!!
was lucky enough to be able to take the door off on the powder room on the right to slide the shuffle bowler in there and then down the stairs on the left. one inch of clearance but that was all I needed.

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Thanks for posting Alex. Neat. Maybe as others join us here there maybe another who decuides to scoop it up. Again, had no idea these variety even existed.

G

Pinbackpacker. Thank you and you are most welcome!!
I hope you find your game that you are seeking.

Love em dhutton. The skee ball is what I had a great chance to pick up locally. Looked just like yours. Too big unfortunately without adding an external entrance to my basement or of course axing my dining room which although I rarely use it am not ready to go gets yet

Thanks for the post

Thought I would offer a picture of my shuffle bowler. Hit it from a fella just south of Pittsburgh. Says he has more sonif anyone out there has a desire, and are geographically close let me know.

Anyway got this about six weeks ago and wanted to make it look factory again. Luckily most of the artwork on the back/sides was in good shape and only had to be touched up. Took a part of the game to my local Ace store and they color matched the two colors I needed. Very close indeed. Highly recommend.

Then I got some frisket and proceeded to hide all the artwork so I could respray the large black areas. Did that and then went back in and touched up the color areas that needed it

The alley had the strip on it completely painted over. So I sanded the sides down to where I could see where the original stripe was and then repainted accordingly. Decent results.

Alley has a few dents in it from living in a bar but nothing so bad it affects game play. Cleaned the alley and then out here coats of wax on it. Really deepened the color and made the richness of the faux wood come out.

Then, had the coin door sandblasted and then I painted it after cleaning. Had a local sign painter do the Williams logo on the coin door.

Replaced all the gi with led. The lights in the alley are also led. Kept the strike/spare indicators below each players score incandecesent. Replaced all the t molding and repainted the front legs as their artwork had also been completely painted over. Was able to sand them down to the point where I could still see the original artwork, traced it and then used the frisket again to give henlegs their proper artwork

I will be sending the CPU board out to Clive at The Coinop Cauldron this coming week to have the sound repaired. Currently I have no sound although I have been told the sound is lame in these bowlers I still want the machine to operate as per spec

So there you have my story. What is yours?

G

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Forgot to add that I inshallednall new pins as the ones that came with it were skanky. Repainted the top where the pins flip up and also added new foam as a bumper. Also cleaned out the top side of the tray and removed all the linkages and cleaned all by hand then reassembled. Also dusted the Backbox using compressed air and a paintbrush. Hate dirty games!! Put all new caps in the power supply, new pot for sound level control in the coin box and that is it thus far. Needless to say I really enjoy the process

Welcome vaevictis. Nice gameroom shot. Really love the skee ball. My dad and I used to play that at the shore years ago. Probably why I wanted one now. These things do multiply like rabbits

Hey Mopar glad you're here. Did inunderstand correctly in that the Skee ball companybis now defunct? Wow. Hope that is not the case

Please advise

Great looking collection. Thanks for joining the group.

G

Quick question fellas. As far as the material that you place on the shuffle alley etc to assist in the pucks gliding, is there a time when you essentially remove the old material and place new? Just wondering. Also it says on the can that I have to spray a coat of water based silicone on the playfield, let it dry and then use the dust stuff. Is that what the consensus is here. I have just used the dust without the silicone. Seems ok to me???

Thanks guys,

G

Thanks d for chiming in. Funny indeed about your trip to Hershey. Reminds me of this year when we visited the silverball in nj. My daughter just hubdbiutvin demo man and was able to get high score a couple of times and her name up on the board there. Needless to say she had some practice at home prior to the visit. Nice story d

Sad to learn that the skee ball company is now gone. Damn!! Well I guess if you have one great for you!! I am going to talk to Steve at PBR this week and see if I can get some more info from him. Sounds like this might be up his alley as far as reproducing parts that are wear items for these iconic games. I know that the jersey shore has many skee ball games in the boardwalk Arcades. Seems like there would be enough of a demand for parts that would make it profitable for a secondary company to make them avail much like Steve did for Gottlieb parts. Absolutely did not see this coming!!

Thanks forbthebupdatebon the skee ball situation d. Hope they will continue. It is just a real shame if that dies out. Nice pics nephasth. Love the collage that makes up the skee ball picture. Nice!!!

No whack a mole nman. Have not heard of any others with that game but it certainly is one that gets the aggressions out for sure!!!

Well I took Mopar's advise and used some Pledge on my shuffle alley. Absolutely beautifully shiny. Thank you Mopar. I thought the three coats of was that I applied with my mechanical buffer would have been hard to beat but the Pledge wins big time. Thank you. A shiny alley is critical to me. Looks mean a lot.

I looked into BayTek a bit. As previosuly reported by dhutton, they indeed have been sold to Bay Tek in Pulaski, WI I looked briefly at their site and although there is a parts listing I don't see anything for the older games like the model H. Going to call Steve at PBR tomorrow and ask a few questions for my own edification. If the red color rubber matting and other expendables are no longer available and do not expect to be available in the near future, that puts a real damper on these games from a standpoint of being able to get an older unit and rehab it as I have done on my Alley Cats.

Keep you posted with what I learn from Steve.

Love your machines mopar. It is very enjoyable to see all the different varieties of shuffles out there. Do love this hobby but unfortunately I am the type that I like fussing with the games to make them look and play like new or as good as I am capable. Then once rhatbhas occurred I seek a new candidate. Only problem is my basement is only so large. Would absolutely love a skee ball but there is no way I can get it into my basement. The Alley Cats fit with one inch to spare and that was completely taken apart

Did talk to Steve about Skee Ball. He is not overly familiar with the machines though he did say that a good resource might be Dan arc the Silverball in Asbury Park NJ as he has a few machines and undoubtedly goes through parts. A phone call you Bay Tel may also yield some info. Maybe there is "that guy " that has a slew of parts in his basement. I'm afraid though with what Steve told me that it could get quite difficult in the near future for parts. Don't want to go into the whole conversation but suffice to say he has no interest in getting involved.

This is, in my opinion, such an iconic piece of Americana. Just sad to see this game fall into obscurity

G

Hey Mopar

Very nice. I second d's comments. Glad that the skee ball information has turned out to be more positive than originally thought. Could not imagine in today's world throwing stuff like that out. They had to know that there was value to it. Glad that turned out to be the case. So seems like Bay Tek will still be th goto place for parts. Good to learn.

Never had any notion that there were so many different types of shuffle alleys. This really is a niche in a niche hobby.

Pugsley. Welcome. Thanks for joining us. Be sure and post some pictures of your machines and any story that might be enjoyed. Thanks again for chiming in

Hey NJ. I have a suggestion. On my machine the side rails and legs were painted over. What I found though is as I was sanding the old paint off the old artwork was there under the paint. I got some tracing paper at the craft store and traced the image as this way I could reproduce it. Turned out pretty good. Had some bleed around the edges but was able to touch that up so that it is not detectable. Just a suggestion for you
That worked out well for me

Love the group and the stories.

G

Hey NJ

You may have already seen this but I found it on the web. It at a minimum gives an idea what the machine should look like

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The colors appear to match closely the Backglass so as long as you have that you could take the Backglass to an ace hardware store and have them mix some paint for you so that you could at least start to get it closer to the way it should look. This was big for me. I had to have the machine look good and bringing it back as well as I could was very paramount to me. I would get a pint of gloss paint in the appropriate colors. I brought in the bottom of my game backside and had then scan the yellow and blue and it worked out very well. I then used frisket to mask the areas I did not want to paint black. Re-sprayed the black and went in with magnifying goggles on and touched up the artwork. Really can Roy pretty good. I know you don't have any artwork but if you sand a small area lightly you might find the artwork is hiding as I did under some of the paint

By the way, don't know what the condition is of the stainless piece where the game cards are held at thebplayer position but if that is not in great shape, and they are usually rusted/dinged, Steve at the pinball resource has new versions that he has made. Makes the game look awesome. I might also suggest getting a manual for the game from Steve if you don't already have one. Great reference to have as you bring her back to her former glory

Just received the nos pin motor that I found for my Alley Cats today. Really glad that I have this as he motor that is in my machine cannot be rebuilt according to steve at PBR. Hence if that one component does I'm done. That's why I wanted another a pin reset motor. Most of the other parts could be sourced but motors can be hard to find. Highly suggest doing the same for insurance purposes. Makes me feel a whole lot better knowing that all the work I put into this thing will not go down the drain in the event the pin reset motor takes a fart on me