ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH Why is this not closer!!!!! 600$!$$!$!$!$

To answer your other question. Centaur 2 is the same as the first, it was an additional run in a different style cabinet. From what I remember they were leftover cabinets from Rapid Fire. They also did a special edition of eight ball deluxe that way. On the other hand Fireball 2 is a completely different game and is a sequel.

Fireball II is jammin'!

When I saw the ad in your link I got excited thinking it was Bloomington, IN... not IL, which would have been close enough for me to try for it. That makes it a 4.5 hour one way trip instead of a less than 2 hour trip.

Here's a cocktail pin that I've seen listed for a while now:
louisville.craigslist.org link
It's a Family Fun for $150 in non-working condition.
It apparently has the same layout and roms as Star Trip and maybe some others.

I might have gone for it if I hadn't recently scored a Caribbean Cruise (from CL, btw).

In my opinion, if you have space, a cocktail pin is a fun addition to a gameroom. They don't go into the same type of space and you can use it as a regular table for drinks and such. When my gameroom eventually gets finished, my cocktail will be in a space out in front of the other pins, hopefully next to a cocktail arcade game that I haven't acquired.

I'm glad this guy is more reasonable than the guy that's been trying to sell his locally for 1500$ for oh, I don't know, 2 years now!

sfbay.craigslist.org link

Come on. That's what projects are for. To pile up and turn you into a hoarder of junk!

If that SOF was 4.5 hours away from me I would already be in my car!

I doubt it. You'd be waiting to hear back from the seller who would take forever. They'd agree to sell it. You'd drive that far and it would be gone or the price would be raised before you got there.

I haven't looked into them much, but I think some are just basically scaled down kids toys, like the Marvel Superheroes one. Though some people like the Zizzles. Others are just boring. I'm not sure about the Bally home versions. Are they the same, but just lacking the pay elements or do they have inferior rules?

Edit: Per IPDB on the Fireball Home Version:
This game is a non-commercial home version of the 1972 EM version but only the art theme is the same. The score reels of the commercial version were replaced with a single multi-player digital display. The playfield layout is similar to Bally's 1976 'Hokus Pokus' but without its center spinning target and the ball return gate.

Sears sold this model in 1978 for around $700.

This is the same playfield layout as Bally's 1977 'Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy', Bally's 1978 'Galaxy Ranger' and Bally's 1978 'Evel Knievel', but with different artwork. Note below that this home game was sold with three different manufacturer model numbers, with the last model 614-5000 having a different generation of CPU and power supply.

Sure thing!

Fireball II is a completely different game from Fireball

Centaur II is the exact same game as Centaur, it just has a different cabinet. People hate the different cabinet, but I like it. It is the same cabinet as Rapid Fire, Eight ball Deluxe LE, and Mr. and Mrs Pacman.

Ya, I like the cabs on those. It's nice to have something different.

Pinball Champ by Coleco was my FIRST NIB machine I ever owned and received it on Christmas morning, 1976. Begged mom and dad for it. Think it sold in the stores for around $ 90.

Ooh, got a fun local one, anyone want to grab it? I don't have the space right now!

losangeles.craigslist.org link

Bally 1981 Vector Pinball - $1200
1981 Bally Vector Pinball Machine. In great condition for its age, needs a little work with the ball release. Very cool game and rare to find.
Serious interest only.

00P0P_bfvntx8UmnV_600x450.jpg

Grab it for 8-9 hundo!
That game pisses me off, and I crawl back to it over and over again

I doubt Hammer of the Godz will see the light of day given the lukewarm at best response to it. Never know I guess!

Here's another SoCal game:

inlandempire.craigslist.org link
Bally Midway 1984 Spy Hunter Pinball - $1500 (Upland)

Dont let lack of room stop you...I sold half my collection in the last 3 weeks and now have room for 7 more games...buy whatever you want and you can keep it at my place (where it will be properly tested) until you have room for it...

Man, you really went through some games huh? I saw your garage door ad is running again ...

cosprings.craigslist.org link

"will trade for bike or 10 yr. old, or cash"

I like the Capt. Fantastic, great artwork, but $400 is pricey. BTW, IPDB is wrong in saying the playfield layout is the same and only the artwork differs. Evel and Galaxy have an extra right flipper and a rebound in place of a sling, otherwise they are identical.

In other words, the solenoid expander is messed up and you are going to have fun working on coils and driver transistors. Hopefully, some idiot didn't replace a dual-diode coil with a regular single-diode coil.

Yes, I sold TSPP,LOTR,BK,Firepower, gulfstream, space invaders and flash to buy my wifes anniversary present...Camaro SS convertible...it should arrive this weekend

IMG_1004-1.jpg

Your wife's anniversary present or YOUR present???

Per Aurich's instructions (even though it's not on Craigs.) He does know pinside for sure

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-spy-hunter-in-so-cal

There is one of these bad boys on Inland Empire Craigslist for 1500.00. I'm only asking 650.00. Quite the deal if I do say so.

Just stop....you're making the rest of us look bad.

Nice COMET for sale
I would accept $900 from a pinsider...
inlandempire.craigslist.org link

Sorry, not my intention...it seems I have a history of giving her gifts that I like as well...I learned it from my father who once gave my mother a wheelbarrow as an anniversary gift.

This game is awesome! played it this past weekend, and had a blast. I like how you have to hit the drop targets down in order.

I haven't played Laser Cue, but I have Alien Poker with a similar layout and sequential drop targets. Alien Poker looks to be the superior game in my opinion. It has some kickout holes that LC seems to have replaced with stand-up targets. Though I see LC has a mini flipper and set of targets not found in AP.

Anyway, AP is a super fun game. LC probably is, too.

LC is fun too just like AP. Not sure which one l like better.

Looking at the playfield art on LC, it almost appears that the bull's eye targets were at one time intended to be kick out holes like on AP. If you look at the art in the alleys, it ends with a crescent as if it were to meet up with the circle cutout of a kick out hole. Not at all like the normal oval black line art that would have been used around a bull's eye target slot.

I don't like that Pinside assumes "AP" is Austin Powers. Alien Poker is clearly the older game and deserves dibs on the abbreviation.

Love me some Laser Cue!

Briefly played a laser cue last weekend in a bar in San Francisco, was shocked to see such a classic game on location.

losangeles.craigslist.org link
ALIEN POKER PINBALL MACHINE! Circa 1980! - $1850 (Woodland hills)

inlandempire.craigslist.org link
JUNGLE LORD PINBALL MACHINE - BY WILLIAMS - $995 (RIVERSIDE CA)

Been a few Jungle Lords floating around SoCal lately actually. It's a pretty fun game.

Maybe prices are just super high on the west coast, but AP, while an awesome game and a keeper in my opinion, is not worth even close to 1k unless it was mint, let alone almost 2...

It's a very underrated game and many people actually seem to hate it for some reason. I think many are turned off by the art package.

I really want to play one. I've heard great things. And I do have a soft spot for Constantino's wacky art. I'd pay in the $500-800 range for one.

Well for one thing, they are, you're right. But also, this is CL. People tend to ask too much.

Tony Ramunni did the artwork on Alien Poker. I like it, for what it is. It has a certain retro comic style appeal to it. I don't know much about Ramunni, but he also did the artwork on Special Force, which I also own. The style between the two games couldn't be any more different.

Having said that, Constantino Mitchell and Jeanine Mitchell were involved in Gorgar, Mario Bros., and Caribbean Cruise, all of which I own and have way different styles, too.

I don't know that I can say from my limited exposure and collection that I notice any given style from a specific artist.

It is weird to me that my collection was so overwhelmingly done by just two separate groups of artists. It wasn't anything I had planned.

I forgot to mention the clincher for me. Alien Poker has awesome speech that works perfectly with the theme. I think Laser Cue might be lacking speech altogether. Speech makes AP the clear winner in my mind.

Alien Poker is really fun once you learn to rule set. I played one at a show, had no idea what to do and thought, just sounds like Firepower, but not as fun. A buddy had one so I learned the rules, and now it'd be a fun pin to own.

I haven't put much time in on Firepower, but it's a completely different game. I think even a small collection could happily house a Firepower and Alien Poker side by side. I hope to get a Firepower some day.

But, yes, it does help to know the rules on AP. Guests who come over often just smash the drop-targets without a 2nd thought.

I actually like Alien Poker more than the ever popular Gorgar, though I do really like Gorgar.

A fun early Williams SS trio would be Alien Poker, Gorgar, and Firepower. AP, just doesn't seem to get the credit the others do, but it's so deserving of way more credit.

Do an IPDB search for Gordon Morison and you will notice that most of his work does have a very similar style from game to game. However, that style did change a bit in later years. Christian Marche, famous for his pointy art people, did turn out a very varied body of work going from one style to another without much effort it would seem. There are many others where you can recognize their work the minute you see it. People like Dave Christensen. You just need a bit more exposure to it. But these may all be before your collecting era.