Honestly, Steve, most of the cabinet damage is in the white area. If it *really* bugged you I'm sure you could carefully bondo it up and blend it pretty well with some Ivory or Heirloom white and some splatter. But I'd leave it just the way it is and play the hell out of it. Great game...

We have GTB (single and multi-player) WMS (single and multi) BLY (single and multi) Chicago Coin and Zacarria (multi player only) EMs. None of them were working when we bought them, I'm not going to say they each got a full restoration but they were all thoroughly shopped and brought back to life, all, I feel, play as they should. It is true, they are all switches, coils, relays and springs inside and, aside from the Chicago Coin, I feel they're all just as easy to trouble shoot and bring back to life. I don't feel one is easier than the other. (though, I admit, a multi player takes longer to shop out than a single player, but once that part is done and the game has been properly set up and debugged, they're just as reliable)

All that being said, I feel GTB does have a slight mechanical advantage with some of their assemblies, they figured them out early and only improved upon their designs. While Bally suffers from their cheaper parts (such as lamp sockets or jones plugs) they did have the more innovative lift up motor board, more accessible score motor design and a few other previously mentioned things. Williams/Zaccaria sit somewhere in between GTB and Bally.

Gottlieb's real advantage, in my eyes, is the availability of replacement parts thanks to Steve Young and his Pinball Resource and other vendors that realized that there would be a market for replacement parts for these things and started stocking and creating quality parts.

It's funny that someone will all those guns, knives and cars would own a Butterfly

Once you slide the nuclear core out of the base, and take out the playfield, and remove the head, it's not that bad, really

It's funny you mention these, a couple of years ago I was called by someone who wanted to sell a Heat Wave he'd owned for decades, just sitting under boxes in his garage. I excitedly went over right away. When we got there and uncovered the pin, it wasn't a Heat Wave, it was a Teacher's Pet. It turns out he had sold the Heat Wave years before but thought he'd sold the TP. Either way, I applaud him for having had very good taste in games. I'd been wanting a Teacher's pet so I wasn't disappointed at all, but I'm still wanting that Heat Wave....

He had made a deal locally right around Banning Expo time. He was even going to deliver it. You should ask him sometime what happened to that deal, Aurich.

I'm pretty sure PPM has one, possibly more than one. I remember talking to the guys about it when they came over before Banning.

Gasp. He can deliver them on that trailer for free. Or whatever is left of them after the first mile or two.

That is a great looking Hurdy Gurdy, particularly given the description "Fair or Better condition."

We just had one shipped to California, trying to get some of those add a balls on this coast, but I've gotta ask, is it really that easy to win extra balls on this game? I just got it working this weekend and we're still playing it without plastics so I can't really say what targets I'm hitting, but with average, not-really-trying, test play, I'm getting 2 or 3 added balls per game. Is there an adjustment I haven't found yet?

This is the first AAB we've set up. We've got a few others waiting their turn, I'm wondering if they're all that generous.

Yikes. We picked Hurdy Gurdy over Central Park because the playfield artwork features more monkey! I had never noticed how generous HG was playing it at a friend's house. Maybe I need a Central Park to sit next to it? I never understood people that have the AAB next to the replay version, but I'm starting to...

Thanks, Beadwindow, you've given me hope. You're right, Gottlieb designed them to make money, not hand out extra balls.

I'll admit, I haven't really dug deep in to this game yet. I'll look in to adjusting score values and make the post setting conservative, as well as make sure everything is working as it should in there.

Any thoughts on Ship Ahoy? We have one waiting on deck, so to speak...

That's good to hear. I bought Ship Ahoy because I really liked Buccaneer. (And I like milk and anything that goes great with milk, O-din.) I started to get it ready to rotate into the lineup but something shiny must have distracted me. It will be set up soon. The only other AAB we have is a Bally King Rex. I'm looking forward to getting that one on legs soon too.

I'll reserve judgement on Hurdy Gurdy until I get it all dialed in. The IPDB reviews are quite strong on it. I can't imagine it really is *that* generous with its extra balls.

But there's a tarp right next to it! and no playfield glass. Of course it's outside during one of the rare california rainy days...

Awesome! I'm glad it's going to a good home. I was going to email them but had absolutely no time to get down there in the near future.

Pinky's was the name of our bar at Burning Man. If you ever decide to pass it on, let me know, O-din!

Our 1952 GTB Hit n Run has reversed flippers in the usual location. Different to play indeed...

Somewhat related question for the group (pertains to a machine purchased via this thread, thank you very much!) The Wisconsin Humpty Dumpty is coming to L.A. via Beltmann/STI. The big question is legs on or off for a woodrail?? I've heard horror stories both ways but, then again, shipping a pin is scary in general.

I've only shipped two pins before, one legs on, one legs off on a palette. Both arrived in excellent condition. I picked up the Legs On pin at their shipping depot and they told me they were not allowed to forklift a pin and wouldn't take it out to my truck that way unless I signed off on it and they had spotters walking alongside it.

Legs off seems safer in the "it won't shake itself apart" way but, watching them forklift everything around the depot I can understand the fear of forks through the cabinet. Though these guys forklift for a living, they seem damn good at it...

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

Art.

See that, Odin? More coincidences! Our bar, Pinky's, was a strip bar! (Honestly, it wasn't planned that way, it just kinda happens at Burning Man. Can't argue with the crowd, right?) but since you mentioned falling in your lap...

That's OK, Alex, this gives you yet ANOTHER reason to visit Los Angeles!

That's an excellent idea and I'll remember that for next time. Unfortunately, he's not a pin person, this is/was his only game (and it's been in the family for 50 years) so no extra legs.

Yes. You are correct. It would have plate glass, I'm sure...

I think I'll have them ship on legs. They'll blanket wrap and shrink wrap the heck out of it and I'll just stop thinking about it until I get the call that it's here.

Thicker isn't always better. Seems like more mass to flake off.

The last two woodrails I picked up have very bad backglasses, (Arabian Knights and Humpty Dumpty. Anyone have one to sell?) And the one before that, Stagecoach, came with a near transparent original and a repro in the box. It is hit or miss, though, I definitely have some woodrails with perfect originals.. Must be all that lead in the paint!

Unless he's the kind of seller that doesn't take down the ad after it's sold because he likes talking to people on the phone about the good old days, that ad shouldn't be around too much longer. So, that, my friends was one BEAUTIFUL $150 Slick Chick.

O-din, we have an Expressway, but I'd be in for that North Star if DirtFlipper passes...

The Humpty is in the Hoopty!

That '47 Humpty Dumpty from Wisconsin is safe in my '58 Chevy truck in the shade right outside my office window in beautiful Vernon, Ca. STI just dropped it off a few minutes ago (and a few weeks late.) It was shipped legs on, head up and, thankfully, in one piece. Despite the fact there was only ONE head bolt holding the head in place! I guess I didn't specifically ask the seller if all three bolts were in place when I asked if the head was bolted securely. Aside from that, it really looks like it will clean up beautifully. The game has been in the previous owner's house for 50 years and, judging by the balls in the game, I can completely believe it.

Thank you, "Some nice looking EM classics just came up on CL," thread, for helping me find my Humpty!

Now...about that Vegas road trip..

O-din, DO IT!!!

I've driven to Vegas for an El Toro (Williams, NOT Bally!) this is a much better haul! I'll gladly take the North Star and pay for some gas and buffets for ya. Maybe even a little extra something to put in Tim Arnold's Red donation bucket... I'd do it myself but I have about 2 weeks left to get a bunch of games ready to spend the summer in a museum. (including the aforementioned Humpty Dumpty, if I can swing it.)

Oh, and our Expressway? We picked it up on a road trip to Idaho. Vegas is MUCH closer than Idaho!

Do it, O-din, DO IT!!

Oh, I'd love a mad world...

We bought one. Because of the artwork. I haven't set it up yet to test the gameplay.

Our 1967 Chicago Coin Beatniks gets a lot of love in our game room. In fact, it's one of a handful that has been up for over three years. We usually rotate them out a lot more often.
Last year my cousin, a retired MLB player and lover of everything new and shiny, came to play some pinball. I was sure he'd love the newer Sterns/DMD games but at the end of the night, Beatniks was, surprisingly, one of his favorites. (And Crosstown and Slick Chick so I credit the 2" flippers)

I'm surprised. An Alpine Club as a gift with purchase? We have one in our restoration queue with a worn to the wood playfield..must mean it's a good game, right? Or had a rusty ball, but I like to believe it's a good game since I'll be spending so much time restoring that playfield.

About a year (or more) ago it was listed on CL, same sorry state that it is in now but for a lot less money. We made a reasonable deal on it but, thanks to all the calls he got saying it was worth more, he said he was going to hold on to it. So, if any of the guys that called him to tell him it's worth more are reading this, here's your chance, GO PAY MORE!

If the motor on my '58 Chevy truck/pinhauler weren't on its last few breaths, I'd drive up this weekend to grab that Sing Along. That game is high on my wish list.

I've got one of these, a real looker and fun early game too. It is one of the titles we lent to a local museum for the summer. Someone please give it a good home.

You put Baby in the corner??

Very cool. If it were only on THIS coast...

Let us know how Bo Bo plays, I've got one in line to set up. A good review from O-din could push it up on the list.

No, sir, I'm the Art that has a hard time letting go of pins

We met at Rob VDDV's place a while back, talked cars mostly, but that was back when you had a house full of DMDs and newer games in your collection, now we can talk about cars and woodrails!

Welcome back. Ya know a few years ago we drove all the way to Vegas for our El Toro. And for other reasons, but mostly for the El Toro. I still think it was worth the drive. The one you picked up would have been much closer to us. Let me know when you cruise up the 5 past downtown again, you can make a beer stop here.

Hey O-din, don't you have a birthday coming up some time this year or next?? I'm sure we could all chip in to buy you that wonderful, TLC needin' Bally El Toro!

A few years ago, I excitedly drive out to a friend's grandfather's house to pick up a Heat Wave that had been with the family since the 60s. When we got there and cleared the boxes that were stacked on it we found out it was a Teacher's Pet. He forgot he sold the Heat Wave years ago. I wasn't too upset, Teacher's Pet is a great game but I really wanted that Heat Wave!! Maybe if Odin decides he wants to sell his someday...

Is that why there are so many whitewashed cabinets out there? Because Tom Sawyer convinced everyone that it was soooo much fun to whitewash a pinball machine cabinet??

I don't understand all the Flip Flop ambivalence. I would call it "stupid fun", like Heavy Metal Meltdown. Our Flip Flop has been up for over three years, which is a long time in our world, and gets quite a bit of play at parties, more than many of our wedgeheads (must be the artwork.) However, it is the next EM slated to get rotated out of the lineup. Anyhow, I thought I'd post a little Flip rather than Flop about Flip Flop.
As you were...

Not on CL but someone sent me pics of a Ship Ahoy at a yard sale in Toluca Lake (Burbank area) of Los Angeles. Asking a hefty $1250. We have one so I didn't even try but if any of you guys are interested I can get an address or more info. I'm guessing it gets cheaper as the weekend progresses.

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Yup, they're really pushing the "Produced for 1 year specifically for NY and Wisconsin who had passed laws banning Winning Replay Games. The law was later repealed and the game moved out of production." And they added this little tidbit "With No Winning Games...Gottlieb added more bells to this game so it is extra active to earn your quarter! "

Oh, and it belongs to an un-named actress who was married to one of the actors from Room 222. THAT AND the extra bells makes it worth the asking price!

I believe that's the actor. I never watched the show but I did hear something about that hair. I knew Odin would know it! So it's his ex-wife's yard sale and apparently they were selling his letterman jacket from the show. $222 and throw in the jacket??

Years ago we found a nice, fully populated Dixieland playfield at a yard sale in Vegas. We bought it without knowing what the game was because it looked so nice and later figured out it was a Dixieland.

A year or two later, while visiting a buddy in NorCal, we saw a flaking Dixieland backglass on his game room wall. He let me borrow it to recreate a glass. When I returned it to him at Pin a Go Go, he surprised me with the Dixieland head he'd found deep in his storage with the promise he'd keep looking for more parts. Twice he brought me bottom relay boards he thought were for Dixieland. Nope..

In the meantime, I was collecting cabinets to replace the ones I'd lost to water damage in my storage and a fellow pinsider graciously offered me a complete Bally Time Zone cabinet with all the inside guts. Now we're getting close.

Next stop was another friend's game room to photograph his game to make some cabinet stencils. Done.

The last remaining part I needed was that bottom board and, just this year, my NorCal buddy came through with the correct Dixieland bottom relay board! So now I have everything I need to build our very own Dixieland!

Here's a shot of a part of the backglass artwork I'd printed out to inspect line weight as I was working on it. My proud wife put it up on the fridge!

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