Ive had a few wood rails over the years-Queen of Diamonds, Universe, and Quartette. Of those QoD was the best player I thought. Universe had great art and Quartette was a pretty game but wasn't that much fun to play. One thing I love is the scoring style of these old pins as opposed to score reels. It's really cool to watch all those numbers light up in sequence.
Have to get another one at some point...

In order to have some clue whether this could be of interest, it might help to know what games this would apply to . . . .

Ah, so they predate mechanical reels ? Shows you how little experience I have of the woodrails. If I were to choose one from your lists, it would have to be a great player (and therefore a long-term keeper you don't get tired of) as well as really nice just to look at. Art that is ugly or blah drops many a table from consideration, at least for me.

Generally speaking, I meet quite a few people in this hobby who seem to have what might be termed "Pinball ADD." (Not a reference to the of-no-interest Add-A-Ball type pins, but rather Attention Deficit Disorder.) That is, they get bored with a game easily and rather quickly, and so are constantly selling them off to replace them with others. If you do that, there's a good chance you will lose significant money -- and not to mention from the shipping. Besides which, these are large, heavy objects that take up considerable space, so doing that is at least a nuisance and probably a pain. My intention is to only buy long term keepers. So far so good on that, but I bought my first pin slightly under 2 years ago. We shall see.

Most of the parts are the same regardless. The only thing that might vary would be the switch stack and switch cam. If someone was interested, they could request a better picture or ask a question of the seller. Or, they could put on their flame suit and call the Parts Nazi and see if he will tell you which games that part number works in.

I simply posted it since in the past, there have been plenty of posts for "AS relay wanted". Just thought someone out there might be proactive and pick it up for a lower price than what sometimes gets paid when one is finally needed.

yep, they predate reels. QoD was a great player and I really liked the artwork. i sold it along with the Universe (great art, ok player) because at the time i wasn't into pinball as much and i received a couple of good offers. it seems the opinion of woodrails in general is that they're not as good of players as later pins. i went to the pacific pinball expo a few years back and the majority of woodrails were not set up properly. i know these old pins played slower but these were so flat that the ball just floated around on the playfield. anyone not familiar with them may have thought this is just how they played.
i was definitley an ADD type collector and it seems many of us are "afflicted" with that. i finally sold off most of my pins and just kept my favorites. i've definitely lost significant money on shipping but it's a hobby and without shipping, there'd be no pin collection.
i'm the same in regards to the art being very important. it could be a great player but if i don't like the art, i won't own the pin.

I am surprised the Queen of Diamonds didn't sell at the Texas event. Can't remember but around $1200 and a real nice game.

Woodrails need extra care and attention to play properly but they shouldn't be slow.

This is not just limited to woodrails. A friend of mine has an Abra Ca Dabra. He sets his EMs to a rather steep rake to make them play faster, coming (somewhat) closer to the pace of later-era pins. At a recent annual tourney that has "Classics", an Abra Ca Dabra was set up more normally, and this totally threw off his gameplay. I could have told him, 'Don't angle yours like that for a few weeks before the tourney.' But then, it's hard to know how a table will be set up in competition. There are also early-SS pins, such as Centaur or Eight Ball Champ, that have a slower or at least more float-y ball travel, depending on the setup. Either makes it harder to guess where the ball is going and to react in time. "Modern" pins (like Tron) are just fast Fast FAST. Having a hard time thinking of any that are not -- particularly on location. (They want you to cough up those quarters as quickly as possible, and to keep doing so.)

I've been known to make a rare exception there as well. The Centaur art is quite off-putting, yet that pin has a prominent place on my Wish List. Can't say the art on my Embryon is particularly inviting, either . . . .

I still had fun playing all those woodrails. They had a ton of them at the expo but I did hear a few others complaining about the set up. That's also where I first played a Jacks Open and realized that or preferably a Lucky Hand would be part of my collection but I digress...

Bally Bow and Arrow starting at $99

ebay.com link: BALLY BOW AND ARROW PINBALL MACHINE PROJECT NICE PLAYFIELD BACK GLASS

I'd bid on this if it were closer. Hadn't seen it listed here yet.

Your link didn't work for me.

Try this one: ebay.com link: BALLY BOW AND ARROW PINBALL MACHINE PROJECT NICE PLAYFIELD BACK GLASS

My wife's description of her years in Plano, TX mirrors yours. She was an outcast.

I am sorry your wife had to put up with the same suburban High School crap I put up with in Worthington High School (Columbus, OH suburb).

I checked out your "Surf Side" video. The first thing I said to myself was "man, he doesn't sound like a Texan"!

I am unwillingly transplanted here.

Dan,

I understand you don't like Plano but what is wrong with large high schools? My kids have done real well, considering the large universities here, it prepares you well.

I see in articles that Texas is getting more people everyday, guess the schools may get bigger but that means more kids for football!

ebay.com link: Gottlieb Sunshine Woodrail Pinball Machine

Looks like it didn't sell. But, only $151.00 top bid? Is the market for such woodrails shrinking so much?

My father's been dealing with old toys for decades. He's told me that, as the people who had them as children die off, so does the demand. True for pinball as well?

i know the wood rail market has cooled some. I don't think the bottom fell out though.
I am not a wood rail guy so I don't keep a close eye on trends.
I think Allentown is coming up and a lot people are sitting on the $$$ to see what is there maybe????
I always go with cash just in case I see a great deal or something on my want list.

It is true for sure.

I buy woodrails - never played them in my life until I bought them but they are great players with great art. But seems like only the cherry collector's titles are what is sought after now.

Sunshine - great game.

But for me bad re-paints lower the value tons. Better off leaving original unless you have the skills to do a game justice - I don't so leave em as they are

I think the repainted cab and hardware dampened the spirits on that one (and the Lightning Ball, that didn't do much better). But woodrail titles (like any other era) are pretty hit and miss. Sunshine hasn't traditionally been a high-dollar title, despite being a pretty good game.

Woodrails have come down, but I think it's also because more of them are turning up, and the big collectors of them are now saturated with them. One known northeast collector used to buy just about every woodie that came up for sale. I used to call him "the woodrail black hole". He's chock full now, and if he lets loose with some, expect the prices to come down even more.

Plus, the guys selling them off or their widows want super big bucks for them.

My high school days were like a bad versions of "Pretty in Pink" and "Breakfast Club". There is nothing wrong with large high schools. There is just everything wrong with Mommy and Daddy spoiling Jr. with a new BMW 5 series for his 16th Birthday. My parents were well off (even more so than the other kids parents) But they didn't spoil me. I drove a POS car to school that I had to save for that other kids made fun of, including my fresh out of college, history teacher that all the 17 year old girls drooled over.

This video will best describe my High School days. Care to guess which kid I was?

I didn't have it this bad. Maybe about 70% as bad. But you get the picture.

Ours were kind of like this.

Whilst there aren't that many nice ones that appear for sale it doesn't appear many are looking either. A Diamond Lill took over 3 months to sell in Texas for example.

So, prices may come down if a ton get dumped on the market. Or maybe people will cotton on to how good they really are.

If they don't get more popular it may be possible to pick up the cherry titles

I

Just a bad auction, that title and example is easily worth $400 plus.

ebay.com link: gottlieb rare pin up wedge head pinball machine

Maybe someone needs this playfield or some wall art.

ebay.com link: 1976 GOTTLIEB VOLLEY PINBALL PLAYFIELD FOR PARTS Can Bring To Allentown

ebay.com link: 1968 Gottlieb Funland pinball machine

ebay.com link: 1965 Gottlieb Buckeroo Pinball Machine Shopped and Waiting for your game room

"Have you hugged your horse today ?" (!)
(That used to be a bumpersticker in certain parts of the country . . . )

Beautiful original C37 with zero playfield wear.
ebay.com link: GOTTLIEB CENTIGRADE 37 PINBALL MACHINE Pin Ball Shopped Working WILL SHIP

A 1953 Guys and Dolls
ebay.com link: 1953 Gottlieb Guys Dolls Pinball Machine

Pix rarely compare to seeing it in person, so I'd hold off judgement about "zero wear" . . . but it *looks* better than on mine. (Also the cab, in particular.)

If you happen to be skeptical about having a clear done, and even more skeptical about mylar overlays, then I guess there is nothing else to be done other than regular cleaning and wax applications and hoping for the best ? I always replace the stock ball with a fresh Silverjet ball, and wonder how often those should be replaced ?

Some recent posts in this thread prompt a question: were woodrails strictly a Gottlieb thing, or were the other manufacturers making them too ?

Yes. Wood railing was the mainsteam of (TTBOMK) all pinball from the late 50's and backwards.

No, woodies were not strictly Gottlieb. There are good articles about the history of the different manufacturers by Clay:

http://www.pinrepair.com/gtb/ = talks about Gottliebs
http://www.pinrepair.com/wmswood/index.htm = talks about Williams

There are advantages/disadvantages of each manufacturer, but I personally like the Roy Parker artwork of Gottlieb and the general flipper arrangements. (no impulse flippers, etc.)

Most of my woodies are Gottliebs, probably because they were easier to find. But, as mentioned from your other posts and questions, there isn't a large super store where one can go out and buy a woodie that people are talking about or have added to their "favorite" lists. The general thinking is that it's hit and miss...some are available for audition at shows, others are available privately from collectors/restorers who share the information through forums, Mr. Pinball, etc. No one retails them...they are extremely temperamental, finicky to maintain and require more care and feeding than the heartier machines of later years.

Generally speaking, though, my interest in the woodies is for their charm, artwork and novelty. They play slower and differently than a game like El Dorado or a Slick Chick. A good ball on some of the woodies comes close to 30 seconds. Nudging and strategy is a big part of them.

But to your point - I have 2 Williams machines -a Jig Saw and a Nags. Both fun woodrails. Also, an Official Baseball - not a pinball, but a woodrail, just the same.

Another manufacturer who made woodies, but not commonly discussed, is Genco. They made some very fine machines. I have two, Show Boat and Springtime. Both are very good players, but not as common as the Gottliebs.

J

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Very nice collection oldcarz. Now I know why your buddy Alex wants a World Champ........

Very good taste, sir. Just made my second go-round through IPDB to refine the favorites and sure enough I see a lot of them pictured above. Do you have any Grey Poupon?

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1952 Gottlieb Chinatown:
ebay.com link: 1952 Gottlieb CHINATOWN Woodrail Pinball Machine

1959 Gottlieb Miss Annabelle:
ebay.com link: 1959 Gottlieb MISS ANNABELLE Woodrail Pinball Machine

So what would be a fair price for a game like this one?

I wanna say 1800-2000??? If you really want it 2200 max. This is one of the top 3 Gottlieb 70's games that can hit 2 grand in price. The others would be Atlantis and El Dorado.

This one which was almost as nice sold for 1633 dollars.

ebay.com link: Pinball Machine Centigrade 37 Gottleib Twin Cities MN

Rat, I see you have a ship-mates. I'm mid restore on mine. Have yet to play a game on it. BGresto has the art now! had my bg reproduced. Looks like a keeper. the old glass was not that bad but wanted it perfect. Rechromed lockdown end caps, should be pretty nice once done.

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Works on nickels ? That's definitely before my time ! As a kid, the first pins I saw and played ran on dimes.

Please excuse the ignorance, but are those trap holes ? Sort of a precursor to the gobble hole, and every bit as bad . . . ?

Well, I paid somewhat more than $2K for mine, but they were hard to find at all -- let alone in pretty good to good condition -- and I was getting tired of searching in vain.

Atlantis is a very nice game, but C37 tops it handily, I'd say. Aren't you overlooking Abra Ca Dabra, in your leading, higher-priced Gottleib wedgehead derby ? There were 1200 more of them made than of C37, but I don't get the impression they are much easier to find in good shape.

AbraCaDabra can be had for 500-1200 dollars depending on condition.

Dude you are a god send! I just bought the machine off of Ebay (Thank you NicVolta for waking me up from a dead coma sleep to point out the fresh listing on Ebay. I am forever grateful!) and noticed that the bottom left hand corner is cracked. STI should have my game here in the typical 7-10 days. Your game looks awesome! I can't wait to get mine restored this summer. I plan to bring it to Texas Pinball Festival in 2016.

1000+400 for shipping + 500 paint job + 300 PBR parts +300 for back glass. Expensive but so worth it in the end. Thanks again for making my life easier now that BGresto has the art files.

That listing

ebay.com link: GOTTLIEB CENTIGRADE 37 PINBALL MACHINE Pin Ball Shopped Working WILL SHIP

got ended early. Wonder if they got their asking price, or if someone cut one of those very common private deals outside of eBay (which is supposed to be very much against the TOS of ePay, once you've listed something, but which happens all the time) ? I don't recall seeing any 'Make an Offer' provision on this one. It wouldn't shock me if someone met the asking price.

ebay.com link: pinball machine

Looks like a desperate seller. He's moving. Get this one cheap. Modded with 3" flippers though, but probably an easy restoration.

ebay.com link: D Gottlieb Co Pinball Machine

Don't know if this is worth a G note, but it doesn't look bad.

ebay.com link: Williams 1966 Top Hand pinball machine

Tough to find with a perfect backglass. He says it is. Decent game. Another guy who's moving.