(Topic ID: 54131)

Tell the TRUE story about a Pinball Machine you got FOR FREE

By spfxted

10 years ago


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  • 92 posts
  • 66 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 years ago by vid1900
  • Topic is favorited by 6 Pinsiders

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    There are 92 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 2.
    #51 10 years ago
    Quoted from lordloss:

    Too bad the trend is that most people sold their free pins

    True in my case. But I sold it for less than I had in it. A lot less.

    LTG : )

    #52 10 years ago

    I rescued a Jubilee (my second machine) that was abandoned on an upper level covered balcony of a shopping center by a tenant that went to Russia and never returned. It had 10 years of dust and grime on the body and a beat up backglass from exposure to the sun. The other tenants just wanted it gone so I snagged it up quick, I was able to get her working after 20 hours of work and it is still in my collection today.

    #53 10 years ago

    My wife grew up with a space odyssey half working in her mom's basement. It was her dad's back inthe early 80's whe he owned a bar and had sat in the basement for some 30 years neglected. A couple of years ago I got bored, took the head off to get it out and brought it home. It had horribly yellowed plastics and mildew on the playfield.
    I spent about 15 hours cleaning it up and was fortunate enough to have a buddy who knows how to fix em's, and she works like a charm. It actually had a slot in the basement here until recently banished to the garage with the addition of Creech bumping it out Cleaned up nice and actually adds some pin coolness to the garage. Only spent 20 bucks for some reconditioned legs to replace the horribly rusted stockers. Backglass is flaking terribly but I couldn't bring myself to spend the money on the repro at Allentown!

    #54 10 years ago

    It was a dark and stormy night...
    I was helping my buddy move into his new house and I saw a pinball machine in pieces in the corner of his basement. I said, "cool you have a pinball machine?" He then complained that the old owners left it there and now he had to pay to trash it. I told him I would take it and he was more than happy to give it to me. Turned out to be a Meteor and it needed a LOT of work. Being my first pin, I had no idea what to do but between Tom Callahan and Pinside, I got it working and looking good again. I sold it a few years later because I only had space for 3 pins then. I was lucky I was able to break even on it after all the repairs.

    #55 10 years ago

    Here is my free pin story, and how I got into this hobby. Never really got much into playing pins growing up, played just a handful of DMD's in arcades. Around 2006 I was putting together a game room with a pool table, foosball and ping pong, and thought it might be a good idea to get a pinball machine too. Even looked on briefly on ebay, and gave up the idea as most of the better ones seemed to be in 2-3k range. Never told anyone about it, but probably a month later I got a call from my brother-in-law asking if I want a free pinball machine. He worked for a moving company, someone was relocating and downsizing to Florida and they had no room for their game. Without asking a single question I said I'd take it. He even dropped it off, it was a '69 Gottlieb Spin-a-card. I've never even seen an EM game in my life...Cabinet was repainted some baby-blue color, some wear on PF, minor flaking on BG, did not even light up, but I loved it. Had to figure out how to take the glass off on lift the PF. That same day I discovered IPDB, RGP, PinResource and Cliffy's repair guides. Figured out the schematics, I'm a software developer and was amazed by the electromechanical logic. Spent some time restoring it, got the game working 100%, even added some relays to make small changes in the rules. The rest, as they say, is history. A couple of months later I got another cheap EM for restore, then another, then got more into DMD's. Bought about 10 pins since then, sold 3, but the Spin-a-card is not going anywhere.

    #56 10 years ago
    Quoted from lordloss:

    Too bad the trend is that most people sold their free pins

    I kept mine. Its the EM of the collection and is very nice.

    #57 10 years ago

    i'm gonna have to get back to you on this...

    #58 10 years ago

    They were throwing away a Rowe change machine at work. I thought it would be cool to have in the basement, so I took it. They said it did not work. They were wrong.

    Someone offered me a Mousin' Around in trade for it. Drove the change machine to Maine (from PA), and picked up the Mousin Around. Was dirty, but a great game that cleaned up really nicely!

    Probably the only time I will get a free pin. Although, I have several in the basement that aren't mine, so maybe those count, LOL

    Great stories here, thanks for sharing!

    Chris

    #59 10 years ago

    I've had a couple multi deals where the sales of the others made the ones kept free, or better. I guess not really the same thing though.

    #60 10 years ago
    Quoted from lordloss:

    Too bad the trend is that most people sold their free pins

    I don't really see it like that.
    Just because it is free does not mean you will love it.
    I'm sure most if not all went to people who would enjoy them more.

    #61 10 years ago

    Yes, just because someone gave a pin away doesn't mean you have to like, or keep it. It's great if you can fix it up, sell it and get something you want.

    #63 10 years ago

    Famed pinball sound designer (and all-around super awesome guy) Chris Granner drove down from Illinois and gave us his prototype Taxi! // Error: Image 110107 not found //

    #64 10 years ago

    Whoa! What's the story behind THAT??

    #65 10 years ago

    Chris is an awesome guy

    Our rag-tag group of people and what we've been trying to do in New Orleans has inspired a lot of people to contribute. It's been incredibly rewarding.

    #66 10 years ago

    Once got a BSD for free; the weird thing was I got it in pieces.
    Got a phonecall from a local op where I've bought multiple machines from in the past.
    Their repair guy had a pinball machine at his appartment and had to move and couldn't take it with him; It just sat in the hallway and had to get out asap.
    As it was already sold it was out of their accounting books so they wouldn't take it back themselves to use in their own route. I could have it for free.

    I drove over there the same evening. Found the place, no one home, and in the hallway was a BSD cabinet. No backbox. Still, complete with playfield, everything.
    Took the cabinet home, didn't know what to do with it. Put it in storage.

    A few months later I'm back at the operator warehouse to buy some more pinball machines.
    We go in their basement and what do I see there ? A BSD backbox. Complete.
    I tell her about the cabinet I picked up from them, the op doesn't have any idea how the backbox got back into their warehouse, but I can have the backbox too.
    Cool, a complete free BSD !

    Loading in pinball machines and the ops son comes around to see. Notices the BSD backbox.
    Now the story gets complete. He had also heard about that game and had found a friend who wanted to buy it. Couldn't take the whole game with him, so in the afternoon he had come to pick up the backbox and put it in their home in the basement. Late in the evening he had went back to get the cabinet but it wasn't there anymore as I had passed already...

    Anyway he says I can still keep the BSD. Nice of him.
    We talk a bit further about games and how long they've been busy with pins. The father had started and Camelot had been their first pin on route. They said they were selling all their pins but were looking for a Camelot.
    So I find a Camelot cheap, clean it and rubber it, and a few weeks later I bring it to them as a gift.
    So i first got a free BSD and to thank them I gave them a Camelot for free. Not a bad trade

    #67 10 years ago

    Great story!

    1 week later
    #68 10 years ago

    So like most people I have gotten my fair share of good deals on CL. I have gotten 1 free arcade game, a Journey which was very nice, but never a pin...until yesterday. I stopped looking at CL very much nowadays since the deals seem to be few and far between...and more importantly because I have no money thanks to the new game room. So I am super lucky I even saw this, and even more lucky that I ended up with it.

    Anyway, I am at work yesterday and I go out to CL once in the afternoon just for kicks to see what's new. First thing I see is "FREE PINBALL MACHINE". I look to see what at it is and when it was posted figuring it was probably bogus or a table Top Pin. Turns out it was a Gottleib Atlantis that doesn't fully work and it was only posted less than 10 minutes ago and the poster is less than 10 minutes from my work. It had multiple pictures and looked legit. I shoot him an e-mail with my phone number saying I am a couple minutes away and can be right over. Figure it is long gone and don't think anything of it. My phone rings about 15 minutes later and it is the guy. He says I was the first one to contact him and I can have it if I want it. I jump in the car and cruise over there thinking someone would screw me out of it the whole time I was driving. I get there and it is still there and the guy is super cool. He played it as a kid and is cleaning out his moms house and just wants it gone since it doesn't fully work. The guy and me start talking about it and he says he had tons of other e-mails about it after mine, but he didn't respond to them because I showed up like I said I would and I wanted it. Very refreshing to see someone stick to their word and I told him I appreciated it.

    So I started breaking the game down, had to drill out the back lock, but the coin door was open. Thing is SUPER nice. Backglass is PERFECT. After opening the head, the original schematics were still masking taped to the head and had never even been opened. Outside of the game was dirty, but the playfield is awesome, everything there and no broken plastics and the cabinet and head aren't damaged. I popped the playfield and saw some broken wires, so it is obvious why the game doesn't work fully, but it is complete and super clean. This guy's mom had had the game for well over a dozen years and it has just sat for some time now. We pulled 8 quarters out of the cabinet and not one of them was newer than 1975. I didn't have a truck, so I called a few people to see if they would help me out and finally got a friend to come over with a pickup. I put the head in my car and my buddy brought the cab to his house. I am picking it up tonight or tomorrow. I am super stoked at this pickup. Wedgeheads aren't my thing since it was before my time (I was born in 1976), but I have another buddy who loves them and he said that this game was one of the most desired wedgeheads and super collectible. Here is the only pic I have right now, but I will take more when I get the game back together. atlantis.jpgatlantis.jpg

    #69 10 years ago

    I work for a company that builds props for commercials among other things. We got a call about modifying a pinball machine with a hole in it to shoot a baseball out of it. I asked if I could give them what they wanted without damageing the machine could I have it when they were done with it. So here is the commercial:

    http://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34468550

    Underneath all the decals and the mods is a Bally Vampire. It is now restored and in one of my rooms filled with machines!

    5 months later
    #71 10 years ago

    Ok all, here is a good one.

    I started collecting arcade machines back in the 90's but never really did pinballs. But on my scale that means that I only had 5. I have an old website from 1997 that I left up (http://home.hiwaay.net/~sandersj/) and for years I regularly got emails with "can you fix my arcade machine?". 99% of the time the answer was no but I got an email from a guy that had an Addams Family that had been in a house fire and since it was such a cool machine I offered to help. We tried to get together for months but our schedules never meshed up and I got a message one day saying that he was going to put it out on the curb and did I want it? I of course said "hell yes", jumped in the truck and headed his way.

    Turns out that he had inherited the pin from his sister that had died in a murder/suicide/house fire. Link to that incident is here. http://www.waff.com/global/story.asp?s=9983793 Yes, a sad but true story.

    The game was ROUGH as can be expected and a pic of it in my driveway in the truck is below. It was so nasty that I couldn't even take it into the basement without cleaning it up first. I hadn't seriously worked on a pin in about a decade so I had to crawl back up the learning curve. I wimped out and just threw money at the restoration and one month and $1200 in parts later I had a working Addams family. Picture of my daughter playing it when she was three is below as well.

    I had so much fun repairing the game and it was such a blast to play I totally got the pinball bug and I now own 25 with a WOZ and a MMR on order.

    27857_452179117570_5415440_n.jpg27857_452179117570_5415440_n.jpg 39121_478962372570_5955214_n.jpg39121_478962372570_5955214_n.jpg
    #72 10 years ago

    If only such stories existed in Canada.

    #73 10 years ago
    Quoted from sandersj:

    I had so much fun repairing the game and it was such a blast to play I totally got the pinball bug and I now own 25 with a WOZ and a MMR on order.

    Now, THESE are the stories that are FUN to read! Excellent pic as well!! Thanks!

    #74 10 years ago
    Quoted from flashinstinct:

    If only such stories existed in Canada.

    Murder/suicide/poutine fire. Same difference.

    #75 10 years ago

    I do a lot of work on pins for a guy that must get his for free (based on their condition). He dropped off a Stern Cheetah that was in horrible condition. There were so many hacks to the boards, flipper assemblies, drop targets, blah, blah, blah. I told him how much it would cost to fix the game and he said just keep it.

    So it sat for about 6 months until I was able to source a much better playfield. Then bought all new drop targets, flipper assemblies, etc and did a playfield swap.

    Even though I got the game for free, I probably have way more into it than what it's worth. Oh well. It did make the trek to Expo 2013 though...

    2013-09-13 18.28.26-1.jpg2013-09-13 18.28.26-1.jpgCheetah_side.jpgCheetah_side.jpg

    #76 10 years ago

    Nice looking game...never played one. Thanks for the story.

    #77 10 years ago

    Wayback machine set to summer of 1988.
    I was looking for a F14, at the time still a machine that was doing well in the arcades and bars.
    Sold out with distributors, i phoned a few operators to see if they had one sitting idle.
    After a few befriended ops, i contacted an operator i didn't know personally, but was in business for quite some time.
    He said he just got in this particular F14 game from a location and if i wanted to pay 1000 guilders for it i could come and fetch it the same day, but had to service it by myself.That was a great price for this title so i said i would take a half day leave, get a trailer and come right over.I was very happy during the 3 hour drive.
    After getting there and welcoming me he said there was a big problem.His accountant had advised negative on the transaction because the machine couldn't be sold for so little money, since it was not even one year old and the IRS wouldn't accept that ridgid write-off of property.I didn't understand the legal aspects bla bla (i wouldn't be surprised the operator neither) but i could see he felt bad about the situation.
    He thought for a bit and looked around and said; how about i give you another game for your time and good spirit?
    Let's see, how do you like Rolling Stones ? It's an Bally oldie and the keys are gone but i can give you that for FREE.And i'll see you get that F14 by the time it's possible and if you still want it.
    I accepted happily and thanked him alot and offered him if he ever needed someone to repair a pin for him he knew where to find me.

    After getting home i drilled the lock and inside the cabinet i found a small vault.
    It was already open and there was 900 guilder in cash in the machine.
    I decided to give the nice operator a call, since i couldn't imagine that his accountant would approve of him throwing away 900 guilders in cash

    After the call i learned that the cashbox earnings were probably less IRS suspicious because he told me to keep the
    money and thanked me for my honesty.

    #78 10 years ago

    GREAT story!....er, now what's a guilder in dollars??

    #79 10 years ago
    Quoted from spfxted:

    GREAT story!....er, now what's a guilder in dollars??

    $508

    1 Guilder = .59 cents

    #80 10 years ago

    Not free... and I didn't get it... but it was such a near miss story I have to tell it.

    Years ago... I went to visit my brother and was telling him how much I wanted a pinball machine.

    He said his wife's brother had one that might be for sale. During the conversation I mentioned that my holy grail was an Addams Family.

    He laughed and said he wasn't sure but he thought that was the pin they had.

    Stunned... I said... let's call them right now.

    Turns out... this chap left his wife for another women 2 weeks earlier and to piss him off the current wife sold his Addams..... FOR $100!!!!

    A week too late. Would have put my brother in an awkward situation around the dinner table had I scooped that one up but all's fair in love and war!!! LOL!

    #81 10 years ago

    I got a free Firepower that split in half when it fell off of a truck. Months later and some $700 in parts (new boards etc..,) it worked again and played great.

    #82 10 years ago

    My friend called me and said he knew a guy that had a Space Station and his wife wanted it out of the house. I asked how much and he said they hoped I would just take it.
    After some thought I realized I don't want an old pinball machine in the house and that its more work than its worth so I tell him to just let me sell it.
    I saw them selling for about 1000 so I listed and sold it for 800.
    He came and saw me and gave me half the cash.
    Good friend : )

    #83 10 years ago
    Quoted from spfxted:

    Now, THESE are the stories that are FUN to read! Excellent pic as well!! Thanks!

    To me one of the funniest parts of that story was me looking at this smoke damaged total POS pinball machine and my first thought was "I can fix that with enough time and money.....". Had to rescue it. My other free pinball story involves helping out a friend of a friend to get his Bally Playboy working. This guy is totally non-technical and had 5 machines. While I was there I fixed up his Playboy (blown coil transistor), fixed his Pinbot (needed new batteries), and showed him how to clean playfields with his Batman as a test case which took that machine from ugly to sparkling. I also replaced a ton of bad bulbs on his Batman with LEDs just for fun.

    He had a dead Paragon and a dead Trident and he sold me the Paragon for $200 and gave me the Trident. Once again I just threw money at the problem and spend $200-$300 on parts on each machine to get them working. Now I have two late 70's pins that are cool, but they take up space and they rarely if ever get played. Kind of sad that such beautiful machines from such a cool era can't hang with the modern pins. Not surprising of course, but still sad.

    And yes, that's my boy in his monkey boots showing approval of the Paragon upon arrival.

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    465349_10150983557347571_1420769625_o.jpg465349_10150983557347571_1420769625_o.jpg

    #84 10 years ago
    Quoted from vid1900:

    We were delivering a popcorn machine to a rec room in the basement of a church.
    There was a Gorgar with it's head strapped down.
    I asked "What's up with poor Gorgar there...." thinking I'd get a service call out of it.
    The church director said "Oh that. You can just take that. Father McDurmit does not approve of those things"
    Apparently, the new priest at the church did not want anyone doing battle against a demon.
    We put it on the dolly and dragged it up the stairs and into the van. Still had money in it.

    Gorgar-backglass.jpg 94 KB

    Gorgar doesnt seem the type of pin a church would EVER be cool with. Demon, and mostly naked chick. Good find though!

    #85 10 years ago

    Got two games from my uncle. He operated games to pay his way through college back in the 70's. I have a HUO DE Batman coming eventually that is kind of 'free', as it's from a friend who is sort of paying me back for a favor I did for him.

    #86 10 years ago

    I got a few free pins. First was a firepower that had fallen off this guys truck when he was moving it, it only bent one leg and split the corner of the game open. The glass never broke, so I took it and fix the corner and put a used leg on it and all was good.

    Next was a cocktail game that a friend was using as a work bench, only had the MPU missing. Found one and shopped it out, and it worked great.

    Next was just a couple of weekends ago, a Skylab, his wife wanted it out of the garage. He had started to clean it so the top side of the playfield is already striped and all parts "hopefully" are in a box. It will be my winter project to put it back together.

    #87 10 years ago

    Pinflation is finally over!

    #88 10 years ago

    This is an exciting thread.

    A lot of pins got great homes. Where they are loved and enjoyed. Not neglected or worse.

    LTG : )

    #89 10 years ago
    Quoted from Rickwh:

    Gorgar doesnt seem the type of pin a church would EVER be cool with. Demon, and mostly naked chick. Good find though!

    I've serviced TAF, CFTBL, Strikes & Spares, Flash, and other odd titles in church rec rooms.

    My guess is that the old, conservative church elders seldom climb all those stairs and it's only the Youth Pastor that has contact with the vending and rec stuff in the basement.

    Look how many churches have Vegas nights. I read Jesus threw all the gamblers out of the temple, not invited more of them in..........

    #90 10 years ago

    A few years ago my son's principal at his school heard that I worked on pinball machines. She asked if I was interested in fixing her husband's Bally Speak Easy. I said sure and gave her my cell number for him to set up an appointment to see it. Months went by and I would occasionally mention to her about it, but no call ever came. After my son graduated to another school, I heard that her husband was very sick and sometime later passed away. A few months passed and she called me to ask if I would like the game. I assumed it meant to purchase it, but when I got to her house to see it she said it was mine to take. I tried to get her to accept some money for it, but she said it made her sad to see it sitting unplayed and wanted my family to have it. I told her that it would never be sold and I plan on keeping that promise. It need some minor board work and is beautiful condition. We think of her and her husband whenever we play it.

    Steve

    #91 10 years ago

    First (indirect) story: Back in the early 80's, picked up my first 2 games (nonworking EMs) for $150 total. Fixed them both up (no money needed) and sold one for $150, so the other was 'free.'

    Second (direct) story: Won a PAPA division championship, and about 2 months later a truck pulls up with the NIB Sega Lost World that I won. (And no, I will NEVER sell it!)

    #92 10 years ago
    Quoted from Steve-in-CT:

    A few years ago my son's principal at his school heard that I worked on pinball machines. She asked if I was interested in fixing her husband's Bally Speak Easy. I said sure and gave her my cell number for him to set up an appointment to see it. Months went by and I would occasionally mention to her about it, but no call ever came. After my son graduated to another school, I heard that her husband was very sick and sometime later passed away. A few months passed and she called me to ask if I would like the game. I assumed it meant to purchase it, but when I got to her house to see it she said it was mine to take. I tried to get her to accept some money for it, but she said it made her sad to see it sitting unplayed and wanted my family to have it. I told her that it would never be sold and I plan on keeping that promise. It need some minor board work and is beautiful condition. We think of her and her husband whenever we play it.
    Steve

    That's a nice story!

    There are 92 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 2.

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