Yep, I picked it up from him a year or 2 ago. I pretty much had it working other than the center rollover switch wasn't awarding points, but now the score motor just runs. I've been putting off looking at it for almost a year and I came to the realization that I just really don't enjoy working on EM games, I prefer working on SS games. Hopefully it will be a straightforward fix for someone.

Hi Guys,

Starting to explore my Palooka and have a couple questions for owners.

First, What legs do you have and do you think they are original? I have some 27" legs for mine that seem to have just a rough steel finish on them. Ran them thru the Evapo-rust, but they will either want to be painted (hammer-tone grey) or plated, though that option is quite costly. What do you have? Search on IPDb proves inconclusive.

Secondly, I have a hole in one of my pop caps (not unlike Bruce's). It's the center one with 'Jet' and mustard colored outer flange. If anyone has upgraded theirs with new from PBR, perhaps willing to pass their old one along? I could get one from Steve, but would rather have original to match the patina of the originals.

Really excited to get this one playing in the near future.

Thanks, Mark

Apparently, I now own Cowman and Eric_S's old Palooka. Looks like I'm in the club!

Old ad: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-palooka-williams-1964-1965 I picked it up via eBay.

It works, but there is quite a bit of project left in this bruiser.

That "hinge" is probably just some scotch tape someone used in an attempt to hold caps in place.

If you can't get 'your' caps off... somebody likely glued them in place.

The danger is more likely breaking the caps than the bumper bodies.

I thought you were more concerned about breaking those. If you have reproductions to put on and weren't worried about the old caps (I would be) then you could almost cut them off with a dremel tool or coping saw, if you were careful. And even if something happened to the dead bumper bodies, Steve has those too or you could probably chase down a couple of original ones on ebay given enough time.

If you knew what kind of glue was used, you might have a chance that way. For instance, I always use Household Goop to hold my dead bumper caps (and inserts) in place. And if you get into trouble getting something off (or out) then you can take an eye dropper and use a little toluene to get the glue to let go. I had to call the makers of Goop to find this out.... but it was well worth it for the knowledge.

In fact, I underestimated the strength of Goop and put a small amount at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock on the dead bumper caps to hold them in place on my Spot Bowler. Then, when one of the bulbs burned out... I couldn't get the silly thing off. I would have been screwed if I broke one of them. Luckily, I knew about the toluene and was able to lean the playfield (at the most extreme angle I could) against the head and could then drip some of this solvent down to where it reached one of the small dabs of glue. Then I would put the playfield back down... and gently pull back and forth until I could get it to let go. I had to do this for every one! Even with the toluene, I was afraid I was going to break or crack one of the caps... but luckily, I didn't.

Now, I recommend only using ONE small dab at twelve o'clock inside the dead bumper cap. VERY IMPORTANT!

I might as well get this information out here NOW...

Like Brylcreem... a little dab'll DO ya!!

I think that's tape. Should peel right off. Used to be my machine, but I don't remember to tell you the truth.

I would get rid of those tall bulbs and put 55s in there instead.

Yeah, or 51's.

I use painter''s tape leaving a small 1/32" gap on the windows to avoid taking any ink and allowing the TT to seal the edge. If you get too much build/overspray, it can be very carefully cleaned off. I use an exact knife with magnifying headgear. Let it dry for a few hours before removing the tape mask.

Wow, those re-chromed end caps look awesome!

+1 on the re-chromed end caps.

And your backglass is way better than mine. I'm jealous. One man's trash...

Mike rechromed the caps on my Heat Wave too....they need to be chromed as they discolour if you try to clean them up yourself (just cheap pot metal or something).

The lockdown bar itself is stainless, I sanded mine down to 3000 grit for a mirror finish.

Hey guys,
Old thread here, but I just rated the game and was sad to see no one else has yet. Please take the time to give others some insight to what makes this game fun and worth your time and space. Thanks

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I am looking for 2 pop bumper caps (pictured below) and some plastics for my palooka.
Does anyone have them, or a lead to them?

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The pop bumper caps can be purchased from Steve at Pinball Resource for $10 ea.

http://www.pbresource.com/pfbumper.htm

You'll need the "Green Deco Domed BLANK" caps.

The plastics will be tough to find. Perhaps post in the EM parts needed thread.

Hope this helps

-Paul

Thank you for the reply.

I got the pop bumper caps from Steve earlier today, and I posted in the EM parts thread for plastics. I may just have to do the heating trick to save these though.

I am also looking for a lockbar receiver, if anyone has one or a lead on one.

Yes please!

Thank you

I will pm you.

Does anyone have the picture of the rubber replacement sizing and locations? I didn't see one on TPBD.

Thank you

bump for this. The teardown and rebuild are underway

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Wish I had those plastics as mine are literally toast.

Well maybe not toast but pretty bad.
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If you could make some hi-res scans and post them here or on ipdb.org
it would be appreciated, by me and many.

Forget that last request
I had forgotten that pinballfever had sent to me
some hi-res scans (.tif files)
of all the plastics, found it buried in a message he sent me 8 yrs ago.

here a couple of those scans (compressed) and converted to .png file
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My problem is that i have not gotten off my lazy fat ass
and restored (fabricated) those plastics yet.
I have since donated the game to the PPM,
so guess I should forward to them these plastic scans
so they can restore the game
to its potential.

Let me know if you need any. BTW you may be able to save yours! Get 2 14x16 rectangular pizza stones at Target, put parchment paper down set the plastics spaced out on it, cover in parchment and put the second pizza stone on top. Put in a cold oven and set to 200f for 1 hour. Remover and set something heavy on top of the sandwich like a Dutch oven. And let completely cool. It will most likely flatten them for you

That may work for a few of the plastics that are not totally warped and curled in on itself.
And a couple of them were flaked and very brittle.
I forwarded the scans to Pacific Pinball Museum, so hopefully they can get to repairing or making new ones.

Is there a non AAB version of this table? I noticed when stripping a playfield that the area above the top dummy bumpers and the diamond below the center drop target were painted over with white. Where "extra ball" would have been printed. Was this offed this way or did someone mess around? I have never had this game running, so I'm not sure how it plays.

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May have been a case of where operator had it set up (modified) for novelty play only, no extra (AAB) balls.
Instead of Extra Ball, player gets extra bonus points.

That may be. Could I trouble you for a picture of those two areas? I'm going to try and match the typeface to reproduce the text.

I donated the game to the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda Ca, so no longer have direct access.

These photos shown below were lifted from pinballmania's website
https://www.pinballmania.com/pinball/machines/Williams/Palooka/1

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Here's an overhead of the upper.

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Thank you! Could you possibly do a top down of the lower?

I’m restoring one of these right now so I’ll be dropping some questions in here. Here’s my first: what is the purpose of these stapled twist ties in the lightbox insert? I can’t imagine what they were used to secure. Something during shipping? They appear to be original but vestigial. I’m probably going to pull them all out unless someone here advises against it.

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Last weekend I sealed the backglass and did some touchups in the opaque areas. It’s a pretty nice original. Just some light flaking in the title and a few other places. Not too conspicuous. It’ll suffice until I sneak into @stashyboy’s place and pull a switcheroo with his. Was this backglass ever reproduced? I seem to recall hearing that it was.
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I'd be surprise if those twist ties came from the factory that way unless for
some possible reason, yours was one of the 1st off the line. What's the
serial number on yours? It's under the right side of the coin door.
Yes, years back I bought a repro silkscreen Palooka backglass, but I can't
remember from whom. I'm remembering they were sold out fairly quickly..

Well, your welcome to visit anytime, but switching out the glass without me noticing...now that would be a great trick! Can't imagine what those ties were for.

It’s 96717, which would make it the earliest unit known to the IPSND. Regardless of provenance, be they original or not, I pulled all 12 of them out because the sharp ends of the ties were a menace to the backglass.

Next question: are the solenoid plungers that strike the chime and bell supposed to have a nylon tip? Neither do on this Palooka. After cleaning the chime box assembly, I’m not impressed with how it sounds. Its plunger (pictured on the right) looks like it could fit a yoke, almost like the jet bumper’s plunger pictured in the 1974-1975 parts catalog.

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I believe i got mine from Ron Webb

The Bell's plunger has the nylon tip, but the Chime hasn't.
The Chime sounds a little clunky, but that's not uncommon..

PBR has a full chime assembly if you need it. My was shot and someone disconnected it at some point

The ball count unit got cleaned and rebuilt today. It was completely arrested with old grease. Nothing would budge. The worst case I’ve ever seen. Terrible!

After re-assembling everything, I tested the ball count lights for all of the stepper positions. Nothing would light. It appeared to be missing jumper wires on the wiper fingers, so I added them. Now the lights work.

Question: what do your wiper boards look like on your ball count unit? Is this all I need? Gottlieb soldered an extra jumper wire between the finger channels for extra conductivity and reliability. Maybe I should add them too.

Palooka Ball Count Unit Wiper Board

I have a few Williams from this era set up, and never had a problem with
with the Ball Count's Wiper's continuity..
However, on all Step Up Wiper Boards, I do apply a thin film of Super Lube
grease so it's as friction free as possible. (I also put a thin film of Remington
Gun Oil over that). They both contain Teflon..
Also in the holes of the Wiper's Snowshoes (the spring loaded wipers), I put
a couple drops of Remington Gun Oil to prevent any stickiness.

Thanks for the tips, @mopar. I went back and looked into the matter again.

The back of the wiper board has copper traces that complete the circuit for the wiper fingers, so the jumper wires I added are probably unnecessary.

I took the jumpers off and gave the fingers a good polishing. There must have been some layer of oxidation or filth interfering with the circuit, because the lights are now working without the jumpers.