Here I go again...

Tomorrow afternoon will be the start for my first multi-state / multi-day road trip of 2021 to trade, re-unite, play and buy several Bally EM's that involves a few rare, sought after low-production games. This solo trip will have 6 stops, cover 1,650 miles through the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York over the course of 36 hours. The stops include visiting and playing games in the collections of several Pinsiders.

Follow along for frequent updates from the road and the reveal of the great Bally EM and SS games along the trip.

Here are a few clues of the sights to expect:
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Unfortunately, I won't be that far north but will be driving around NYC to get out on Long Island.

The rare, low production Bally EM game I am trading for another rare low production Bally EM is loaded on my truck and wrapped up like a mummy to protect against rain later tonight and tomorrow morning.

No, the game is not King Tut.

Trip starts at about 5pm Eastern today and the first stop tonight should be quite impressive.
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....and we’re off. It’s Thursday March 25, 2021 at 5:15 pm and the first stop is in Warren, OH to see Rob Berk. Rob is a collector of vintage fireworks so we’ll see what he has to offer.

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Stop # 1
Rob Berk, Warren, OH

Wow. Stopped here to pick up a Bally Firecracker backbox and deliver to a friend Friday on this trip. Once the backbox was loaded on the truck, Rob invited me down to his basement arcade. Total sensory overload. I almost missed all the machines for all of the memorabilia lining the wall and every available inch of space.
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Rob still has his first two pinball machines. A United Baby Face and Gottlieb Texan. They look and played great. A087724A-AC96-4725-8153-E5B57DBD12FD (resized).jpeg8F27AD10-3941-40C0-A2EB-86F948E2D4F2 (resized).jpeg

Rob wanted to remind everyone that Expo 2021 is planned for Schaumburg, IL on Oct 27 thru 30.

Here are just a few more of some interesting sights from his arcade.

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Time was running short with Rob and I have to keep moving on with the planned stops.

Stop # 2 is in Silver Spring, MD to drop off traffic light parts to a non-pinhead friend but a fellow collector and restorer of vintage traffic lights. Need to get another 5 hours down the road and grab a nap for my 7:00am arrival. I am the literal Bally Night Rider.

THEN, the rare Bally EM trade will occur on Stop # 3 just down the road.
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So, as I was cruising round the open expanse of the PA Turnpike earlier this morning, I did a double take and realized just how fast I was driving. If my truck had a time circuit, I would have input July 1971 as the time period for the rare Bally EM trade that is about to occur. The reveal is only a few hours away so stay tuned to see what’s Up.
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Stop # 3
Beltsville, MD

I acquired a Bally May 1971 Double-Up late last year. It is serial number 1004 (4th made out of 55). The game did not perform well on test and never went into full production. The game is Christian Marche art with a design credit to Ted Zale. The game never clicked with me so I considered selling or trading for another game.

Here are pictures after I brought the game home.
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As I was doing research on Double-Up, I started to take a liking to another Bally 1971 low-production game Round Up. One came available for sale last year in California but I passed due to distance and shipping cost.

Released on test In July 1971 right after Skyrocket, Round Up also did poorly on test or Bally had other reason to not produce more than the 70 made.

Very little has been written or discussed about Round Up. Only one Pinsider in the US has it listed in their collection, AND was also looking for a Double-Up. I reached out to propose a trade and the stars aligned.

Here is Bally Round Up from July 1971. Serial number 1007 and is one of only 8 known to exist from the original 70.
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I have lots more to share about this stop but the truck needs to get moving to the next stop.

“Hey, you’re from Jersey”
“Yes, I’m from Jersey”

“What exit ?”

Bonus points if you know this reference.
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Crossing the Delaware River in style. George had to do it by boat. FA915284-C8C8-42E7-A527-8211D68E0BDB (resized).jpeg

Made it to New Jersey.

Planning to look for Mr Richard Feder when I get to Fort Lee. 439E9463-7043-4E80-8A8E-B4E98E43C522 (resized).jpeg

Stop # 4
Voorhees, NJ

Made a stop to drop off the Firecracker backbox to my good friend Bruce so he can complete a game he just recently purchased. More stories to tell from this stop but need to keep moving as there are more rare Bally EM pinball machines to see and another pick up.
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Stop # 5
Silverball Museum Arcade, Asbury Park, NJ

Yes, EM Evel Knievel kicks ass and the SS version blows chunks. Plays so much better and sounds better. I rolled it twice and the score is actually 219,420.

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Can’t forget to give Mata Hari EM some love too.

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I could stay here by the shore all night but there is ONE last stop and ONE more state to visit. Maybe these guys will give you a hint.

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Ding, Ding, Ding. Give the man a cigar.

Stop # 6
Smithtown, NY

Never been to NYC or Long Island but this is where this Bally mutli-ball, zipper-flipper "The Wiggler" was for sale on FB Marketplace. Just got loaded and ready to make the 11+ hour trip back home to Ohio.

This example has a repainted cabinet and apron, a small area of flipper drag and a few issues on the backglass but since it is about 95% functional, I am very happy with this purchase.
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Nic, I am happy to grant a wish for you this year.

...But you already chose.

No, I could have missed it but I didn't see it in the basement. I didn't see any Bally EM's at the house so I suspect it is at his warehouse(s) with the other 1,000 or so games.

Returned home safely at 1:25pm Saturday March 27, 2021 and truck is now unloaded.

Here is the Part 1 trip recap:

1,654 miles driven (solo)
44 hours, 13 minutes total duration (I drive a LOT faster than this...Bruce and I talked for hours)
3.5 hours sleep while on the trip and have been awake since 6am Thursday and my OCD wants the games in the house before I crash
ZERO accidents or speeding tickets
ZERO energy drinks or 5 Hour Energy Shots. Just adrenaline and about 8 Mountain Dews
$ 00.00 ?? surprise toll total while in OH, PA, NJ and NY will come later in the mail with their "drive now - pay later” toll booths. I should have made up a fake license plate.

To Do List:

Round Up - Pretty straight forward playfield shop out, minor cabinet touch ups, detail metal polishing, chrome legs and upgrade backglass with BGResto

Wiggler - Same as Round Up except backglass just needs a few touchups. As much as I like the purple backbox trim, it WILL get a cabinet repaint unless I find a better game and upgrade. This era Bally cabinet seldom holds up and they have usually been repainted is some frightful manner.

Aerobatics - picked up last weekend and already have a trade lined up. I just have to get the backbox back from Rob Berk.

So, what about Part 2 ? As of right now, I only have a single stop trade deal lined up and I need to "fill out" the trip with a few more stops. Just don't tell my wife or she will detach MY head from my body and kick it around like a soccer ball.

Thanks for following along.

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Sleep ? That's for lightweights. I could g o o n four a n o t h e r h o u r o r 2 ........................

Good thing I did not pick up a Freddy Krueger Nightmare on Elm Street......

I put my 2011 F-150 down after 9 years and 366k miles. In the last few years, I would rent a pickup from enterprise at 60 bucks a day. I like the ride of a pickup vs a van and the tarping is not that much of a pain. My 2020 pin hauler is only 3 months old now but already at 10k and ready for its second oil change.

Yes, Silverball Arcade was GREAT and wish I could have spent more time there. I can imagine that place is packed during the summer. I have never been to an East Coast boardwalk before. Had to stick my feet in the chilly Atlantic too.
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Part 2 of the trip is coming up mid to late April and will trucking through Virginia so sounds like we could have a plan !

I have started a dedicated thread to discuss Bally Round Up and also uploaded a game feature video to show this seldom seen Bally EM.

Hope you enjoy !

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-round-up-1971

No, never encountered anyone else hauling games but I sure do wonder what other people or truckers think when they see a truck full of games hauling down the road.

Thanks for the reminder to resurrect this thread as Part 2 is a mere 36 hours from starting.

For sure, there will be some rare Bally EM's to see and play on this trip but my planned pickup will be like Night and Day from Part 1 that was 3 weeks ago.

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Well, Part 2 of the trip has been delayed one week to April 24th because I made a spur of the moment trip to Chicago on Friday.

Stay tuned for updates in 6 days...

Part 2 kicked off Saturday April 24 at 2:20 am. I am East bound and down to deliver 2 machines and pick up another and do some more traffic light pickups. There will now be peace in my valley as I exercise these non-Bally’s. Still so much to see so follow along for updates.
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I was born in Ohio and have lived there my entire life but my work career has taken me to West Virginia for several years.

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In 2010, the company I work for did the concrete work for a new underground casino at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs West Virginia. The resort had just been purchased by Jim justice and he has done a tremendous amount of work to revitalize the area and is now the governor of the state.

I had the pleasure to meet him towards the end of the project.

I’m the short one.

With the good hair.
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Half a mile from my first “pin” stop but had to pay a visit here again. Love this show.

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Dropped off two games to my friend Nic Shell at the Roanoke Pinball Museum in Roanoke, Virginia.

I played a bunch of games but had to spend some quality time with Nic’s gold standard Bally Skyrocket. My Skyrocket will never be as good as his unless I send my playfield out to be touched up and clearcoated. I came very close to buying a game from Nic but will save that for another Day.

Time to Ride north to look at the next game I think I’m buying. If it’s as good as the description, I will have a very good Night.31DC2E80-72D0-4EEB-947E-7EB835A72921 (resized).jpeg

Met up with Mark, a super nice fellow Pinsider in Northern Virginia that had this 1977 Bally EM Night Rider. He installed an NOS playfield, re-stenciled the cabinet and the BG is near perfect.
Can’t wait to get this home and into the lineup but there is still 2 more traffic light related stops and then the 8 hour drive back home.

I love the open road and making road trips so this title suits me to a tee.30C0AF6E-0123-45C4-A822-8956E531F85F (resized).jpeg

So, this road trip is officially in the books. A 1,195 mile round trip through 5 states in under 31 hours. Night Rider EM released in Jan 1977 joins my Bally stable and will get a few upgrades like new posts, new legs, remove some LED's and go back to incandescent, metal polishing and fixing the spinners so they really rip.IMG_5486[1] (resized).JPG

1977 was a seminal year for Bally, bookended by the start of Solid State game production and the end of EM games. The Citizen Band (CB) radio craze was in full bloom and Bally capitalized on this pop culture fad with a minor CB radio license tie-in and it's use by American truck drivers to stay one step ahead of speed enforcement police. Bally could also have had thoughts of the soon-to-be released summer blockbuster movie "Smokey and The Bandit". Is it just coincidence that the truck driver depicted by artist Paul Faris has a slight resemblance to Burt Reynolds and his signature stache ?

1977 also saw the founding of the British rock group Def Leppard. The cover art of their 1979 debut album fits the Night Rider theme and the album title "On Through The Night" actually became a song title on their second, and much better, album "High 'n' Dry".IMG_5487[1] (resized).JPG