My all-time greatest find was a CV. I paid $300 (yes, $300.00) for an essentially unplayed CV. Story is this. The arcade at Winrock Center in Albuquerque put their games on sale the day after Thanksgiving (mid 90s through about 2002). The deals were always good, with 2-4 year old pins going for anywhere from $800-2000. I made a point of stopping by first thing to check out the offerings. Sometime around 1999/2000 I ran into the manager the morning after Thanksgiving. He said they had an “inoperable” pin in the back, was I interested? Sure! He shows me a spotless CV. Say’s it doesn’t work. $300 if I take it as-is. I hit up the ATM, and 30 minutes later, the CV is in the back of my truck.

Problem was a blown 5V rectifier. The most common problem on WPC/WPC95 driver boards. 10 minutes later, the game is fully working…

Like all my 90s pins, I sold the CV off in the mid-2000s. I’ve never topped that deal, however.

And to keep this on-topic, brought this home last week…. Getting back into pins now that I have a place to put them.

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Pinball hobby, v2.0. Not quite the 30 machines I had 20 years ago, but its a start...

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I’m lucky to have any space in our house for pins. I was worried about sun-fade, but our windows are Pella with UV protection, and that’s a north window with no direct light, so maybe I’ll dodge that little problem.

Another Unicorn.

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Phew. That was exhausting. Overnight drive and back from Albuquerque to Denver. 1000 miles in about 13 hours. Left at 8pm, did the exchange at 3am, and back by 11am. Had to dodge the afternoon monsoon rains in both directions. Thanks Kevin for staying up way-late and meeting me. Great guy!

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Another great Pinsider transaction. Met halfway (Phoenix to Albuquerque) to swap a couple of JJP machines. Couldn’t have gone better! Thanks Toby.
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Gorgeous System 11. Probably the nicest original, unrestored example I've ever seen.

These 2 machines in my cramped basement gameroom - accessed by a narrow stairs which turns 180 degrees followed by a hallway and right-hand turn into the gameroom sent me on a quest for a used Escalera. Finally found one! I can’t recommend these enough. The cost is less than my medical insurance deductible, so….
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Something right in the world when these two games are next to each other in the collection.

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That brings back memories. We used to bring a butter knife from the college cafeteria and use it to bridge the “run” buttons with your middle finger as a pivot. We could wail on those babies for serious high scores and World Records.

Finally have this put together and working fantastically well. Very fun novelty game.

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Wait, Guillermo isn't on the high score list for Vampire's killed? I mean, he took out at least 100 at that council meeting alone...

Finished the restoration on our Hyperball. Really fun game! Works 100%, no issues.

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The Hyperball coil is quite special. It’s ultra-high voltage (for a pin) at 120V DC. As such, it doesn’t overheat nearly as much as lower-voltage coils. There’s a special board to supply voltage for this and the ball-return motor. There’s also a 120V AC fan that cools the coil.

And yes, it’s a maintenance nightmare, especially on-route. As a home game, it’s fun as hell.

Take the head off. Takes 3 minutes. Super easy.

Next project. Boards in good shape, no evidence of burnt connectors or coils, plays fine. resto + cabinet decals + new PF likely for this one. First pic as-found in the wild. Decent find at $2k.

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Yep. The longest 30 minutes I had was going to/from my bank to get cash for fear someone else would show up. Same, single error message on the FT. Time and Date not set.

Quickie 900 mile roundtrip (Albuquerque <-> Denver) to pick this up today. Love me those 90 WPC/WPC95 titles. Restored and sold a NGG 20 years ago. Missed it ever since. Thanks Gameroomguy!

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Latest addition. Head removed for the tortuous trip into my basement gameroom. JJP is slowly taking over.
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