Thanks, guys!
Quoted from pinwiztom:surprised that the biggest wear spot on the game is the place where you figure a flipperless pin might not have any;
at the place where flipper buttons might normally be located.
Gotta grab that game somewhere to nudge it, right?
Quoted from pinwiztom:Your bottom five (bell) light covers, look to be pink, other games I have seen them being white.
So, this is actually an interesting point (I think, anyway). The guy I bought it from worked for a mold and die company. His bottom five bumpers were a little toasty and busted, so he made a mold from one of the upper bumpers that was pristine, and MADE 5 more bumper bodies (since they're awfully hard to find). He colored the plastic peach/pink because that was the color of the base underneath...AND...you're not gonna believe this...it was also the color of the original caps. The original bell bumper caps matched the playfield/base color...just like all the rest of the bumpers do! Ha-ha!
I actually still have the original bumpers, marbled plastic and everything. The seller gave them to me with the sale of the game. The caps, while a bit faded, are most definitely that peach/pink color.
This is one of the points regarding Russ Jensen's write-up that I attempted to address in that podcast episode I mentioned above. My guess is that Russ' bumpers were either extraordinarily faded, or perhaps even nabbed from another game, like "Four Roses" or "Big Chief," the two games following "Metro" and the only other titles I can find that used those same type of bell bumpers.** ...and on further investigation, it would make sense for a couple reasons:
1) "Four Roses" and "Big Chief" each had white bell bumpers. Perhaps used out of necessity as the only available parted-out bell bumpers.
2) Russ Jensen also has a photo credit for "Big Chief" on IPDB, so it's not a stretch to think he may have pilfered some caps to complete his beloved "Metro."
Anyhow, those are some of my thoughts about the bumper cap situation. Admittedly, a can of worms not too many folks are likely to find of interest, but perhaps PinWizTom will find it interesting.
** "Band Wagon" and "Dude Ranch" used bell bumpers, too, but they are distinctively different shaped bells than M, 4R, and BC.
Also...
...completely agree!
Best,
Ryan