That's definitely a "get some pics and report back" kind of question. Honestly, it's unusual to see one in that rough of shape physically unless it's had some kind of storage damage. I don't think most got a ton of location play, and they were built really well. On the other hand, there are parts you just can't get if they're broken. You can usually improvise though. Manuals are available and they're actually well done, with tables for wiring and transistors that make it easier to sort simple board or wiring issues. Search for "Zaccaria repair" and there's a fantastic website working through them.

As for price, again, who knows what "rough" means. The one I bought, fully working but with a "rough" cab, mostly just needed a good cleaning other than the beat up trim. Had some minor issues they didn't know about, few transistors and caps to replace to get everything 100% working. In good working order $2500-3500. Check the ramp, it's irreplaceable but usually fixable with epoxy where it blows out at the entrance.

It's a cool game and popular, uncommon but not super rare. Save if possible, but if you part it out - I call first dibs :p

Speaking of my time machine, I whipped this up as a finishing touch.

If you go look at that TM, check the ramp for damage/repairs and see if the up/down motor is working. The neon is tri colored on this instead I single like most, so it's a tough replace. Obviously the backglass and thermoformed plastics in the back and on the playfield aren't replaceable. Otherwise there's not much specific to this game I can think of. While I'd hate to see one taken outta the world that's saveable, the good news is any of the above in good shape would easily find a wonderful home (but pm me first, lol).

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Don't hack up a Robot The game is awesome, and very rare, at least in this part of the world anyway.

The main thing I'd look for is any cracks in the ramp or plastics, both of which will be very hard to find replacements for.

On my Pinball Champ the playfield fuse holders had failed and were giving no power to the solenoids or controlled lamps. I also ran into the watchdog circuit on the PSU failing, I was able to get it to boot by snipping a wire there.

I’d say you got a Robot attacking a Magic Castle. LOL

Any zaccaria robots is worth getting. I hope to find one here in the US.

Cheers

BGResto can do it. You can also check with Coos although I don't think he has it listed on his site.

You can certainly ask Coos because he can borrow a "master" from our collection.

As little as possible :p You're sitting on all the negotiating power. Does it boot up? Boards I can see looks pretty good, though I don't know what the heck is going on in the upper left MPU board (are those bug nests or something?), and the battery at the top-center of the mpu is suspiciously cut out. Playfield and plastics just look like they need a good clean though.

The bad thing is the thermoform backbox plastic is from magic castle. You might get the backglass remade, but I seriously doubt you'll find the plastic. Robot is a cool, hard to come by game though, and it's worth preserving if possible anyway.

Offer a price you feel comfortable parting it out at, worst case, and go from there?

Well Robot is a way better and more fun game than Time Machine but you are missing the back glass and big insert. The insert you won’t find but you may be able to get a back glass reproduction made. You’d have to fashion an insert somehow. That will be difficult.

Repairs on these games can be easy or extremely difficult. Now that some boards are available new that gives us Zac fans a great chance at saving these games.

I’d probably offer the seller $500 for this game in unknown condition with the missing bg and insert. Get ready for months of work though.

https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1977&picno=15369

The time has come ,been collecting parts for years and finally have some time and room to start a few resto's.
First up Clown,playfield strip and clean new coil sleeves and Leds

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I just overlaid the magic castle insert image on top of the robot insert image to see what it would take to align.
The 5 displays line up perfectly in the window.
You would have to cut out 2 sections of the magic castle insert to display the ROBOT letters and the ROBOT image.
You would have to spray paint the magic castle insert purple.
The 6 rectangles for gametime bonus, credit,ball in play, etc on top of the 5ths display (mid right) would have to be looked at.

I think this wouldn't be too hard to adapt the magic castle insert to the robot insert. I would go for it!

Capture (resized).PNG

Never seen a Robot machine in real life, seriously cool backglass/insert! Good luck on the resto.

I don’t have a robot to compare but it looks like the only parts that protrude are the bezels around the displays and lamps. Seems like it could be reproduced with a cut sheet of plastic and some 3D printed bezels glued on top. Much easier than vacuum forming a new piece.

He can certainly use the magic castle insert but it has to be modified (cut) and painted.

Seems a shame to destroy a magic castle insert. Perhaps it would be better as a first step to put out a WTB ad and see what you can find.

Agreed. Sucks to cut up the Magic Castle insert. They’re not exactly sturdy plastic after 40 years either. Cutting one could be very tricky.

Clown is surprisingly fun. Creepy as hell, but fun.

Ironically I don't care much for robot, but I'm the minority there.

Hi all.

A bit of a long shot, but does anyone have a high-resolution copy of Aerobatics back glass?
I am slowly restoring a table, and the glass has delaminated beyond repair so I am looking to print on translucent vinyl and fix it to a fresh piece of glass with appropriate masking.

Would also appreciate any hig res copies of apron and plunger guide as mine have rusted beyond repair. I will have to print and stick as screen printing would be far too costly.

TIA.

Jim

Well this is kinda neat. I noticed pulling the glass off the Magic Castle I just brought the edges were nicely beveled. Never seen that on a sheet before, so looked a bit closer. Etched with the Zac logo - never seen one with the original glass. Unfortunately it's unsurprisingly scratched up. I'm guessing polishing out the scratches is more work than I want to get into, but might look into what's involved anyway.

I have the original glass on my Farfalla.

image0 (1) (resized).jpeg

Those beveled edges feel nice on the hands, eh? Quality on these Zacs really put stern and bally from the period to shame.

Hello,

I would say that apart some specific mechanical parts like the motor mechanism which moves the playfield and eventually the sound board, for the rest all should be replaceable/reparable.
One of the weak points is the plastic entry lane for the time tunnel, it could be broken.
The flipper bats are specific too, they are transparent blue and two of them have side wings (they are four in total)

For the rest I don't see any major problem.

Hey group,
I have a Devil Rider in need of 1 - 7 digit display. Anybody know where I might find one?

Thanks
Bob

Bob, I have some 7 digit display, but would have to test them to see if they work if you are still looking for one.

Soccer Kings issue!! I have a nice Soccer Kings I brought back to life, having issues in the attack zone, I have 4 balls in the trough, all switch's test good,
I am getting short fantom atack zone flipper pulses, also when in the attack zone, I make a goal but the game does not continue and attack zone flipper stays active until it times out and kicks the ball back into play. Its all most like its not seeing the trough switch or something, very strange, yet it works in test mode.
Also I did swap in differnt working MPU and Driver board to confirm that it is in the playfield some where any Ideas??
Thanks
Gerry

I just purchased a locomotion. The sound board does not make the Chuff sound. Has anyone had this problem? Any suggestions? Thank you.

J

Hi J
test 20 must be programmed in 02 .
check it pls
Davide

Hi Gerry
did you check the rele' under the playfield?

rele soccer king1.pdf

Hey there, anyone with a magic castle on hand mind confirming normal behavior for me? Specifically:

1. What switch or switches raise the value of the upper flipper loop? Currently right flippers and several targets are doing so.

2. What causes the pops to flash? Currently they seem to be doing it all the time.

Quick look under the playfield showed no obvious problems, so trying to figure out where to start looking closer.

Hmm, bet that's where the issue is, I will look into that, thanks, looks like an unobtainium relay

Both are only lit with the upper right rollover buttons. Check your switches there.

Thanks! I figured that, but with two up there wasn't sure how they worked...do you know if each button should trigger the change, both in sequence, something else? Just wasn't clear why they bothered to put two up there. Seemed like only the left one was triggering anything, everything looked copacetic under the playfield though. Will pull the schematics tonight and see if I can sort where the issue most likely is. Guessing it might be a flaky transistor in the switch matrix

I can't say I understand the logic of the two buttons up there. A half-shot seems to count the same as full-shot through the little loop. Maybe there's some code that doesn't allow for two scorings to occur within a certain amount of time? I'm fairly sure I've had a slow roll through there count twice though.

I can take some high-resolution photos for you of the backless, apron and plunger guide. Please PM me if this works for you.

Wouldn't be surprised if the intent was different than the implementation - logical thing would be two different outcomes, one for going one way, another for the other. Feel like whenever I look hard at one of these Zacs it seems clear there's probably some ideas that made the playfield but not the code.

FYI, it was just some switch flakiness. One was stuck closed and both were way dirty and triggering poorly. Was kinda hoping for something more interesting, I kinda like diagnosing stuff on these old Zacs...the schematics and charts are really nicely done.

Still having issues, relay is working fine cleand contacts to make sure, replaced the upper trough switch and the out switch to the upper playfield, all switches work in test mode, game will play fine with 3 balls in the trough, but it times out and leaves the ball in the attack zone dead, and ejects the main ball to the playfield, switch #58 in the trough is open when the 4th ball is in and closes when empty, Im at a total loss right now what to check, swapped working mpu and driver in with no change, Im wondering if there is some wiring issues as I got this as a project and never had it playing, any more idea's greatly appreciated
Gerry

Hi Gerry
From what I understand, contact #58 is open when the ball is on it, and closed when it is free. If that's the case, contact #58 must work in the opposite way.

Thanks doghouse - PM sent.

Looks nice but Simple gameplay and Overpriced. Id much rather any generation 2 zaccaria like pinball champ, farfalla, robot, etc

Thank you for your post .
Locomotion price It is due to the many hours of work for its restoration and many many spares supplied. As you will notice everything has been redone. Especially its cabinet and backcabinet which have been completely repainted. Locomotion is a great Pinball, its bad luck is that it was made just before the Pinball Champion, first of Gen2, and proved to be blockbuster at the time.