Any pinball machine owners here?

[Tanooki]

I'm looking for any and all advice I can get with this. We got this ok sized tax refund this year, my wife took 1K of it to get some equipment she needed for her spinning wheel and supplies for her upcoming business. I've been mulling a pinball machine for awhile now, get more of an itch each year going to Louisville Arcade Expo.

Currently unless she flaked out as she's been short with me on ebay an Amigo 1974 Bally table which looks pretty fun for $400.

I just emailed people out of state north of here, one was a table I played at lousiville arcade expo and loved, forgot to take the info down so it was a good break. Table seemed to be in great shape, even had the unique ball inside as it's Gold Ball. He wants 875, not sure if that's fair.

The other is more expensive I could sell off some overpriced NES game to cover it if need be -- Black Knight for $1500 and that's in another state but also driving distance. From the description it appears fully refurbished with new parts.

Clearly one I can fake with Arcade Pinball, the other is unique and probably never will get added to that, and costs less. Both being post-EM machines and pre-dot matrix in the 80s is the time frame I was hoping for. I don't know what kind of dimensions I'm looking at on those 80s tables to fit it here, Amigo I did learn though is around 53 inch deep and 30 inch wide and I can fit that. I also got on the phone with a guy yesterday in town her can clean up, repair and renew tables for a really good price so I have no worries there if something ends up over my head.

Any tips would be great and if those prices suck let me know so I can counter.



EDIT: I've been talking to the Gold Ball guy and got it down to $800, it has been mostly cleaned up, no real work needed on it and I've played the actual unit so I know it's sound. While Amigo is 1/2 the price it will need some work and that can go from $100-500 to do it from estimates I got sight unseen. I think I may just say screw it and go for it. It's a rare table, fast, fun, good play field and nice art work and sound to it.

[celerystalker]

That's right in the ballpark for Black Knight, and it's an awesome table with some nifty components and an elevated back playfield. It's a great mixture of older sensibilities with a more modern playfield. I almost bought one last year, but instead bought a 4-player Sunset Riders cabinet and a Centipede cabaret that my wife fell in love with. It's a table that's well-known for great balance of play coupled with strong aesthetics. It's also one of the more intricate tables that can be had in that price range.

[Tanooki]

Yeah i know, I just don't have $1575 for it, but if someone is in Indianapolis IN area, he has it and it's been totally modernized and refurbished too.

I'm going to get that Gold Ball table for $800, good deal considering the table itself, condition, even still has the original service manuals and keys too. I've been busting my ass moving out/around furniture in this room so I can slide it into a corner so it doesn't suck up the whole room.

[celerystalker]

Slightly unrelated, but is that hole in the wall arcade shop on Bard's Towne Rd still open? Last time I was in Louisville it was on a Sunday, and it was closed. I go down there every couple of years with my wife when she visits her friends (she graduated from Bellarmine).

[Tanooki]

If you're asking about Arcade Odyssey, a quick search shows it appears it still exists.

I know I called something on that road the other day as I was also looking at an EM machine and they didn't work on stuff older than solid state and referred me out. There's a guy in town here who does repairs of all sorts of pins perhaps other stuff too and he comes to you. I did end up getting Gold Ball, it's great, but it does need some cosmetic help. I'm thinking I may have him stop by see what I'm in for with an estimate. The back glass at the upper corner is a little messed up but patched on the back to stop that. Play field has some wear spots, and the center bumpers should have a plate in around them and the they should be a different color than what is there on mine. Other than that, it's just like I said cosmetics. It functions great, table is properly level, corrosive original battery was removed and a different style put in to save from that death and even has the 'home rom' on there which has a little better frequency on the gold ball popping up and a nicer attract mode from what I've read up so far. Currently I have it setup with sound mode 3 which does the most, and 3 balls on free play, contemplating messing with the switches for the bonuses/5 ball possibly.

I'm sure I'll end up taking pics of it sooner or later now that I've got it pretty well cleaned up.

[fluid_matrix]

If you want to compare the prices, you can check out the Pinball Price Guide. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/inde...,128605.0.html

I have an old Williams Triple Action EM Machine myself. I need to tear down the playfield and give it a good wax, but like most other projects, I never seem to find the time.

Not mine ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnBw_VL47nU

[Tanooki]

That looks like a pretty fun EM table. I almost went for one called Amigo but after seeing a tear down of the thing and how much junk under there could go wrong I didn't want to go near it, plus i wasn't totally in love with it but the price was nice at $400-450 range. But when I found the table I saw and used at the arcade expo was still for sale I went for it as I played it nearly the most.

This is Gold Ball, it's not mine, but pretty representative of it though my play field has a bit of wear to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJgcf70KHsQ

I know the table is worth more or less what I put into it, I know i didn't get a great 'deal' but the fact that all the lights, wiring, the gold ball switch, new replacement pop bumpers, a total cleaning of it, a box of spare bulbs, and the original paperwork/manual were included I was fine with it. My feeling is I'll keep this for quite awhile, maybe my first and last, or one day when we're not in the crapper budget wise where I don't have to sell off/flip save to get something I'll go for something big.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Pinball Machine owner..
Not enough room to own what I would like to own..I'd have a line of Pins in my basement if there wasn't flooding issues here..

I have not read the whole topic sorry..

I'm a "BALLY" fan...but if I had to buy a machine new I'd look to own something from Stern so that I could get parts,I'd also like to deal with a reputable seller...If not just buying a machine off ebay..

My HANG GLIDER Em I bought on ebay..located two towns over ,I tested the machine before taking it home..I bought it cause it was local,I wanted a machine bad(any) ,I could pick t up and test it first..The guy had three machines,he could not sell the other two for his life cause they were broke the parts being impossible to find..
I take care of the machine,it has a 1000 wires in it.,I've got to know what goes wrong..really the trick with Ems is to use them often and keep them going..
The machines been good and it's fun to play though it's theme isn't something I'm into..

The second machine I have is a brunswich ASPEN..it's a home use only machine,it's almost full size and uses 90% real pinball parts ..I got it cheap local broken,fixed it and it plays well..again another theme I'm not into but I like the machine..
The hardest thing with this machine is finding parts that don't exist ...I had to find parts from Elvis Alive it's counterpart..otherwise if it's something specific I'm done for..

My biggest issue with buying a pinball machine is making sure you can get crucial-specific parts for it if it breaks down...
My dad owns three machines ,and the cost to replace some the parts on his machines when they broke down was killer.
Luckily one person on ebay had the part he needed for $200.00 for one machine..

I do come across machines in the wild/flea markets but when I look up where to find parts for them and find none I pass..

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=f77d71bb2d

aspen
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=114b5bf84e

[fluid_matrix]

That looks like a pretty fun EM table. I almost went for one called Amigo but after seeing a tear down of the thing and how much junk under there could go wrong I didn't want to go near it, plus i wasn't totally in love with it but the price was nice at $400-450 range. But when I found the table I saw and used at the arcade expo was still for sale I went for it as I played it nearly the most.

This is Gold Ball, it's not mine, but pretty representative of it though my play field has a bit of wear to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJgcf70KHsQ

I know the table is worth more or less what I put into it, I know i didn't get a great 'deal' but the fact that all the lights, wiring, the gold ball switch, new replacement pop bumpers, a total cleaning of it, a box of spare bulbs, and the original paperwork/manual were included I was fine with it. My feeling is I'll keep this for quite awhile, maybe my first and last, or one day when we're not in the crapper budget wise where I don't have to sell off/flip save to get something I'll go for something big.

IIRC, I paid $300. Everything works fine on it, but the cabinet is pretty rough. I've already pulled the old rubber and have the complete replacement kit for it. I also bought a box of bulbs and some playfield wax too. But like I said, projects are piled on top of each other at my house.

Congrats on your purchase. You will no doubt enjoy it for years to come.

[Tanooki]

The EM machines just spooked me because the stuff you said, so many moving parts, and a bitch to find replacements for. The same can be said for your brunswick. I almost bought one of those systems too that Elvis Alive was based upon when I was back in CA but after poking around and realizing no one makes anything for it, I backed off it. It's why I went with what I did because it has no special parts at all other than that triple target in the center but a knockoff that's stable could be worked up and has so it's a safe one to keep alive even if it's somewhat rare. The only killer thing on Gold Ball would be trying to find a replacement back glass as I don't think they repop those because it was fairly rare and not a highest end table people drool for so finding a non-cracked/stable original sucks. Then a legit center target is unique because it had a metal plate behind the 3 targets and those, the outer two were colorized to look like the shiny blue/orange ball on the back glass, and center was a nice shiny yellow, so you'd have to find one from a busted table again as they're not repop'd either. Everything else about the game is common as hell, I just need to learn the ropes on how to redo and repair things with time.

Fluid very nice, near what i could have got that em-Amigo for so that's quite good. I plan to enjoy it for a stretch. I rigged up a more reinforced target setup in the center on mine since without the back plate(metal) it was pushing the targets back bending them slightly which isn't good because of the velocity off the flipper. I took the old target setup(also a rigged up one) and twisted the plastic plate off it since the screws were shot(hack sawed through them), then used one of the 2 plates (too thick with 2), cut off like a 1/4 inch off the height, and then super glued it to the targets there now. There was a good remnant of double faced tape on the metal there so someone had done something before and it appears that super glue dousing job did it. It's even more sensitive now, and straight. As I think I said before I've cleaned it a few times inside (play area) and out, and most recently took a magic eraser and 409 to get more smokers/age filth off it without removing paint, then went with some barkeepers friend on the metal front around the coins, plunger, etc to get that far nicer, even used some coke/tin foil before that on some little spots as well. It's shining nicer yet.

I probably should look into the playfield wax, but from what I read that can leave a film. The big thing I see on pinside.com and other DIY repair sites saying to use NOVUS #2 for solid cleaning/smoothing of things.