Today we are on the way to pick up a game.   Seems the owner is moving and needs to have the game gone.   So we are more than happy to help.  Sure is dreary weather today.  But any day is good to pick up a 1986 Williams Pinbot Pinball Machine!

This game is in Lake Orion, Michigan.  As we head up I-75 we go pass the Chrysler (err is it Fiat now?) headquarters.  Living in the Detroit area you are driving by something automotive all the time.  Now Chrysler is well north of the motor city proper – in a nice suburban area – well away from the problems of the city.  Today, they have a huge banner on their building promoting the new Dodge Dart.

Now we are getting close to the guys house.  Looking at the map his house is actually IN Lake Orion proper.  Hmm, looking at the map I see the shape of Lake Orion is similar to the constellation Orion.  Well, I guess that is how the lake and town got its name!

So the house is on a Island in the lake.  So we drive down a long peninsula and cross a bridge to get to his house.

Arrive and the new arrival is in the garage, legs off.  This is fantastic as there will be no lugging this one up the stairs!  The owner tells me that he has owned the game for several years.  He actually gave this game to his WIFE as a birthday present. Heh Heh, we shoould all try that!  Well, they are actually moving IN to this house and the wife has decided the game isn’t going to make it INTO the house.   Nothing like a rejected birthday present.

So load it up and off we go.  Nice Pinbot loaded in the flipper city mobile.

We have been having a really mild winter hear in Southeastern Michigan this year and today was no exception.

This was the view out the windshield of the quarter million mile Dodge Truck this morning.  Sunny, 35 degrees and on my way to pick up a couple Pinballs.  Nice day for a Sunday morning drive.

Now these were not big $ titles that many collectors seek.  Just some run of mill games that the price was right on.  Gottlieb Totem and Williams Laser Ball.

Part of what is great about the pinball hobby is meeting so many different people.  The owner of these games bought them both in the 80s at a local auction.  He went to the auction to buy a juke box.  He did buy the juke box but also bought these 2 pinballs.  Surprise Honey!  He said the wife was not thrilled but it turns out that the worked for many years and the kids loved them.

Now the kids were grown.  He had a whiteboard in the garage and the kids had been using it over the Holidays to keep their Beer Pong scores!

Nice guy, and he helped me take the games up the basement stairs.   I am keeping the Totem and the Laser Ball is going to Clay Harrel.

Here they are all ready for the trip home.

Well, here is something nice to see when you are waiting around at a kids event that is several hours long.

Not 1 but 2! Pinballs on location.  These were in Lansing Michigan USA at a sports facility called “The Summit.”  The Lansing area is home of the original “Pinball Pete’s

Pinball Pete’s was owned by three brothers, one of whom now owns and operates the Pinball Hall of fame in Las Vegas, Nevada.  I hear the Pinball Hall of Fame does a good job keeping their games in playing condition.   Pinball Pete’s is still in business in East Lansing Michigan and operates many games in the area – including these two.

Alas, these game were not playing well.  The Indy had 5 of the six balls stuck in the the up kicker behind the targets.   So the 6 ball game was now a one ball game.  The auto plunger would successfully put the ball in play about 25% of the time.  Many switches were not working, two pop bumpers were dead.

The other games was a Star Wars Trilogy.  This had all the balls in play but it was hard to use them because the x-wing fighter shot did not work.  The DMD display was pretty much shot.

The sad part is many people tried to play these game – they took some quarters.  But the kids and adults probably walked away thinking how crappy pinball is.  If you route games PLEASE keep them up so people have a good experience.  It should increase earnings AND help prolong the future of pinball.

The sad part is I played these game several times because there was a little else to do.  If I had the keys I would have fixed the Indy for free just so I could play a fully working one.

So the University of Michigan football team is not going to the Rose Bowl this year.  But this 1951 Gottlieb Rose Bowl Pinball is going to Michigan.

So I was out in Chelsea, Michigan when I got a call from a fellow collector who sometimes calls himself the Pinball Ninja.  Seems he found “this old pinball” that needed picking up.  He lives about 90 miles from the game and I was about 15 Miles away.

So to help a fellow pinhead out off we went to get the game.  Now, as it happens, I was driving my car instead of the pinhauling 1/4 million mile Dodge truck.

So I arrive out the house where the game is and the owner just stares at me like I am an idiot (hmm, I get that alot) .  He asks why I came all the way out there and I tell him to pick up the game and that I have the $ for him.  He asks where the game will go and I say – “in my car”…….. “really”.

He begrudgingly takes me upstairs and shows me the game.  I have no dolly either and he is not expecting to help me carry the game downstairs.  Ahh, no problem Indiana Jones!

Within 15 minutes the head is off, the playfield glass is out, the playfield is out, the legs are off and it is all downstairs and in the car.

At this point all is well with the now ex owner and we laugh about the whole thing over a Bud(weiser).  A great part of the pinball hobby is meeting all kinds of interesting people and trying to get Michigan to the Rose Bowl was no exception.

Here is the game in the car..

Just got this Bally Spy Hunter game to work on.  The game is running but has some issues.

Do you have a pinball you would like to sell.  If so please click here.

This is a game you don’t see very often.  Made in 1984 it had a production run of 2300 units.   Based on the very popular 1983 Spy Hunter video game, the background sound on the pinball is the same as the video game.  So if you visited arcades back in the early 80s you will recognize it right away.

Unfortunately, the owner doesn’t have the backglass for this game.   He has been looking for one without success, if anyone knows of an available backglass please let us know.

This game will be getting a good cleaning as well as some electronic fixes.

Here is something you don’t see too often.

Both a 1978 Bally Strikes and Spares and a 1976 Williams Space Mission on location and taking quarters.  Rare enough to find a pinball in a laundry mat and here were TWO.

I stopped and played the Strikes and Spares.  It was 25 cents per play.  Had some small issues but the flippers were strong.  Even managed to score a replay at 240,000.  And that game sure is pretty to look at – even at 33 years of age!

So if you happen to be near 1067 Novi Road, Northville, MI 48167-1174 then stop in and play some classic pinball machines!

As someone did correctly guess, the game mentioned in the last entry is a 1978 Bally Power Play.  There were 13,750 Power plays made, making it one of the higher production games of all time.

Robert Gordon “Bobby” Orr, OC (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Orr played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for his entire career, the first ten seasons with the Boston Bruins, joining the Chicago Black Hawks for two more. Orr is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest hockey players of all time.  A defenceman, Orr used his ice skating speed and scoring and play-making abilities to revolutionize the position.  (From Wikipedia).

We are just starting to refurbish this game and bring it back to life.  It is going to need some boardwork and some cleaning.   It is in good cosmetic condition so it should turn out to be a super nice example of this very popular game.

Below is the playfield, plastics removed, getting ready for cleaning and waxing.

Just started working on this early Bally machine and found this in the game..

This game was made in February of ’77 so this was not too long after that.  I didn’t know Michigan had a lottery back then!  And it was 50 cents to play!  While this was cool to find I would rather find some plain old silver quarters – but that doesn’t seem to happen!

Here is a picture of the cabinet..can anyone identify the game?

Some of us grew up watching Steve Austin as the Six Million Dollar Man.  I was in grade school at the time and my parents would let me stay up late to watch it.  But only if I got an A on my spelling test!

This Bally game is unique because it is a SIX player game.  Took a lot of imagination at Bally to create a SIX player game for the SIX million dollar man, huh .

This game will be fixed up and eventually be for sale.

Time to start making the game reliable so we can test out our new playfield.

First up is the Rectifier Board.  This board takes the power from the Transformer, modifies it, and sends it to various other parts of the game.  One of it’s primary functions is to convert the AC line power to DC power.  All the computer boards need DC power to operate.  Some of the lights and the coils can operate on AC.

The boards in the games were designed to last about 5 years.  So after 30+ years we can expect some major issues.

Here we are replacing the burnt connector and connector pins on the rectifier board.

Turns out we could write a whole BOOK on early bally solid state game repair.  Fortunately – somebody else already has!

The Pinball Ninja has done this and you can access the entire book, for free online, at:

http://www.pinrepair.com/bally/index.htm

Using this guide you can repair almost all board problems.  Some soldering skills, an understanding of electrical concepts, and some understanding of logic design is helpful.