Pinball Redux

The Game Room
41

By the way, thanks to everyone who participated in the poll. I was really leaning toward Bad Cats, so even thought it didn’t get a lot of votes, I’m still getting it; however, if it had gotten zero votes, I probably would not be getting it.

I was actually leaning away from Funhouse, but since it was the big winner, I was moved to do that big sweep that really dejunked my apartment, which needed doing even more than I realized. So now I get two more machines!

And now I think I can fairly refer to what I have as a “collection.” Yay!

Thanks for all the time I will be wasting!

Seriously. I wonder if this will make my son popular*? He likes pinball, but he grew up with a machine in the house. How much do kids who grew up with Nintendo Wii like pinball?

*I don’t mean, do I think people who would otherwise never speak to him with cozy up to him for free games; I just mean, when word gets out, I wonder if this will make our apartment the go-to place. We already do tend to have a crowd of kids around the game consoles, and I was a little surprised once to find a bunch of post-millennials totally enraptured by NES’s Super Mario Bros.

It probably counts against us, though, that we don’t keep soda in the house, and mostly for snacks, have sugar-free Popsicles. I do get cookies at Girl Scout cookie time, though. Gotta support the program. Then I buy like ten boxes. And at Purim, there’re Hamantashen.

42

I think you made a fantastic decision; I hope that 2 years from now you think you made the right call, too.

43

Oh, I think I will. Thanks.

I am so looking forward to my trip to Las Vegas. Got to get through the High Holy Days first though. One thing at a time.

Anyway, soon I’ll have Bad Cats and Funhouse to tide me over.

44

The apartment is being fumigated today, so the pets are going to daycare at the vet. The fumigator comes around noon, so I am going in the morning to pick up Funhouse. Got the truck yesterday (also, the price of the machine in cash). The boychik is going to a day program today, and has to be there at 8 (he is taking his bath now). He is very excited about getting to go to Burger King for breakfast, because there is stuff piled on the kitchen table because the cupboards have to be empty for spraying.

So, take the boychik for breakfast, drop him off at 8, come home, walk the dog quickly, then take the pets to the vet for daycare in the van, and from there, arrive at the location to pick up Funhouse. Get there around 10am. Pick it up. Bring it home, and if the fumigator hasn’t been there, get my upstairs neighbor, who has already promised to help me move the machine (for $25) to move it. It the fumigator has been there, leave the van (you can’t see inside it), go run errands and go to a class I have, and give the place 4 hours to detoxify, the go back and unload the machine. Don’t worry about setting it up now. Get the pets from daycare, return the van, Uber back, then worry about setting up the machine.

By the time I’m done, it will be time to pick up the boychik.

That’s my day.

Bad Cats is being delivered on Friday.

Ordered the manual for Funhouse, but it hasn’t arrived yet. Tracking says next Tuesday. So if anything is wrong, I can check the usual fuses, and do a visual inspection, but I won’t be able to do a thorough work-up until Tuesday.

I did do a visual inspection of the machine, and didn’t see any evidence of anything ever having burnt, or any jerry-rigging. I did see some wires with cracked insulation, but replacing those is no big deal, and I saw some bulbs that looked original, as opposed to having been replaced with higher glowing, but cooler newer ones, and I will probably replace those for the sake of uniformity as well as safety. I was kind of surprised, because Funhouse isn’t that old a game, but I supposed someone could have replaced a burnt out lamp with one cribbed from an older machine. It is very dusty, but I can spray compressed air around it, and then vacuum it, and wipe it down with electronics-safe wipes. I have tools for cleaning computers, so I have a refillable air tank, and very tiny vacuum extensions.

I have a feeling that someone may have lubed some parts with WD-40, instead of using a carbon-based lubricant. It also really needs the backside of the backglass carefully cleaned. That I’m not sure how to do. I will have to ask the guy when he delivers Bad Cats.

But it does work. I took the top glass off and purposely triggered everything to make sure that all the things like the extra balls and multiballs, and Rudy and all were functioning.

Even if I had found problems, I think I would have bought it anyway, at that price. I have never restored/rebuilt a pinball machine myself, just done minor maintenance. This would have been an opportunity to do some more detailed work by myself. And even if I never got it working right, I think this particular machine would have resold for more than what I paid for it. But I have confidence that it will be OK. I think when the guy I bought it from got it, it was in top shape. He has just neglected it, so it is dirty, but he hasn’t abused it.

45

Ya know, when you’re at the PBHoF there’s prolly a 100% chance that Tim, the owner/founder (technically it’s a non-profit not a business), will be there. I can only recall a handful of times that I didn’t see him there, and I’ve been many, many dozens of times over the years. You should introduce yourself, tell him about your trip and see if he’ll talk shop for a bit, maybe. I bet he can tell you how to clean that backglass, for instance.

46

I will do that. I have already contacted him by email. I wanted to make sure the PHoF was going to be opened the days I would be there-- that it wouldn’t be closed for a tournament or something-- and he assured me that it had been open every day for the last 11 years. He also let me know that they did or didn’t have a couple of different machines. They have a Gilligan’s Island, which I am very excited about. I am sure I am going to spend the first hour there just trying to decide what to play first.

I realize that Las Vegas is a tourist town, so it’s probably bustling all the time, but I’m sort of hoping that the fact that I’ll be there during the day (as soon as they open!) on a Monday of a non-holiday weekend means that maybe the PHoF won’t be as crowded as say, a Friday night, or a holiday.

47

Nope; you’ll be fine at that time. Busy times are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after about 3pm. Not sure why Wednesday is busy, but for the past 6 months, every time I go at that time, the parking lot is full and the place is wall-to-wall packed (it totally fucking rocks!).

And yeah, it’s open every day. :slight_smile:

48

Wednesday is probably busy because a lot of performers take that day off, so there aren’t as many shows to go to. People may travel on a Sunday or a Monday, go to the casinos right away, and have tickets to shows on Thursday, Friday & Saturday, and that leaves Wednesday for sightseeing.

When I lived in NYC, Wednesday was always the night we saw tourists in some of the less-well-traveled places. The local bars, especially gay bars, would have lots of unfamiliar faces in them. Not that I went to bars a lot, but there was a gay bar that had an amateur drag night the first Wednesday of every month, and I had a friend who participated, so I’d go to see him. Big night to have tourists there.

49

Performers don’t take Wednesday off here and the PBHoF just isn’t that big a tourist draw. It seems to be families and groups of young teens, mostly. Maybe Wednesday isn’t a big afterschool day for a couple of the local middle/high schools or something; I dunno. I usually just try and focus on making sure my name is at the top of Tron, Defender and/or Robotron 2084 and then I find a pinball machine to become the master of (for that day). If I master one, I may find another. :smiley: And of course play my favorites at some point, too.

50

I apologize if this is a minor threadshit (and I read through this thread with interest) but I only fuzzily recollect any of the pinball machines I played as a kid, except one:* Gorgar*,
I don’t know what it was (maybe the first talking table machine I’d ever seen in the late 1970’s?) about that machine but my ten year old self loved it.

Anyone else like or liked this machine?

51

Gorgar is a great machine. It was one of the ones I considered buying when I made a thread like this before. It was the first “talking” machine, in that it had some recorded voice effects. Ultimately, it was too much like Lost World, a machine I already had, and I went with a different one, but yes, it’s a great machine.

52

If you’re visiting during the day, you’ll be fine, as has been noted. I’ve only visited during the day–usually from noon or so, until 3 or 4 pm, and it hasn’t been packed. More machines are unoccupied than are occupied. If there’s a game that you want to play, and someone else is playing it, just play another game. When you’re done, chances are your desired machine will be available.

53

I liked Gorgar. I still recall playing it in the arcade, invited by the words that the machine spoke: “Me Gorgar. Beat me.” I did, and won many free games from it.

54

Gorgar was a Williams, but for the longest time, I remembered it as a Bally, because I always thought that Bally “got” it better than the other manufacturers that people need to be able to play the machine for a while and beat them occasionally, or they won’t come back. The games that lasted four seconds always seemed to be a Stern or Gottleib. Bally’s, you could keep the ball in play forever.

Funhouse, for example, is also a Williams, and while I admit I’ve got one now, I got a great deal on it-- it always seemed the classic example of a tantalizing machine that lured you in, then ate the ball in a few seconds (not a problem now that I own it, and can keep playing as long as I want!)

I never asked an arcade guy, but since Bally machines were usually my favorites, and there were usually people playing them when I got to the arcade, it seemed like the Bally’s got more play than the other machines.

But yeah, Gorgar was a good machine to play. Even if you didn’t manage to beat it, you usually got a long game out of it.

55

Phew! Williams vs. Bally vs. Gottlieb. This one may require a thread of its own.

I always liked Bally games. They were predictable–complete the sequence, then shoot for X, light the special, and score it. Williams games were much the same thing.

But Gottlieb games–they were something else. Non-symmetrical, for the most part. I spent many happy hours on “Royal Flush,” and “Atlantis,” and though it was symmetrical, “Out of Sight.” The latter mainly because it’s a part of my collection.

56

I looked up the list of Gottlieb games and could only remember ever encountering one - Genie - in my pinball playing days. All the rest were Williams or Bally/Midway (or later WMS or whatever the state of corporate play was at the time). I’m wondering if the arcades I frequented were deliberately excluding Gottlieb or whether there was a financial reason for it (e.g. the games were pricier).

57

Gorgar was cool.

Ballys machines are easiest, no doubt.

Williams are highly playable, tho, and very fast moving; their surfaces seem slicker or the balls themselves more highly polished or something. And I think Wiliams eventually overtook Ballys, as they got better at designing games. Their excellent mechanicals helped a lot too; great action on their flippers and bumpers.

Gottlieb games looked cool and sounded cool, but had terrible action, bad pathways and incomprehensible conditionals. I did pump quite a few quarters into the pinball machine they made that used the music from the Reactor video game, tho (Critical Mass? can’t recall). The video game wasn’t that good or much fun, but the music rocked; combining it with pinball was a decent move, I thought.

58

There’s a couple of Gorgar machines for sale on eBay. One is so ridiculously expensive, I wouldn’t give it a second look, except they ship anywhere. They use a freight service, and I’m not sure if it’s included in the price or not-- it’s still ridiculously expensive even if they do-- upwards of $5,000. They say “Best Offer.” I don’t know what that means. If they would take $2,800, and include shipping, that would be reasonable.

The other one is a decent price-- something like $1,800. But it’s local pick-up only. Some place in New York. I could seriously buy the $1,800 one, and rent a van, and drive from Indianapolis, to New York, staying in motels on the way up and down, and even figuring in lost income from time off work, and still not have it cost me the difference in price between the two machines.

Gorgar is a good machine, but aside from the fact that I am officially done buying pinball machines, I’ve said before, it seems too similar to Lost World, in spite of talking, and all. Yes, it is historically important, aside from being a good game, and if I were putting together my own Pinball Hall of Fame, there would definitely have to be a Gorgar, but if, for some reason, space magically opened up in the back room, the machine I want is Gilligan’s Island. It’s a really good machine too, and very different from anything I already have.

Come to think of it, strategy-wise, Star Trek is similar to Lost World, and as much as Star Trek is, well, STAR TREK! If a Gilligan’s Island came available locally, and I happened to have money at the time, I just might get rid of the Star Trek.

59

I don’t know if anyone will see this, but I’m posting anyway. I just found out there’s a Gilligan’s Island pinball machine available for only $3,200. I checked it out, and it’s in great shape. That’s an amazing price for that machine. It usually goes for about $1,200 more. I have to rent a truck and pick it up, but I can do that for about $40.

So to make room, I am thinking of letting Star Trek go. The thing about Star Trek is that even though I like it, and I really like the Star Trek theme-- and it’s a very early TV/movie themed machine-- its play has turned out to be very similar Lost World, and I’m not giving up Lost World-- it’s my all-time favorite machine. So I called around, and got an offer of $990 on Star Trek. I bought it several years ago for $1,200, and have gotten a lot of use out of it. Right now, it has a couple of bulbs out, and one switch that is a little off, and doesn’t always register points. I won’t have to fix those things-- $990 is the as-is price, and the buyer will pick it up. He’ll fix those few things, polish it up with Carnauba wax, and resell it, probably for about $1,200.

I suppose I could do all those things, and then try to sell it on Craigslist or eBay for $1,200, but it would take time, and in the meantime, where would I put Gilligan’s Island? I have to move on it right away. What I’m going to save over what it usually costs is more than four times what I’m “losing” on Star Trek, and I’m not really losing it, because I used it for several years. And I used it a LOT. Once, I invited people over for a Purim pinball tournament (if you know anything about Purim, you know it was a drunken pinball tournament). The machines were set for tournament play, and gave points instead of replays for specials, and we referred to that as “Hanging Haman.” The winner of the tournament wore Mordechai’s crown. Star Trek was game one in the tournament.

That means we’ll have these:

Lost World
Bad Cats
Funhouse
Black Knight
Gilligan’s Island

That seems like a bit of a better mix. I’d still like to have an EM machine in there, but maybe when I win the lottery. Y’know, if I ever buy a ticket, or something.

Boy, would I love my own pinball hall of fame. I’d put in some arcade games, an air hockey table, and a 50s or 60s style jukebox, and call it “Lost World.”

Maybe I’ll get lucky, and pick the next stock that turns out to be Amazon, or Apple, or I’ll write a bestseller, and I can sink all my profits into supporting a Lost World. Sigh my uncle tried to talk me into going to rabbinical school when I was 22, but I wanted to be an interpreter. Rabbis make boatloads of money. Interpreters do OK, but they do not make boatloads of money, plus they have to buy private insurance, and plan their own retirement.

Sigh