Pinball Legs

This page details the different types & styles of LEGS used on pinball machines. Right now, I'm only focusing on STEEL Legs as I have no experience with Pinball Machines that came with WOODEN Legs.

Isn't one leg the same as another leg? Well, from a FUNCTION perspective - sure, but from a FORM perspective - absolutely not!

There were different sizes and styles used over the last 40 years, even within the same pinball manufacturer. Most leg sizes are 28 1/2", however, some games used 27" legs long, while some used 31", while yet others used a combination of both 27" & 31" - whew!

Some people could care less what size or style the legs "should" be, they only want legs that look good (nice shiny chrome). Some taller people want all of there games to have 31" legs while shorter people want the 27" legs to help with ergonomic issues.

Almost all legs were CHROME. However, some legs did come in different colors (black, dark grey, light grey, light blue, etc).

Below is a breakdown of information I've gathered over the years on the different types of legs used by the various manufacturers. Most of this information was retrieved from numerous posts on the newsgroup rec.games.pinball. If you have any comments or more information about Pinball Legs that should be on this page to help people then please let me know - Thx

John Robertson posted a nice rule-of-thumb" tip on RGP about determining the correct size of leg for a game: the distance between the top of the Lockdown Bar and bottom of the front leg s/b 36".

Clay Harrell's Repair Guides on WPC Games contains info on the Legs used for these games (along with DiamondPlate & Backglass/Translite info).

Steve Young's "Pinball Resource" sells NEW Legs. To see what he has for sale check out his page on Legs.

NOTE: A Leg that has "RIBs" means that each side of the Leg has a design pressed into it (for strength & style). The design looks like a "rib".

BALLY

First game to use Steel Legs: ?? - ??

Used 28.5" legs on Electro-Mechanicals - No Ribs

Used 28.5" legs on Solid State Games thru 1985 - No Ribs

Used 28.5" legs on after 1985 - Ribs

	The Ribs are 21 inches long
	Extend from the bottom of the second leg bolt hole

Used the same 28.5" non-Ribbed leg design as Williams

Used the same 28.5" Ribbed leg design as Williams

COLORED LEGS - (non-chrome)

Dark Grey/Gunmetal Grey

	Captain Fantastic, Centaur, Eight Ball Deluxe
	Embryon, Fathom, Kiss, Xenon

DATAEAST/SEGA

	Used 28.5" Black legs pre-GnR (Guns N Roses) - No Ribs
	Used 30" Black legs post-GnR - No Ribs

GOTTLIEB

First game to use Steel Legs: Easy Aces - 12/55

Used 31" legs on Electro-Mechanicals - No Ribs

Used 27" legs on Sys1 Games - No Ribs

Used 27" legs on Sys80 Games - No Ribs

Used 28.5" legs on Sys3 Games - Ribs.

	The Ribs are 9 inches long
	Extend from the bottom of the second leg bolt hole

Haunted House & Black Hole used 31" on Rear & 27" on Front

STERN

First game to use Steel Legs: ?? - ??

Used 28.5" legs on Electro-Mechanicals - No Ribs

Used 28.5" legs on Solid State MPU100/200 Games - No Ribs

Used 30.5" Crinkle Black on Games 1999 to current - No Ribs

COLORED LEGS - (non-chrome)

Flight 2000 - Light Grey; Powder Coated

WILLIAMS

First game to use Steel Legs: Arrowhead - 2/57

Used 28.5" legs on Electro-Mechanicals - No Ribs

NOTE: Per Greg Turk - Williams made a few games, such as Ski Club & Alpine Club, that had a 'drop front'. On these games the front portion of the cabinet (where the coin box is located) is approximately 3" lower than the rest of the cabinet. These games require different legs on the front than on the back. Greg believes the right combination is 28.5" on the back and 26" on the front. 27" ones (which are available from pinball resource) on the front might work, but would result in the lock down bar being about 39" off the ground. If you use the same height legs all around, the back legs would have to be raised about 4-5" to get the correct playfield tilt.

Used 28.5" legs on Sys3-4-6-7-9 - No Ribs

Used 28.5" legs on Sys11 - Ribs

	The Ribs are 21 inches long
	Extend from the bottom of the second leg bolt hole

Used 28.5" legs on WPC - Ribs

	The Ribs are 21 inches long
	Extend from the bottom of the second leg bolt hole

Used 28.5" legs on Pinball 2000 - Ribs

	The Ribs are 21 inches long
	Extend from the bottom of the second leg bolt hole

Used the same 28.5" non-Ribbed leg design as Bally

Used the same 28.5" Ribbed leg design as Bally

COLORED LEGS - (non-chrome)

Black

	SW:EP1 & RFM - (P2K Games)
	Corvette, Creature-From-The-Black-Lagoon, Dr Who
	Harley Davidson, Black Rose, Party Zone
	Star Trek: The Next Generation

Blue

Road Show

Gold

	Indiana Jones, Flintstones, Addams Family Gold
	World Cup Soccer, Judge Dredd

This page was last updated on 06/07/04