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This page contains a brief description of each pin I've owned and sold. I include a little story of what each pin means to me, why I had it in my collection and why I sold it. After the description is a picture of the pin as detailed in the Flyer. Pins I've Sold
Monday Night Football - Data East 1989 I purchased this game at a US Amusement auction in January, 2000. It was my first pinball. This pin has speech, music and ramps. The music is Hank Williams Jr's "Are you ready for some football" soundtrack. This has two games in one...how many pinball points you score and how many football points you score. You can score Touchdowns by completing passes or running for first downs. You can score field goals and extra points by kicking the pinball through the goal posts...the goal post rise from underneath the playfield and a ramp jettisons the pinball over the cross-bar. Very fun game...especially for 2-3-4 players. I had to pay for about $200 of board work. This got me going into learning how to fix pinball machines (and keep them running). I was able to track down and purchase a new center ramp for the game and a new backbox Referee - both were hard to find and I got them at a good price! I sold this in August 2001. I needed to make room for the other pins I was collecting and needed some cash. As with any pinball collection, as new pins were collected they got the play time while the play time on this pin diminished. It was a good pin - hated to sell it but it was First In, so it was First Out. I bought the pin for $500 and put about $250 into the game. I sold the pin at a price where I broke even - SO that means my kids & I got 18 months of FREE PLAY!
I picked this pin up for several reasons. It is made the same year and by the same manufacturer as the other 2 EMs I own. The pin had a small production run, so its somewhat collectible. It was close (Cincinnati area) and the price was right. Also, this is an Add-A-Ball and Single Player game - both rare. Single Player EMs allow for more complex rules and carry-over of "game achievements" from ball-to-ball. Add-A-Ball means instead of counting UP from Ball 1 to Ball 3 or 5, this game counts DOWN from Ball 3 or 5 to 1. Along the way you earn extra balls (up to 10 of them at a time). Other pinball games only allow you to accumulate 1 ball at a time. As with most EMs, it was a mess. It needed a total cleaning and a few minor parts. The playfield, plastics and cabinet were in excellent shape. The backglass has some flaking - most of which I will be able to touchup as its not in the light areas (I have a page dedicated on my website dealing with the Backglass Restoration). The biggest mechanical hurdle was to undo what the previous owner did. One of the switches (yes just 1 of the 1000s) didn't quite make contact. This switch let the other switches know when the ball was in the out-hole so the Bonus Countdown could begin, Ball Count would be decremented and the ball would be served to the shooter lane. Instead of finding out which one it was and fixing it, the previous owner put a momentary switch in the coin door and wired the mechanism that delivers the ball to the shooter lane directly to the Transformer! I had to get a copy of the schematics, at which point it took me a night to remove all of the "modifcations" and 2 nights to find the switch and make a minor adjustment so that it would register. Granted it was tricky and I pulled some of my hair out, but geez it was much easier that the "rigging" he did. This game didn't disappoint. It too is very fast. It has 2 saucers and 2 spinner targets (I dig them on playfields). It also has 8 stationary targets. The object of the game is to get all 8 targets lit at once and then BIG time points, balls & extra games come your way! Below is a picture of the game as displayed in its Flyer. I sold this in April 2002. I needed to make room for another pin I had purchased (Fathom - Bally 1981). I sold this to my brother-in-law. He has 2 little boys (ages 4 & 2) who enjoy playing my games and my father-in-law's. My sister-in-law also enjoys playing. This deal makes the entire family happy, plus I get to still play the game when I go over to their house! NOTE: My Brother-In-Law has sold the game to a guy in Indiana.
For me, this game started all of this pinball madness!! I used to play pinball as a kid - I vividly remember playing this game at Woolworths in Southland Terrace Shopping Center. It was 2 games/5 Balls a game for a quarter. As a young kid I was intrigued by EMs, but this Solid State GOT my attention. Eight Ball was one of the first successful Solid State pinballs. Over 20,000 of them was made (which is a lot - back in pinball's hey-day 10,000 units was considered a huge production run). In January 2000, I met a co-worker who had been collecting pinball machines for years. He told me they were affordable and how to purchase them. I immediately (like that afternoon) set out on a quest to find & own an Eight Ball. In May 2001, after 18 months of searching (and 2 other pinball machines along the way) I finally located one close enough to me that was affordably priced and in decent shape. Well, needless to say it needed a LOT of help in EVERY area except for the cabinet & backglass. I picked up this pin in Cincinnati Ohio. The owner purchased a house that came with this pinball. The previous home owner was the head of maintenance at Kings Island. This pin came from the arcade in the Coney Island section of Kings Island...it still had a "Beast" roller coaster sticker on it. I cut my teeth on working on Solid State pinball machines with this one! I also learned how to work on all of the Playfield mechanicals by rebuilding them from scratch. I tore this pin completely apart and rebuilt it (with many new parts). Bottom line is it was worth the time & money. I still have yet to see one anywhere close to my home for an affordable price. Also, the education I gained from working on all aspects of the pinball was invaluable. I sold this in October 2002. I needed to make room for another pin I had purchased (Whirlwind - Williams 1990). I sold this to my sister-in-law. She has 2 little kids (ages 6 & 3), but its her & her husband are the ones constantly playing it!
This was my first Electro-Mechanical (EM) game. I wanted an EM in my collection to help me educate visitors to my house on the development of pinball machines. Also I was intrigued on how an EM worked - all of those switches in the "belly of the beast". But the most important reason I got an EM was to learn how to work on them so I could support my Father-in-law's pinball machine (Space Mission - WMS 1976). I decided if I was going to get a pin to support his, I better get one by the same manufacturer and same type/vintage. Space Mission is a four player (which has unique mechanisms) so I wanted to get a WMS 4-player. I decided on getting either Aztec or Grand Prix. After about 4 months of searching I found one in Nashville TN. It was a wreck and was over priced - I had a LOT of work to do. I totally restored this game. However, the backglass was perfect and the playfield was close to perfect. Almost everything was there. A sling shot plastic was missing and another plastic was broken. The playfield glass had been broken so there was glass EVERYWHERE. This pin hadn't seen action since 1989 (12 years). I spent 3 months going through it and learning how to work on EMs and reading (deciphering) the wiring schematics. I'm very happy with this game - it is FAST!!! I was not expecting such a fast-action game from an Electro-Mechanical game. Sadly, I sold this in January 2003. I needed to make room for another pin I had purchased (Blackout - Williams 1990). I sold it to a guy in Detroit who remembered playing the game as a kid and wanted that vintage of game in his gameroom.
I got into WMS Sys3-7 games in 2003. This game has sound but no speech. This was the first game to have continuous background sound during game play. I never had a chance to play this game so when I had a chance to pick one up I went for it. This was a very successful game - people made a LOT of money off of it. There were over 19,000 of these games made so they aren't exactly rare. This has been sold to my brother-in-law. I hope it makes it back into my house someday.
This is a Wide Body game, meaning the Playfield is wider than normal pinball games. Williams made a a total 6 Solid State WB games in the late 70s & early 80s - Stellar Wars is considered the best of the six. I had a chance to purchase this game over a six month period but I didn't have any place to store it so the owner held onto for me. I went to Pinball Expo 03 and got a chance to play 2 of them. It was a simple, yet fun game to play. My father-in-law was with me and he really liked that game. Once I got home from Expo I went and picked the game up! The Playfield was shot but the guy gave me an extra playfield that was in really good shape - so I'll swap the PFs when I fix the game. This game did OK on location, people made some money off of it but not like some of the other hugely successful games of the era. While not a rare game, it wasn't made in the same quantity as the other games of that era (10K+) - there were around 5,500 of these games made. To man projects and not enought time or room so I had to clear this one out - for now. I do plan on obtaining another one of these someday and restoring it.
I purchase this game on a whim. Its complete but not working. I will get around to fixing it sometime in the Fall/Winter of 2003. At that point I will update the "story" on this game in more detail. Its a Williams Systems 11a game. It was designed by the famous Steve Ritchie and was and still is a VERY popular game. Over 14500 units were produced. Restored this game in 2003 & 2004. While it does have a fantastic light show & is fast, the game just didn't do anything for me so I sold it in the Summer of 2004.
I got into WMS Sys3-7 games in 2003. I really like the sound and speech of the Williams games from this era. I have never played a Firepower before, but I've heard from numerous people within the pinball community that this is a GREAT playing game. I figure with its reputation, the sound & the speech that I would try and locate one. I picked up this game within 2 hours of my house for a good price. It was missing the MPU & Driver boards but I had already purchased spares of these - heck, the MPU even had Firepower Game ROMs already in it. I need to replace one broken plastic and few of the targets. Not a big deal on the targets as I plan on retro-fitting the game to use Drop Tagets, which was how the game was originally designed. To save costs, the game was manufactured with stationary targets. This game was wildly-popular when it game out. It was the first game ever made with multi-ball and the lane-change feature. This game made the operators a LOT of money. Its hard to find them in good shape because they stayed out on route for a LONG time (making money!). After finishing the DVD on the 4 WMS Sys6 Sound & Speech games, I played this game for awhile and then sold it. This is a good game - I can see myself picking up another one of these in the future.
I got into WMS Sys3-7 games in 2003. I really like the sound and speech of the Williams games from this era. I have never played a Blackout before, but I've heard from numerous people within the pinball community that this is a very good playing game. I figure since I was focusing on this series of games in 2003 that I would try and locate one. I picked up this game within 4 hours of my house for a good price. The playfield was almost perfect. It was missing a score display and one was broken. The previous owner claims the game works but reboots during game play (which is a common issue with this series of games until the boards are repaired). This game has THREE spinner targets, a Kickout Hole, 5-bank of stationary targets, 2 3-banks of Drop Targets. The unique thing about this game is when you accomplish certain tasks all of the lights go off in the game, creating a BLACKOUT! This was the first game to contain a relay switch on the General Illumination. Many players thought they "broke" the game when this happened and walked away! After finishing the DVD on the 4 WMS Sys6 Sound & Speech games, I played this game for awhile and then sold it. This is a decent game - underrated. Too much black in the Playfield and Backglass artwork for my tastes.
Williams made 4 games (Gorgar, Firepower, Blackout, Alien Poker) in the early 80s that had both Background Sound and Speech, so I wanted to collect them. This was the FIRST pinball machine to have Speech! I barely remember playing this game as a kid. The artwork, with the Devil, was very ominous. I had been looking for about 6 months and alas one day the opportunity arose when I could purchase the game locally at a decent price. The backglass was in terrible condition but I had come across one a few months earlier so I swapped them out. This was a very successful game - people made a LOT of money off of it. There were over 14,000 of these games made so they aren't exactly rare. After finishing the DVD on the 4 WMS Sys6 Sound & Speech games, I played this game for awhile and then sold it. While I love the artwork, the game play was kind of lame - I don't see me getting another one of these in the future.
My kids wanted to learn how to play Poker, so I told them I would teach them how to play via a pinball game. I narrowed the choices down to Royal Flush, Joker Poker or Alien Poker. I found the Alien Poker first. Since I got the Alien Pokers, I decided to spend 2003 learning how to work on Williams games from the early 1980s. I found a pair of Alien Poker games within 2 hours from my house. They were extremely dirty but for the most part, complete. The MPUs had major battery acid damage, so both needed to be rebuilt. Both Backglasses were nearly perfect. One had a perfect Playfield and the other PF was in really good shape. Both Cabinets & Coin Doors were in very good shape. One game was missing the 3 flippers, but that was OK because I was going to install the newer style WMS Flipper mechs in one of the games anyway (for fun). Sold this game in 2005 to a fellow pinhead - I need some cash to fund other pinball projects. Extremely fun game - right behind Firepower!
I got into WMS Sys3-7 games in 2003. I really like the sound and speech of the Williams games from this era. This game is considered one of the "Awesome Foursome" by WMS that came out in 1981. WMS delivered four games that had multi-levels (Black Knight, Jungle Lord, Pharoah & Solar Fire). I have never played one of these games, let alone owned one so when I had the chance to trade an extra Alien Poker to obtain this game I went for it. This game was last in the line and came at a time when the pinball industry was in a recession. WMS was trying to save money so they did not produce SPEECH with the game which is a major negative. Going in the "wrong" direction, being the 4th game in a row with this "unique" design, and the recession didn't help this game set any sales record (it was considered a bust) with only 782 units produced. Most of you have never seen it, let alone played it. Nonetheless it appears to be a fun game (several SF owners have told me its a blast). The game is in nearly perfect condition. The artwork on this game comes from the 1980's TV Series Battlestar Gallactica. There are Cylon fighter planes flying all over the place. I really liked that show so the artwork is appealing to me. I set the game up in the Spring of 2003 and everyone who plays it loves it. It is a real sleeper. I didn't know this game was going to be so much fun. Traded this game in 2006 to fellow pin collector - I knew he would take care of this treasured relic and I picked up a couple of games (that needed to be shopped out) which I've been looking for.
This page was last updated on 08/27/06 |
