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“Will you challenge the Black Knight Again?”

One of the great masterpieces of the 80’s – Black Knight pinball.

This machine went under pretty reasonable surgery:

• Cabinet and backbox stripped to wood.  Repaired and painted with a 5 stage automotive process.
• New mirror backglass – a very high cost item
• All new internal circuit boards
• Play field stripped down, leveled, cleared and painted BLACK.  New graphics installed and sandwiched between automotive clear.
• Full LED conversion
• New plastics everywhere!
• New flipper mechanisms and hardware!
• New legs and misc hardware inside and out

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This is another “grail” pin that I’ve always wanted to own.  So after some searching, I was able to find an unrestored version that needed some help.  Unfortunately, before I was even started, a good friend of mine wanted to purchase this machine when it was finished.   Oh, well… can’t keep them all!

The original machine was in good working order, technically.   It had already was partially torn down for restoration, but the job ended up being to big for that owner.

In the end, here’s the final restoration notes and custom upgrades:

• Full Cabinet tear down, sand, repaint and new graphics applied
• Freshly re-plated shooter gun from a fellow pinball restorer *who recently departed this earth*   So this machine hopes to honor his life.
• New DMD display
• All boards pulled and re-worked.
• Display panel was early production, and had the prototype inserts already milled out… So we added back the circuit to light them up.
• Playfields were stripped, repaired, recolored in some areas and many many coats of automotive clear.   This plays very fast now
• New clear ramp installed
• Propellor mod added to plane
• Additional LED lighting added to fighter plane
• Additional LED lighting added to mini playfield
• Additional LED lighting added to IDOL
• Opto circuits repaired (idol, trough etc)
• LED lighting added to shooter lane
• Full LED lighting and under cabinet flasher effects
• Custom 2-tone legs to match cabinet graphics!
• New plastics as necessary and all new standoffs

Last but not least

We topped the machine off with a NEW in the box – Indiana Jones bush knife – originally licensed from LucasFilm for the first release of the original movie.   It was custom mounted on heavy magnets (so that it would not be marred / damaged and could be removed easily).   Under-lit by color chosen LED lighting.   It’s a sight!

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Tales of the Arabian Nights (TOTAN) pinball is one of my “grail” pins… meaning, a machine that I’ve been looking to own for quite some time.   These machines are very hard as most collectors hold on to them forever.   These machines are considered the most beautiful pinball machines ever made due to the machine layout, style, music and theme.

We were lucky enough to actually have 2 machines to restore.   They both were in reasonable shape considering, but suffered horribly from incandescent lamp burn and the resulting heat damage.   The heat from the standard bulbs over time charred the play field and dried out the inserts causing them to lift off the play field.

 THIS GAME IS FOR SALE

Cabinet Restoration

• Original artwork was salvaged.  Color keyed repairs and wood damage repaired.
• clear coat re-applied over entire surface to lock in the repairs and prevent any further sun damage and abrasion wear
• New legs, misc hardware, buttons
• Restored coin door

Circuitry Restoration

The latest release of the WPC series of circuit boards have become more reliable with less parts with one exception, the power driver boards.  Williams did away with separate bridge rectifiers and went with cost effective power diodes to do the same function.   However, these items do not disperse heat well at all.   Ironically, the diodes that drive the general illumination (that did all the damage to the play field) also caused a lot of heat damage on the driver board.    Anyone who says LEDs don’t save pinball machines are crazy because if this machine had been converted earlier, all of these repairs would not have been necessary.

Playfield Restoration

The play field was fully dismantled and cleaned.   All inserts were cut out, cleaned and leveled.  Multiple series of automotive clear coat and water slide graphics were necessary to get the play field flat and ready for paint work repair.   The burned natural wood area was re-colored and hole damage was repaired and painted.   Multiple airbrush layers were locked in with more automotive clear (I can’t even count how many)… and finally the whole play field was final wet sanded and buffed.

The following items were also upgraded

• Wareroom rail was epoxy coated white for a different look as was the skill shot
• Scimitar blade was plated in nickel for an unbelievable look
• New apron
• All new plastics
• All new ramps
• All LED conversion
• New pop bumper assemblies
• New rubber and balls

Before and After

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Williams, the top brand pinball maker in the 80’s and 90’s, produced three unique machines showcasing the classic Coney Island amusement park.   The Cyclone was the 2nd machine in the lineup, and arguably the best model of the series.

This machine had many of the elements of the first machine (Comet), but expanded on this machine using better sound, lighting, subway tunnel, drop target, a second ramp, ferris wheel and an animated mystery wheel in the back box.

This machine is also known for it’s fantastic artwork on the play field as well as having Nancy and Ronald Reagan on the back box translite riding in the front seat of the roller coaster.

The Cyclone is a single ball pinball machine – which is odd for this generation as most all machines were created with multi-ball as it’s main attraction.  However, this machine stands on it’s own for it’s fantastic play and is thought of as one of the best single-ball pinball machines ever made.

Restoration

We decided to go all the way with this restoration, as it is such a classic machine.

The back box and cabinet were entirely stripped down to the wood, repaired and returned to perfect square.   The insides and out were primed, blocked, and painted with automotive flat black base coat many times.

The next step was a 2 stage custom orange and yellow automotive stencil paint process.  It was hand touched up and followed up with 2 coats of automotive clear coat.

The play field was pretty worn, so we opted for a NEW play field and then added 3 more coats of clear to give it a thick and lustrous finish.  The play field was repopulated with mostly all new parts and fully converted to LED lighting.

All circuit boards were removed, reflowed and repaired for perfect operation.   The machine was rounded out with new legs, protectors, refinished coin door and under cabinet LED flash lighting.

The result is a better than new classic Cyclone machine that will stand the test of time.

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Holiday orders are keeping us dancing so our inventory is changing quick.  However, we have some machines coming ready soon.   Of course, custom orders always take precedence over our own inventory, so if you see anything you like here, inquire today.

Williams – No Good Gofers Pinball  – limited edition run, one of the very last machines built by the Williams / Bally company (Dec 1997)

Williams – Fish Tales Pinball – Super fun original title when pinball was king and Williams was turning everything into gold.  Awesome game

Williams – Alley Cats Shuffle Board – 9′ long shuffle alley.  Restored, full LED display conversion.  Super nice and one of the last shuffle alley machines made.   This machine is READY to GO today

Valley Cougar 8 Professional Darts – full size soft tip dart machine.  Play one of many built in games or play against the intelligent computer opponent.  This has every bell and whistle made.

Millipede / Centipede Multicade – Super nice Millipede / Centipede machine converted to multicade.  With 25″ huge monitor.  Only one available

…. more coming soon in Dec news update

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New Games

• New multicade machines are back in stock.  Pacman, Ms. Pacman, Galaga and more all in one machine.
• Demolition Man Pinball – this wide body pinball has some of the best gadgets in the game.  Ramps galore. 6 ball multiball and more.
• WWF Royal Rumble – another wide body pinball with a mini play field.  Restored and ready to go.  Will not last long
• Rapid Fire – This unique machine is what happens when you combine pinball, a chain gun and space invaders.   This is a very rare opportunity to add a game like this to your collection or bar.
• Alley Cats Shuffle Bowler – Nearly 9′ of awesome.  Shuffle bowling has been around since the 50’s, but this late 1980’s model is what happens when you take the very best, add solid state electronics and full LED conversion.   We usually don’t do machine like this, but it was a rare opportunity to pick up a great arcade game.
• Williams Cyclone – the 2nd of the roller coaster series, but arguably the best of the bunch.  You know, the one with Ron and Nancy Reagan in the front seats!    Fully restored, new playfield and more.  High End pin for half the price.  Est this fall

Contact Issues

OOPS – Our email was full.   We had no idea that we went over the quota and all incoming email has been blocked.  Perhaps for a couple weeks.    The problem has been fixed.  Sorry !!!

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The Bride of pinbot (BOP) is a unique machine in all of pinball.  This is the second in the Pinbot series, and arguably the best one of the group.  Only 8100 units were ever created.

This is the only pinball machine that shares the same circuitry as the legendary Williams Funhouse, and if you haven’t noticed, Funhouse has exploded in value by almost 2x in the last year.  We expect the unique nature of this game and lineage to follow the same value trend.

Bride of Pinbot shares much of it’s playfield similarities with Pinbot and Jackbot, where the right side contains the skill shot.  They also share the concept of a translucent mini pachinko style upper playfield on top of the 3 pop bumpers.  The rest is all unique to the BOP.

The main playfield toy takes up a good portion of the back of the game:  the 4 faces of the Bride of Pinbot. This object is a large spinning cube that also doubles as a mini playfield used to lock balls and show the state of metamorphosis.  The object of the game is to guide the Bride through her multiple stages in becoming human, to the dismay of her husband Pinbot.  Only videos can truly show what this is all about.  Add to this one excellent techno-inspired sound track and light show.   The special backglass is created to show lightshow animations as well as point values.

This game is fun and tough because of it’s quick ramps and short playfield area in front of the flippers .  Nothing like this game will ever be reproduced again.

Restoration

We’ve restored a few Bride of Pinbot machines in the past.  Here are a couple restoration photo montages:

Summer 2012

Video

Winter 2012/2013

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This just in:

• Kiss Pinball: full restoration blog.  Check back this week for lots of pictures and a great story
• Bally Xenon : If you liked the full restoration of the Kiss Pinball… then you’ll love this machine.  We’re going over the top on this one and it’s going to be a beauty.   Currently still available for a new home.
• Williams Blackout : a classic 80’s pinball with classic Williams sound and play.  This will be restored to keep this pinball inexpensive but still super reliable.
• NBA Fastbreak : We have this unique beauty ready to go.  Check out the pinball inventory
• NFL Blitz / NBA Showtime arcade : in original cabinet and graphics.  RARE!  We’ve had to turn down people all summer because we could not get this machine back in stock.  We have ONE.  Check the arcade inventory for more information.  Will not last long.

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You would think it would be easy to keep up to date with monthly news.  I don’t know where the Summer has gone.

We’ve been busy with a lot of custom orders and will have some restoration articles coming very soon on the following machines:

• Prototype F-14 pinball
• Full restoration of a very very bad Kiss pinball.
• Update to the Gottlieb Playball blog – did another restoration, this time with LEDs and a couple more items.  It’s certainly worth the look.
• Another WWF Royal Rumble restoration – will update the respective blog on that machine.
• Our STERN Sharkey’s Shootout is finally finished.  It had a lot of broken elements.  Before it wasn’t so much fun to play… but now that everything is working (restored and with better lighting to boot), it’s a lot of fun.
• We’ll be starting a big restoration of our Bride of Pinbot shortly.  It’s going to get the full treatment and lots of chrome.  ooooh shiny!
• Did a nice restoration on a 1986 Williams High Speed and an Arctic Thunder arcade.  We’ll just put a couple pics below.
• Had some pictures of our Stargate and Getaway restorations from earlier this summer (see below)

Misc Pictures from late summer:

Multicade (1981 resto/upgrade)

Midway 1999 Arctic Thunder

Williams 1986 High Speed

Williams 1992 High Speed II – The Getaway

Gottlieb 1995 Stargate

Go Braves!

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Bally (Midway / Williams) thankfully had the foresight (or dumb luck) in allowing the designers to bid on their next pinball machine.  Rather than go the simple route of making a product tie-in to some current fad or movie release, the Bally/Midway/Williams company realized that not all great ideas came from top down.

The result is an uncommonly excellent pinball machine – based off a very strange and low budget British mystery-science TV show – Dr. Who.  I wasn’t at all a fan of the show… in fact could only watch it for a couple of minutes before flipping to one of the other 3 available channels at the time.  But, I remember enough of the show and legacy to know about this machine.  Initially, I wasn’t at all interested in even giving this pin a first chance.  Thankfully, I had the option to purchase and restore one.  Being a Bally DMD, it was a simple choice.

Before I started the restoration,  I read the bio on the designer and the background leading up to the production of this machine.  The story is quite fantastic and really helped in understanding the depth of passion that went into it’s design and software programming.  Finally, after turning on the machine for the first time (which I didn’t even do until after the restoration), I was very surprised in it’s game rules, flow and depth.   Actually, had the machine not already sold to a customer, I would easily have kept this machine for myself… and to this day, really wished I had.

Unique Features

Usually, I don’t bother with stating features of a pinaball machine, as it can be easily found in the various wiki sites.  However, as I have played and restored enough machines, I wanted to point out items that stood out for me:

• Custom GI lighting sequences.  Usually the general illumination lighting is On/Off and sometimes level of DIM.  However, this machine (while having the basic features),  also has multiple GI controlled circuits, which allowed the software to apply lighting patterns for different times in the game.  Very noticeable and cool effect (especially with LED lighting).  The backbox also has multiple separate GI circuits for animation.
• Use of pop bumpers.  I enjoyed the around the back path to the top of the pop bumpers – which are used to increase the multiplier bonus.  It becomes one of the many focal features of this machine.
• Different ramp paths.  This machine has a left/right ramp orbit (like many machines), but the left ramp shot has a neat cellar door feature that interrupts the flow.
• Time expander – mini playfield.  Yes of course, the main toy in the game.  Very cool moving platform with 3 levels and integrated perfectly into the game.  Not overdone, not oversized and not the entire purpose of the game.
• Moving Dalek topper.  What a cool feature… makes you want to look up while he is barking at you.

This game is as fun to watch as it is to play.

Restoration

This machine was probably on route for a couple years at best before it was shopped and sold to a home.  There it was played very mildly for the next 15+ years before coming to me.  It was very well preserved, with the obvious impacted dirt and various broken down elements that you would expect on a 20+ year old machine.   The cabinet and backbox were literally blemish free.  The playfield and plastics were without damage.  This machine was a great start, but still needed to be taken down to the wood and rebuilt.

• Flame polished ramps.
• Removed and rebuilt time-expander playfield.  Broken optics and VUKs
• Polished and waxed playfield and plastics
• New pop bumpers.  Originals were in pieces.
• New slingshot assembly
• New flippers and linkages
• Full custom LEDs.
• Under cabinet LED flash light effect.  See the video below!
• New balls, legs, cabinet protectors
• rebuilt sound board and DMD driver
• Moving Dalek topper.  Thankfully, this machine had the original fixed Dalek topper.  It was removed and modified to move and flash along with the game’s original software programming.