Alright...

So some of you know, some of you may have caught on...

About a month ago, I bought a pinball table. I had been looking at them for some time, and was going to keep quiet about it until I had saved enough money to buy a table. I didn't even tell Fotini. Well, one day she mentioned that she wouldn't be opposed to owning a table, and that's when I opened up...

I was hoping to find a table in need of repairs that my dad and I could work on together. I asked him if he would be interested in repairing one, and he said yes.

A few weeks later I found a table listed in 'great' condition for $150. I went to check it out, and it was not in great condition, but it was in OK shape. The plug was cut off, so I couldn't even try it out, and they didn't know how to open it, so I couldn't inspect the inside.

I am a licensed electrician, though I choose not to use my 'skills', so I am familiar with most of the elements that comprise a machine, I had just always wanted to take one apart and find out how it worked.

I offered the people $100 and they gave it to me. The backglass is almost always 50% of the value of the table, and the backglass on this machine is GORGEOUS. Flawless really. The glass alone is probably worth more than $100, and even if I couldn't get it working, or hated it, it's only $100 and I could donate it to TVI.

Anyway, I spent a little over 2 weeks tinkering with it, just cleaning stuff and checking connections... learning about the mechanics. The machine lit up, but was unplayable. It finally hit me what needed to happen to start the game and sure enough, it became playable. I set it at a high angle, replaced all the rubber elements in the game, and ordered a schematic and manual.

Well, after 20 minutes of playing, one of the coils fried. Unfortunately, its a coil that controls a 90 contact spider, so half the lights now don't work, as well as half the scoring mechanics. I just need to order a new coil though. The right flipper is also a little weak, and it's been recommended that I replace the flipper assemblies to tighten things up.

It's a little beat up, but I just want to restore it to playable shape, and then hopefully trade it out. I'm not going to refurbish the whole thing or anything crazy. This is just a learning model.

It seems that among the pinball community, old pins are like cars. They have similar weight in model or manufacturer, year, etc. Parts work the same way with people stripping and trading. The community is also extremely friendly. It's been really wonderful getting to know people and explore different machines.

I made a Flickr set with some pretty dull photos of the machine, if you're interested. I'll take some better photos soon. It's a 1973 Bally 'Odds & Evens', aka the single player version of 'Monte Carlo'.



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I've also been keeping a log of all the tables around town that I've come across. Yesterday we found some great tables at EuCan Bowl... Twilight Zone, Simpsons Pinball Party, Theater of Magic, The Machine and Fish Tales. Fo and I were both coveting The Simpsons and Theater of Magic. Twilight Zone and Fish Tales were off on their angle. Instead of a 6-7 degree angle, they were nearly flat. ie. sllloooowww.

crappy vacation photos is up!

for some reason... they all loaded small on flickr.

the stream: http://flickr.com/photos/callmesteam/sets/72157604767662377/