Wife headed to the shops this morning to get some new swimmers for our daughter.
Next thing I get a phone call from her asking me if I know anything about Apollo 13 (the pinball machine, not the space mission).
The shop she was in, was having a big sale (30% off!) and had a free sausage sizzle.
Also inside the shop was an Apollo 13 pinball machine, which the shop owner had recently purchased and wanted to have it on during the sale.
The owner reported that it had come up with an error message when she turned it on though, and my wife offered my services to come and repair it.
Anyway when I arrived and turned on the machine it came up with the following message - "1 Pinball Missing". A quick look over the playfield found the "missing" ball resting on the moon near the loop of the ramp. The owner didn't have the keys, but I started a game and knocked the ball free with another ball - Error message fixed!
Had a couple of quick games and managed to get top score and put my name up.
Apart from some non working globes and a stuck switch or two, the game played pretty well.
Owner was very happy and asked if I will come back next week to give a quote on a full service of the machine.
EDIT
Forgot to mention that after I played, a young bloke about 11 or 12, who was watching, got on and played about four games before his mum dragged him away. He wasn't happy and wanted to keep playing.
Maybe there is hope for pinball after all!
