1. Earliest pinball memory?
2. All time favorite pin? Why?
3. Favorite pinball manufacture?
4. Favorite game in your collection? Why?
5. How long have you been collecting?
6. First game and how did you find it?
7. Do you still have it?
8. What are you currently working on?
9. Most wanted game to add to your collection?
10. Best all time bargain game added to your collection?
11. Worst ever miss – tell us about the one that got away!
12. Worst ever purchase – tell us about the game you wished you never bought
13. Describe your collection
14. Describe your gamesroom
15. Do you have other games other than pinball?
16. Where can you see the hobby in 10 years?
1. We just moved into a new house not all that far from our previous home. This new place was not far from a small retail district. Williams Street, had a Fish and Chip shop with two pinball machines; Gottlieb "Drop-A-Card" and Williams "Klondike". My first game of pinball was on D-A-C. The sounds, the feel of the flippers and the vibrations from the roll of the ball going through my tiny 6 and a half year old arms had me hooked. I knew I was going to own a pinball machine one day.
2. "Klondike". I spent hours on this game. I loved it for its gameplay and the skill of getting the slot-machine like wheels in certain combinations for rewards; its right up there for me, for sentimental reasons. Other favourites include "Cosmic Princess", "Joker Poker" and "Farfalla" in SS and "The Red Max", "4 Queens" and "High Hand" in EM.
3. I love the artwork and the ease of working on Williams and Bally. Its the style of Score motor they used that really sells it for me.
4. Definately "Drop-A-Card". for the simple reason that it is THE very machine that the owners of the abovementioned chip shop owned. They gave it a as gift to family when they closed the place down to move to Adelaide. That family sold it to me. If you can call it a sale, I had to force the guy to take $50.00. You can imagine the sentimental value of owning the very first unit you ever played.
5. Six years
6. First Game was "High Hand". I conatced a guy who owned an amusement machine business and I specifically wanted an EM game (this is a long story and am happy to share it later in the "introduce yourself" room, as recommended by another member recently). Anyway, he didnt have any, but he put me onto a local business owner who he remembered a few years previously, kept three machines in the storage area out the back of his shop. I called him up, he invited me over and he showed me the games. He said I could pick any of the first two as he would not give away the Bally "Expressway" he had. I opted for Gottlieb's "High Hand". This was my first restoration project.
7. Yes. Before and after shots of the resoration process are posted in the "resorations" section.
8. 1969 Bally "Bowl-O". Almost ready to clear coat. All the replacement playfield parts arrived this last week. Just putting the final touches on the lettering on the playfield. A number of you have asked for more photos. I will post the complete before and after series once it is done.
9. KLONDIKE, PLEASE... KLONDIKE. And oh yeah, the chip shop owners also gave away to another member of their familly a Bally "THE RED MAX"... It went 'missing'. Someone in this town has a pinball machine of which only 70 were ever made... I must find this someone! How on earth Whyalla, South Australia ended up with one of these is a mystery.
10. Hankin "FJ" $100.00; Gottlieb "Drop-A-Card" $50.00; Playmatic "New World" $0.00 (free).
11. Williams "Bowl A Strike". I placed an ad in a regional paper some 300Ks away from where I live while on a work trip. By the time I got home, an elderly lady called me to say that I could go and pick it up, she didnt want it. I arranged to go and collect it the following weekend. Was ready to drive out there and so I thought I would call her to let her know I would be there that afternoon. Her daughter was visiting from interstate and when she found out that the mother was getting rid of it, she went off her face. Started crying because it was an heirloom and sentimental and precious and as a little girl she wet her pants for the first time on that pinball machine and on and on and on. Anyway, her international kick-boxing champion of the world boyfriend, was on his way over with the truck and they were taking it back to Melbourne. I couldnt have gone the day before, could I? *sigh*
12. Dont have at this stage.
13. Mostly EM games I have three SS. All are in varying states of requiring repair. One in particular "Time Zone" is an almost right-off with playfield artwork, but I am going to give it a go. I prefer EM to SS.
14. games room has not been up very long. it has 6x7m gameroom, a 3x7m workshop for restoration and a toilet. I am waiting for some free time to do some of the cosmetic touches. One of which is 4 soccer pitches painted on the ceiling with the shirts with player names of the team line-ups that won Italy its 4 world cups (1934, 38, 82, 2006).
15. No. I did almost buy a BINGO machine once though. You can imagine my frustration when I travelled 75Ks to a neighbouring town (again an elderly woman); only to get there and by BINGO machine, she meant those counter top things you see in pubs that dispense 'scratchies' and the like. I ask a lot more questions these days. AND I HANG UP ON LITTLE OLD LADIES!
16. If we keep it alive (we must all take our kids with us on this) at the rate games are being restored it is not entirely out of the question that every restorable unit would have probably been done. It is really hard to say how long into the future, manufactrers are going to be able to keep making parts for EMs. I would like to think 'forever'... Hmmmmmm, really dont know.
