Pinball Help

[ClassicCokeLover]

Are there any good pinball sites or forums that list machines for sale? EM machines preferred.

[MaineT]

Ebay, LOL!  

Look at Maine Pinball Repair. You are close enough that you could get there in a reasonable drive. He shopped my first one and I got one from him that he shopped and it works like a top. Nothing worse then a machine that only works when it wants to and he stands behind his work. Really good guy.

He will shop what you find, find one for you if your looking for a particular title, and he shops the good/popular ones and puts them out for sale.

I'm not affiliated other than being a happy customer.

http://mainepinballrepair.com/

[VMAXMAN]

http://www.pinballowners.com

[pinballdude]

www.mrpinball.com

Has classifieds, repair advice, info on dealers across the country and more.
There is a newsgroup on google "rec games pinball" and an EM group on Yahoo,
empinballmachines.

a ton of links here      http://www.stevechannel.com/pinballlinks.htm

Hope this helps.

[Kilroy]

Don't forget Craigslist, 

[ClassicCokeLover]

Thanks guys! I knew I came to the right place.

[Pixel]

Are there any good pinball sites or forums that list machines for sale? EM machines preferred.

You said you preferred EM machines. If you collect electronic machines, be very careful of Gottlieb System 1 MPU (CPU board)
based machines. These would have been among Gottlieb's earliest electronic machines. The original System 1 board has several
design flaws that make it very fragile. Certain IC failures as a result of the board's design flaws render it effectively useless, as
replacement parts for the board aren't really available. There are complete aftermarket replacement boards, but they are not cheap.
Apparently the other boards in a System 1 machine were prone to problems as well.

I know this because several years ago I had the one of their electronic Sinbad machines, and learned the hard way it would be an
expensive fix. Mine was missing the power supply board, which led me to conclude the CPU board was likely bad.

This machine was also available in two EM versions- a lower scoring version with the "Sinbad" backglass set up for scoring tumblers,
and one named "Eye of the Tiger" with a different backglass, and scoring configuration I think. IIRC, "Eye of the Tiger" is the more
desirable of the two EM versions, as far as collectibility goes.

P.S. Original System 1 CPU boards could be found on eBay a few years back, but my impression is that failures were so pervasive that those boards
aren't worth the trouble.

[msanborn]

I sent you a pm, I have one I am looking to part with

[ClassicCokeLover]

You said you preferred EM machines. If you collect electronic machines, be very careful of Gottlieb System 1 MPU (CPU board)
based machines. These would have been among Gottlieb's earliest electronic machines. The original System 1 board has several
design flaws that make it very fragile. Certain IC failures as a result of the board's design flaws render it effectively useless, as
replacement parts for the board aren't really available. There are complete aftermarket replacement boards, but they are not cheap.
Apparently the other boards in a System 1 machine were prone to problems as well.

I know this because several years ago I had the one of their electronic Sinbad machines, and learned the hard way it would be an
expensive fix. Mine was missing the power supply board, which led me to conclude the CPU board was likely bad.

This machine was also available in two EM versions- a lower scoring version with the "Sinbad" backglass set up for scoring tumblers,
and one named "Eye of the Tiger" with a different backglass, and scoring configuration I think. IIRC, "Eye of the Tiger" is the more
desirable of the two EM versions, as far as collectibility goes.

P.S. Original System 1 CPU boards could be found on eBay a few years back, but my impression is that failures were so pervasive that those boards
aren't worth the trouble.

What time period are you referring to regarding the System 1 MPU, (Main Power Unit?). For the earlier 60's machines, are there retro-fit conversions available to overcome the design flaws?

[Kilroy]

If the score windows have a digital display, it's a solid state machine.  Em machines were phased out by solid states in the mid 1970's.  If  you can see the scoring wheels, then it is an EM

[ClassicCokeLover]

If the score windows have a digital display, it's a solid state machine.  Em machines were phased out by solid states in the mid 1970's.  If  you can see the scoring wheels, then it is an EM

Correct, but msanborn was referring to the Series 1 MPU's that had engineering problems. I'm trying to find out what time period those were used in Gottlieb machines.

[msanborn]

I know nothing about the pinball machines, I was told that the pre-76 machines, were desired because they were easy to fix.  I would have to defer to everyone's expertise on any issue relating to a machine

[Pixel]

I think mid to late 70's on the System 1. Maybe early 80's also. Mine had a license sticker from 1977 on it.

Here's a couple of links to pages with some System 1 information on them. I don't know how accurate it is. DISCLAIMER: This information is provided AS-IS. You should NOT attempt repair on pinball machines unless you know what you're doing. Use of this information is at your own risk.

www.pinrepair.com/sys1/index.htm
http://www.flippers.com/gott_system_1.html

[Kilroy]

My bad.

The boards were found in
the following games.
Cleopatra, Sinbad, Joker Poker, Dragon, Solar Ride, Count Down, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Charlie's Angels, Pinball Pool, totem, Incredible Hulk, Genie, Buck Rogers, Torch, Roller Disco and Asteroid Annie.

Roughly 1977-1981-82..  That's not to say  the boards haven't been replaced since they left the factory, but hey, I'm partial to Bally . Bally is the official  table maker  for Tommy

[pinballdude]

While Gottlieb was the biggest of the Big Three (Bally and Williams are the other 2), They were the ones who waited too long to adapt to solid state machines. Their resistance even led to design an EM game where the scoring wheels looked like blue LEDs instead of the standard EM black on white reel. An amusing ploy to fool a player into thinking they were walking up to a new SS machine before putting in their quarter. A silly piece of trivia I thought I'd share. LOL

[ClassicCokeLover]

I prefer the Gottlieb machines over Bally and Williams. I think they have better graphics and game board design. I'll search for EM machines rather than SS.

[msanborn]

did you get my PM? 

[ClassicCokeLover]

did you get my PM? 

Yes, PM sent.

[ClassicCokeLover]

Looking to replace some coils on a Bally EM pinball machine. Is there a reliable source that people use for replacement parts?

[Kilroy]

Besides inviting RayG over to work on my machines? 

http://www.marcospecialties.com/

Love the ability to search for parts by machine.

I also  use http://www.actionpinball.com/ 

Marco edges out most  sites in term of price

[msanborn]

I have also used pinball resource, they have a lot of stuff