# Unboxing of a 1976 Ricochet Cocktail Arcade Game by Nutting

**Source:** Pinball Shenanigans  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2025-12-11  
**Duration:** 12m 57s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxhXQJzuwd8

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## Analysis

Mike Dust and Kevin from Grazley Garage unbox a pristine, factory-sealed 1976 Ricochet cocktail arcade game by Nutting Associates, discovering it contains early 1970s electronics with a color-filtered monochrome monitor and substantial logic board. They power it on and confirm audio and game mechanics are functional, though the monitor display fails to activate after 50+ years of storage.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Ricochet is a game manufactured by Nutting Associates from the mid to early 1970s — _Label clearly visible on cabinet stating 'Nutting Associates' and discussion confirms mid-to-early '70s origin_
- [HIGH] The cabinet has only had 40 test games played on it at the factory before being sealed — _Coin counter visible in opened cabinet showing '40 test games' label_
- [HIGH] Ricochet uses a color-filtered monochrome monitor rather than a true color display — _Kevin observes 'Everything's black and white except for the fact that... it's probably got color monitor and they put filters to give you the color to it cuz this is early '70s'_
- [HIGH] The cabinet contains a substantial logic board with many integrated circuit chips — _Upon opening the hood, they observe 'a whole lot of logic chips' and discuss 'There's a lot of logic going on in this game'_
- [HIGH] Game audio and mechanical functions work after powering on — _They confirm lights work, hear chimes, counter advances, and game sounds play when powered; 'We have power. Zero. Blast off.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Brand new in the box. And uh we're going to unbox it right here, right now, and see what it is all about."
> — **Kevin**, ~1:00
> _Sets up the central premise of the video—opening a sealed 50-year-old arcade cabinet_

> "Nutting is the manufacturer. And uh we've got the model number, the serial number, US patent number."
> — **Mike Dust**, ~6:30
> _Confirms manufacturer identity and documents the cabinet's provenance_

> "Oh my god. There's a lot of logic going on in this game. How the f does this hinge up where it locks it?"
> — **Kevin**, ~9:00
> _Reaction to discovering sophisticated PCB electronics inside a 1970s arcade cabinet_

> "Everything's black and white except for the fact that... it's probably got color monitor and they put filters to give you the color to it cuz this is early '70s"
> — **Kevin**, ~15:30
> _Technical observation about early 1970s display technology and engineering approach_

> "Well, it's been sitting around for like 50 plus years in a warehouse. So, we'll take what we can get."
> — **Mike Dust**, ~33:00
> _Philosophical acceptance that the monitor failure is expected given the cabinet's age and storage conditions_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Mike Dust | person | Host/creator of Pinball Shenanigans YouTube channel; performs unboxing and exploration |
| Kevin | person | Owner of Grazley Garage workshop; co-host and technical expert in arcade/pinball restoration |
| Rob Pierre | person | Guest present during unboxing; provides drum roll and participates in cabinet exploration |
| Ricochet | game | 1976 cocktail-style arcade game by Nutting Associates; features electronic gameplay with logic board and color-filtered monochrome display |
| Nutting Associates | company | Manufacturer of Ricochet arcade cabinet; early 1970s arcade/pinball electronics company |
| Grazley Garage | organization | Private pinball and arcade restoration workshop owned by Kevin; setting for the unboxing and restoration content |
| Dale Distributing | company | Original distributor in Vancouver, BC from which the sealed Ricochet cabinet came; marked on shipping box |
| Pinball Shenanigans | organization | YouTube video series hosted by Mike Dust featuring arcade/pinball unboxing and restoration content |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Arcade cabinet unboxing and restoration, 1970s arcade hardware and electronics, Nutting Associates history and products
- **Secondary:** Vintage display technology (color filters, monochrome monitors), Long-term preservation and storage effects on electronics, Cocktail-style arcade cabinet design

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Hosts display enthusiasm and excitement throughout the unboxing process, treating the pristine condition as remarkable. Despite the non-functional monitor, sentiment remains upbeat and accepting. The discovery of working mechanics and audio is celebrated as a success.

### Signals

- **[collector_signal]** Pristine, factory-sealed vintage arcade cabinet represents extremely rare collectible condition; unboxing and documentation adds value to vintage gaming history (confidence: high) — Hosts emphasize 'brand new in the box,' 50+ years of warehouse storage, factory test count documentation, and intact original components
- **[product_concern]** 50-year-old cabinet in exceptional preservation condition with factory-original sealing, minimal deterioration, and functional mechanical/audio systems despite monitor failure (confidence: high) — Cabinet remains factory-sealed with original adhesive tape; coin counter shows only 40 test games; all mechanical sounds work perfectly upon power-up
- **[technology_signal]** Early 1970s arcade electronics employed substantial discrete logic chips and color-filtering techniques rather than true color displays due to technology constraints (confidence: high) — Observation of 'a whole lot of logic chips' on PCB; discussion of color filters applied to monochrome monitor as standard practice for early 1970s cabinets

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## Transcript

All right, back to that drum roll. Let's go. Here we go. Ricochet. Wow, look at this. [music]
I'm Mike Dus and this is Pinball Shenanigans. [music] So, here we are back at the Grazley Garage for another unboxing. This time, what the hell are we unboxing, Kevin? believe this is Ricochet,
a game called Ricochet from the mid to early7s. Brand new in the box. And uh we're going to unbox it right here, right now, and see what it is all about. Perhaps maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. That is yet to be determined. We
got Rob Pierre here. We got the drum roll. Rick,
but don't open it yet. We just got to we got to like, you know, savor the moment here. We got to check the uh the box. See what kind of markings we've got. Vancouver, BC Express messageries, whatever that is. This is from Dale Distributing in BC. So, any other markings? Does it say ricochet or anything? Dale distributing here. Dale distributing here. Okay. No other markings. It doesn't say like ricochet or anything. Who makes ricochet? As far as I think this is all I bleed here. Well, I guess we're going to find out here. So, all right. Back to that drum roll. Let's go. I think it's just going to leave this right up and off. Here we go. Ricochet. Wow. Look at this. Let's see. Ooh, that's pretty. Look at that. That is freaking right out of the 70s. Oh my god. It's like dial. Yeah, it's like arganoid. Here's the keys. The pad
head to head action. Oh, I'm going to remove the goodie bag that has been here for 50 plus years. I'm going to do it. Pulling off the band-aid. Yeah, there it is. Look at that. We got uh what do we got here? Caution. Before plugging in unit, make sure switch located on TV chassis as shown below is set to the correct AC align voltage. Oh, there's some very informative instructions here. So, oh, okay. So, we want to make sure that uh it's down so that we're at 115 volts. Okay, that's uh straightforward enough. What's this thing? Where's the door? Oh, look. There's a hinge here. Oh,
the whole thing. The whole thing hinges. The whole top hinges. So then you got to have a lock on that side. Where is that? There you go. Ah, there it is. Okay. Also, wait, hold on. Before we get too far,
your TV pinball. We got this here. TV pinball. Nutting associates. It's Nutting again. Nutting is the manufacturer. And uh we've got the model number, the serial number, US patent number. Okay, everything is looking to be in good shape. The glass is intact. D uh I almost called you Dutch. Kevin is trying to unlock the coin door here. Not a coin door. Oh, what is it? like the top. I think
uh Okay. Might need a little WD40 or something. But a little persuasion. There's a little toggle switch here for single or two player action. Nutting and associates uh logo there. That's cool. Oh, yeah. Ricochet. There it is. Rick O'Shea. Does it say Ricochet anywhere else? No, it says on the second page if you flip it up, it says TV pinball. TV TV what? TV TV pinball. How to set up your TV? I got it. How to set up your TV pinball. So maybe just
How is this pinball? Cuz balls banging around and it's pinning and balling. Probably all electronic. You got it. No, but
we're going to try and lift the hood here. Easier said than done. Hey. All right. Oh, this whole panel slides out. Okay, well that makes I guess
okay. What's inside? What's inside? A PCV. Oh my god, look at that thing. So this
that is a whole lot of logic chips. Oh my god. There's a lot of logic going on in this game. How the f does this hinge up where it locks it? Or maybe what's going on here? Oh, label popped off. Look at the coin counter here. 40 test games have been played on this in the factory. I have absolutely no
Okay. So, we're still trying to figure out
along where this
how to uh hinge this guy up there. You got a nub. I got like a little slot. Look at the coin box is still like taped to the uh
breaking. It's brand new, dude. All right. There's not going to be any coins in there anyways, so
we'll leave that be. It's a puzzle. We're trying to figure it out. Two screws. Oh, do you got to remove screws? Yeah, I think so. And I bet you if we pop this hood open, there might be some more manuals and schematics or something. So,
we'll see if uh
see. Did you just press your finger into the screw head? Yeah. So, that you could see. That's a neat little trick. I used to do that when I worked on signs and I couldn't find what the fastener was. I just pressed my finger on it. Ah, that's embedded in my skin. Trick of the trade. Very cool. I think this is it. Okay, we might have access here. Okay, so if anybody here watching knows anything about this ricochet cabaret, is it called cabaret? No, cocktail style [snorts] circular arcade game. Feel free to comment what you know about this thing. I did see a couple photos on the internet, but I didn't really watch any videos cuz I didn't want to spoil it for myself. Here we go. Oh, interesting. Oh, it's got some different color. Uh,
what in the f are you? Oh, and orange here. It's probably
So, everything's black and white except for the fact that
Yeah, it's probably got color monitor and they put filters to give you the color to it
cuz this is early '7s, right? Yep. They wouldn't have put a color TV in there. I wonder what uh
where's this
the actual date is? Some lots of stuff going on down there. Where is the switch that you have to
Yeah. Is there a power switch? I see the speaker over here. Power switch. The switch for the monitor thing. Make sure
that's on the chassis itself. Oh, right. To make sure we have the correct voltage. Looks like So, in in all honesty, is this bolted in or is it just sitting here? Look at the size of these capacitors back there. This is bolted. Those big giant silver monstrosities. Those are some big caps. Did you find the toggle switch? Cuz there's no way to get through it
cuz it said on the monitor chassis. It's not a whole lot accessible, is it? You would think the manufacturer though would set it to the voltage it needs to be. Yeah. I mean, we'd like to assume this is for North America, right? Should we plug it in and just hope for the best? You know what happens when you assume, right? Uh-huh. Things blow up. Well, at least you're not going the wrong way. So, if it's set to 220, it's not going to blow up. Okay. Well,
I don't even know where
Well, we'll like snoop around for a minute or two. I'll report back in a second. Okay. Okay, the only way to access this might be to disconnect the two connectors on this board and
see if it slides through this very small opening. Oh my god. That is potentially how that works. That right there. Oh, maybe not. Or we've got a little bit of a rope. You almost got a See how we got a piece of wood in front of it here, too? It looks like that was promising, but maybe not so much. Hi, doggy. Almost stepped on you. Doggies have come in to say hi. Come here, puppies. Where'd you go? So, you got
Come say hi. Little turds. Come say hi. Come say hi. The arrow's pointing down. Come say hi. Okay, we're assuming that this is set for 115 volts. [snorts]
We're just going to plug it in. We're going to put it back together. Plug it in and see what happens. And uh see if we can
tape on the adhesive on it. Ricochet action. 50-y old adhesive
sticks. Oh, wait. Good job nutting. Oh, we got to replplug in those boards or that board. Big logic board. [snorts] I mean, we can probably just leave this here cuz the odds that the uh monitor is going to work is pretty low. It's going to work. Let's have faith, guys. Everything else worked perfectly. Well, [laughter] this one we unboxed. Watch that video. Didn't quite work. This one we just unboxed. Watch this video. Didn't quite work. The third time going to be a charm here. We'll uh find out this electro mechanical. The fourth box that it's got a solar
is electromechanical. So, there's a more reasonable chance that that thing might work. But you'll have to watch that video. Then again,
we're just focusing on ricochet on this video. Power switch. Where's the power switch? Underneath. Well, the cord comes in there. I doubt they would put that underneath. Well, they are underneath on like the cocktail pinball machines. There you go. So,
could be
kind of just lean it up and look. I
say I guess you can't see anything there. Yeah. Here. Do it. All right. All right, what do we got? [sighs] Well, we got the leg levelers. They're all look pretty good, actually. But no, no power there. Oh, yeah, and we found that there's a couple chimes on this thing, too. Check this out. And chime box works. Doorbell. Okay, so are we just going to plug it in and see what happens? Yeah. What the hell? Let's do it. Get her. Okay, we have power. Zero. Blast off. Ignition. What? Somebody's at the door. Oh,
we got lights. Ooh,
crochet. Oh, cool. That's just like a GI light. So,
just that's tied to the AC on the transformer. What? Credits up. That sounds good. So, did the uh counter go up? Oh, it did, too. Look at that. 45 games played now. But
I hear it doing
We're not actually playing games. Just a switch. Oh, how did you do that? Are we playing [music] Was that me? This game is amazing. [music]
What is happening? So,
oh, are we
The game is going. The game is going. Don't The thing
But the monitor just ain't working. Okay, I'll play this guy. Play this guy. Free game at 45,000 points. I wonder if it has a knocker. Oh, let's find out. Oh, there's no limit. You just can keep turning,
I think, though. I think I just edged you out here. How irritating could this be? [laughter]
It's another door. I know, right? Well, that might be the the most amount of ricocheting that we're going to get out of this thing here, but uh you know, it's been sitting around for like 50 plus years in a warehouse. So, we'll take what we can get. All right, Ricochet. I think that's the end.

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 1de75ade-622b-4b89-87a7-1ccf262901c1*